Disclaimer: I do not own any component of Left 4 Dead including the different special infected, only the characters which I have personally created. All credit on the infected and anything relating to the game "Left 4 Dead" goes to Valve. Credit for the Penthouse idea goes to Mihoyonagi and her story "Plaything".
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When I opened my eyes, the first thing that met me was surprise. When had I fallen asleep? Pushing myself up, I noticed that daylight was coming in through the sliding door leading out onto the roof. I had slept through the night... It had been a long time since I'd done that. Looking around, I saw the piece of upholstery and stuffing that had been forcibly removed from the couch laying across the carpet, remembering what happened.
I started feeling terrible all over again, she probably hated me more than ever – how could I fix that? She'd want to get away more than ever now... Panic struck me, was she still here? I dashed to the bedroom doorway, being a little more cautious about my entrance this time, and peeked in. She was here, asleep in the bed. I wanted to go in and see her again, though I knew going in might be a bad idea. I crawled into the room, my curiosity getting the better of me. Climbing up onto the foot of the bed, careful not to jostle her, I stared down her form.
She looked so small and fragile. Innocent, even. That feeling I'd had the first time I'd downed her in the street crept up my chest. I didn't recognize it, all I knew was that it took away any of my innate desire to do her harm. It also renewed the longing to remember what importance she'd held in my past life, if there was any.
I sighed as I thought more about the idea of knowing life outside of mine as a hunter. I couldn't really remember anything about who I used to be: My name, or how old I was. All I could really recall were the names of most objects and the language I used to speak – even if I couldn't speak it anymore. I guess things like that are hardwired into the brain so deep that not even the infection is able to remove it. I hated what I had become, I hated that I'd had humanity stripped from me... I wanted it back. Desperately.
Maybe she had the power to return it to me, by reminding me of something I used to have. As I looked at her again, that feeling came back. I couldn't remember what it was, but I decided it was good, that I liked it. I started smiling as I watched her, even as she started to wake up. The first thing she did was stretch, her feet coming in contact with my knee and causing her to pause.
I just watched her face, confusion passing it as she continued to feel my knee through the blankets with her toes. She groggily opened her eyes and looked back at me, freezing a moment. I waited for something to happen, but nothing did. She simply sat up and stared at me. We locked gazes for a short while, before she got out of the bed and went into the bathroom. I waited there for her, watching the door.
She came back out a few minutes later, and the staring match resumed. That good feeling suddenly left me and was replaced with uneasiness, it was... awkward, "I'm... hungry."
Thank God, she not only broke the silence but gave me an excuse to vacate the room. I got down off the bed and walked past her, standing just outside the doorway. The living kept food in... kitchens. Yes. Straight ahead of myself I could see the... refrigerator, and... cupboards. I felt nostalgic as I started digging through the different cabinets, looking for something she'd be able to easily eat. I noticed a tall green can, and grabbed it to have a look. There was a picture of a white-faced man with a mustache on it, these were … Pringles! I knew what these were, I knew I had liked eating them at one time.
I scampered back to the room she was in and stood next to the bed, off all fours for a change, and held out my peace offering. The unimaginable joy I felt at having learned something new about my previous self had given me a small sliver of hope that maybe this was the girl I'd needed to meet in order to re-discover humanity. She was sitting at the head of the bed, and hadn't taken the can from me yet.
I crouched down, looking around the can at her. She was... surprised? I prodded her arm with the top of the can, urging her to take it. The sudden contact seemed to shake her out of her reverie, and she slowly took the can from me and looked at it.
"You can... Understand me?" I looked up at her, and recalling a gesture I nodded. Had she not known that? She'd talked to me before on several occasions... Either way, it was a good thing that she knew I understood what she said. She would probably talk more, maybe I could even talk back by making gestures. I watched her as she eyeballed the can, anxious to see if she approved. I was getting really nervous, my excitement was fading fast.
When she smiled, I was relieved, "I love these. Thank you..." She was thanking me? I grinned, she'd accepted my peace token. This was definitely a step forward. I sat by the side of the bed, observing her as she quickly snarfed the chips. It wasn't long before the can was empty and she was recapping it. I waited there, and she looked back at me. Unsure of what to do I simply sat there, looking back. I watched her as she looked around, and on the short table next to her there was a rectangular object with buttons on it.
