"So! You from around here?"
You can't tell if Hange's enthusiasm is forced, or maybe they're naturally just always this excited. Either way, you're not sure how to properly address them.
"Uh, that was my apartment," you say. "So, yeah. I guess."
"Neat, neat. So you're the reason these streets are so clear?"
The two of you are walking side by side on the sidewalk next to the road. Erwin and Levi are somewhere behind you; every time you glance back, the two of them are staring at you. You always turn back around pretty quickly.
You shrug, returning to Hange's question. "I guess. Most of the zombies migrated elsewhere once they thought this street was empty, but sometimes there's a few around."
"And you kill 'em? With the axe?"
"Yeah."
"That's your weapon of choice?" You nod. "How'd you get it?"
You pause, considering your answer. "One of those 'in case of emergency' things, you know," you say truthfully. "It's been pretty useful so far."
Hange nods enthusiastically. "Neat! Ever found any guns?" You shake your head. "There ain't a lot of 'em, but we've found a few," they continue. "Used up all the bullets already though. Know of where we can get ammo?"
You shake your head. "Is your base far?" you ask, changing topics.
They shrug. "Nah, not at all. It's central Sina."
"Whereabouts?"
"You know the library?"
You blink. "Your headquarters is the old library?"
"Yep!" Hange says eagerly. "It's great Stocked with plenty of things that can be used for barricades, and you never get bored! Always plenty of books to read, even if these cretins want to use them as fire starter," they call over their shoulder, shooting a glance back at Levi.
"You can't blame me for wanting to burn Shakespeare," Levi retorts.
You can't help it; you grin. At least that's something the two of you can agree on. "Can't say I want to argue with him," you murmur, looking to Hange.
Hange scoffs. "Shakespeare was great!"
"What, are you an English teacher?"
"Nah, med school!" They laugh, then quiet themselves, as if remembering where you all are. "Finished my undergrad, only a year into the big stuff before all this went down," Hange continues. "Not sure if I liked it anyways. I think I'm more suited for chem."
"Careful, or they'll light your jacket on fire," Erwin says from behind you.
Hange laughs. "Nah, Sparks over here could do that on her own!"
Your grin immediately gives way for a scowl. "Please don't tell me that's going to stick."
Erwin speaks up from behind you. "No such luck."
"Aw, c'mon, it's a cute name!" Hange protests.
"I have a name. It's a good name."
"Nah. I'm calling you Sparks."
"You don't have to."
"I want to!" They beam. "Look at all these supplies you got us- you gave us a spark of hope! I think it's optimistic."
You fight back the curse that's rising in your throat- it's hard to remain on guard when Hange is just so damn likeable- and you focus on something else. "How far is the walk?" you ask.
"If we stick to main streets? Twenty minutes, more or less. If zombies come up, we'll have to take some back ways, so it might take us longer." They shrug. "We didn't really have any issues on the way here, so I think it should be fine."
So you've got at least twenty more minutes with Levi glaring holes into your back. Can you manage that?
You glance behind you.
Sure enough, he's glaring at you.
You repress your sigh and turn back to Hange. Twenty more minutes it is.
.
The library is huge.
You only arrived on the island a few months ago, so you'd never really explored too much of downtown. Sure, you've been to the mall once or twice (shopping for Sasha's birthday) but you've never been to the library. You've heard it was big, but you never expected five monstrous floors with dozens of hallways and private reading areas.
Hange shows you around the outside. They've abandoned the first two floors, barricading the entrances down there: bookshelves have been moved to block off the doors and the windows have been barricaded similarly. "How do you get in, then?" you ask.
"Two doors," Hange says, holding up two fingers. "There's two employee side doors. We've been using both."
"Do you have guards?"
"Yeah, one posted at each."
You hum in acknowledgement. At the very least, it looks like they know what they're doing. Staying on the upper floors means that you're further away from the smell of rotting meat that's consumed the streets, and it keeps your scent further away from the undead. That, and any noise is kept a bit further away.
You follow Hange as they traipse around the side of the building until you're near a small door labelled Employees Only. Erwin and Levi are somewhere further behind you; you don't spare the glance back. There's a strong smell that you don't recognize; probably a way to hide their scent.
Hange taps on the door four times. "We're back!"
A muffled voice calls from inside. "One second!"
You try to force yourself to relax. Your grip tightens on your axe involuntarily.
The door opens to reveal a short girl with hair cut into a bob. She's smiling when she sees Hange, and her smile transfers over to you. "Another survivor!" she chirps. "Come on in."
Hange steps through the door, and after one last glance over your shoulder, you follow them. "Erwin and Levi are coming in on the west side," Hange tells the woman at the door. "Plenty of supplies to drop off."
She grins. "A good run, then?"
"Thanks to her," Hange says, gesturing to you.
"Hi," the woman greets, holding out her hand. You reach out and shake. "I'm Petra. Nice to meet you."
"Hi," you reply. "Your friends pillaged my apartment."
Her eyes widen. "Did they now?"
"You should've seen what Sparks here had stocked up," Hange says excitedly, and they move towards the staircase. Petra falls into step next to them, and you pick up the rear. "Enough medical supplies for a small army, more rations than we know what to do with, and apples! She had apples!"
"Apples?" Petra says, sounding like she's in awe. "Wow."
"We'll definitely have them later."
