Me: After the long wait, here's Chapter 29!

Zero: HOORAY!

Rendan: You're certainly happy.

Me: Of course he would be. This is his story after all. For any of my fans that love this can consider this chapter an early holiday gift.

Zero: I know I do!

Rendan: I do enjoy this one myself. So what's with the long wait between updates now?

Me: Aside from real life stuff getting in the way and Ms. Muse deciding not to help, I think it's a bit more meaningful if there's a wait involved. Gives me more time to put the thought into it that could potentially make the chapters great.

Rendan: Potentially?

Me: Well, to each their own. People have different tastes, so what is great for one may not be great to another.

Zero: Basic shit, dude. I've got the disclaimer! Azard doesn't own Left 4 Dead or the types of infected that are created by Valve. He only owns the characters, the plot and the Adaptor breed of infected.

Rendan: And of course you've never fucked up on your own story.

Zero: Fuck you!

Me: Enough already! Sorry for the delay. Read and enjoy.


Chapter 29: The True Cause

I must have lost track of how far down the staircase led us. It felt like we'd been walking for hours. Sure, we laughed when Ash, Gimpy and Razor fell at first. Now we pitied them. If only slightly, of course. Everyone was quiet the whole way down. Surprising, I would have thought at least one of them would have at least commented or attempted to crack a joke about how ridiculous this all seemed to be. Here we were, in the middle of nowhere, descending a staircase into who-the-fuck-knows-where, into pitch blackness and where a cult had possibly been set up.

As we walked, I watched the fading figures of the clique. When I thought it was dark I had woefully underestimated it. I couldn't even see three inches in front of me much less the group who were at varying distances on the long walk down. How the fuck did anyone make it to this place? Did they carry torches or some such nonsense? Probably did, especially if a cult was involved. Back in Mercy City most cults did the cliché black robes and torches bit. It was abused to death in all honesty but that never stopped the cults from doing it.

I was the first one to reach the floor... and tripped right over Gimpy.

"Ow! What the fuck!" Gimpy shouted.

"Sorry, Gimpy. I didn't see you there," I said.

"Not surprised," Ash groaned next to me. "Can't see shit in this goddamn place. Hey, Razor! Did you find a light?"

"Not yet!" Razor called back. Seconds later someone else tripped on Gimpy and landed on top of me in a crushing heap. From the amount of pain I felt alone I knew it was Bear. He was soon followed by another pressure, which I'm guessing was Sarah, then Will and finally Erin.

"Will you fucking people stop falling over me?" Gimpy cried.

"Fuck you and your problems!" I yelled, though my voice was clearly pained and muffled slightly. "They may be falling over you but they're landing on me!" This brought out a laugh from the rest of the group.

"Sorry, bro," Bear apologized, though he didn't exactly try to get up and give me room to breathe.

"If you're so damn sorry then get the hell off of me!" Another laugh. I felt the weight that was pressed against me and kept me stuck on the floor gradually lessen. At least they had the decency to get off. For whatever reason, Bear didn't get off. "Dude, get the hell off!"

"But you're so comfy!" Bear complained. "And warm too! When did you start getting warm again?" I growled lowly and tried elbowing Bear off. It didn't work. "Seriously, you're really freaking warm! Now I know why Erin simply loves to sleep next to you at night. She gets all this heat for herself. No wonder we've had to pry her off of you." I think that was the first time in my life I was glad to be in a place so dark that nobody could see. That meant they couldn't see just how red my face had gotten. I wasn't sure about Erin, at least for a second.

"He started getting warm around the time I started sleeping next to him," Erin commented. Well, that answered that question. Another thing that surprised me was that her comment wasn't smug in the slightest. It actually sounded... shy. Did she know about my thing for shy girls? "And you're right about one thing, Bear, I do love the amount of heat his body gives off."

The shy tone had vanished and turned... oh my god don't tell me that tone was what I think it was. No, I'm not saying what I think it was either. She giggled. Why did she giggle? Her giggle was soon followed by Sarah's. What the hell did they know? Each of us knew that when more than one girl giggled about something, it meant they knew something the boys didn't.

"Hey, Razor! You're an Adaptor, right?" I heard Will shout.

"Yeah!" Razor shouted back, though he sounded much further away. "Why?"

