Glory And Gore

Chapter One

There was nothing ideal or convenient about the end of the world. The grocery stores closed, there was no more commercial entertainment, all forms of travel were extremely limited, and it was almost impossible to have and keep a pet. So it was up to a person to find a way to feed themselves, find good people to keep entertained, and stay level headed enough to keep going.

But Levana Miller was determined to, somehow, ride it all out until the either the dead were gone or the world found a way to return to a level of normalcy in spite of them.

She had a good group to do it too. Shane Walsh and his group found her on the worst day of her life, but Levy stayed with them anyway. Where else was she going to go? No friends, no family, no body left alive... Except for one guy who just wanted to fish and the kids who followed him.

"Hey, watch what you're doing," Shane said to her as she helped skin a few raccoons Archer caught. Levy noted the blade that was dangerously close to cutting her skin as Shane took it away, peering at the area it had been. "Something on your mind, kid?"

"No," Levy replied, taking it back and actually paying attention to what she was doing. Shane hummed, but the look on his face suggested he didn't quite believe it. "Just thinking about everything, I guess."

"Everything? Missin' the old days?" His question came with a chuckle, and she caught Ae Ri lifting her eyes with her own smile. It was awkward, and Levy looked down again. "Or you finally gettin' settled after, what? Two months here?"

It had taken what felt like a long time to find somewhere. But the high school had presented an opportunity they couldn't just ignore. It had only a few of the dead compared to the rest of the world, and the fence that was put up previously did wonders to ward off the dead. The only true concern was the living.

"Well, forgive me for being cautious," Levy responded, holding the knife in her hand in a mockery of a threat. "Maybe you should be worried more about me, Shane."

"Hah! I doubt it, kiddo," Shane laughed, and he set back to work. Ae Ri heard her name called, and she set her things down before bounding off. "Nah. You wouldn't know what to do without me, Miss Levy Miller."

Levy hummed, focused on getting a tougher spot. "How you figure that?"

"Because you hardly talk to anyone here. Not Ae Ri, not Jude, not Zayden, and definitely not the boys. The only one you sometimes talk to is Mav." Shane's eyes briefly looked up to her before back to what he was doing. "Why is that?"

"Maybe I like the two of you more than the others," Levy responded. "Maybe because Maverick is the only one who got me pain killers for my migraines that one time. Maybe because the others don't really like me either."

Shane's brow furrowed. "What? They like you."

"Ae Ri literally sat here and didn't say a word to me. But sure, Shane. Sure."

He set down was he was doing and stared at her. Levy didn't seem to mind it much, but Shane did. She hadn't shown any of the lethality they thought she could have had after the show she'd left behind at that camp for her family. She kept to herself, sure, but that didn't mean anything. At least, not to him.

Shane humphed. "She really didn't say anything to you?" Levy shook her head. "I'll get Mav to fix that then. Friends are what you get you through this world now, Lev."

"I had friends." The sting of what happened was something Levy still felt. "They abandoned me."

"Then family."

"I had family. They died."

The tightness in her voice made Shane stop. Levy knew him as well as she knew herself. In many ways, he had taken over many aspects of caring for a teenager. There were days where Levy hated him, but she always knew, at the end of the night, he had her back. The same could be said for just about everyone, who were all young when it started.