Age of Z: A Tale of Survival (19 page)

Mostly it consisted of the youngest kids that had miraculously managed to survive Z-day somehow–via a parent or sibling or a total stranger dropping them off, or more rarely from their own luck–but hadn't been hit with heavily debilitating mental instability in the process. There were only a few regular staff members to look out for the kids, but a steady influx of volunteers dropped in on a regular basis as well.

It was a pretty depressing set-up even so–there were a lot of kids there. And that wasn't even counting the ones with stories like Alexa's or Blake's, the young kids that might have been only ten or eleven and had figured out how to not just survive, but help others survive too.

Those kids had their own places in New Avalon society as workers or soldiers in training, they were veterans in their own right, and weren't insulted by being treated like they were useless when they weren't. These kids in the orphanage, they were the ones that were alive by someone else's kindness, and wouldn't have made it long before becoming zom food if they'd been on their own.

But Blake was the one in charge of the island, and he'd done his best to make life as decent as he could for the children. They always had regular food, they were sheltered in the best building possible in the island complex. They had access to all the medical care they needed, were given the basics of an education, and staff members were carefully chosen based on their genuine desire to help the kids in there care.

Blake also made sure they didn't grow up terrified of everything outside the walls–they were instructed on the dangers of the zombies, but it wasn't the only thing they knew, and they weren't jaded with realism before they were teenagers. Blake was also well-known for visiting at least once a week to play with the kids, when life permitted it, and most of them adored and looked up to him for it.

Alexa usually made an effort to stop by at least once herself, whenever she visited New Avalon. If things had turned out differently it wasn't hard to imagine herself landing here, and she'd have hated it.

Some of the younger ones didn't know anything different–they'd been only infants or toddlers when Z-day hit–but some of the older ones could still remember their old lives and their families and understood just enough to know that they weren't around anymore, and that hurt to see. So she'd usually do her best to show up and entertain them for the day–and this time she brought Casey with her.

Alexa had been a little worried how introducing Casey to the kids would go over, but she needn't have bothered; Casey was an instant hit, much to the clone's chagrin. Most kids, Alexa was reminded of yet again, had little to no fear in regards to strangers and these particular kids were no different.

They were not intimidated in the least by Casey's perpetual scowl, and were monkeying around all over him within the span of five minutes once they realized that 'Mr. Casey' was strong enough to support them without batting an eye. Many of them begged for shoulder rides or to be carried, awestruck by his height.

In fact, Alexa soon came to realize, the weakest link was Casey himself, who initially seemed nervous interacting with the children, afraid of harming them accidentally. At first he handled most of the orphans like they were made out of glass and he might snap them in half without trying.

Which Alexa supposed was a fair enough concern, considering Casey's rather impressive strength, and that he's never had to handle anything quite as fragile as a human child out in the wilderness. In fact, most of the fragile things he had handled, like rabbits for dinner or partially deflated volleyballs, did tend to get broken pretty fast.

The kids didn't give Casey much of a choice in the matter though, and as Casey got more used to being around them he also became a little more confident and markedly more friendly in his interaction with the children.

So that visit ended up being even better than Alexa had expected.

Later, after one of the violent thunderstorms had blown through and damaged some of the buildings, Blake had requested their help with repairs. Alexa had agreed immediately, and although Casey hadn't been too thrilled at the prospect of working with a lot of other adults and teenagers, he clearly respected Blake enough by this point to agree as well.

Casey had gotten more practice in holding back on his strength, until he appeared to be merely a particularly strong person. Even that strength was remarkably helpful, allowing him to assist work teams with transporting heavy stones and planks to repair workshop roofs and damaged walls, and he had enough endurance that he could still keep going long after others had taken a break–endurance believably backed up by all the muscles.

In one particularly notable contribution he'd even managed to save one of the construction workers from being crushed when one of the workstations collapsed, by hearing the foundations starting to go long before human ears could, and pulling the man out of the way. A lot of the workers had praised him for his efforts and help and slapped him on the back, and offered to recruit him for future projects if he was ever around again.

Casey had seemed...
perplexed
... by the entire encounter, and brought it up later, when they were having dinner privately with Blake and Lewis back at the cottage. “They didn't even know who or what I was,” the clone said, “but they still treated me like... I don't know. Like a hero. Just for helping build some things.”

“You did also save a guy's life,” Alexa pointed out through a mouthful of chicken (she hoped, vindictively, that it was the rooster). “That's definitely bona fide heroism material.”

“They did it before that too, though,” Casey said.

“Heroism has a different definition these days,” Blake explained quietly. “People putting in their all, using all the skills and strengths they've got, to help others survive and make things better? That's new-age heroism.”

Lewis nodded in agreement. “People trust me to protect them here. Blake keeps everybody alive. I doubt these people will ever know who 'LS dash thirty-two' is, but today Casey just proved he's dependable.”

Casey frowned at that, but it seemed more contemplative than anything else. “A different kind of heroism,” he murmured thoughtfully, and was almost completely silent for the rest of the night, barely engaging in any other conversation.

Time passed and the week drew closer to its end. The storms became less frequent, and although Blake checked the satellites regularly he never reported anything new and dangerous coming their way. Soon it was time to start preparing to leave and although Alexa was still impatient to get going, she was careful this time to not rush through things, knowing that a single screw up could cost her badly on the outside if she messed up.

First and most important was earning credit for trade. Blake
could
pull rank and get her all the supplies she needed for free, but he hated abusing his power like that, and Alexa would feel terrible if she essentially stole necessary supplies from these hard-working colonists, and made her friend do all the dirty work for her.

