Me: Chapter 21 is up.

Sarah: I wonder how you're going to continue this one.

Erin: I think he has a plan.

Me: I do. While I do try to keep things humorous while adding a bit of drama.

Gimpy: I got the disclaimer. Azard doesn't own Left 4 Dead or the types of infected owned by Valve. All he owns are the characters, plot and the Adaptor breed of infected.

Me: Thanks, Gimpy.

Ash: Read and Enjoy!

Chapter 21: Grandparental Return

I stopped gaping and rubbed my eyes before looking again. I had to make sure I wasn't dreaming in some way. Wait, isn't that normally supplied by a pinch? I pinched myself. Not dreaming. I just couldn't believe it. How the hell did my grandparents end up here? Will, hell help him, didn't have my restraint. Then again he didn't need my restraint. If I ran to them now... I'd probably get a pat on the head and a hug. Why was I still standing here again? Oh right, because I'm a moron.

I rushed out of the trees and charged my grandparents, taking care not to move too quickly or else they may suspect something. Then again, they'll suspect something since I can't actually speak to them. Maybe this was a bad idea.

"Will! Zero!" My grandparents cried. They had tears in their eyes, just like they did before they left. We charged into them and wrapped them in hugs. It had been months since we last saw them. If memory serves, which it doesn't much anymore, they left about a few months before the actual infection started and they most likely didn't know of my... death. No matter how many times I say that it never gets any less freaky.

"Grammy! Gramps!" Those were our nicknames for them. Grammy had the innate ability to just make us burst out laughing. She'd mess up saying the simplest words sometimes and when she'd try to run with it and act like it was nothing, she'd mess up the entire statement and it'd sound like a foreign language. We called her Grammy because of the Grammy awards that would take place. My excuse for it, she was a prize in and of herself.

Gramps was a slightly different story. My brother and I just never liked saying Grandpa if we could help it. We settled on Gramps as a type of middle ground. Gramps certainly didn't mind. He used to call us Granks, a shorthand for grandkids or Grans, for grandson. Again, it was a kind of middle ground and he'd only do it when we'd joke around... which was about ninety percent of the time.

Both of them knew about my disdain for my real name if I remembered correctly and took to calling me Zero as well. That would be fine if I remembered why I hated my real name. Hell I don't remember my name at all!

"How did you escape the infection?" Grammy asked as she fought back a sniffle. Will smirked when he heard her voice. It was nice to have some family members care about you. We both stepped back and got a good look at our grandparents again for the first time in what seemed like ages. Come to think of it, I could barely remember what they looked like, how did I recognize them so quickly? Oh well, that's not important at this time.

Grammy wasn't that tall, maybe around five foot four. She had dark brown eyes and the same color hair that somehow stayed the same shade since she was a young girl. Her hair was kinda poofy. I say that meaning her hair was short but stayed up in a way that wasn't an afro. It almost looked like she had a loaf of fresh baked bread for hair. Almost like a soufflé. No, exactly like a soufflé. She was wearing a white sweatshirt, why in this weather was beyond me, and blue sweatpants with white shoes.

Gramps was slightly taller than her, perhaps around five foot five if my guess is correct. His hair was brown but was graying in quite a few areas. His hair was combed back. Despite his years, he's managed to keep his hair healthy and full of volume. His eyes remained that dark brown I remember from the memories I've recovered. he wore a plaid, red, button down shirt and blue jeans with black sneakers. Now that I think about it, what shocked me the most was how Will and I towered over them. I had my six foot two and Will had his five foot ten. Five inches may not seem like much but believe me, it's a difference.

"We kinda wouldn't have been able to if it wasn't for Zero," Will said. I smiled. Will was lying and I knew it. He could have escaped the city long before those fucking bombs leveled the city. Then again, my friends and I wouldn't have gotten out if it wasn't for Will getting that damned radio to work. "Don't be modest bro." How did he know what I was thinking? "You helped me and my team save one of our own and we wouldn't have survived if it wasn't for you and your friends."

"You still would have gone even if we didn't help you, huh?" I asked him. I tried to keep my voice low so my grandparents wouldn't hear.

"Of course," Will replied out loud. "You said it yourself a few years back. 'I'll never abandon a friend in need.' She's our friend and would gladly have died trying to protect her."

"You learned too much from me it seems," I said... a little too loudly. I braced myself for either gunshots or gasps of surprise. Neither came.

"Will always did look up to you, Zero," Grammy said. Our jaws dropped. What the fuck? How? When? Why? Where? Some of these don't make any fucking sense but it's all I'm able to think about! How the fuck did they understand me?

"Maybe it's one of those things that happened between us, Zero," Will stated lowly, sensing my distress. "That we all have such a close bond it breaches the language barrier."

"Language barrier?" Gramps questioned. "What language barrier?" Fuck, I forgot he had great hearing. I looked at Will and nodded before bracing myself for what was about to come.

"Gramps," Will began solemnly, "Zero died a little over three months ago." To say the area was silent was to say the ocean was damp. Massive understatement.

"Zero's standing right here," Gramps said. "How can he be dead unless..." the silence that descended upon us was suffocating. I dropped my head. I was always afraid of this. Being killed by my own family because of this. "He's an infected."

"A hunter, specifically," I filled in. My grandpa smirked. Wait, smirked? What the fuck? He isn't looking to kill me?

