Left 4 Dead: Gemini Strain.

Chapter XXVIII: Opening One's Heart – Adam

I awoke suddenly as always. It wasn't because of the others or what had transpired in this city, it was because I felt so vulnerable asleep. It seemed that everyone else were already up and about, checking their weapons and looking around the room for anything that would be useful.

No one seemed to be surprised that I was the last one to open my eyes for the new day. Latvia was looking over Robert with the tenderness of a mother, gently checking his bandages and cleaning off any excess fluids that had leaked. The attention she was giving him from the looks of it made Robert want to blush with satisfaction; Robert did not have much blood to blush with however.

I noticed that Lucy was by herself, clutching an open pendant in her hands as if it was a treasure that would rival kings. From my distance it looked as if it was made of fine gold that even in such artificial light gleamed as if it were in the sun. Curiosity got the better of me and so I decided to make my way to her. My presence once my body made contact with the floor held little concern to her, her attention focused on the pendant in such a way I wondered if it held the secrets of the universe.

"Hey, Lucy, what have you there?" I asked her as chipper as I could manage, leaning conspicuously over her tiny shoulders to catch a better glimpse of it. At first she did not respond to my words, lost in her own little world. I felt uncomfortable suddenly and began to shift my weight back and forth beside her. When she finally spoke to me it seemed unearthly and distant.

"My mommy gave this to me a long time ago." She told me as she turned to look me straight in the eyes. She brandished her pendant to me as if it was an offering to the gods and awaited my nervous hands. It was a hefty pendant that was indeed made of solid gold, something I'm sure must have cost quite a bit. Even the fine chain necklace was woven from the same precious gold and held an allure all its own with its gentle touch and fine craftsmanship. The pendant was shaped in the form of a heart probably around an inch and a half in length and an inch in width.

I noticed that the heart had a clasp on its side that looked almost out of place. With a gentle touch of my own I unlatched the clasp and opened up the heart to my surprise. Lucy from the corner of my eye just watched my face light up from the discovery of a locket. The writing inside was etched in and then from my understanding lacquered to provide depth and clarity to what was written. I read the contents carefully to myself:

Lucy Liliana Locaste

Born May 18th, 2001

Forever To Be Loved

"My mommy said that with this I would always remember who I am." Lucy told me in a small voice. I braced myself for a tearful cry to escape her throat but none came at all. The only reaction that came with her was her holding her hair up and exposing her neck to me. I could not think of anything reassuring, I could not think of anything warming, I could not think of anything at all that would give some semblance of happiness and euphoria that would give this girl the strength she would need. The only thing I could do was to bring about the chain around her neck and clasp it shut. This pendant would haunt me in due time.

A rap on the safe room door brought my attention immediately to it in shock. I was the only who seemed the least bit startled from the sudden noise. Latvia made her way to the door and held her assault rifle to her chest.

"Who is it?"

"Russ and Theo, open up Latvia." Came Russ' familiar voice through the wooden frame. I only vaguely had noticed that the two were not present in the room upon my wake. With swiftness unlike all other Latvia removed the makeshift barricade of a table and chairs and unlocked the door for the entrance of the two.

"Any news?" Robert asked with a voice that was once again his usual self. I was amazed at the extent of his recovery the way his limp was almost non-existent and his movement natural. I guess I just don't give him enough credit where credit is due.

"My watch says 9:30 so its morning, thing is the sky is overcast. There might be a storm coming or hopefully just a very cloudy day." Theo told Robert and Latvia, only casually glancing in my direction.

For some reason I felt bothered and made my own way to the other adults. Lucy followed behind only to get to Robert and clutched his hand. I sighed and looked at everyone trying to gauge the situation.

"There are already more damn zombies wandering around the station outside, just how many people live in this city?" Russ said angrily

"Way too many, trust me on that." Latvia responded absently to his obviously rhetorical question.

"Did you happen to look for some kind of radio or broadcasting equipment…?" I asked tentatively.

Russ shook his head at me in defeat. "We didn't see any equipment like that in our search."

Almost in sync everyone's mood sunk to the deepest place within the earth. Russ noticed our melancholy expressions and almost immediately did his best to provide some sort of humor into the situation.

"Cheer up guys, I just could not let you all down! We found this notice that might make up for the lack of a radio. And no, Adam, I did not break the radio and decide to lie about not finding one."

"Duly noted, Russ." I told him calmly as I took the notice from his hands and brought it into the center of our group. It was a very long list of extraction points. It seemed that someone had taken the time to cross out extraction points. Even though the list had numerous locations written on its surface a majority of them were crossed out.

There was no need to ask me to bring out the map because it suddenly appeared in my hand with a mind of its own. Latvia knew what she was going to do as she spread out the city map and began to plot points. I could not watch her do this for some reason and busied myself with the contents of my backpack. Everyone's chatter became a dull haze when it would reach my ear.

Shifting aside my medical kit with the sutures and bandages and looking past the now dwindled stock of ammunition there was a lump at the bottom of my bag. Intrigued I reached my hand in further and grasped the chilled item and brought it to my eyes with an exclamation.

"A-a-a GRENADE!" I held it up for everyone to see as my eyes continued to stay wide and alert in my shock at finding such an item. "When the hell did I pick up a GRENADE?!"

Everyone stared at me with their own mixture of confusion and shock. Russ was the one to break that up.

"Yoink!" he said comically as he plucked the item out of my hand casually. He looked at it a moment with a delight all his own and pocketed it. I was too stunned initially to make a comment.

"Should we really trust you with an actual grenade?" Robert asked with an arched eyebrow

"NO!" I exclaimed again with a voice more than adamant.

"Ahh, relax. I'll be careful." Russ replied with a dismissal wave of his hand.

"What if it goes off in your pocket?" Asked Theo with his own incredulous look.

"Only if the pin gets pulled guys, besides if Adam managed to carry it around in that backpack without it going off I'll be fine. And to make you all feel better I'm going to put it on this handy police utility belt." He did such and brandished it with gusto. "The next Batman…?" he asked us with a laugh that made me groan. We all decided to drop it and just trust him with it, as much as it pained me in particular.

Don't ask me how I managed to space out in my backpack again after that scare with the grenade but I managed to do just that. So much that everyone reached an agreement about where to head off to.

"So it's decided then, we are going to head to Hillman University." Latvia affirmed to everyone. I perked up at this agreement.

"I only hope that we can be saved…" I muttered

"Don't we all?" Robert replied.