She nods, looking back to you as the three of you round a corner, passing a door with the number two on it. "Is that your name?" she says, sounding almost amused. "Sparks?"
"No," you say with a sigh. "It's-"
"It's because she threatened to burn her apartment down when we found her, and did it by making sparks," Hange says enthusiastically. "What'd you make them with? A battery and- what was that grey stuff?"
"Steel wool," you reply. "I only had one lighter, and it was a cheap thing that died a week back. I had to improvise."
Petra hums. "Batteries and steel wool. Never thought of that before."
Hange pauses on the next floor, by the door with the number three, and they pull it open. Petra heads inside first, and you head after her apprehensively, not quite sure what to expect. She leads you down a hallway, passing by several rooms with closed doors before turning the corner into the main area.
The library is just as big inside as it is outside. The walls are lined with windows observing the whole city, which is quite the view (even if it's only the third floor). The center of the room has a few tables and chairs, but there's a giant stack of collapsed tables and such further away.
Most of the bookcases are still standing, but some are toppled over. Most of the books have been cleared out, making room for supplies; you see crates full of ropes, tarps, sheets, and anything else that the survivors have gotten their hands on. You can see mats and blankets spread out near the walls- looks like people have their own sleeping areas.
"We're back!" Hange calls. "We got another one!"
"Another one for the merry band of survivors," someone calls, and you see a man with scrunched features and messy brown hair. "Poor soul."
"Everyone, be nice," Hange instructs. They step sideways and swing their arms out to gesture to you; you want to melt into the floor. "This is Sparks, and she's generously stocked our medical cabinet for the next month!"
You scowl. "I have a name."
"You do, and it's Sparks."
"Mike, you're up for watch," Petra calls. She's talking to a man with shaggy light brown hair, carrying a bow. Your eyebrows rise; how'd he get his hands on a bow and arrows? Neat.
The man- Mike- nods, rising to his feet. He nods to you as he passes by, heading back the way that you came. Not much of a talker, then.
Hange grabs your shoulder and you nearly flinch. "That guy's Oluo," they say, pointing to the man who spoke earlier. He salutes you. "Then there's Gunther and Eld," Hange continues, and you see two men sitting at one of the tables, fiddling with some sort of device. They both raise a hand at you. "Nanaba's on guard at the other post, so you won't see her, but there's Gelgar, Klaus, and Duran. Twelve of us."
"Thirteen including you," the man Hange pointed out as Gelgar says, waving to you from the bench he's laying on. Klaus is looking at you too, apparently interested in what you have to say. Duran doesn't even bother looking up from his book. "You got meds?"
You nod. "Some."
"Any Viagra?" Klaus calls. "I heard Oluo's got some trouble getting it up."
Oluo squawks in protest. "Oi! I am not! Tell him, Petra!"
You glance sideways at Petra, raising your eyebrows. Her face is bright red. "Klaus," she scolds. "Come on. Inappropriate."
"I'm just concerned for my fellow man."
"Hey, at least I'm getting some!" Oluo defends. "Be more concerned for yourself."
"Might not have to be single for long," Klaus says, and you feel mildly horrified when he looks over to you. "What say you, Sparks? Up for a little fun?"
You smile bitterly. "I've got standards. Sorry."
Oluo cackles loudly. Gelgar laughs, smacking Klaus's leg. Klaus looks mildly affronted for a minute before he shrugs, shoving Oluo away when the man tries to push him around. "My bad, my bad," Klaus says.
You glance at Hange. "Is this typical?"
"Unfortunately, yeah," they confirm. "Not much to smile about nowadays, so they're rowdy when they can be. Don't worry- they're all nice guys. They might crack jokes but that's it."
"It's only jokes," Petra confirms. Her face is still red. "They're just- yeah. Rowdy, like Hange said."
"Petra likes rowdy," Hange teases.
The woman's face gets even darker, if that's possible. "I'm going to..." she trails off. "I've got stuff to do."
Petra skitters away, and Hange loops an arm around your shoulders. "She's been dating Oluo for a while now, well before all this happened," they explain. "They're some of the first people we teamed up with. Duran's the most recent besides you- we ran into him five days ago."
You nod along, glancing around the room again. No one's really paying you any mind anymore. Everyone seems... fine, you suppose. It's been a while since you've been around other people; you were almost afraid that you'd forgotten how to be social.
"You good?"
You blink yourself out of your stupor, looking back to Hange. "Yeah."
"What's up?"
"Just haven't seen people in a while."
Hange nods along, as if they understand. "Well, you'll be safe here." They start guiding you towards the table where the two men looked like they were working. "This is the old radio we found. Gunther and Eld are working on it."
It doesn't look much like a radio to you: it's a disaster of scraps. "You wouldn't happen to have a working tuning coil or batteries, would you?" one of the men asks. He has black hair while the other is blond; you're not sure which one is Eld and which one is Gunther.
You nod. "Batteries, yeah."
"They're not the standard ones."
"Yeah. I might have them."
They both straighten up. "Any lithium ion ones, perhaps?" the blond asks. "Labelled Li-ion."
You nod again. "Yeah."
"How many?"
"How many do you need?"
"Just one."
"I think I've got at least three."
Both men exchange a surprised glance, and then look back to you. "Good to meet you," the blond says, sticking his hand out. "I'm Eld, and you've got exactly what we're looking for."
"I like you already," the other man says, reaching out to shake your hand as well. "Gunther."
