Chapter Text
“What was that?”
Levi stopped, shifting the assault rifle from his back to his chest, squinting through the dirt-stained glass of his gas mask. There was rustling in the bushes and the sudden creak of metal. He raised the gun, pointing it at the noise, and took a tentative step towards it while holding up his fist, signaling for Farlan to wait.
Something shifted, and a shadow stretched over the hardened earth as it moved behind an abandoned car. He pivoted on the ball of his foot, aiming the barrel at the rusted bumper, holding his breath as he waited for the unknown creature to show itself.
A flash of familiar red blew out from behind the car. Levi dropped his gun just in time to see a human girl sprinting out from behind the bumper with her arms extended. In a flash, she pounced on him with a high-pitched squeal, enveloping him in a tight hug.
“Gotcha!” Isabel cheered as she hung off of Levi’s neck, her gas mask knocking against his own.
“Izzy!” Levi hissed. “What are you doing? I could have shot you!”
She pulled back, her green eyes sparkling behind glass. “But you didn’t.”
“You’re not supposed to be out here, Izzy,” Farlan said, stepping between them and grabbing her arm. “It’s dangerous out here. There’s—”
“Raiders, ghouls, giant mutated spiders,” Isabel interjected, rolling her eyes. “Yes, I know .”
“Omegas shouldn’t risk coming out here, Iz.”
“Is that right? Then why is it okay for him to come up here?” she asked, pointing at Levi.
"Levi's different. He knows how to handle himself."
Isabel jerked her arm out of Farlan’s grip and pouted. "I know how to handle myself too. I snuck up on you, didn't I?"
Levi pushed his assault rifle behind his back and patted Isabel on the head, her flaming hair greasy against his palm. "You almost did. But you made too much noise and because of that, I knew exactly where you were. The only reason I didn't shoot was because I saw your hair sticking out."
Isabel threw her head back and groaned. "I'll get you one day."
"You need more practice."
Another rustling in the bushes silenced them and Levi's eyes snapped towards the noise. He lifted the strap of his gun over his head and passed it to Isabel. It sat awkwardly in her small arms as she balanced it against her chest. Using hand signals, Levi motioned Isabel to take aim at the creature hiding in the shadows. Behind him, he heard Farlan huff, but his gun rattled despite his annoyance, readying himself in case Isabel missed her shot.
Suddenly, a giant rad-rabbit with red eyes and sharp fangs peeked its head out of the wilted brush. Levi heard Isabel suck a breath in as she steadied the gun.
One…
Two…
A gunshot rang through the silence, the air around them going still as the rad-rabbit fell forward, blood seeping out of the hole in its head.
Levi stepped forward, inspecting the kill. Its white fur ran red around the bullet hole that went clean through its skull. Isabel exhaled a breath, handing the gun back to Levi. He slipped the strap back over his head and cradled it against his chest, feeling safer with its weight in his arms.
Isabel knelt in front of the rad-rabbit and picked it up by its feet, hanging it in the air, blood dripping onto the earth, the dry dirt hungrily drinking it up. She turned around to face Levi and Farlan, a twinkle in her eye.
"Nice kill," Levi praised.
"You shouldn't encourage her," Farlan muttered.
Levi cut him a hard look. "We need people who are willing to go out and hunt the wastelands. And she wants to learn— "
"It's not safe for her," he interjected.
"It's not safe for any of us. But we do it anyway. We have to."
Isabel skipped up to Farlan, a proud gleam in her eye as she brandished her bounty. "I'm strong, Farlan! I can provide for us. See!"
Farlan glanced between Levi and Isabel, a torn look in his eyes as he deliberated. “Fine,” he said, defeated. “I suppose we could use the help, anyway.”
“Right!” Isabel cheered.
Levi bit back a smile. After years alone in the Underground, he’d found a family in Isabel and Farlan. After the years they'd spent together, they became a brother and sister that he never had. He didn’t have a clue what it was like to have siblings of his own, but he thought it might be something like this.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get back before the raiders find us.”
The three of them turned around and began retracing their steps through the once-thriving metropolis. The high-rise buildings of old were now a mere shadow of their past splendor. Where spotless windows once gleamed under the sunlight, there were now black holes hiding evil creatures that were better left alone. Levi and his friends didn’t dare venture into the buildings that were left standing in the city. The people stupid enough to enter them with the vain hope of finding canned food or abandoned ammo or weapons never made it out alive.
As they passed one of the high-rise buildings, Levi spotted a half-decayed corpse leaning against a pile of crumbled rebar. Half his face was missing and his eyes were hollowed out, large maggots festering inside the cavity. He was stripped of his clothing, a clear sign that scavengers had picked his body clean.
