Ultimate Hammel: Tony's unsorted AUs

[Levi Xu]

((Sequel to August Challenge entry: Missing Something.))

Evan had spent more time than he'd liked in the infirmary, usually sprawled out on one of the cots until the feeling came back into his legs after he'd phased through something accidentally. But he'd never been in any of the long-term care rooms. Hell, he hadn't even known about them. The small window in the door somehow made it even worse as he knocked gently. (And it wasn't like he didn't notice that the lock was on his side of the door, either. Even if it was unlocked.)

After a moment, and no movement inside, the teenager looked at the nurse in charge, and she nodded. Evan pulled open the door and slipped inside. "Hey...hey, Levi."

The younger boy was curled up on the lone bed, facing the opposite wall. He visibly flinched at the sound of Van's voice, but he didn't turn around, only growled, "What are you doing here?"

"You didn't come back to the dorm, but your stuff is still there and you're still on the roster." Evan looked around the bare room, blushing a little as he continued. "I didn't...I mean, I was worried about you."

"You reported me."

"Levi, I..."

"It's Lev-ee!" He finally turned to look at the older boy and sat up. "My name is said the Hebrew way because I'm Jewish."

"Oh..." Evan blushed a bit harder at that, though he didn't know how he was supposed to know that. "Look, I just wanted to..." His voice trailed off, and he didn't meet Levi's eyes.

"You wanted to what? Get me locked up? Well, good job."

"You scared me. I didn't know what you were talking about." Yes, Evan was a little offended at that. Levi was the one locked up for a reason. "You were talking about things that didn't happen."

"I know. G-d, Van, can you even look at me? I get it, I'm crazy." Evan had hardly ever heard him speak before, but he'd never heard that kind of venom, ever. "I know that now."

Evan winced, then turned to go. "Look, I just wanted to be sure you were okay."

"I'm not." Levi's voice cracked, and he sounded less angry, at least. "When my power manifested, my dad had me put in a hospital. Then a meta-human supremacist group took me and trained me with my power and made me hate humans. And then the leader was killed and I ended up at Hammel and....and I met you."

The phaser stopped and turned back to the younger boy, "...Really?" It sounded incredible, unreal.

"No. My power....my power made me forget what happened, or see it how it was in a different universe." He curled up, pulling his knees up to his chin. "There was a fire."

"...a fire?"

"It killed my family, but not me because I was at the hospital. They told me, and I started....living in this other reality." This time, it was Levi refusing to meet his eyes. "It was two years ago."

"Oh God, Levi, I'm so sorry." He crossed the small room and sat next to the smaller boy, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. Levi had freaked him out, but no one deserved this. And though he flinched a little, he didn't pull away when the other boy clung to him.

"It's.....Van, I'd rather be there. I don't want to be here. But they're suppressing my power so I can't go back."

Levi started to cry, and Evan did the only thing he could do, gently rubbing circles on his back and murmuring, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

[Levi Xu]

((Sequel to August Challenge entry: Missing Something. This is actually what James and I had in mind when we came up with the original. The first sequel was based on how everyone took it, however.))

"Dr. Neville, can I talk to you?" Evan poked his head into the open office door, then entered when the psychiatrist waved him in. "It's about my roommate. He...he thinks we're dating, or something. He came up to me out of nowhere and started touching me and..."

The psychiatrist didn't like interrupting people, but he was honestly surprised by this. "But, Evan, as of yesterday, at least, you were dating."

"What?"

---

After the third day in the infirmary, Dr. Neville confirmed that he wouldn't be able to restore Evan's memories.

The teenager curled up in his bed, wondering if he was supposed to be mourning the experiences he didn't remember. He remembered a lot about the past year, at least, but there were apparently gaps. Gaps his mind just filled in for him.

He didn't hear the first knock.

The second one, however, was followed by a quiet voice. "Evan? Um...hi."

After a moment, the phaser sat up and looked at his roommate, and apparent boyfriend. "Hi."

"I'm really sorry, Van." Levi stepped inside and closed the door behind him. "I...I actually warned you about Jesse."

"Who's Jesse?" That name hadn't come up in the brief description of his current friends, and those seemed to be the only memories affected, at least.

"Uh...Kenny? He might have erased that too."

"Kenny wouldn't do this to me." Kenny was the friend he remembered, unlike Levi and Robbie who he was apparently mad at.

"He's the only one who could." Levi walked over to him and reached for his hand, pulling away when Evan flinched. "....Dr. N says he can't bring the memories back."

"Who are you to me then?" Evan stared Levi down, wanting to be angry at someone for all of this. "Were we fucking around? Were we in love?"