You shake both of their hands. "Nice to meet you both. I think Erwin's got my batteries."
"I do," you hear someone call, and all four of you look up. Erwin is walking towards the table, smiling triumphantly. He's got a clear plastic bag in his hand that you recognize as yours, with a few square batteries packed inside. "I assume you're okay with us using these?" he asks as he gets closer. "Assuming this is the type we need."
So they've rummaged through your collection already. Either that, or Erwin knew exactly what he needed for the radio and pocketed it when they were packing up your stuff. You shrug. "Do I have a choice?"
"You always have a choice."
"...sure."
"Thank you," Erwin says, and he looks like he means it. You shift uncomfortably as he stares at you before he turns to the table, taking one of the batteries out of the bag and handing it to Eld.
"How'd you get all of these?" Gunther says in awe. "Batteries are so hard to come by, especially these kind."
"I suspect," Erwin says, "that she's the reason they're hard to come by."
You scowl. "No. I just- you know, raided a few department stores before anyone else had the chance."
"Smart," Eld murmurs.
The praise makes you uncomfortable. Erwin speaks up, saving you from the embarrassment- intentionally or not, you're grateful for it. "Levi's sorting through the food we recovered," he says. "We're going to have apples tonight."
They both straighten up. "Apples?" Eld asks, like he doesn't quite believe him.
Gunther looks to you. "Are you a god?"
"I went apple picking," you say with a shrug.
"And she's modest," Hange brags. "C'mon, Sparks. Lemme show you around."
They steer you away from the device repair table. As they do, your eyes catch onto movement: Levi's returned to the room. His eyes are on you too, glaring at you as you cross the room with Hange's arm over your shoulders.
He really doesn't trust easily, does he? Does he trust at all?
"Here," Hange says, and you break out of your staring contest with Levi. "This is our schedule."
It's a giant calendar, pinned to the wall, with Patrol Schedule scrawled across the top. It's color-coded, which makes you smile. There's another large chart next to it that reads Guard Schedule with times of day scratched across the top and dates down the side. The names of the other people here have been written in.
Hange turns your attention back to the calendar. "These are our patrols, for who goes out every day," they say, tapping on the dark green sticker slapped on today's date. "Dark green means me, Levi, Erwin. We're the only one for today. Tomorrow is blue and orange- that's Petra, Gunther, and Eld, and then Gelgar, Nanaba, and Mike. If you want, we can stick you into one of the teams tomorrow, so you can see how we work."
"Sure," you agree, still not entirely sure what you're agreeing to.
"And this is our guard schedule! For who watches the doors. Someone's always doing it, so be prepared for some overnights."
You narrow your eyes at the giant chart. You find today's date and approximate time of day: sure enough, Mike's name is scrawled down, and so is Klaus's. He must be going to take over for the other person- Nanaba- soon. You start noticing some names more than others, and you frown.
"You guys really don't like Levi, do you," you muse, fingers skimming over Levi's name on the calendar. He's on there a lot.
"He volunteers for it," someone calls from the other side of the library.
"Levi's a bit of an insomniac," Hange confesses, sparing a glance over their shoulder to shout, "even though we've explained how unhealthy it is!"
"I'll sleep when I'm dead," Levi snaps back.
Hange rolls their eyes. "He also thinks he can speak with his fists," they continue, and your lips twitch. "So he's a bit of an asshole."
"Could've guessed that one for myself," you murmur, eyes flickering to the short man. He's staring at you, bag of apples clutched in one hand and baseball bat clutched in the other. You look away, preferring to study the calendar.
The next thing Hange does is show you to a mat and blanket that you can call your own. There's plenty to go around, apparently, and Hange claims they've stocked up a bunch for any other survivors that they might find. You take yours and find a corner of the library that isn't claimed, secluded by a few bookshelves for some privacy.
Levi hands out the apples. He throws yours to you without breaking eye contact, and you catch it in one hand while holding his stare. He can't intimidate you into leaving; if this group is truly your best chance of getting out of here, then you're going to stay with them.
Eventually, darkness comes. Nanaba returns from her shift and says hello to you- at least she seems nice. You curl yourself into your corner, eyes narrowed on the lanterns that Hange had set out for some light. Your backpack is tucked under your head, your axe still gripped tightly in your hand. Your spare knife is tucked into your boot.
These are survivors. You're all on the same side. But you're still on edge.
Your eyes land on Levi. He's not staring at you anymore, but he's sitting somewhere where he can keep you in his peripheral.
What's his issue with you?
You turn over, then reach into your pocket for the sharpie you brought. You uncap it, then reach towards the empty shelf. You write your name along the wood. Then, you cap the marker, stuff it away, and look back to Levi.
He's staring at you. When you lock eyes, he looks away.
Would he kill you in your sleep? Maybe.
You don't sleep at all that night.
.
People start to stir as soon as you can spy the sun coming up outside of the window. You're not sure if you dozed off at all, but you surprisingly don't feel all that tired. Judging by the guard schedule, Levi has a lengthy shift tonight, so maybe you'll actually get some sleep. It felt like his eyes were on you all night.
What, was he expecting you to bolt? To steal shit and run? You don't even know where they keep their rations; Erwin and Levi put those away somewhere down the hallway.
"Sleep well?"
You blink, looking over to Hange. They're smiling at you. "Yeah," you lie. "You?"