She picked it up and pointed it at a black box, which suddenly began flashing and making noises. The sudden noise caught me a little off guard, but I wasn't startled enough to attack it. She sighed and shut it off, "It figures that the T.V. Doesn't work." T.V... so that's what the flashing box was called. I stared at it's silent frame, wondering what it was supposed to do, or used to do for people. I couldn't remember, so I let it go for the time being.
The awkward silence resumed. I wish I could say something or make some noise that wouldn't cause a problem. Once again she took care of that when she stood up and walked out of the room, with a slight limp. I was curious about her leg, because I know she injured it in the apartment building, but I wouldn't bother her for now. Instead I just followed her out into the living room.
She was looking around in utter disdain. At what? What was wrong with the place? It was warm, lit, and safe. What more did she want? I watched as she went around, picking up the mess and debris caused by my not so conservative search for the gun last night. It was almost amusing to watch her stumble around, the pants she had on were way too big for her and every now and then she'd step on the bottom of the legs and nearly trip.
Soon all the garbage collected into a pile in the middle of the floor, including chunks of stuffing from the back of the couch and the floor around the chair. Something about her cleaning even was familiar. Just the way she was doing it. Once things were mostly picked up, she went back into the kitchen area. I continued to watch her, and saw as she picked up a large plastic bucket.
Apparently she found something she didn't like, because she immediately backed away from it covering her face and coughing, "Oh God, that's awful, that's so bad!" What? What was bad? I crawled over and sat on my haunches next to it, what's inside? I lifted the lid up a fraction and peered in. It looked like a boomer puked into a big plastic can, but what was so awful? I tried smelling it, and it was one of the biggest mistakes I had made in my hunter lifetime. I wanted to wretch, I dropped the lid and scrambled away from the evil plastic contraption. I wanted to destroy it, but I knew breaking it open would just get that crap inside it everywhere, making it miserable for the girl.
"You don't like that either huh?" She laughed a bit. It was not funny! "How about we get rid of it? You might want to cover your nose though." I watched as she pulled her shirt up over her face and start to pull the lid off. I leaped into action, nearly slamming it back down on her fingers. She jumped back in surprise. Who knew what was inside there!
She grabbed my hand and pulled it away, "Just trust me, and cover your face. I'm gonna make it go away."
I looked up at her, unsure, but I was gonna try and trust her for a minute. I backed up and stuffed my face in my arm, not that I needed to. Another moment where optional breathing was a gift. She pulled the lid off real fast and I could see that there was a bag between the junk and the plastic bin. She tied up the bag and removed it from the can. I don't even wanna know what's in there. She moved quickly, going for the sliding door.
I just about panicked, was she going to try and run? I held my ground, If she was going outside I would not let her out of my sight. I could chase her down if she tried to get away, she wouldn't get far. She booked it towards the edge of the building and with some effort managed to get the bag over and out of sight. Turning around she hustled back towards me and back inside, shutting the door.
"There see? It's gone. It's still a little smelly, but it's gone..." I removed my arm from my face and watched as she then dug around in the kitchen for a bit until she found a new bag, putting it in the plastic can, "Ta-dah!" She smiled at me.
…
Had she forgotten about last night so soon, after cleaning and a can of pringles? Did something as simple as getting rid of that stinking gooey mess make her happy? Maybe I was in luck after all. I tried to relax for a little bit as she loaded the pile she'd made on the floor into the canister. Was that what it's purpose was supposed to be, for holding garbage? Ding ding, another light went off in my head. The plastic thing is a garbage can!
Something about sitting here, watching her clean the apartment felt so natural. Like it was something that I had experienced a hundred times over, yet something didn't quite feel right. Letting my instincts decide, I approached and started helping her to load up the garbage can. Yeah, that felt better. Perfect almost.
For awhile we worked in silence together. I looked up at her a few times to observe her expression, though she didn't pay it any heed. Soon all of the garbage scattered around the living room area was collected, and she tied the bag up and brought it outside. She pushed it up over the edge, then held it there for a moment before finally dropping it. This time she stayed to watch it fall, I simply stayed back and watched her. As she returned, she was laughing. Why though? Curiosity was once again taking hold.