Infuriatingly, Levi smiled a little at that. "Van, would you really just fuck around with anyone?"

It would be easier to be mad at the younger boy if he wasn't right about that.

"I do love you. And our friends are happy for us."

"We're out?" That was not really something he was expecting. Dr. Neville was a telepath, it made sense for him to have known. But Evan knew he wouldn't want to be out now. Not in high school.

Levi's face curled into a scowl. "We were outed. Mia and Zac put up pictures of a bunch of student couples at Dr. N's sex ed seminar. When our picture came up you phased through the floor and fell into the lab."

"What?" Evan groaned and dropped his face into his hands. Okay, yes, things could apparently get worse. "What were we doing?"

"Uh..." The phaser didn't look up, but he could tell Levi was blushing at that. "We were doing....being intimate."

"...are you kidding me?" He wasn't a virgin anymore, and he didn't even remember it. Not that, not his first kiss, nothing.

And there was only one way this could get worse. "Do my parents know?"

"Yes. They were actually...." Levi's explanation was cut off by Evan flopping back on the bed and groaning.

Oh, this was going to suck.

[Levi Xu]

And then Evan punched a Nazi in the face
An AU that was completely inspired by watching Captain America on a long bus trip and the battery to my ipod dying so I had to amuse myself with something

Levi,
I'm sorry I didn't tell you. David told me about a unit they were building of metas, and I have to go. I'm not going to hide, not while people are dying.

Please don't be mad at me. My mom has the address you can send letters to, if you want.

Please write.

Evan

Levi didn't say goodbye to his best friend, but he sat on his bed in the dormitory and watched the van that took away all of the boys who had enlisted from Hammel. He hadn't gone downstairs, because he didn't want anyone to see that he was crying. Once the van disappeared into the Vermont woods, he went to his desk and started writing. Maybe his letter would make it to basic training before Evan did.

*****

"Hey Brackett, is that another letter from your sweetheart?"

"Shut up, Richmond." Evan gave the other soldier a shove with his left hand, knocking the Anesthetist off of his chair. But his ears turned a little pink as he folded up the piece of notebook paper and tucked it into his pocket. Levi had been writing to him regularly, making up for not coming down to see them off.

Horace brushed himself off and stood, shaking his head. "Is he still lying about his age on the forms?"

"Yeah," Everyone in the small unit of Allied metas had heard about Evan's best friend, the boy who kept trying different branches, pretending he was seventeen and had his father's permission. After the second rejection from the Navy, the older boy had written to tell him to concentrate on school, on his training. That evidently hadn't happened, as the most recent letter clearly had an algebraic expression erased from the first line. "He doesn't even look like he's fifteen, so there's no way they're going to take him."

"But he still wants to sign up? Good kid." Their conversation was cut off by their sargent entering the tent. The Brits all snapped to attention, with the American metas following suit right after.

"All right, men," Sgt. Thornton looked over the group; they all looked too young to be doing this, but the Nazi bastards had taken out far too many of the experienced metas. These kids were what was left. "Training is officially over. Our mission..."

*****

Dear Evan,
I joined the Army. If you want to write to me, it might be easiest to write to Nomi and have her forward the news.
-Levi

Evan carried that particular note separate from the others. It was the last one he'd received from his best friend directly, but the boy's sister had turned out to be an even more prolific writer than her brother. Hardly a mail call went by without another letter from Nomi.

But seven weeks in from that last letter, Evan was starting to get worried. From the sound of the letters, it seemed like Nomi hadn't heard from Levi in a while either. And that couldn't be good.

He didn't really have time to worry about it, because sabotaging Nazis was hard.

The young phaser had been thrown in with a group of phasers from all over Europe, and just a few weeks with them had been more beneficial to his control of his power than his three years at Hammel. Of course, here it was life or death, every time. Their goal for a while had been supplying the Resistance all over the French countryside with weapons, and it was much safer to be a gun-runner when you could let bullets phase right through you. And--as he'd quickly learned after his first few missions--Evan was actually good at being a saboteur. It had been his idea to phase into the farmhouse a few officers had taken as a command post. Inside, they'd removed crucial parts of guns and had swiped a few maps. Then, as silent and skilled as ghosts, they'd snuck out.

(To Be Continued...)

[Levi Xu]

Zombies! Part 1
(I would like to thank Jamesy for staying up with me until four to help write this. This is just as much hers as mine, but the parts you're going to be mad about are all mine, so please don't yell at her for it.)

"You should go to bed, Levi."