"Meh. I had a guard shift, so not so much. I'll get some sleep today." Hange pats your shoulder. "You up for a patrol? Learn the ropes?"
"Sure," you agree. "Happy to help."
"Aw, you've helped plenty. What you had in your place is more than a week's worth of patrols, honestly. Those meds were extra valuable," Hange adds. "I'm our resident doctor, so I appreciate it."
"Doctor?" you ask.
"Meh, not really. But if people get injured, you're looking at the solution," they joke, gesturing to themselves. "Not that we've had many injuries. Worst one was the time Gelgar sprained his ankle."
"That hurt like a bitch," Gelgar shouts from across the room.
"So did all your complaining," Gunther says. "I don't think any of us slept."
"I was in pain!"
"Bring it in," Erwin calls, clapping his hands.
You watch curiously as people start to rise. There's a couple grumbles that you bet are just from exhaustion. Some people are grabbing backpacks and weapons as they trudge over to Erwin, so you grab your own backpack. Your axe hasn't left your grip all night and your hand feels painfully cramped; you switch hands, flexing your fingers painfully.
Erwin waits until everyone's close enough before he starts to speak. "Blue and orange are up today," he says. "Blue's offered to take our new friend with them today to show them the ropes."
Blue? Who was blue?
You glance around, and Petra's waving at you with a smile on her face. Your shoulders relax; that's nice of her. She seems genuinely nice; maybe this won't be so bad. "It's me, Gunther, and Eld," she says, and you remember those names as the two that were working on the radio yesterday.
Okay. Three people who didn't seem to hate you. Maybe this won't be that bad.
"Actually," someone speaks up, and you turn towards Eld. "I'm making great progress with the radio," he says, looking to you. "Thanks to those batteries. If someone's willing to trade with me, I'd like to hang back and work on that."
"I'll trade."
You suppress your groan. Of fucking course.
Levi's got his arms crossed, gaze focused on Eld. You know exactly why he's doing this: he's got some sort of problem with you. What, does he seriously think you'd sacrifice all of your supplies and rations just to come here and cause some chaos? What's his problem with you?
"Alright," Erwin agrees. "Levi and Eld will switch. Patrols, head out whenever you're ready. You've got your assignments."
Levi looks to Gunther. "Let me grab my shit, and then I'm good to go."
Someone touches your arm, and you turn your head. "You won't need your backpack," Petra says beside you. "We've got a supply pack just in case, and we'll take empty backpacks to collect anything we find."
You think for a moment, then nod. "Alright," you agree. "Let me put it away."
You jog back towards your mat, setting your backpack down. You wish you had a lock on it, but... well. Hopefully no one goes through it. Your number one suspect for searching your stuff is determined to keep you within his sights at all times, so maybe it won't be a problem.
Yeah. You'll be fine.
Gunther and Levi are already headed towards one of the two entrances- it's the one Levi and Erwin came through. Petra is waiting for you. You shoot her a quick smile as you join her, and the two of you head after the two men ahead of you.
"We keep everything stored in these rooms," Petra says as the two of you head down the hallway, taking a corner. "These were just a bunch of storage rooms, offices, places for rare books. Stuff like that. We've cleaned them all out for supplies."
"Ah," you murmur, nodding along. "There's a lot."
She laughs. "Yeah. It's a huge library."
You take the stairs down to the first floor, passing by Duran, who must be the guard on duty. He looks up but doesn't even bother acknowledging the four of you as you leave, pushing open the door to the street. Gunther is holding a map, murmuring directions to Levi. You trail after them, tossing your axe between your hands.
You wish you were more familiar with the area. You're quite good with the area surrounding your apartment; this is a bit further outside of your familiarity.
At least the streets are mostly empty. You remember the first few days of the apocalypse, when it felt like there were zombies at every turn; eventually, you'd cleared plenty of them out, or they'd left themselves. Looks like it's the same situation for these guys.
You've been walking for maybe twenty minutes when Gunther pauses in front of you.
"One, up ahead," Levi says immediately.
You look up. Sure enough, there's movement between a few of the abandoned cars on the street.
"I can get it," Gunther volunteers.
"No," Levi objects. "She does."
He glances at you. You blink. "Sorry?"
"Go kill it."
"Levi, it's her first day," Petra says, lightly grabbing your arm. "Shouldn't she just watch for the first while?"
What's he doing? Is he testing you, trying to figure out how good you actually are? Probably. It's annoying as shit- you can understand not trusting someone (sure, you don't exactly trust anyone here very much) but going out of his way to make your life difficult is just... shitty.
Levi's still staring at you, and you scowl. "I've got it," you say icily, glaring at Levi. "I'm fine."
You push past Levi, stepping by the group and approaching the cars. You glance around briefly: you can't spy any other movement or hear anything else besides the grumbles in front of you, so it looks like this one's alone.
Fine. He wants a spectacle? You'll give him one.
The zombie hears you when you start to get close, and it turns around. It looks pretty far along: the skin's heavily sagged, and there's some sort of fungus or whatever growing on its face, around its ears. Its eyes are so red that you can't tell what color they used to be.
It takes a step towards you, hands extended. You raise your axe, and you swing.
Your blade goes directly into the side of the zombie's head. The sheer force from your swing sends the zombie toppling sideways, your axe embedded in its skull. You let go of the axe handle and allow the zombie to fall, crumpling to the ground.