It wasn't like I could ask, and she didn't bother to explain. She went back into the kitchen again, putting a new bag into the garbage can and this time opening up the refrigerator. Once more she was throwing things away. Going from the fridge to the freezer, from cupboard to cupboard, the bag was full again in no time and the process repeated. The entire time I watched her, that small content smile never came off her face.
It took her some time, but it never got boring. Before I knew it, all of the garbage and broken pieces of furniture and formerly precious belongings was gone, tossed over the edge of the building into the streets below. Watching her almost felt like watching my past self, the simple human things that I must have done before hell came to Earth.
The place was clean as a whistle compare to the rest of the city, yet it didn't seem to be enough to her just yet. Soon she had a towel and a bottle full of some unknown liquid. She sprayed it onto the surfaces of solid furniture, wiping away all of the stories that the built up grime had to tell. I chose to breathe in and the smell that hit me brought back a rush of memories so potent I would've collapsed, had I not been sitting at the time.
I was watching myself through my own eyes. My face was not visible to me, only the back of my head. She was there, the human girl, with a bottle and a towel. Two sprays later and the towel met the surface of the coffee table, wiping away any dust. She was smiling, laughing, with me.
Then I had the bottle, and the towel. The dust on the television screen became victim to a lemony scent and a fate soon to be known well by the washing machine in the basement. Pressing a button, the T.V. Sprung to life, people living dramatic and romantic lives through half an inch of convex glass.
We were looking at each other again, she approached me and wrapped her arms around my shoulders. Her hand came to my face, her lips came to mine. She spoke a few words, the look on her face bringing my heart to skip a beat.
My eyes flew open, and the scene was gone.
The scent of lemons remained.
I stood and walked over to her, watching as she destroyed the dust on the coffee table. I leaned down and took the bottle and the towel from her hands, then turned and went to the television. I sprayed the contents of the bottle onto the screen, exactly as I had just seen my previous self do, and wiped it clean. I pushed the same button, but only static reached my ears.
No woman and man, telling each other how much they were in love, only to be having a fight a moment later. I turned and looked at her, desperately begging her with every fiber of my being to see the same scene in her head as I had seen in mine.
She came to me, a second time, but the look on her face was different. She was confused. Reaching up for my hood, her tiny hands latched onto the edges. Terror. I pushed her back, and she stumbled and fell onto her rear end. I dropped the cleaning supplies and crouched down, putting my hands on my head. The look on her face told me she understood.
Not yet.
Not yet...
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Peace... It's been awhile since I've found that anywhere. The way I felt as I woke up this morning, so much more refreshed than I'd been in such a long time. Stretching, my foot hit the bottom of the bed. That's weird, this is a big bed. I probed whatever it was with my toe, the bottom of the bed is not lumpy...
Groggily opening my eyes, he was there again. Shit I'd almost forgotten everything that had happened last night. I froze as all the good feelings were washed away, replaced with dread. The only words passing through mind mind at the moment were, 'No escape, no escape...'
Sitting up, intending to put a little more space between the two of us, I stared into the general direction of his eyes. It was almost like his gaze was piercing into my soul, even though his eyes weren't visible. Finally noticing that my bladder was screaming bloody murder I got off the bed and went into the bathroom.
Relieving myself, I needed time to think about what was going on. Obviously, fighting this probably wasn't the right answer. It had led to disaster time and time again. Maybe being here wouldn't be so bad... I wasn't fighting unending hordes of infected anymore. I didn't have to worry about getting crushed by a tank, or diced by a witch.
I only had to worry about one thing, and that was the Hunter. One thing was way better than a hundred things. Plus there were so many luxuries here, a working shower, a toilet, electricity... and food. Hopefully. At this thought, my stomach gave a roar of displeasure. Frowning, I finally got off of the can and pulled my pants up. Washing my hands and brushing my hair I stepped out.
He was still there, sitting on the foot of the bed. As we stared at each other another thought came through my mind, 'Can I handle this?'
"I'm... hungry."
He stood, almost in a hurry and brushed passed me out into the living room. Probably going to break more stuff, or something. Or maybe he... No. Not possible.
Although, just maybe...