The night was quiet and still, and despite them keeping the fire burning low, Levi could make out Robbie's face pretty clearly. "I won't be able to sleep anyway, and I don't want to wake them up." Despite what it had said on the bag, the tent really didn't seem like it was meant for six people, even if they were not all fully-grown. "I'll just sit with you. Two eyes are better than one."

"Yeah, except I have two eyes, I don't think you've slept in a few days, and we need you to be alert. You've got the best aim." Robbie nudged the other boy's arm, and they were quiet once more, listening to the night. There was an occasional birdcall, and the wind was starting to pick up. "I hate the woods."

"Me too. We should move to somewhere more open. Then at least we'll be able to see them coming."

"It makes it easier to see us too. We'd be targets. We should go back to town, see if anything has changed."

"It's only been two weeks. Evan was right, trying his family's farm again isn't a bad idea. They've got a couple of buildings, and it might be clearer now." Levi ran his finger down the barrel of the rifle that lay across his knees. He hadn't used it in two days, not since they'd set up their little camp, if it was enough to call it that. Just the one tent with the rest of their group, a few conveniently-placed rocks and logs for sitting on, and the firepit, and the boy wasn't about to start referring to it as "home" just yet. "And we should keep moving. I don't like how unprotected we are with just the tent."

"It's either pack light and keep moving, or get something more solid and stay in one place. What do you want, Le--" There was a rustle in the trees, and Robbie's voice dropped off.

Next to him, Levi raised his rifle, pointing it where he thought the sound was coming from. After a few seconds of silence, he whispered, "Could have been a deer."

"Or the wind."

"Yeah," After another moment, the younger boy lowered his gun. Maybe Robbie was right. Being up the past few nights with whoever was on guard duty might have been frying his brain, making him jumpy. "I think I might..."

The low moan seemed to echo through the trees, and the rifle went up again as Levi sprung to his feet. "Shit. It probably saw the fire. Can you tell where it's coming from?"

Robbie stood, holding his pistol with shaking hands. "No, it's echoing..." But even as he said it, there was another moan, and another, and then another.

"That's not an echo. It's a group." Levi swung around, but he still couldn't tell where the groans were coming from, and how far away they were.

The moans were louder, and there was a familiar keen. The walkers were hungry, and they knew where there was food.

The blond boy hit the closed door of the tent, his whispers more urgent. "Wake up!" Robbie hissed, "We've got company."

---

"Did you miss me?" Zac somehow had managed to retain his swagger as he walked into their camp. "I've brought you all presents."

"Food?" Danicca perked up, because even though it sucked sharing their little tent with the boy, it was damn useful to have someone who could summon cheetah-like speed when he was off scavanging. "I'm sick of beans. No offence, 'Stelle."

Estelle gave her a weak grin and elbowed her gently. Frankly, she was sick of beans and rice and rationing everything down so everyone was always hungry, but never starving. "None taken."

"Not just food," Zac hauled the duffle bag off of his back and opened it, then took out a large bundle and unrolled it. The group gathered around, and though most of them had never even touched a gun before, they all recognized the disassembled components of two rifles. "I think I can figure out how these fit together..."

But Evan and Levi kneeled down on either side of the tarp, and starting grabbing the pieces. After a few moments and a series of clicks, both the rifles were assembled, and Levi peeked into the duffle bag. "Did you get the ammo too?"

It was about then that both of the boys on the ground realized that the rest of the group was staring at them, and Levi looked around before asking, "You know how to assemble a gun, Van?"

"Of course I do." The taller boy stared at his boyfriend in surprise, and not a little bit of awe. He was pretty sure Levi had put his rifle together faster than he had. (Though he was a little out of practice.) "My dad used to take David and me hunting. I'm from South Dakota. What's your excuse?"

Levi looked down at the gun in his lap. It was useful, and they were going to have to learn he could use it eventually. So after a moment, he just shrugged and answered. "Homeschooled."

The rest of the group looked at each other, and then, finally, Robbie said something. "That's awesome."

---

There was a scramble as the others climbed out of the tent, circling it, just like they had practiced.

"Robbie, give Evan the rifle." The two older boys traded weapons, an axe for the gun, and went to their positions. Zac had a baseball bat over his shoulder, Dani had a hatchet, and Estelle had her crowbar. They were good.

They were good.

The wind picked up a bit, and the moans got louder. The walkers were close, though it was hard to tell what was shadows and what was trees in the weak firelight.

"Robbie?" Danicca whispered, "I'm scared."

---

"I've called the hospital again, but they're overflowing. And these kids are just getting sicker."