"Fuck you," you tell it, scowling.
It doesn't reply. It's dead.
You grab the axe handle and tear your weapon out of the zombie's head before you turn around and stomp back to the group. Gunther's eyes are wide and Petra looks mildly fearful, but Levi's expression hasn't changed.
"Happy?" you say bitterly, looking at Levi.
He doesn't reply, instead raising his eyebrows at you.
You put your free hand on your hip, glaring at him. "Do you have a problem with me?"
Levi's response is almost instantaneous. "I think you're hiding something."
"Well, that sounds like a you problem."
Levi crosses his arms. He's staring at you, those skeptical grey eyes piercing your soul. "You're not denying it," he points out, eyes narrowing.
You laugh dryly. "We're in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. What the hell could I possibly have to hide?"
He doesn't reply to that. Instead, he turns to look at Petra and Gunther, who look like they're seeing you in a whole new light. "Let's go," he says. "The street's right there."
Levi leads. You glare at the back of his head as you follow.
The four of you go building by building. It takes painful hours, but you have to commend their efficiency: Levi works well as a tactical leader, telling Gunther and Petra where to go, and they follow his orders with no problem.
You follow along, letting Petra tell you what to look for, even though you've been doing this on your own for weeks now and you know what you're doing. You don't bother cutting her off; she's genuinely trying to help. Besides, it's clear they have a system: you should do your best to follow it.
She does, however, catch you in the middle of your little ritual, when you're signing your name on the doorframe of the store's entrance. "What're you doing?" she asks, glancing at your signature.
You shrug, capping your marker. "It's a thing I do," you admit bashfully. "When I was on my own and trying to look for things. I'd sign my name in the places I've been so I could... mark them off, I guess?"
"So you'd know if you'd already looted the place," Petra says, smiling. "Smart."
You grin sheepishly. "Thanks."
Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Levi watching you. You ignore him, stuffing the marker back into the pocket of your jeans before you turn back to Petra and she gestures for you to follow her.
Everything goes off pretty well until you hit a convenience store.
"Guys," Gunther says. He's standing inside the door, staring up at the ceiling. "Come see this."
Levi is the first to be next to Gunther, and you squish yourself next to Petra to try and see what Gunther is seeing. Your stomach drops.
"Oh, god," you hear Petra whisper.
Yeah. That fits.
The shop's got a high ceiling, but it's got a tough ceiling fan. There's a body hanging from a noose wrapped around the base of the ceiling fan. He must've kicked the ladder over once he'd hung himself up. Suicide.
Well, if it's between death by hanging or death by zombies...
"Should we..." Gunther trails off. "Should we get him down?"
You frown, and after weighing your options, you add, "zombies have a decent sense of smell, so if we don't want unnecessary attention, it might be best."
You realize you're new to the 'team' (if this could be called a team) and your input wouldn't be valued very much at all, but if you're trying to build trust, you've got to start somewhere, right? You glance to your other side; Levi's eyes are on you, and he looks away as soon as you meet his gaze.
That's what the other two are waiting for- Levi's approval. He's the unnamed leader of the group, even if he's not supposed to be with these two in the first place. The respect he commands is almost impressive.
"Gunther. Get him down," Levi says eventually. "Then bury him."
He nods. "Got it."
"We'll loot the store," he continues, glancing over to Petra. She tears her eyes away from the hanging corpse and nods. "I'll take the back office. Petra, take the shelves. You," Levi says, finally looking back towards you, "take the counter."
Petra nods and turns to the shelves. Levi starts walking towards the back and you trail after him, eyes still glued to the body hanging from the ceiling. Gunther is in the process of setting the ladder back up, but Petra's eyes are locked onto the shelves; she doesn't want to look at the scene. You don't blame her.
Levi hops over the counter, then pushes open a door and vanishes into the back office. You hop over the counter as well, swinging your legs to the other side. It looks like the items and shelves have been torn down, but nothing's been taken- so zombies probably came through here and wrecked the place, but there still might be some things that could be salvageable.
Sure enough, you find stuff. Lighters, all of which you shove into your bag. Some canned food. Lottery tickets, which can probably work as fire starter.
There's a lot of garbage too. Torn candy wrappers, empty chip bags. There's a crunch of destroyed food every time you step.
You manage to pry open the cash register. There's a handful of bills, and even though it's useless- money's really not going to get you much around here, is it?- you still take it anyways. Why not? You've got the space for it.
You tug open the cupboard beneath the register, and your eyes widen.
It's a safe.
Curious, you pull it out. It's not as heavy as you'd been expecting, but it also looks like a cheap vault, so you're not sure what to expect. It needs a four digit passcode to open. What do they have in there? Maybe some valuables, money or jewelry or things that really aren't useful to you.
But some shopkeepers carry guns for their own protection...
What if it's a gun?
"Gunther!" you call from behind the counter. It looks like he's just about got the corpse of the shop keeper down. "Does he have his wallet on him?"
There's a pause, then, "yeah."
"Pass?"
A wallet comes sailing over the counter and you grab it from the air with one hand. Lips pinched together, you open it and find his license, then narrow your eyes at the birthday. October 27th.
You thumb in the digits- one, zero, two, seven- but the safe doesn't budge.
Okay, maybe not his birthday, but...
Frowning, you set the safe down and turn towards the back office. You step inside. Levi's crouched behind the desk, looting through some drawers. He looks up when he hears you. "What?" he asks.