Behind him, he heard Isabel softly gasp. “Poor guy, traveling the wastelands alone…”
“Traveling the wastelands alone will get you killed. The guy was an idiot,” Levi said, looking away and pushing forward.
“Yeah, but still, maybe he was a nice guy. Maybe he didn’t deserve this fate.”
“This world doesn’t favor the kind, Izzy. You’d do well to remember that.”
“I know,” Isabel said, her voice laden with sorrow.
Isabel deserved a better life than this. She deserved a life that wasn’t so grim and grey. A life that was full of sunshine and smiles. Levi wished he could give that to her, a life worth living, but that reality was destroyed when the world burned in a blinding flash twenty years ago.
Ever since that fateful day, the sun never shined as brightly as he remembered. Whenever he went outside, the sun was always hiding behind a thick cover of clouds, casting a grey veil over everything it touched.
Today was no different.
The road they followed was cracked and littered with giant chunks of debris and car skeletons. As they traversed the uneven terrain, they came upon a telephone pole that had been knocked over in the blast, blocking the road. They carefully stepped around it, their eyes locked on the nearby building as they passed by. Levi clutched his gun tightly against his chest as he peered into the murky shadows, searching for any signs of movement.
It was quiet. Quieter than usual. Usually, there was the occasional rustling caused by a rad-rabbit or a dire-deer hiding in the overgrown foliage. Sometimes there was the caw of a craven flying overhead, or the groaning of metal breaking down after twenty years of disuse.
Today, there was nothing. And the silence was unnerving.
“I think a storm’s coming,” Isabel whispered, her voice nearby. Levi turned, finding her just a step behind him, eyes wide as they searched the sky. “The animals are hiding.”
“We better hurry,” Levi agreed, and he quickened his pace.
With water as scarce as it was, a storm was welcome. The rain would flood the tunnels that had been carved out around the Underground, draining into their makeshift filtration system, purifying it of radiation and soot. It was only welcome, however, if they made it back to the Underground in time. If they were caught in a rainstorm, the radiation would burn through their clothes and right down to their skin.
A rumble of thunder shook the earth. Overhead, the clouds were moving quickly, the sky darkening as the seconds ticked by. Cursing under his breath, Levi busted into a full on sprint, his legs burning in protest. Behind him, he could hear the heavy thud of boots hitting the pavement as Isabel and Farlan matched his pace, their breaths ragged as air filtered through their gas masks.
A single raindrop fell from the sky, landing on Levi’s worn leather jacket. It softly sizzled as it was absorbed, eating away at the leather.
“Shit, shit, shit, ” Farlan cursed. “Faster, FASTER!”
Levi pushed his legs as fast as he could go. Despite his short stature, he was quick, quicker than the average beta in the Underground.
“Ah!” Isabel cried out.
Levi whipped around to see Isabel stumbling on a chunk of debris, the rad-rabbit still clutched in her fist as she went flying towards the pavement. He swiveled on his heel, dropping his gun to his side as he reached out for Isabel, catching her before she fell. He pulled her upright, grabbing her free hand and tugging her forward. Even though he could easily outrun both Isabel and Farlan, he wasn’t about to leave them behind. They were the only family he had.
Another raindrop, another sizzle. Levi didn’t want to even think about what would happen if it started to downpour, pushing that thought out of his mind. Gritting his teeth, he forced his legs to move faster, ignoring Isabel’s protests as he pulled her along.
The entrance to the subway station appeared on the horizon, the old glass doors blasted and broken. The once grand archway was black with soot and crumbling along the edges. Levi ran for it, gasping for breath through his gas mask, praying that the filters would last him until he was safe underground.
The subway entrance drew close and they hurried up the steps, sliding through the broken doors as the darkness of the station swallowed them whole. Levi let go of Isabel’s hand as soon as they cleared the threshold, hunching over as he gasped for breath. Desperate to taste clean air on his tongue, he tugged the gas mask over his head, and he could feel his greasy hair sticking up. With the rainstorm, they would finally get to have a shower. There was a silver lining in that, at least.
Outside, the sky opened up, unleashing a torrent of rain onto the earth. It splattered against the pavement, drumming loudly through the quiet air. Inside the station, Levi could smell the world burning.
“Shit, that was close,” Farlan said through ragged breaths.
“No shit,” Levi huffed, straightening out as he sucked in a desperate breath, trying to even out the frantic beat of his heart.