Levi sat next to Sam's cot in the infirmary, holding onto his hand, even though it was burning up. He'd never heared Ms. Prideaux sound worried, not like this. He'd tried calling his own family the day before, but no one had picked up. Not even his grandmother.

"Clarisse," Dr. Marst shook his head, "Mason's brother just called from the hospital. He's dead."

"They couldn't help him?"

"No," Declan shook his head, then realized that there was someone else there that wasn't staff or sick. He stormed over and grabbed Levi by the shoulder, then hauled him to his feet and to the door. "What the fuck are you still doing here, kid? This is quarantined, get it?"

Levi stared up at him. "Is Sam going to die?"

"....I don't know, kid."

---

"Here they come." Estelle tightened her grip on the crowbar as a zombie shambled into their little clearing. She waited until it was a little closer, then stepped forward and swung the crowbar down, dropping the monster when the hooked end crashed through its skull. Another swing went through its temple, and it stopped groaning.

That was hard to tell, though, because there were more zombies coming out of the trees.

"Should....should I shoot?" Evan's voice shook. They'd never taken on so many at night. There could be a swarm out there and they'd never know until it was too late.

Levi didn't answer, or even look back at the other side of the tent. He just brought the sight to his eye and BLAM, the walker fell. Evan's gun went off a second later, and the others started swinging.

"Keep your backs to the tent. We're protecting each other!" Estelle shouted as she took down another zombie. She wished martial arts would work, but these things didn't need to be incapacitated. They needed to be dead.

"We know!" Zac sometimes complained that he was always the one with the wooden bat. But he could summon up elephant-like strength, and that was what he needed as he started bashing in zombie heads. "Thanks for the reminder!"

"Shut up!" Robbie stepped forward and swung his axe down, nearly cleaving a skull in two. "Take that you fucker."

Dani stayed close to Estelle, swinging her hatchet for the kill in half the zombies her friend took down. "How many of these guys are there?"

Evan and Levi said nothing. At opposite corners of the tent, they just aimed and fired, trying to keep the number reaching the clearing as low as possible.

"I think they're thinning out." Robbie looked up at what had to be the biggest zombie he'd ever seen. He was huge, and the boy didn't think he could get a good headshot in. "Fine then, jumbo. Take this!" He hacked at the monster's leg, felling it like an ugly, rotting tree. "There we go!" And he brought he axe down through the zombie's face. "Not so big now, are...." The blond boy tugged at the axe, but it was stuck. "Fuck. Fuckfuckfuckfuck." He pulled again, then felt the cold, bony hands on his arm. "NO! HELP ME!"

The first of the walkers sunk his teeth into Robbie's arm as the boy howled in pain and fear. The second went for his neck, and soon there wasn't any more howling.

"No! ROBBIE!" Dani broke formation first, turning and running to hack through the undead bastard's neck. It took a couple swings before she connected with the side of its head, caving it in. Estelle put her crowbar through the brain of the other one.

They were too late.

---

"Evan, we have to go!" It wasn't the first time Levi had woken his boyfriend by jumping onto his bed. "Sam's back."

"...Levi." The older boy tried to pull him under the covers, hold him. He had never liked Sam, but he was going to comfort his boyfriend anyway. "Levi, he's dead. I'm so sorry, but he's not coming back."

"He is. He's in the courtyard." Levi grabbed Evan's arm and pulled, trying to get him to come to the window. "They all are. Everyone who was sick. They're there. They're....." He didn't finish, because Evan could see it now. A cluster of students, recognizable students, eating...was that Dr. Neville?

"We have to go. I just saw Robbie. He's running too. Let's go."

---

Blam!

The there were less moans.

Blam!

Robbie had been right. The swarm had thinned out.

Blam!

A few more minutes. A few more gunshots and swings of crowbars and bats and it was done. Their tent was surrounded by bodies, and they stood around one in particular.

"He...he yelled at us to help him." Danicca looked down, her voice breaking. "We didn't help him." She sunk to the ground, kneeling in the grass soaked with Robbie's blood.

"...Dani, give me your hatchet." Levi held out his hand, and she just stared at him blankly. "He wouldn't want to come back. We should...you know. Before he does. Then we can bury him."

"YOU WANT TO BASH HIS HEAD IN?"

"No. Robbie wouldn't want to be one of them. Let me do that for him."

After a tense moment, Estelle wiped the tears from her face and croaked, "He's right, Dani. That's what he'd want."

"He wanted our help. We let him die!"

Levi crouched down next to her. "There was nothing we could do. I think his axe got stuck and that distracted him. They were too quick. I'm sorry."

"Fuck you. You can be cold because you don't have anyone to live for except Evan, and you two are the ones with the guns."