"I found a safe," you say. "I'm trying to get it open."
"Good for you."
"It might be a long shot, but some store owners carry guns."
There's a pause in the ruffling of papers. Levi's eyebrows narrow. "It's a safe guess," he says, jerking his chin at the pile of papers on top of the desk. "He's got a firearms license."
Score.
You move closer to the desk, well aware of Levi's wary eyes on you. The stack of paper looks painfully large- probably not something in there. There's a container full of pens and markers, and you pocket two of the sharpies for yourself. There's two photo frames there, and you turn the first one towards you.
Sure enough, the man in the picture is the same one hanging from the ceiling fan. He's standing with two younger kids who look like preteens. Grandkids? Frowning, you flip the next frame towards you.
It's him again, much younger this time, but he's not looking at the camera. There's another woman next to him, and he's looking at her, a smile wide across his face. It's easy to see the adoration in his expression. She's smiling as well and holding her hand up to the camera to show off her wedding ring.
He's got a wife.
Frowning, you turn back to the stack of documents that Levi's been piling on the desk. You start sifting through them, dismissing most of them rather quickly.
"Looking for something?" Levi asks, eyebrows rising.
"Cards," you murmur.
"Cards?" he asks, and you can hear the hesitance in his voice. He's not quite sure what you're up to. You look back over to him, pausing, and Levi stands up. "Bottom of the stack," he murmurs, pulling away the majority of the papers.
A few cards are tucked underneath the last few papers. You flip through them: holiday cards, a birthday card.
You find what you're looking for: an anniversary card.
You open it, eyes narrowed at the print. To Forrest and Ruth: Happy 40 years! Such a milestone. We'll see you soon. Lots of love, Sam and Marcy.
"They were married a long time," you muse, handing the card over to Levi. "I think the safe code might be their anniversary. Or the anniversary of some important date to the both of them."
"The store was in both of their names," Levi says. "It's possible. That's if they even used a date at all."
"Probably," you say. "Most of the older generation do."
You turn around again to jog out of the office, and idea brewing in your head. "Gunther!" you call, and he looks up from where he's kneeling on the ground. He's wrapped the body in a blanket. "Does he have a phone?"
Gunther nods. "Yeah, but it won't do us any good. No reception."
"Pass it."
"Seriously?"
You shrug. "Maybe he's got games."
Gunther snorts, pulling the blanket back so that he can grab the phone from the dead man's pocket. You watch as he holds the power button, turning the phone on. Then, his eyes go wide. "It's still got five percent battery," he calls.
You grin. "Nice."
"It's locked, though."
"Try his fingerprint. He's got grandkids, they may have configured it for him."
There's a pause from Gunther as he holds the phone under the dead man's thumb. "Son of a bitch," Gunther says in surprise. "It's unlocked."
"Pass."
He throws it to you. You catch it out of midair, then turn it towards you. You find his messaging app, clicking on it with your thumb.
You hear footsteps behind you, but you don't turn around. "Now what?" you hear Levi say.
"Trying to figure out his anniversary," you say, finding the contact named Ruth and clicking on her. "If they've been together and they're as in love as they look in that photo, then they've definitely gone out for their anniversary and maybe they've got some texts documenting it."
Levi doesn't reply to that, so you continue your scroll, eyes narrowed at the texts. Nothing overly special: be there soon, love you, can you open the store today, and similar.
Then, you find it.
Happy anniversary my love. Here's to 40 more. I'll see you soon. XOXO
For a second, you forget what you're looking for, and your heart melts a little bit in your chest. They seemed so in love.
This fucking world. These stupid god damn zombies took everything from this happy couple. They should've gotten forty more.
"June 15th," you say quietly. "Try zero six one five."
Levi steps around you, moving towards the safe. You hear the small beeps as he thumbs in the numbers.
There's a buzz, and a click.
"Holy shit," Levi says aloud.
You grin. "How's that for detective work?"
"What'd you find?" Petra calls excitedly, and she rushes towards you and Levi, moving around the side of the counter. "I found some meds- Tylenol, Midol- and they aren't expired yet, so they should be good."
Levi's eyes flicker over to Petra. "Sparks found a safe and unlocked it."
You scowl. "Please don't tell me that nickname's going to stick."
"I don't know, I kind of like it," Petra confesses, smiling. "It's cute."
Your scowl deepens. "That doesn't help."
Levi almost looks vaguely amused as he steps away from the vault. "You got it unlocked," he says. "You should get to open it."
Oh. You think about protesting and letting Levi open it to gain some trust, but fuck that- you do kind of want to open it. You nod to him in thanks, lips pinched together.
"Gunther!" Petra calls. "We got a safe open!"
"No shit!" Gunther calls back. "One second!"
You switch places with Levi, crouching next to the safe. Footsteps pound against the ground as Gunther joins the group, and the three of them pile behind you. Biting your lip, you turn the handle on the safe and pull it open.
A stack of bills, and a gun.
You can't help the grin that crosses your face. It looks simple enough: it's a handgun, not anything flashy. But you found yourself a gun- this could be useful.
There's hushed whispers between Petra and Gunther beside you- clearly, they're excited. From the sounds of it, this is quite a find. You ponder your options in your head as you reach for the gun, grabbing it by the barrel.
You twist, and you hold the gun out to Levi. "You should have it."