Isabel, however, faced the rain and flipped off the sky. “HA! Take that mother nature! Try again, bitch!”
“Don’t antagonize her,” Farlan groaned. “Next time we might not be so lucky.”
She spun around, a grin splitting her cherubin face. “That wasn’t luck, silly! We outran a rainstorm. That was all skill! We’re unstoppable!”
“Farlan’s right, Iz,” Levi said. “We were lucky. That rainstorm came out of nowhere. If we hadn’t realized when we did, we’d be dead.”
Isabel deflated, her smile falling off her face. “You’re no fun.”
“This isn’t meant to be fun. This isn’t a game—it’s life or death. It’s survival. You might think exploring the wasteland is an adventure, but it’s not. If you want to come with us to the surface, you need to take this seriously, or we’ll all end up dead.”
“Okay,” she mumbled. “I’ll do better next time.”
Levi nodded, patting her firmly on the shoulder.
Gathering themselves, they descended down the powered down escalator, the metal groaning under their weight. The darkness began to swallow them up and Levi reached for a match to light the way. A spark flared and the fire cast long shadows along the tiled walls. They followed the tunnel in silence, the tap of their boots against the concrete and the roaring of rain overhead the only sounds floating between them.
The fire burned out and Levi fumbled to light another match. The light faintly stretched down the tunnel and at the very end of it, there was a make-shift wooden wall with a door cut out of it. They approached it and Levi knocked against it. The sliding hatch opened in the middle of the door, revealing a set of tired-looking eyes.
“Password?”
“Rad-rabbit stew,” Levi said.
The eyes shifted and then disappeared, the hatch sliding shut. A lock clicked and the door opened. Levi nodded at the guard, whose name he was pretty sure was Darius, as he stepped through. Darius had a machine gun strapped to his back, a sash of bullets around his chest, and several knives tucked into a harness around his arms. If anyone, or anything, tried to break into the Underground, this man had enough firepower to take down several raiders or ghouls before he was taken down himself.
“Made it back just in time, I see,” Darius grumbled as he eyed the three of them. “But you’ve returned with a bounty, so that’s good.”
“My first kill,” Isabel beamed.
Darius nodded, eyes crinkling. “A good shot, by the looks of it. That’ll get you a solid deal, if you’re looking to trade it off.”
“We need more ammunition,” Levi said. “Know anybody willing to trade?”
Darius pursed his lips, thinking. “Try Moses. He’s been craving some real meat lately. Won’t shut up about it. Bet he’d be willing to trade up some bullets for your kill, there.”
“Got it. Thanks.”
With that information stored in the back of his brain, Levi led his friends into the Underground, the place Levi called home for the past twenty years. When the Pulse event destroyed the world, Levi had only been fifteen years old. And after the initial EMP that rendered electronics obsolete, chaos broke out in the city. It had been a blur of panicked screams and flailing bodies as people forced their way underground, desperate individuals knocking over children and elderly in a vie to get to safety before the nukes dropped.
Levi and his mother had been victims to the selfishness of survival and in the scrambling crowd, they’d been pulled apart and separated. Levi cried after her, pushing through bodies to try and find her but he was lost to the current of people pushing down the streets towards the subway station. Despite his efforts to chase after her, the wave of bodies carried him to safety—to the Underground home he’d known for most of his life. His mother, however, didn’t make it. Levi waited and waited, hoping she would show up one night, but she never did. Either she was still out there, wandering the wilderness or she’d been burned to a crisp when the bombs dropped. Levi knew it was the latter, but thinking about it, accepting the bitter truth of her fate, hurt.
At the end of the tunnel, the underground city appeared in all its lackluster glory. Crooked shacks lined the perimeter, stacked on top of each other, creating small apartments for the residents. Several vendor stalls were tucked against the concrete walls, the wares spread out on the tables few and far between. At the end of the platform was a make-shift cafeteria hiding inside an abandoned subway car where people gathered for their evening meal. Men and women with greasy hair and ragged clothes milled about, trading goods. Some of them indulged and were enjoying a bowl of rad-rabbit stew inside the subway car. It wasn’t the most glamorous of societies, but it was home, a place where Levi felt safe.
“I’m gonna go check in with Hannes, make sure the filtration system is working well so we can all get a shower later,” Farlan said. “Lord knows we need it.”
“No kidding,” Levi huffed. It’d been over a week since he’d gotten his hands on clean water and his skin was itching for a good wash. “We’ll head home after we talk to Moses.”