"Dani...."

"If he was killed, would you bash his head in?"

Evan backed away, a lump in his throat. He didn't want to hear this.

"You should have shot them before they got too close. You killed him, and now you want to destroy him before I can say goodbye." Danicca held up the hatchet, but not to hand it over. "You come any closer to him and I'll kill you."

Levi stood and backed up. "I...I'm sorry, Dani. I'm so sorry." And for a moment, the camp was still except for Estelle's sobbing.

Evan's scream broke the silence.

---

"Okay, it's just around this bend. My family has plenty of space, and we've got pretty good fences, so that should slow the walkers down. Plus, we'd be able to see any of them coming from a long way away." Evan was smiling, for what Levi thought was the first time in days.

Robbie grinned and slung an arm around his friend. "And you're gonna teach me how to ride, right?"

"Yeah, of course, David's better at..." They rounded the corner of the twisted road, and in front of them, the woods opened up to a farm. The barn doors were open, it looked like the farmhouse didn't have a door, and there were zombies dotting the fields. "No." He stepped forward, but Levi grabbed him by the back of his belt.

"Van, we can't."

"But, Levi. My..." He turned, and the group could see the tears building in his eyes.

"I know." The shorter boy wrapped his arms around him, burrowing his face into Evan's chest. "We'll come back later, when we have guns or something. It's a trap, now."

---

Levi was first across the clearing, where a single walker stumbled after Evan, who was clutching his arm.

BLAM!

In one shot, the zombie fell, and Evan stood, his whole body shaking. "It...it bit me. I didn't want you to see me crying so I went over there and it came out of nowhere and it bit me." He stared over at the group, letting the tears spill down his face. "It bit me."

"Evan." Levi dropped the rifle and ran up to him, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend. "No. Why were you so stupid? We don't care if you cry." He was crying too.

"Levi, I love you." Evan used his uninjured arm to nudge the shorter boy's face up so he could kiss him. "Don't ever forget that, okay? Keep them safe."

"Evan, what are you....?" But Levi looked down at the rifle in his boyfriend's hand and knew. "You can't."

"I have to. I don't want to turn into one of them. It's like with Robbie. I don't want to become a monster."

"But you're not dead. You can't kill yourself."

"I don't have a choice."

"It's a sin."

Evan looked down at his boyfriend, bewildered. "What?"

"It...suicide is a sin. It's...you can't do it."

And Evan started to laugh. "Do you really think that some man with a beard is going to come out of the sky and save us? Who cares if it's a sin? I'm going to die anyway, and I don't want to come back. Please, Levi, let me do it so I won't turn into one of them." He stroked his boyfriend's dirty, matted hair and clung to him. "Please let me do it."

Levi shook his head and held on tighter to the older boy. "I can't let you do that. You're a good person, and I can't let you."

"Then...Levi, will you do it? Please?" He couldn't believe what he was asking the younger boy to do. "Please let me die on my own terms."

After a long silence, Levi nodded. "I...if you want me to. I'll do it."

Evan was shaking as he handed the other boy his rifle. Levi looked at it for a moment, then pulled away and walked back to the other side of the camp. He dropped that gun as well, and tugged the axe that was still sticking out of the giant zombie's corpse until it came loose. Then he held it in the fire and let the bits of flesh and blood burn away. "We can't risk another gunshot, and I'm not getting any zombie guts on you."

Evan just sat down on the ground and waited.

"Levi." It was Zac who stepped in and murmured softly to the younger boy. "You're scaring us. You're going to kill him with an axe?"

Levi looked at him, then turned to the girls. Even Dani looked scared of him. He just shook his head and walked ran a cloth over the axe, cleaning away the soot. Then he walked back over to Evan, leaned over, and kissed him. "I love you, so much. Don't you ever forget that either."

Evan didn't kiss back. Ever was only a few moments, for him. He looked up at his boyfriend and whimpered, "Please."

Levi's face was almost blank as he shook his head. "Close your eyes, Evan, and lay down. I can't....I can't do this if you're looking at me."

The older boy did so, and Zac, Estelle, and Dani turned away, waiting for the loud THUNK that meant it was over.

Except it wasn't. Evan started to scream.

Estelle turned back first, to see Levi kneeling over Evan, and the bleeding stump of his arm.

"Someone help me stop the bleeding!"

To Be Continued...

[Levi Xu]

Zombies! Part 2

"WHAT DID YOU DO?" Estelle bolted to the other side of the clearing, pulling off her jacket as she ran. Evan was bleeding, and screaming, and Levi pulled off his own shirt and was trying to hold it over the bloody stump.