"Why don't you adapt that fat head of yours into something that can give us some light?" Will questioned. It was silent for a moment before a massive group face palm was heard. Gimpy, Ash and Razor had slapped their faces by the sound of it. Razor must have started walking back because there was a set of footsteps getting ever closer. Moments later I felt someone kick my head. Dammit Razor.

"Ow! That hurt!" I shouted. Razor kicked hard... that much I'll admit. Seconds later there was a light glow that gave us all just enough light to see our predicament. Bear jumped up and finally allowed me to get up. Gimpy had landed on Ash somehow, Erin and Sarah were still giggling and Will was sitting on Gimpy's back.

"Sorry about that," Razor said while rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. I swear that bastard watched too much anime... He started taking character quirks from certain characters and mixed them to suit his needs. I once asked him if he was attempting to become an anime character. He shrugged at the question and said, 'Works for me'. Sometimes, I swear, the boy didn't know anything about what he wanted to be, realistic or otherwise.

Finally, with a small light source, we were able to continue through the dark corridor at the bottom of the stairs. Another long walk. After a few minutes, possibly twenty or so, Razor stopped in front of a large door. The door, surprising had four letters printed on it. 'C.E.D.A.'

"CEDA?" Bear questioned.

"What the hell is CEDA?" Razor asked. While most of us looked at it curiously, I noticed that Ash had tensed slightly.

"Civil Emergency and Defense Agency," Ash said, though his eyes never left the door. All of us turned to look at Ash. Though we're positive he could feel our stares on him, he never looked away from the letters. Bear took the initiative and punched the door as hard as he could, sending the thing literally flying off its hinges and straight into the wall at the other side of the room. We walked inside and suddenly the lights came on. I glanced back and saw that Razor had flipped a switch that he found.

This certainly wasn't what I expected to find out in the middle of nowhere. A cult meeting spot, maybe, but not this. From wall to wall were rows of supplies. Ammunition, water, food, weapons, both melee and ranged and any other essentials that may be needed. We looked around the room while Will ran to the weapons racks cheering like a kid at Christmas. Ash was looking around the room wearily, as if he were perturbed by something, though I'd be damned if I knew what.

Will resumed his cheering while the rest of us starting stocking up on essentials we'd need, mainly food and water. Ash, however, wasn't going anywhere near the supplies. Instead, he walked around the edge of the room and tapped the walls every so often. This was strange, that much could be said.

"How much stuff do you think is here?" Will asked from in front of the weapons.

"I don't know," Razor answered. While most of us were looking around at the stacked supplied with no small amount of wonder, Ash was still moving about the room and tapping on the walls. What the hell was he looking for?

"It should be around here somewhere," he muttered. It was a miracle I'd heard him at all. Suddenly, he moved a rock into the wall and a whole section of it simply slid to the side, leading into another room. We almost dropped the supplies we were holding when we saw that. Ash didn't waste any time and entered the room while the rest of us, not so calmly, placed the provisions we'd grabbed on the floor and followed him. The new was entirely different than the one we'd just been in. This room had the latest technological marvels from wall to wall, all seemingly working on some kind of formula.

At the far end of the room was a small table that a scientist would perform experiments on or something to that effect. There's one thing I'll say about this though... it was odd to be in a place like this. It almost felt like a mad scientist's hideout with the amount of things going on in this place. Ash, however, was clutching his hands into fists so tight his knuckles started to turn white.

"Ash," I said softly, seemingly enough to snap him out of whatever trance he'd thrown himself into. "You okay, bro?" Ash turned back to face me and shook his head.

"No," Ash stated. "No, I'm not... I know exactly where I am." He said nothing else and pointed to a computer that was near the experiment table, or whatever the fuck that thing's called. The screen must have been on a power saving setting since the screen was black, but the light indicating if the computer was on was lit.

We walked over to it and pressed a button. When the screen came to life a small box appeared. Username and password. Scarily enough, the username box was already filled in. I jumped on the computer and tabbed into the password section of the box.

"Anyone remember the five most commonly used passwords?" I asked.

"Better question," Gimpy began. "Who here's seen 'Hackers' recently?" I sighed. He did have a point though. That movie definitely went over them at least once, though I couldn't remember if they said there were five or four.