Farlan nodded and waved goodbye before slinking off towards a different tunnel that led towards the maintenance room. Levi placed his hand on Isabel’s back, guiding her over to the large shack that was used as a barracks of sorts for the guards. Through the window, he could see a lantern burning and several men were sitting around a table playing a game of cards. Levi approached the door and knocked firmly against the wood. The voices inside went quiet.
A man whose name he’d forgotten opened the door. There was a ragged scar over his left eye. “Yeah?”
“Moses here?” Levi asked.
The man’s jaw flexed as he stared Levi down. “Moses!” he abruptly called out, not breaking eye contact.
Moses appeared behind him, his blond hair ruffled. He smiled down at Levi. “Hey, Levi.” His eyes flicked over to Isabel and the rad-rabbit clutched in her fist. “And Isabel! Come in, have a seat.”
The two men stepped aside. Levi and Isabel trudged inside the shack, taking a seat at the table where the guards had been playing cards. Moses sat down across from them but the man that answered the door hovered behind their chairs.
"I see you two went up to the surface," Moses started, gazing at the rad-rabbit. "Come here to trade?"
"Heard from Darius you've been looking for meat. Thought maybe we could help each other out," Levi said.
Moses leaned back in his chair. "Is that right? Good on Darius for looking out. What are you looking to trade for?"
"Ammunition, if you've got it."
"Shit. I don't have much to spare—"
"Damn right you don't," the man standing behind them cut in. "We're all short on ammunition these days. The guard doesn't have enough to spare for some shitty rabbit meat."
"Aw c'mon Abel," Moses complained. So that's what the bastard's name was. "I've had canned beans for the past week. Let me live a little, man."
"Not worth it Moses," Geiger, another guard sitting at the table, cut in. "Didn't you hear what happened in Sector Five? There was a ghoul breach. The ugly bastards took out three men and bit several civilians before the horde of them was shot down."
"Shit, seriously?" Levi breathed. He hadn't heard about that.
"Yeah, and medical supplies are tight right now. The ones that were bitten won't be treated for their radiation. In about a week, they'll mutate into ghouls themselves without the medication."
"How many were infected?"
"Five in total. Two of which were children."
Levi's heart dropped. With how easy it was for people to die of illness or malnutrition, human life was precious in the Underground. Especially the children. Most omegas were infertile due to prolonged exposure to radiation combined with rampant malnutrition. Levi was no stranger to this struggle, being diagnosed as infertile after accidentally spending too much time in a pocket of extreme radiation while exploring the surface nearly ten years ago. Luckily, at the time, they had proper medical supplies to treat his radiation sickness, but his reproductive system had suffered from the exposure and no amount of medicine could treat his infertility.
Quite frankly, that was fine by him. While many omegas in the Underground dreamed of being able to bear children and rear the next generation, Levi was happy the way he was. A nuclear apocalypse was no time for playing house. Being pregnant, having kids—it was far too dangerous. Especially since the Underground didn’t have any alphas around for protection.
After the Pulse, it was discovered that an alpha’s physiological make-up made them more resistant to radiation. With that advantage, they took to the surface, effectively ruling over the wastelands in packs full of alphas. They were known mostly as raiders—vicious and cruel groups of alphas hellbent on hoarding food and supplies on the surface. It’s part of the reason why Levi and Farlan never ventured past the perimeter of the city. Out there, in the wastelands, alphas were kings.
“Levi,” Isabel whispered. “Maybe we can help.”
Levi gritted his teeth. There weren’t many people in the Underground who were willing to brave the surface. But Levi and Farlan were seasoned experts, most of the residents relying on them for food and supplies when times were tough. It earned them their fair share of respect around the Underground and because of that, they were sometimes slipped an extra can of beans or bottles of water during a trade. If they were able to secure medicine for the infected, they’d not only save lives, but they’d also be owed a great debt. And sometimes, in the Underground, a favor could be the manner of life or death.
Finding medicine, however, was no easy feat. Most of the buildings in the city had been picked clean years ago. If they had any hope of finding medicine, they’d have to leave the city and risk running into raiders out in the wastelands. It was a risk, one that could easily get them killed if they weren’t careful. But with the way Isabel’s eyes silently pleaded with him, Levi knew it was the right thing to do. People needed them, needed their expertise. Besides, they might be able to find more than just medicine out there, too.
“Trade us some ammo and we’ll head out once the storm passes,” Levi said.
Isabel exhaled, a smile breaking across her face. “I’m coming too, right?”
“We’ll talk about that later.”
“Thank you,” Geiger said with a sigh, clearly relieved. “Moses, gather up some extra ammo for these two.”
