Glory And Gore

Chapter Two

The armory was wiped clean by Levy and Rory, and eventually Shane came to help while Cas checked out the would-be raiders' car and organized the things in their own. Gas was siphoned, a few energy bars were taken, and there was a whole case of water in the trunk, as well as a shotgun and roughly ten shells.

A good trip. Except...

Maverick sighed as he heard the story from the group of four. The recount of the event had taken all of six minutes, but it felt significantly longer. "Shit," he muttered, rubbing his face. "So there are raiders in these parts. Won't take long for them to figure out where we are."

"Most people ignore this place because the dead ignores this place," Cas said, and Levy nodded as she heard it. It wouldn't be much of a surprise if they were ignored, at first, but they'd only overlook it for so long once they found out their people were dead. The gates here were still up. That was enough to signal living were inside.

"Doesn't mean that they will forever. We killed two of them, and they'll come lookin' to get even," Maverick said, taking a deep breath. Levy didn't like that he was being so obvious about it, not in front of the others. "Shit. Just what we needed. Finally get this place up and properly running, all to run into some raiders."

"No, Maverick, we're ready for this. No one is taking this place." Shane shook his head, and Levy watched as he approached Maverick with purpose.

Maverick shot back, "These kids aren't trained for people. For the dead, sure, but not for people."

"Then we start working on it. We got some time, not a whole lot. And, thanks to Levy, Rory, and a fat stroke of luck, we got a shit ton of weapons. Probably more than they have." Shane looked at Maverick, who was stressing out over the new situation. "Mav. We will prepare them for this. And if they're not ready, you know what we do."

"We will be," Rory muttered. Levy glanced at him out the corner of her eye. He was trembling, but he was sure as he continued. "I'll make sure Arch is. Jude and Ae Ri."

"Even if they're not, there's us," Levy added, her eyes flashing up to Shane's. She hoped she looked and sounded more confident than she felt. "We need a plan. Something solid, something unbreakable. I would say 'allies' but that's a slippery slope."

Shane stared at each of them in turn before he nodded. Shane reached into a drawer and pulled out black, rectangular boxes. "I'll worry 'bout that, Levy. You take inventory of the guns. Cas, you help her after you and Rory get these supplies in their proper spots. Keep some radios on you."

Levy nodded, grabbed a radio, and she was out the door in seconds. Her sword was strapped firmly to her back, and she held onto the strap with white knuckles, her feet quickly taking her to the armory.

She sat down in the chair, took a deep breath, and she just sat there. The day had been long, and her mind was still trembling over the memory. She was with Rory, just about to ask where he learned to throw knives, when she heard shots. More than one. And from more than one gun.

Levy didn't think twice. She just took off. Rory had shouted after her, wanted her to slow down and evaluate, but all she could think about was the two other people with them that she didn't have an eye on. One was Shane, who was fully capable of handling himself, and the other was Cas, who... wasn't. In this situation, he was the worst person to have by someone's side.

She had no idea how long she sat there, steadying her breathing so she didn't cry. Levy wasn't sure about what was going to happen. They successfully avoided other people for months. That wasn't going to be an option for much longer. But the door eventually opened, and she looked up with wide eyes.