"Try 'password'," Bear suggested. I entered it... nothing happened.

"How about 'secret'?" Sarah questioned. Again, I entered the word but nothing happened.

"Maybe 'love' or 'sex'?" Razor asked. I tried them both to no avail. Did the members of CEDA actually have originality?

"God," Ash said. That was it. That was all he said. I tried it. I take back what I thought before. These bastards had no originality. I was into the computer so quickly I thought my head would spin. God, huh? Were they trying to play 'God' or something? After a moment of quiet contemplation I began to search on the computer.

Sadly, I didn't find too much. All that was there were files on infected areas, species of infected, etc. There was one file, however, that caught my eye. It was simply labeled 'Cure'. Upon opening the folder a whole new screen opened up.

It went into great detail about how CEDA was going through hell and back to find a cure for the infection. It even mentioned a thought that if they were able to create Boomer bile they should be able to make a cure. They made Boomer bile? How the fuck did they manage that?

As I looked through the file, I noticed something that confused me further. It was a sub-folder that was labeled 'Project A'. Project A... I knew I've heard of that somewhere before. Suddenly, it hit me. Ash... He was Project A. I opened the file and noticed the amount of detail it was going into. Namely how they made the supposed cure, Ash's transformation and finally his escape from the base and back into the outside world. These bastards... they were the cause of everything. Well, not the initial outbreak, but the reason it came to Mercy City as quickly as it did!

In a way, they robbed our lives from us. They robbed us of our normalcy, though I'm sure none of us gave a shit about any of that. They robbed us of our friends. They robbed us of everything we actually liked about being alive... whatever amount there initially was. Worst of all, they almost robbed us of our humanity.

"Better thank their lucky stars," I heard Bear growl out from behind me. "They better be thankful that we didn't lose who we were because of their idiocy."

"They may have been trying to find a cure but they failed to realize just how high the price of failure would be," Sarah said venomously. Ash, while this was going on, started to hyperventilate. After a moment he shouted as loudly as his lungs would allow and started to trash the room, destroying anything he could with his bare hands.

"You bastards! You sick, depraved, cock sucking, cum guzzling, shit spewing, scum sucking, pus drinking, mother fucking bastards!" Ash effectively sent himself into a pure rage as he continued to break anything and everything he could, swearing and screaming the whole while. The rest of us stayed silent. Ash had to get this out of his system. No matter how much of a gift this seemed to be, it still robbed Ash of the life he had... and almost cost him everything. He lost his family in the mayhem and almost lost his friends as well.

We stayed back and let him vent, though we all shared his anger. But, no matter how mad we were, we'd never be as angry as Ash was. After all, it all started with Ash trying to help his family. He didn't know... he didn't know just what storm would be unleashed if they failed. He didn't even know what he signed up for. He did it out of love for his family... and that got them all killed. Now we were all he had left... and we were going to make damn sure he wasn't going to lose us any time soon.

Ash eventually finished his rampage after destroying roughly ninety percent of the room. Still screaming, he dropped to his knees and stared at the floor. I was the first person to approach him... and I'll never forget what I saw. Ash had his head bowed and I could hear something almost begging to come out. After a second, I saw something wet hit the floor. Tears. Ash was crying. I'd never seen him cry before and to see this now just showed how much this was hurting him. He continued to sob almost silently.

I hugged him and let him cry on my shoulder. I could feel it... his sorrow, his pain. I felt it all. After a moment, I felt another set of arms hug the both of us. Erin... Soon after, another and yet another person entered the hug. When it finally ended, all of us were locked in a group embrace. All of us affected by CEDA's mistake. All of us... crying for our friend's loss. Crying for the loss our brother, no, all of us had suffered.


Me: And that's the chapter.

Zero: Damn... just damn.

Me: Eh?

Rendan: So much emotion at the very end... that's all.

Me: It makes sense after all.

Zero: That... and Ash's swear-fest was pretty funny too... reasons behind it notwithstanding of course.

Rendan: Of course. My condolences by the way.

Ash: Thanks, Ren. That means a lot. Honestly, thank you.

Me: I guess that'll do it for this time.

Ash: Can I handle the send off?

Me: Go nuts.

Ash: Be good and be safe everyone!

Me: I'm outta here!