“Sir!” he exclaimed, jumping from his chair and scrambling over to the safe tucked in the corner.
“According to the reports we’ve been getting back from other sectors, it sounds like ghoul activity is high as of late. Hopefully, the rainstorm will have them slithering back to their hole, but if that’s not the case, you’ll need all the help you can get,” Abel explained. Moses dug several boxes of .233 rounds out of the safe and dropped them onto the table. “That’s the last of the .233 we have. We’ve still got a decent amount for our machine guns but this is it for the rifles. If you find any weaponry while you’re out there, do your best to bring it back. We’re desperate for it."
“Sure,” Levi agreed.
Moses placed the boxes of ammo onto the table and took a step back, eyeing the rad-rabbit resting in Isabel’s lap.
“I believe this belongs to you, now!” Isabel said, passing the rabbit over to Moses.
He took it, and it looked like he was about to cry as he cradled the dead animal against his chest. “Finally, real meat. Thank you!”
“Sure thing!”
Levi grabbed the boxes off the table and shoved them in his backpack. “We probably won’t be back for several days. Hopefully, the victims can hold out until then.”
“I’ll let them know that you’re risking the surface to try and help them,” Geiger said. “That’ll give them some hope to hold onto.”
Levi nodded. “Right. Let’s go, Iz.”
He stood up, the wooden chair scraping against the concrete. Isabel followed after him, and she wished the guards a good night before they both ducked out of the barracks.
“What now?” Isabel asked.
“We should probably head home. Gotta tell Farlan the plan and get ready for tomorrow.”
They began their short journey home, passing by several people sleeping on dirty mattresses tucked against the wall. It was hard for the human body to tell what time of day it was while trapped underground and most people slept whenever they felt tired. While living underground kept them safe from radiation, mutants, and raiders, it had its drawbacks, too. Many of the residents were vitamin-D deficient, and more than the average person suffered from brittle bone disease and depression. Since the Pulse event, there have been significantly more suicides than deaths from raider or ghoul attacks. Aside from disease, depression was the number one killer in the Underground.
At the very edge of their settlement stood a shack that Levi had built with his own two hands. It was small, but with Isabel and Farlan living with him, it felt cozy and not at all crowded. It was the closest thing he had to a home since the Pulse took everything from him.
Levi opened the wooden door and set his backpack down by the door. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a match, lighting the wick on a nearby lantern. Fire illuminated the small living room and Isabel skipped inside, sliding into one of the rickety wooden chairs that surrounded a small table.
“Hungry?” Levi asked, padding over to the pantry in the corner.
“Starving!” she said. “What do we have?”
Levi pursed his lips as he looked over their supply of canned food. “Tuna, beans, tomatoes, oh—” He grabbed one can with a half-burned label and turned it around in his hands. “Chicken noodle soup?”
“Oh! That sounds good!”
He nodded and closed the pantry door. Going through the motions, he grabbed some kindling and set it ablaze before throwing it into the small fireplace. He poked the already charred wood, encouraging it to burn. Once the logs caught flame and the fire was hot, he placed a saucepan onto the grate over the fire, grabbed his knife, cut the aluminum can open, and poured the chunky soup into the pot.
“So,” Isabel started. “I’m coming with you guys tomorrow, right?”
Levi’s shoulder stiffened as he stirred the soup. “Listen, Izzy, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”
“Why? Because it’s too dangerous?” She scoffed. “I proved myself today, didn’t I? I snuck up on you, I killed that rabbit, I sensed the storm coming. I can help. You guys need me.”
“You did well today,” Levi agreed. “It’s just… I don’t want anything to happen to you.”
The chair scraped against the floor behind him. Suddenly, Isabel was at Levi’s side, her head resting on his shoulder as she watched the steam rise.
“I get it. I feel that way every time you and Farlan go to the surface without me.” She turned to look at him and she tightly gripped his shoulder, eyes burning with determination. “But I’m not a kid anymore. I want to help provide for this family. I don’t want to be left behind down here. I want to be up there, with you and Farlan. I want to see the world that I was denied. I want to breathe in fresh air without a gas mask. I want to go with you.”
The fire in Isabel’s eyes captivated him and Levi couldn’t look away. As much as he wanted to keep her safe, he knew that she was right. She had a right to this world just as much as he did. And if she wanted to see what life had to offer outside of the Underground, who was Levi to deny her?
“Fine,” Levi conceded.
A smile broke out across Isabel’s face. “You won’t regret it!”
Levi could feel his lip twitch and pulled her into a side hug, resting his cheek on top of her head. “I trust you.”