Levi's Last Hope

12.

        Rosie rested her head on Levi's shoulder. Lily sat in his lap, sniffling with the occasional whimper. She kept rubbing at her ear, an action which didn't go unnoticed by either Rosie or Levi.

        The chopper took them over mainland England, to the coast of Hampshire and over the Solent. It would have been a day's worth of travel in a better world, but with the speed of the helicopter, they'd make the journey in just over two hours.

        Rosie mostly zoned out. It was too noisy to speak even with the doors closed. And not just from the repetitive thrumming of the metal bird—her head was a mess of sounds and images which refused to leave her alone.

        It came at her in flashes. Zombie groans. The door of the roof flying open. Lily's screams punctuated by gunfire. Levi seconds away from being bitten. That. . .thing climbing onto the roof and saving him.

        She thought of the writing on the walls. Hell is empty all the devils are here. Had he written it about himself? Because to Rosie he sure had looked like something from purgatory.

        But then he'd saved Levi. The thing had looked scarier than the actual zombies, probably a hell of a lot more dangerous, too, since it had the ability to think. And yet. . .he hadn't caused harm. The worst he'd done was poke some holes and played peeping Tom.

        Rosie's head hurt. Too much had happened in such a short time span. Processing it all was going to take a while.

        Levi's hand went to her knee, engulfing it in a firm grip. She closed her eyes, finding comfort in the simple touch. There were soldiers opposite them. Two, to be precise. Rosie avoided making eye contact with them, not wanting to open herself up to conversation. She simply sat there staring unseeingly at the bottom corner of the chopper door.

        Sometimes Levi and his Captain would speak. Greggory sat on the other side of Levi. It was obvious they were old friends, and fond of each other. Rosie thought they must have a lot to catch up on.

        When they landed, Levi helped her up. She was grateful he was holding Lily because Rosie still felt unsteady on her feet. Her knees shook as Captain Greggory helped her off the chopper. She didn't move until Levi was next to her, gripping her hand in his as if he sensed she needed some kind of guidance.

        They'd set down on top of a cliff of sorts. There was grass beneath her feet and military tents dotted across the land. The sun shined down on them and Rosie lifted a hand to shade her eyes from it.

        "Where's the medic?" asked Levi once the chopper blades powered down, the question aimed at his Captain.

        "Read my mind, did you?" Liam Greggory flicked his head towards the tents. "I'll take you, lad. Need to get you all checked over." He led the way, Levi and Rosie falling into step with him. "This is the quarantine camp, by the way. All newcomers come here for a week's surveillance. Usually, we check for bite marks before letting anyone get this far, but circumstances didn't exactly allow for that this time."

        "It's going good, then." Levi took in the surroundings, Lily tucked against his side.

        "Better than good, mate. Over half the island is secure. Got soldiers posted twenty-four-seven on the border whilst we clear out the rest. Honestly went better than expected considering our numbers. We lost a lot of men and women, in the beginning."

        Levi didn't know if there was an afterlife but sent a silent thanks for their sacrifice anyway. "So we've still got those dead bastards to deal with."

        He wasn't happy about that. He'd hoped the whole island would be free of zombies by the time civilians were brought in, but Levi doesn't complain because had they waited any longer, they'd not have made it off that rooftop.