Me: And Chapter 25 is done!

Zero: Now we'll see what the fuck happened before.

Rendan: I don't know, I think it's kinda obvious what happened.

Gimpy: You would.

Rendan: What? You couldn't figure it out? You're reading this too!

Gimpy: Sh-shut up.

Me: -sigh- Anyway, who want's the disclaimer this time around?

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

Me: Thanks, Bear. Anyway, read and enjoy.

Chapter 25: Murphy's Law & Will's Hatred

I froze in my spot. The chills that were currently traveling through my spine had me trembling in place. Fucking Hell! Why the fuck couldn't I have kept my damn mouth shut? It never. Ever. Fucking. Fails. Gramps and Grammy had turned and stood in front of us. Obviously they weren't too fond of their son-in-law and daughter's actions and attitudes towards the two of us. Oh right, I forgot to mention, my fucking parents found us.

"What do you want, Megan, Charles?" Gramps asked in a harsh tone. It's been a while since I heard him speak in that tone of voice. A really long time.

"Can't a mother greet her two children?" Mom asked. Ugh, I hated and still hate calling that woman 'Mom'. It's not like she really was a mom anyway.

"Bullshit," I intoned lowly. "Most likely they want to expose us and have us killed. Less mouths to feed after all."

"Dude," Razor began, "did I ever tell you that your view of your parents is kinda fucked up?"

"It's totally called for," Will said, shocking Razor in the process. It was no secret that during life I took on the role of bashing my parent's attitudes and actions in public. Back then, Will was the more quiet and collected one and would only talk about the shit they did to me. In short, he gave me fuel for the eternal fire we'd roast our parents on someday.

"Ya'know Will," Razor started, "I'm kinda surprised by you. You've never said anything bad about your parents before. Why start now?"

"I've never said anything because Zero always spoke for me," Will answered. Razor looked toward me and I nodded my confirmation.

"It's true," I felt the need to say. "Will would sometimes talk to me about them and I'd rant about it the next day." At this, Razor seemed to assume a thoughtful pose and glanced toward the sky.

"That would explain your extra long rants on certain days," Razor mused. I wanted to let out a chuckle, I did, but I couldn't let my parents see it. I couldn't show any type of weakness to them. I had to remain cold and goddammit I was going to.

"So we've made mistakes in our past," Dad began, I hate calling him 'Dad' too. "Why can't we make up for it now?" Apparently they've been talking while we've been reminiscing. Wait, do they seriously think that they can make up for their mistakes now? For eighteen fucking years they've been nothing short of distant, and now they want to fix that? What the fuck is wrong with these people?

"I think they're full of shit," Will said.

"What was your first clue?" I asked.

"Didn't need one," Will replied. "You and I both know how they are. Just by them being them I know they're full of shit." Razor was watching us banter with wide eyes.

"You guys seriously talk a lot of shit about them," Razor stated.

"It's not like we're doing it without reason," I retorted.

"I'm aware of your reasons, Zero, but what are Will's reasons?" Razor questioned.

"I'll tell you when we get back to camp," Will said.

"You better. Other than Zero I've never seen a sixteen year old with so much anger in him, especially toward his own family."

"What about Sarah?" I asked.

"That's different," Razor said. "After you got arrested, Bear told us everything and we completely understood why she hated her Dad. We understand why you hate them but not your brother."

"I told you," Will began, "I'll tell you if and when we get back to camp."

"If?"

"If Mom and Dad," Will spat as he said that, "have their way we'll be dead in the next five minutes.

"I say we let the kids decide," Grammy said. Decide? Decide what? What'd we miss this time? Grammy turned to us. "Tell us boys, do you want to spend some time with your parents?" Will and I turned toward each other before slapping ourselves in the face, just to make sure we weren't going crazy. "Do you?" Will turned to me and I nodded, knowing what he was thinking. We counted down, 3. 2. 1...

"Hell no!" We both shouted. From that moment on, it was clear to them, at least I hope it was, that we had no intention of giving them a second chance... or a hundredth chance in this case. They didn't seem saddened by our decision nor did they seem hurt or caring about it. Figures.

"Then we'll be on our way," Gramps said. Suddenly, Mom spoke up.

"Are you really going to walk out of here with an infected?" She asked sending the entire base on alert. Several guards pointed their guns at us as we held our hands up in surrender. Fucking figures.

"I take it back," Razor stated. "I totally understand why you hate these pricks." Thankfully, one of the other guards said something that had everyone relaxing.

"There's no infected here," he calmly said. "Infected creatures can't speak English and we've clearly heard them all speak at one point or another." The guards looked at each other and nodded in silent confirmation. The guard who spoke turned to my parents. "That's one strike against you, do that again we're not liable if you have an accident." We smiled at our parent's defeated expressions.