"Prove it," he challenged. "Jump to that tree and back." Looking at the tree that was clear within my jumping distance. Without a word I jumped to the tree and back. When I landed, Gramps looked at me with a smile on his face. "Impressive." You know, Gramps is taking this better than I thought he would. "Are your friends like you? You know, sane?" I nodded. "Where are they?" Will and I glanced toward each other before glancing back to the trees.

"Back there," Will answered. Gramps looked toward the trees and motioned for them to come out. From what I saw, they hesitated but eventually complied. "I'm surprised you're taking this so well." Gramps smiled.

"Infected or not, you're still my grandsons. If you're sane, I have no reason to attack or kill you. But," Gramps whacked me on the back of my head, "that's for not telling me you were infected sooner."

"We only just found you!" I shouted.

"No excuses," Gramps retorted. Everyone laughed at me. Well, the clique did. Erin walked up to me and hugged my arm. Gramps grew a grin on his face. Something at the back of my mind was tugging at me. I just wish I remembered what. "Is this your girlfriend?" I felt my face heat up and glanced to Erin to see her blushing. I nodded.

"Hello," Erin greeted as she detached herself to shake my grandfather's hand. "It's been a while." Gramps smiled.

"Indeed it has. I can't believe you finally nabbed him." My eyes shot open. That's why that grin tugged at my mind! It was his all-knowing grin! How the fuck did I miss that?

"You knew?" I asked intelligently. Okay... okay, not intelligently. Stupidly.

"I met your grandparents during one of your football games your first year. He... knew I had a crush on you and encouraged me to take a chance," Erin explained. "Sadly I didn't get the courage until recent."

"Why is that?" Grammy asked her. Great. She was in on it too.

"I wasn't aware Zero had died because of the panic that had engulfed most of the population. When he helped save me, I found out that he passed and became a hunter. Then, not much longer after that, he almost died when he fell off a ravine." She had to bring that back up. "I always thought I had time but... that told me I had very little and had to act. After I toughened up a bit after dealing with a pervert, I just kissed him and it went from there."

"Told you it would work," Gramps said. That's where she got that from! Gramps, Gramps, Gramps... what am I going to do with you? Great, now I'm thinking of my grandpa like a parent would a troublemaking toddler. This is ludicrous!

"I always wondered where she got that direct approach from," I said absently. It always did seem a little too direct for Erin to think of herself. Not to say she couldn't but it'd seem to be a last resort. Not a first resort.

"She got that from you?" Ash asked my grandpa, almost forgetting that he wouldn't be able to understand.

"Damn right," Gramps answered and our jaws hit the floor. What the fuck is going on? My grandparents barely knew my friends! How the– What the– Why the– I reiterate, what the fuck is going on! "Did I say something wrong?"

"Gramps... how can you understand them?" I questioned. Gramps looked at me with no small amount of confusion.

"I shouldn't be able to understand them?" He responded with a question.

"No, you shouldn't," Will and I replied.

"It's a miracle you understand Zero, but... to understand them... it's unreal," Erin said. "It took me five days to understand them because of their language."

"What language? They're speaking plain English."

"Infected language is the equivalent of moaning and groaning," Razor explained.

"Strange," Gramps mused. "It sounds like you're speaking plain English to me."

"Me too," Grammy agreed.

"That's insane," Gimpy said.

"So..." Ash continued. "You really taught Erin the whole, kiss and nab?" Gramps nodded. In no more than a second, Ash, Razor, and Gimpy fell to their knees and started bowing in front of Gramps.

"Teach us, o master!" They all shouted as they bowed. I slapped my hand over my face. The impact was so loud I was thankful that the forest worked as a natural buffer. I heard Sarah start giggling and looked toward her to see her holding her sides. Apparently she wanted to laugh a lot more but kept it suppressed enough for it to only be giggles.

"You think they'll ever learn?" Bear asked me.

"If they're learning from Gramps, I have little to no doubt they will. He's a harsh teacher." I spoke directly from experience. Gramps taught me all I needed to know about wooing the opposite sex. Since there were very few girls at Mercy City that weren't loose, I didn't have much to work with. Sadly, he never taught me to not be oblivious so it was pretty much for naught. I had barely noticed poor Erin for so long I wonder how she dealt with it. At least now I could put his teachings to use with dating.

"How harsh was he?" Bear asked. That's right, I never told him about how Gramps taught. Mainly because I can't remember.

"I'll tell you when I can remember," I replied. Bear seemed to accept that and nodded. Maybe it's just me but... did Bear get a little shorter? His arms definitely seemed less... veiny and obscurely large. In fact, they barely touched the ground anymore and his hunch was slowly vanishing. What in the world is going on?

I glanced over to Ash, Gimpy and Razor. I couldn't say anything about Razor, considering was as normal as I was. Ash, for some reason, looked a lot less sickly green. Gimpy... Gimpy was changing too. His smaller arm seemed to be growing and his larger arm seemed to be getting slightly smaller. I gaped at how much we were changing and we'd barely noticed it. I looked back at Sarah to see she still looked the same.

A lot had happened. A lot was unaccounted for. We were changing again. More-so than when we first became infected. Only this time, I couldn't fathom what was going on. Our language barrier seems to be evaporating into thin air. Maybe we'd never know. What I did know was that I had my grandparents back and, no matter what happened, I was happy.

Me: And that'll do it for this chapter.

Zero: Gramps is back!

Will: Good to see he and Grammy are doing fine.

Bear: What the fuck is going on with us though?

Me: I won't tell, not yet anyway. Well, that'll do it for this week. Be good and be safe! I'm outta here!