Levi blinks.
"I'm probably shit with it," you confess. "You've got a better chance with it than I do."
It's a show of your trust. If you want this to work, these people need to trust you; if you barge into the group and you're the only one with a gun, that's obviously going to cause some unrest. Some of the others have been quicker to welcome you- Petra and Gunther, for example- but earning the trust of Levi is going to take more work. He's been guarded and apprehensive to you ever since he met you. And it's true; Levi's got a better chance of being good with a gun than you.
It's a risk. But you're hoping it'll pay off.
He stares at you for a moment, like he's not sure if you're serious.
You raise your eyebrows, holding it out insistently.
Finally, he takes it from you. "Fine," Levi grumbles, reaching around himself to tuck it into the back of his pants. "But only because you'd probably waste every bullet."
You repress your smile. "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
"Nice," Gunther says appreciatively, and you feel him pat your shoulder. "This is a great find, Sparks."
"I have a name," you object, rolling your eyes.
"No one cares," Levi cuts in, walking away from the counter to move back towards the office.
"Ouch," you say innocently, pressing a hand to your chest and giving Levi your best fake-upset face.
Petra scoffs. "Levi, what do you gain from being so rude to her?"
Levi stares at you, then looks to Petra. "Peace of mind," he replies. "Now can we hurry up and grab shit? There's only one other place we've got to hit."
"Yes, sir," Petra mutters with a roll of her eyes. You grin at her before you push yourself up to your feet.
The four of you finish up the convenience store, renewed with energy from your find, and the last store is comically quick. All four of you have backpacks filled with supplies- Gunther's even carrying an extra bag- and although you've got no comparison for what's a good run and what isn't, this feels like a good run.
Petra and Gunther are chatting quietly ahead of you, bags full and steps heavy. Levi's walking behind them, baseball bat swinging aimlessly in his grip. He doesn't look particularly threatening towards you at this very moment, at least- not like the death glares you'd been receiving yesterday or even earlier today.
You ponder it. Why not?
You pick up your pace so that you can fall into step with Levi. "So?" you ask.
"So, what?"
"How'd I do?"
"Shitty."
You roll your eyes. "Right. I'll take the gun back, then."
Levi's eyes flicker to you. He looks peeved for a moment before he looks forward again. "You were fine," he says nonchalantly, rolling his shoulders back. "You kept up and besides the obnoxious comments, you weren't awful."
Your eyebrows rise. "Obnoxious comments? Wow."
"What, you disagree?"
"Obviously. Have you ever listened to yourself? Now that's obnoxious."
His gaze turns back to you. "You've got a problem with me?" he asks calmly.
It's not accusatory; it's a genuine question. "Do you have one with me?" you counter, challenging him.
Levi stares at you for another moment. Then, he looks back towards Petra and Gunther, who are wrapped up in their own conversation. He doesn't answer you.
You frown, looking back over to the chatty pair in front of you. "You don't seem to glare at anyone else in the library quite as much as you glare at me," you remark. "So I'd like to know when the trust comes and the death glares stop."
He scowls. "I don't have a fucking timeline."
"Guess."
"What, you want me to guess when you'll finally be tolerable?"
"Yes."
Levi's eyes flicker to you again. "You won't be."
You roll your eyes. "My feelings," you say sarcastically. "Mortally wounded."
He scoffs. "Right."
There's a lilt to his voice; he's not annoyed. Or at least, he's not as annoyed as before. Maybe that's a good sign? Either way, you keep yourself quiet for a minute, hoping that he'll speak up.
The two of you walk for maybe another thirty seconds before Levi finally speaks. "You're not like the other survivors that we've picked up," he says.
You roll your eyes. "Right, I'm so quirky and different."
He scowls. "That's not what I meant."
You raise your eyebrows. "Then what did you mean?"
"You know what you're doing."
"They sure seem like they do," you say, nodding at the two in front of you.
"They didn't," Levi explains. "Not at first. This shit's been going on for a month now- we met and joined up with Petra, Gunther, Eld, and Oluo maybe two days in. Oluo was scared shitless and was pretty damn near useless for the first five days. Petra was useless for the first two weeks- couldn't wrap her head around what was happening. "
"Well, maybe I was like that in the first two weeks," you interrupt.
Levi kicks a stone that was on the road. It skitters across the pavement. "We found Gelgar and Nanaba holed up in the basement of a house," he says. "They were huddled in a corner and trying to hide when we came in."
You frown, but you stay quiet.
"We found Mike being cornered by zombies," Levi continues. "About two weeks back. He was a total shit show- it took him a week until he was up for patrols with us."
"What does that have to do with me?"
"Everyone's come to team up with us because they've had no better choice," Levi says.
You nearly pause in your step. Is that what this is about?
He doesn't notice your hesitance- or if he does, he doesn't comment on it. "You were prepared, with enough supplies to last you a month," he says. "You had weapons. You had a way of escape. Preventative measures and all that shit. Everyone else has trusted us because they didn't have a better option. You would've been well off on your own."
"So you're being shitty to me because..." you trail off. "Because I was actually doing well for myself and decided to join you guys?"
"No," Levi objects. "I'm being shitty to you because it's clear that you're smart and you probably would've been better off without us."
"So you're saying you wouldn't have beaten me up and taken everything I owned?"
He ignores your comment. "That, and you know more than you're letting on."
You narrow your eyes. "Sorry?"