"Well, then," Gramps began, "if that's all, we'll be going." The guards nodded and let us through the gate. We met up with Bear once we hit the forest and he carried a good amount of the supplies to help us out. I don't know about Will but I was breathing heavily. That was way too fucking close. Damn Murphy's Law.

"So what happened that made you guys late?" Bear asked as we continued walking.

"We had a run in with our life givers," I replied. Bear nodded in understanding.

"That'd be enough to get me freaking out too," Bear said. "Did they try anything?"

"Only tried to get us killed," Will answered for me. Bear let out a growl of rage. He was one of the people I confided in most about my parents.

"They've done low things before, but that takes the shit cake." We nodded in agreement. From there on, we basically went the rest of the way in silence. We managed to make it back to the house by nightfall. We made a small fire and sat around it. It was a while before anyone spoke.

"So are you going to tell us, Will?" Razor asked.

"You still want to know?" Will responded with a question.

"Yeah," Razor replied. Will took a deep breath. There was very little doubt this was going to be a painful memory. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested as well. I never knew exactly why Will stopped caring for Mom and Dad.

"Well, this happened back when I was ten," Will began. Six years. Wow, that's going back a ways. At least to us it seems that way. "I had gotten up in the middle of the night for a glass of water. I walked by the living room and heard them talking."

"What were they saying?" Gimpy asked.

"They were discussing finances. They were complaining that they didn't have as much money as they would have preferred... then Mom said, 'We'd have more money if it wasn't for them'."

"Wait," Ash interrupted. "Them could be people at work or people in their neighborhood. It doesn't immediately apply to you."

"I know, that wasn't the part that impacted me. I thought the exact same thing at first. Then Dad said, 'Both those kids are mistakes.' At that point I knew she was talking about us." Mistakes. Was that all we were to them? It made sense. "Then Mom said, 'We never should have had them. I should have aborted them.' After that, I lost whatever hope I had in them. It was bad enough they hated us and called us mistakes, but to wish they had killed us before we were even born?" Will stopped and slipped his head into his arms.

"That's really fucking low," Sarah said. "Can you believe it, Zero?" I didn't reply. "Zero?" Sad thing is, I could believe it. My parents were willing to kill me before I was even born. Did we really fuck up their lives that badly? I didn't care anymore. I was glad we fucked up their lives after learning that. Even I hadn't heard them say that!

"I'm glad," I began, drawing the attention of the clique, "that we fucked up whatever hopes they had for their lives. If that's the way they talk about their own children, they don't deserve to be happy."

"All agreed?" Will asked.

"Aye!" Shouted the entire group.

"I still can't believe our daughter turned out so badly," Gramps said, his voice full of remorse. "We raised her the same way we raised Zero and Will here, and they turned out great. Why did she end up so bad?"

"Every family has a bad seed," Erin spoke up. "You did nothing wrong. If you're the ones who raised Zero, then you're responsible for raising two of the biggest heroes Mercy City has ever seen."

"Heroes?" Gramps asked with a chuckle.

"Will and Zero, along with us, would do things the police should have been doing," Ash explained. "We kept the city safer than the police ever did. Some people started calling us vigilantes and heroes."

"At least I know we did something right," Grammy said as a tear fell from her eye. She was still hurting because her daughter turned out so poorly.

"You were my real parents," I stated as I hugged Grammy tightly. Will joined me and hugged her too.

"You taught us, cared for us, fed us, and kept a roof over our heads. You are our family, not them," Will continued. Grammy hugged us back. It wasn't long before a group hug broke out. When it ended, we put out the fire and headed to our spots for the night.

"Why would your parents call you and Will mistakes?" Erin asked.

"I don't think I'll ever know for sure," I replied. "As long as I can hazard a guess, I'll simply guess that they were good for nothing shit heads." Erin giggled.

"Well, it's time to get some rest."

"Yeah, I'm tired," I yawned out. Wait, yawned? And I'm tired? Okay... there really is something going on. I'm not exactly sure why, but I'm glad I became a Hunter. I think it's because I can protect people better like this. People couldn't get away from me before but now they didn't stand a snowball's chance in Hell of even keeping the chase interesting.

The thought of turning normal again... I'm starting to dislike it. Maybe I've gotten so used to being a Hunter that I really can't remember how life used to be when I wasn't. I'm stronger now, faster and for some reason my senses are much more acute. It's almost like I'm a superhuman... err super infected. Well, whatever it was, it'd have to wait. I laid down in my spot with Erin next to me and slowly drifted into sleep.

Me: And that's the chapter.

Rendan: Zero, you're seriously starting to hate the idea of being human again?

Zero: As painful as it is to admit, I am. I'm stronger and more capable now. If I revert and can't protect someone... -glances toward Erin then the rest of the clique- I'd never forgive myself.

Gimpy: That explains a lot.

Ash: It certainly does.

Me: That'll do it for this week. Be good and be safe everyone! I'm outta here!