So she typically traded in all her goods to Blake or Lewis, establishing what was basically a line of credit. They could estimate how much the goods were worth, integrate them into the community and make sure everything got to its proper place. Then resupply her with traveling goods without anybody feeling guilty over it, because it was legitimate business.

In this case, Alexa had a lot more than usual to trade in, since she'd had Casey as a traveling partner and Casey was not really limited much by weight. She smugly handed over everything they'd collected between Gentech and New Avalon, and even Lewis's normally impassive expression shifted to one of impressed surprise once it was all laid out.

“Think it's enough to get me supplied?” Alexa asked with a smirk.

“It's enough to get six of you supplied,” Blake said, poking through the goods with disbelief. “I can't believe you managed to get all of this here.”

“Extra pack helps,” Alexa said, gesturing to Casey, who snorted at his inclusion. “There's plenty of stuff out there, it's just hard to move unless you're traveling with help.”

She snapped her fingers. “Which reminds me, set aside some of this trade credit for Casey. I mean, he did do a lot of the work, so he might as well get half the benefit and put it towards whatever he wants here. A quiet dorm, maybe? Or the supplies to add an extra room here, I mean, he's pretty quiet, you'd barely notice him, not like he'd get in the way. Or maybe his own pet chicken because he likes the stupid things–”

Blake and Lewis exchanged glances, and Casey growled, “Alexa, what are you going on about? I'm coming with you.”

Somehow this had not actually occurred to Alexa. Apparently her dumbfounded feelings extended to her face, because Blake outright laughed at her, and Lewis said dryly, “You really are an idiot, Winters.”

Alexa glared at the two of them sullenly, and then looked over at Casey. “Uh, not that you're not welcome or anything, but I kinda figured you were staying here? Because, y'know, that's what I promised when I found you, I'd get you here so you could get some answers and figure out what you wanted to do with your life–”

“I got my answers,” Casey interrupted. “I'm still working on that other part.”

“But not where civilization's at, I take it?”

“Anywhere's as good as here. Might as well follow you. Besides, I did promise Blake
I'd keep you from doing something stupid. That's what friends do, right?” He gave Alexa a pointed look. The conversation was familiar–nearly identical, in fact, to when Casey had asked her back in that pod room why Alexa was bothering to help him at all–and Alexa knew he'd done it on purpose.

Blake smirked, and in one of his usual attempts to be as unhelpful as possible to Alexa at precisely the wrong moment, said with obnoxious cheer, “He is right, he did promise me he'd keep you out of trouble.”

“LS? Keep me out of trouble? Please. I'm the one that's been getting him out of tough scrapes since I found him in that pod,” Alexa said with a scoffing tone. Inwardly, though, she was sort of touched.

She'd have been lying to herself if she said she'd be fine going it solo again, after a month of having a little brother to look out for. Having a traveling companion you could trust with your life was nice; it made the endless searching and moving through terrifying, monster-infested territory a little more bearable, and a little less lonely.

She also felt a little worried, and more than a little guilty. Casey could handle himself out in zom territory, Alexa knew that. She'd trained Casey for it personally, and he'd been a good student through all of it. But for the past month they'd been working towards a mutual goal, reaching a settlement, and Alexa had been focused on getting her adopted brother to safety.

Casey coming with her now would be different. He would be putting his life on the line traveling for a purpose that wasn't his own, in one of the most dangerous zones for dead-head infestation. Casey had no reason to look for Alexa's family, but the risk would still be high–and he was doing it out of an obligation, a promise.

Alexa didn't want Casey to feel obligated to look out for her, especially not if he had his own goals and his own building of a new life to work towards. Alexa would hate it if somebody stood in the way of finding her family; she didn't want to be that somebody for Casey.

Ultimately it was his choice, and Alexa wouldn't stop him if he wanted to come. She couldn't, anyway, even if she had wanted to–Casey could still thrash her seven ways from Sunday, tuck her under one arm, and just point blank insist he was coming anyway. But Alexa was concerned all the same, enough to offer a back door out, just in case Casey really was acting on an unwanted obligation.

“Well... I kinda figured you'd want to hang around this settlement specifically, since this is where you got answers.” she gestured to Blake and Lewis before moving one. “They'd probably help you work out what you want to do with yourself now. But if you really want to come, then okay, sure. Just remember, it's gonna be really dangerous. There are a lot more zoms and a lot less safe zones, heading out west. It's totally fine if you'd rather stay here.”

“I'm coming with you,” Casey repeated, very firmly. “And zoms don't scare me. Bring'em on.”

Alexa shook her head in exasperation. “I know they don't scare you. I wish they'd scare you more. You'd better remember, just because you made a dumb promise to Blake here doesn't mean you can take stupid risks, either!”

“I won't. I know what I'm doing.” He sounded more serious than usual when he said it, and crossed his arms in determination, staring Alexa down as if daring her to argue further.

Blake cut in before it could go any farther, still smirking a little in that obnoxiously smug way. “Well,” he said, “I'm not gonna lie, it would have been nice to have him around here to help. But hey, Casey, it's your life and your choice, after all.”

Blake's expression turned more serious for a moment. “Just keep each other alive, okay? I meant what I said before, I don't want to hear about any more of my friends getting themselves killed.” And before Alexa could address that, the smirk was back, and the teen finished with, “So, supplies for two, then?”

“Yes,” Casey said. “And a bigger pack for me if you've got it, then I can carry more than before. Weight's not a real issue.”

“That can be arranged,” Blake said. The four of them spent the rest of the day compiling a list of necessary supplies for the journey, with each of them offering suggestions and bringing up valid points. With Casey's strength added to the mix, they were able to be a little more liberal with their supply choices, meaning they didn't have to cut everything down to bare necessities alone.