"Yesterday, I implied that you knew a thing or two about zombies," Levi says. "You agreed and dropped it. You know shit and you won't share- so clearly, you've got something to hide. You said the gasoline was to hide your scent. How'd you figure out zombies operate on scent?" He cracks one of his knuckles. "If it really was to hide your scent, you wouldn't have needed to lay a trail of it around the apartment- you could've just kept it in bottles or trays."
That's... fair enough, you suppose. But how's that hardly enough to tell him that you know a few too many things about zombies-
"How'd you figure out zombies could be killed with fire?" Levi asks, his grey eyes meeting yours. "Assuming that's what that so-called 'preventative measure' was for."
"Because I burned one to death once," you reply without missing a beat. "And it worked."
"You didn't expect it to?"
You did. You knew it would. "No, I didn't," you lie. "I got lucky."
Levi keeps staring at you, and you hold his gaze, hoping that he'll believe you. Eventually, he turns away, and your shoulders reflexively drop.
He doesn't say anything else though, so it's clear he still doesn't trust you- not like you could've earned his trust just by saying that. But you're not about to tell him the real reason you know as much as you do is because you worked at the facility where the zombies were created: you're betting Levi wouldn't take it well.
Maybe you'll tell him. Yeah, you'll tell everyone at some point- but not when you're nearly alone with Levi and you've given him a gun. You're not responsible for this apocalypse; you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. You're not sure if he'd see it like that.
You inhale slowly, and then exhale. "I lived with another girl," you say carefully. "Her name was Sasha."
Levi doesn't give you any indication that he's listening, but you know he is. You keep going.
"I lived with her, in that apartment," you continue, feeling your throat start to tighten up. "When all the chaos was unfolding, I went back there. She wasn't there, so I went to her workplace. It was... maybe a ten minute walk on a normal day. Not bad at all. It took me at least an hour because I was scared shitless and trying to avoid the chaos."
You can see the scene in your head. You can see Sasha, laying facedown in a pool of blood, something hulking over top of her-
You swallow hard. "When I got there, she was..."
You trail off. But you know Levi gets it, so you don't elaborate.
"And one of those- one of those things was on top of her," you say, your voice quiet. "And it was alive- well, not alive, I guess, but..." You backtrack. "She worked at a restaurant," you say, putting a bit more vigor into your tone. "As a hostess. And when I got there, she was in the kitchen- it looked like she had, uh, run back there. And there was a pan on fire on the stove- something that had been cooking too long, I guess."
Levi still hasn't said a word. You have half a mind that he's annoyed with you, but you're already midway through and it'd be pointless to stop the story here.
"I dumped the contents on it," you say quietly, "and it burned."
You'd gotten so wrapped up in your story that you'd forgotten why you were actually telling it: to build some trust and establish that no, you don't know anything suspicious. Shit. "I don't know why I did it," you say quickly. "But I was just so panicked, and my axe was gone, so... honestly, I just meant to hit it with the pot."
"And it burned," Levi says, finally speaking up.
"It burned," you agree. "Didn't even look like it felt the pain. It turned around, kind of reached for me, and then just... collapsed. Fell over."
He doesn't say anything else. You wonder if you've gotten through to him, even a little bit.
"So no, I haven't always been like this," you say, glancing at him. "I lost the only person in this town that I cared about. I've been surviving because I learned how to be good at it, but I- I don't like being alone. And I do want to get out of here at some point. So that's why I joined up. I could've been fine on my own, yes, but I'd prefer not to stay in this shit hole."
"You've got people off the island?" Levi asks.
You're surprised he cares, but you don't question it. "Yeah," you say. "I was here for an internship. I go to school elsewhere and my family is elsewhere too."
"You're a student."
"Yeah. Going into my last year." When he doesn't reply, you ask, "how about you?"
Levi doesn't say anything for a moment. Then, he says, "I never went."
"To school?" you clarify, and when he retains his silence, you assume you're right. "Did you do high school, at least?"
"Yeah." You stay quiet, hoping he'll speak up more. For a minute, he doesn't. Then, Levi musters up, "Erwin got me an entry level job at his firm. I've been doing that."
You nod along. "But if you had?"
"Had what?"
"Gone to school."
He shrugs. "I would've graduated last year."
So he's only a bit older than you. "Huh," you say to yourself, looking forward. "Never would've guessed."
You can feel Levi's eyes drilling into your head, but you don't look his way. "Why's that?" you hear him say.
Is he amused? He almost sounds like he is. "Because you could pass as forty," you say honestly, turning your head to grin at him.
"And you're painfully immature," Levi suggests. "Acting much younger than you are."
"Well," you taunt, grinning, "this 'painfully immature' person just cracked open a safe and found you a gun."
"Dumb luck."
"Dumb luck?" you say incredulously.
Levi doesn't reply. His gaze is locked forward on Petra and Gunther.
"Well," you say hotly, turning your eyes forward again. "I guess you'll just have to get used to seeing a lot more of that dumb luck, then."
"Lucky me," Levi grumbles beside you.
He doesn't sound annoyed with you, at least. Still apprehensive- obviously. But at least he talked to you, right? You were half expecting him to threaten you at some point, but instead he listened to you.
Well, hopefully it leads to something. Even if it's just a bit of trust.
You and Levi don't speak for the rest of the way back to the library. You hope that's not a bad thing.