"Why, why did you do this?" Evan cried, thrashing around, not letting the younger boy hold his bundled-up shirt to what was left of his arm. "You were supposed to kill me! I'm supposed to be dead."

"I couldn't. Evan, shhhhh." He let Estelle try to staunch the blood, and focused on holding Evan down so he couldn't move around too much. "Stop moving."

"No!" The older boy screamed again when Estelle pressed the wad of clothing against his wound. "Get away from me. Let me die! Let me die!"

Finally, after weeks of refusing, Levi started to cry as he held his hand over his boyfriend's mouth, trying to muffle the screaming. "No...stop it. They'll hear you."

"I need a shoelace!" Estelle looked around, and Dani sat down and started unlacing her boot, quickly pulling out the long string and bringing it over. The older girl took it and wrapped it as tight as she could, about two inches up from where Evan's arm had been sliced off. "Evan, I'm trying to stop the bleeding, keep your arm straight up in the air."

But the boy on the ground didn't respond. He only passed out from some combination of pain, fear, and blood loss. At least he was still as Estelle made a makeshift bandage to cover the stump. "I...I can't do anything else. We need to wrap him in something to keep him from shock, but...." She looked over at Levi, whose chest and arms were covered in his boyfriend's blood, and there was a smear of it across his face from where he'd tried to wipe his eyes. "I can't fix it. Even if he stops bleeding, he'll probably get an infection. He might already be infected."

Levi reached down and picked up his boyfriend's hand, the one that was still attached to his body. He'd done this and it still probably wasn't enough to save him.

Zac came over with the sleeping bag Evan and Levi shared on the rare times that one of them wasn't standing guard at night. Estelle took it and thanked him, then she and Levi maneuvered Evan's long legs inside. They zipped him up, and then Estelle looked to the boy, waiting for the next part of his plan. Somehow, Levi had become a defacto leader for the group. Robbie had kept them together at first, but Levi was the one who had started the night watches and had gone with Zac to scavenge for food. "What...what can we do now? We can't keep moving him. We need to bunker down somewhere."

"Bunker..." Levi stood up and spun around, pointing at the rest of the group. "Estelle, Dani, pack everything up. Food and weapons first, but leave the tent if you can't get it down in five minutes. Zac, can you carry Evan? I think I know where we'll be safe. It's about a mile and a half from here, if we can get to the main road."

"Levi..." Zac put his hand on the younger boy's shoulder, holding him still instead of letting him run off and start helping to pack. "What's wrong with you? You just chopped Evan's arm off. Why should we trust you?"

"Because," Levi said, "You don't have a choice. I know somewhere I think is safe, and if I have to carry Evan there myself, I will." He looked up at the taller boy, his eyes cold and tearless now. "And if I have to do that, I'm taking the ammo with me."

"No, you're..."

But Levi raised the rifle he had picked up and pointed it straight at him. He'd never done that before, not even as a joke. "Zac. Can you carry Evan for a mile and a half?"

"Yes." Zac backed away as if he had never seen Levi before in his life.

"Good. Let's get moving." They packed up the camp within a few minutes, since they didn't have much besides sleeping bags, the tent, and the food in a pack Evan had strung up in a tree to keep away from bears.

As they got ready to go, there was a small groan that made them all freeze, before they realized where it came from. Before he could sit up again, Estelle walked over to Robbie and murmured an apology before bringing her crowbar down onto his head.

They usually didn't travel at night, and so they stumbled through the woods as the very early morning sunlight started to filter through. They were on alert, and Levi kept the rifle up as he led the way to the road, and then from there onto a private drive. The ruins of what had to have been a small mansion were overgrown, but that didn't stop the chill running down the spines of the others.

Dani shivered, though she was pretending it was just because her feet were wet from walking through the dewy grass. "What is this place?"

"Nowhere." Levi stopped suddenly at what looked like an old shed. He smashed the door in with the but of his rifle, breaking through the weak latch, and stepped inside. The floor of the shed was dirt, and in the dirt was a solid metal door with a keypad in the center.

"Seriously, Levi, what's going on?" Dani pushed in behind him and watched him kneel down and look at the numbers, considering. There had to be a password, and he probably didn't have many guesses to get it right.

It only took one. 7-6-5-6. S-O-L-O.

There was a click, and the boy grabbed the handle and opened the door to the bunker. "Get inside. There has to be medicine in here."

"Who the fuck is there?" A voice from inside rang up the concrete stairs, and it didn't even take Estelle a moment to run down them.

"FIFI?"

"Estelle?" The girl was still holding a pistol in shaking hands, but she put it down when her friend came running and wrapped her arms around her. "What...what are you doing here?"