I went and sat back down on the bed. Looking out the doorway and watching as he looked into the kitchen for a minute. Before long, he was in there rummaging around through the cupboards.
'No way. No fucking way.'
Soon he'd found something, and eccentrically scuttled my way with it in his hands. He sat next to me on the floor and held it out to me.
It was a can of God damn Sour Cream and Onion Pringles. I was so blown away I wasn't even sure if that's exactly what they were at the moment. All I knew was the can was green, and the green can was the good can. Familiarity washed over me, but I brushed that off at the thought of his understanding me took priority.
The Pringles being pushed into my arm brought me out of my mind and back into real time.
"You can... Understand me?" I watched as the expressions his mouth displayed changed, and he settled on a nod.
A damn nod.
'Holy shit.'
I watched as that happy yet somewhat creepy grin on his face started fading away, changing into a frown that was a perfect replica of anxiety and fear. Him being nervous about something as simple as this was so ironic, it made me smile. I took the can from him and thanked him. That's the proper thing to do right?
"I love these. Thank you."
Popping the can open, I greedily dug in. It wasn't hard to eat these things fast, although some of the sharp pieces scratching down my throat made me slow down. Before I knew it, the can was void of chips, and thirst was taking over.
Ignoring it for now, I grabbed the T.V. remote off of the end table next to me and pressed the power button. All I got was protestant static in return. Next to me, he jumped in surprise at the sudden noise, "It figures that the T.V. doesn't work." While he was busy looking from it to me I shut it off, watching as he stared at it.
We were back to just sitting here in silence, minus the staring this time. So awkward... I couldn't take it. Getting up, he stepped to the side out of my way, and I walked out of the room. As I took the first few steps, I could feel the cut on my leg groaning in protest with the new movement. I hadn't noticed it before when I went to the bathroom, probably because I needed to pee so bad. Cuts were always like this when they haven't been moved in awhile, but I knew the pain would subside; but as I really looked at the living room for the first time, I was in shock
Oh my God the place was a fucking disaster. There was shit strewn everywhere, pieces of furniture lopped off now rested idly on the floor. It was beyond unacceptable the status this home was in. No, I would not live in a shit hole, not even for five fucking minutes.
I got to work immediately, collecting all garbage and loose debris into a pile. At first it was annoying with how often I tripped on the bottom of my pants, but soon I adjusted. It wasn't long until I'd gotten all of the big pieces together. I went on over to the garbage and started to lift the lid off so I could throw all that shit away and my God did I regret it. All of the food garbage that had been thrown away before the place's owners died must have been sitting there for at least two and a half weeks or more. It was horribly rotted, and the smell of decay made me want to puke. Stumbling away I said, "Oh God, that's awful, that's so bad!"
Suddenly the hunter was all over it. I watched in awe as he lifted the lid and looked inside at the soupy mess. For a moment he didn't seem at all bothered by the smell, until I saw him make a sniffing motion. He backed away faster than I had. If he had been a real animal of some kind, surely all of his fur would be standing on it's end.
"So you don't like that either, huh?" chuckling a bit, I saw as he seemed almost offended by my comment. Maybe he was a little more human than I was giving him credit for, "How about we get rid of it? You might want to cover your nose though."
Pulling the over-sized shirt over my face, I moved towards the garbage can and began to lift the lid off. Big mistake, my fingers were nearly crushed as he leaped at the can, smashing the lid back down. Instinctively jumping back out of the way, I was tempted to chuckle. He must hate what's been rotting in there more than me. Approaching, I pulled his hands away from the lid, "Just trust me, and cover your face. I'm gonna make it go away."
He turned his face up at me, and hesitated. Slowly he moved away, and put his arm over his face. Taking that as his ready signal, I took in a deep breath and threw the lid off the can. I tied it at lightning speed and pulled the heavy mass loose, running for the door. I threw it open and ran outside, struggling to get the stinking blob over the edge and down into oblivion. I dashed back at through the door and slid it shut, freeing the air I'd held in my lungs and following it with a deep breath.
The stink from the garbage was still permeating the air, but it would fade away with time, "There see? It's gone. It's still a little smelly, but it's gone..." He removed his hand from his face, and after some time searching for one I put a new bag in the garbage, "Ta-dah!" I turned and for some unknown reason, smiled at him. He almost seemed taken aback, but it's hard to tell when you can't see their eyes.