"Levi brought us. Evan's hurt."

"How hurt?" Fifi watched the rest of the small group come down, with Levi bringing up the rear, closing the bunker door behind him. "Oh God. What happened?"

Levi kept his rifle in his hands, just in case. "Who else is here? Where's the infirmary?"

"I'm alone." But Fifi took off down a narrow hallway, and the rest followed behind her. At the end was a door that led into a small room with a row of cots and a wall of cabinets. "What happened to his arm?"

"He was bit," Levi said as he finally put the gun down and started searching for bandages, and antibiotics, and anything else he thought might help. "So I cut his arm off." Zac lay the unconcious boy onto the bed and started to pull off the sleeping bag, before remembering what Estelle had said about shock.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"No. If I didn't do it, he was going to die. He has a chance now." Levi snarled as he brought the supplies over to where Estelle was peeling off the dirty shirt that had been Evan's bandage.

"I...I think it might have stopped bleeding, but it's probably going to get infected if we can't clean it out. Is there antiseptic somewhere?" She took the bottle that Levi handed her, and poured some onto a clean cloth before pressing it to the wound.

It might have been the light--how long had they gone without electricity now?--or just the sting of the strong antiseptic, but Evan woke up and started howling again and thrashing around.

"Zac, keep him still! Fifi, Dani, I'm going to need more bandages." Estelle barked out orders, and the others scrambled to do what she asked. In the bunker, though the light was still pretty dim, Evan looked even paler and more ashen than before.

Levi stood at the foot of the bed, realizing he was only getting in the way. "Is, is there anything I can do?"

"Haven't you done enough?" She didn't mean to snap at him, but her face only softened when Estelle saw Levi take a step back. "Water. Can you get me some water? Boil it."

"Yeah...yeah, sure." And he ran back to where he thought he'd seen an empty kitchen, the sink full of dishes. It was exactly what it looked like, and the boy set to work boiling water.

He couldn't keep the sound of Evan howling in pain out of his head.

[Levi Xu]

Zombies Part 3

After three hours of Levi hovering behind Estelle, who cleaned Evan's wound as best she could before bandaging it up tightly, he was ordered out of the small infirmary. The others had already taken advantage of the water tank and generator and had taken hot showers for the first time in weeks. Plus, there was clean, new clothes in the bunker, and everyone had been able to find something that more-or-less fit.

It would have been perfect, if Levi had thought to run there before.

The boy sat on the floor of the showers, still wearing the grungy jeans he'd had on for weeks, and let the hot, then warm, then cold water pour over him. If he made the effort to run his hands through his hair or over his skin, the water swirling down the drain was stained a dark brown.

If he had thought to bring them to the compound before, bring them to the bunker...Robbie would be alive, and Evan wouldn't have been bitten. There was everything they needed to last for years, plus equipment for fishing and hunting later. There was even a small library, which had made Estelle smile a little while she tried to get Evan to drink some water. (There was IV stuff there, but they didn't know how to use it, and didn't want to get it wrong.)

They could have been happy here. They could have been safe. But Levi had been too stupid to remember.

"Turn off the shower. Fifi says you've used up all the hot water."

Levi didn't look up, didn't even move when Dani came in.

"Good thing you're not naked." She walked over to the shower and turned it off, before looking down at the boy. They were practically the same age, if she remembered right. But before, he'd been acting like he was the oldest, and everyone had been listening to him. Now, he looked like a little, miserable, kid. "Ugh. You're still covered in crap."

"Go away."

"No," Danicca crossed her arms and nudged at him with her foot. "Look at me, Levi. We need to talk."

Finally, he looked up at her. The blood smears on his face had been washed slightly, but there were still distinct tracks of tears on them. "What do you want?"

"I want to know why you did that." When they were both standing, Levi had maybe an inch of height on her. But now she was looming over him. "You wanted to bash Robbie's skull in, but you didn't kill Evan when he was begging you to."

"Robbie was dead already. Evan still has a chance."

"No he doesn't!" She nudged him with her foot again, a little harder this time. "Estelle doesn't know what she's doing, and he lost a lot of blood. What were you thinking?"

"I had to try to save him! He could have been infected!"

"He still could be. Get up." If she started nudging him any harder, the action would be upgraded to kicking him. "You're taking a cold shower."

"Why?"

"Because you smell like rotting guts, and you look just as bad, and if you don't get his blood off of yourself, you're going to start looking like a fucking serial killer." She finally leaned over and grabbed his arm, then pulled him to his feet. "And because you're sleeping in the infirmary tonight."