Moving on...
I grabbed the garbage and dragged it out into the living room, beginning to load up the pile of junk that had accumulated in the middle of the floor. I could feel his invisible eyes boring holes into my back, though I did my best to ignore it for now. Halfway through the pile, he wandered over and began to help. Momentarily shocked, I pretended like I didn't notice, choosing instead to lose myself in my thoughts. The shock passed, when I began to feel incredibly comfortable. Cleaning the apartment reminded me of how simple life had been before the infection had hit.
I used to clean with him, before we were separated. I was smiling again, it had been more than two weeks since I'd smiled twice in a single day. The time spent cleaning the living room seemed to fly by, and before I knew it I had filled up the new bag. Tyeing it off I stepped out again, looking over the edge. We were really high up there, this building probably had a hundred floors at least. Even so, I could see some curious infected observing the broken garbage bag on the concrete below.
This gave me an idea. I dangled the new bag over the edge, and dropped it in a precise place. It came slamming down onto one of the two or three infected down there, causing the other two to scatter from fear of the random falling object. It gave me a giggle, knowing I'd gotten rid of one of millions by dropping a bag of garbage on it's head.
Going back inside, still smiling, I took note that the living room looked much better. It was still really dusty, and there was some blood spattered on the wall by the bedroom, but I could take care of that later. For now I wanted to organize and get rid of the random garbage strewn about the apartment, starting with any rotten or expired food in the kitchen. While I was going through the fridge and cupboard, I took note of what was there to eat. It would be enough for a week at the most, but some of the things would be risky to cook. I shouldn't use the oven or stove top, for fear of any potential gas leaks elsewhere in the apartment. Death by explosion was not on my list of 'ways to die'. Soon I was picking up broken valuables in the bedroom and organizing the closet. Each time the bag would fill up, I would take it outside and drop it over the edge.
Through the whole process, I could feel his eyes on me. Yet, I didn't feel afraid as I would have if any other infected were staring me down. In fact, it was entirely different. It was almost as if I were a guinea pig in a science experiment, though it didn't lack compassion. I also couldn't seem to get my mind off him, and I hadn't thought about it for two weeks at least.
How he went to work, and never came home after everything went down. I waited at that apartment for two days, before the other survivors from my former group had come along and found me. From there, it was all business. All about staying alive. While I cleaned, those prominent survival instincts were replaced by comfort.
Before long, I'd gathered and disposed off all the remaining garbage, and moved on to dusting the furniture. The entire penthouse was being transformed under my hand, from post apocalypse back into something that was seen everywhere before it. A home. It was odd, because the furniture was set up so alike to what it had been at home. It felt so much like the first time I'd told him I loved him... How I was dusting the coffee table and he'd come up to me and took the cleaning supplies from my hands, demanding I take a break.
I stopped a moment and straightened out, noticing that the hunter was standing directly in front of me now. He reached out, and took the cleaning supplies from my hands.
Shock and awe was the only way to describe what was going on in my head. Here I had been thinking about it...
I watched as he approached the T.V. And cleaned the screen. He didn't do a very good job, but it wasn't hard to tell that he was trying. He pressed the power button on the T.V., and stood to face me. Confused, I slowly walked over to him.
'Could it possibly be...?'
I reached up for his hood, I had barely grasped the sides of it when he pushed me back – his demeanor taking a one hundred and eighty degree turn. He was growling low, his hands over his hood, crouched down to the floor. From my place on the ground I could tell that the hunter, whoever he was, just wasn't ready for me to see what he used to be... Who he used to be.
And as unlikely as it seemed, just maybe... maybe I'd found the person I'd been looking for for the last two weeks; but I couldn't possibly know until the time came for me to see what his face really looks like.
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A/N: And there we finally go folks. It's chapter 3! I've finally found the inspiration to write again after quite some time, though this was difficult for me to get out. It took a lot of patience x_x and battles with several writer's blocks parts of the way through. Then again, chapter three always seems to be the hardest for me.
Hopefully now, the road will be a little smoother and you'll be seeing more from me soon. Until then, thanks for reading Alone!