Levi cradled his forehead in his hand. "I...I can't. I can't look at him and know I did that to him."

"Too fucking bad. Estelle is exhausted, Zac's worn out from tapping his power, and Fifi's watching the monitors." She turned on the shower again and pushed him until he was standing under it, then handed him a bar of soap. "He might die tonight. He might turn. And we're going to be locked in a bunker with him, and we can't use the guns because they'll ricochet."

"What?"

"If Evan turns, you're going to have to kill him." There had been a group decision, and they were all...they'd settled on the word "unsettled", but in honesty they were scared. "He begged you. You were planning on chopping off his arm, and you never asked if that was what he wanted."

"I wasn't planning..."

"You cleaned the axe first." Dani cut him off and shook her head. "If he dies tonight, it'll be because you drew it out. Take your shower."

As she turned to go, Levi finally murmured, "Dani, I'm sorry. I just...I thought I had to."

"Levi," At the door, she turned back to look at him again, "If you ever threaten any of us with a gun again, we're kicking you out."

[Levi Xu]

Zombies! Part 4

Evan didn't die that night.

Levi sat with him through the night, mumbling everything he could remember of his prayers. It felt like it had been so long since he'd said anything in Hebrew, the words didn't form right in his mouth. It didn't matter though, since Evan was either asleep or delirious, and couldn't hear him, even if he did understand Hebrew.

And if G-d was still listening, then he'd know what Levi meant, right?

The next morning, Zac helped him wash the blood and dirt off of Evan and get him into clean clothes. (Which Levi was sure were intended for Jake. They didn't fit the teenager well, but they looked so familiar...) Finally, the others convinced him to sleep, and he was out cold in the room filled with cots when Evan started waking up.

The pain was so bad, Evan could barely focus, he cracked open his eyes, looking up at the bright, yellow light overhead. Somewhere far away, he thought he heard someone say something about "He's waking up."

His throat was too dry to ask who they were talking about. Instead, he coughed, and he felt a sharp pain in his arm. Something was wrong. He wasn't supposed to be in bed.

Zombie. He'd been bitten. "Am...Am I dead? Is this heaven?" Evan croaked out, his eyes still burning from the light.

He squinted at the face closest to him until it began to focus. Then he regretted it, because there was only one reason Zac would be at his bedside. "I'm in hell?" God really was punishing him.

"No, Evan. You're alive." Estelle reached over from the other side of the cot and gently brushed the boy's sweat-soaked hair off of his forehead. "Think you can drink some water?"

Zac just sat back with his arms crossed, mumbling something.

He nodded slowly. Water sounded good. Maybe if he drank something his head would clear up and he'd realize what was wrong. He knew there was something, but as he stared up at the dim lights in the ceiling, he couldn't remember what it was. "Where are we?"

"A bunker, or something." Zac volunteered as he stood up. "And you're not going to turn right now, so I'm going to get something to eat."

"Turn?" Evan asked, but he sipped at the cup of water Estelle held to his lips. "Was...was I bit? Am I going to die?"

The girl bit her lip for a moment, looking away before she replied. "Yes, you were bit. But I don't think you're going to turn. It's been over 48 hours." The infection usually killed within twelve, unless the zombies finished the job first. That didn't mean he'd survive, but at least he wasn't going to become a zombie. At least they wouldn't have to bash his skull in too.

"How?" Everything was too blurry. He remembered pain, and begging, and nothing else since...since they'd set up camp in the woods. How much time had passed since then?

She hesitated again, unsure of how to tell him, again. "Evan, look down. Levi cut the bite off. He cut off your arm."

"Why?" Evan's voice broke as he looked down. He saw his left hand, fingers curled into the blanket, but his right arm ended in a bundle of bandages, just below his elbow. "Why can I still feel it?"

"Because you've got a high fever. You might have an infection. Can you take this pill?" Estelle helped him sit up so he could swallow some medicine, but even just sitting up for a minute made his head spin, and he had to lie down again.

"If I'm infected..."

"No, Evan. You're not going to turn. You're infected with something else, but it's probably something medicine will help with."

"How?" This still made no sense. He'd been bitten. Why would they volunteer to lock themselves in a bunker with him? That was the stupidest thing he'd ever heard of. "What medicine?"

"What you just took. It's going to be okay." He seemed pretty delirious, so Estelle figured her words were assuring enough as she prompted him to drink some more water. "And it's probably because we used Levi's grungy tee-shirt as a bandage."

He sipped the water, then lay back down, cringing a bit. "That's gross."

"Yeah, it was. But it's going to be better now."

"Okay." Evan closed his eyes again; the effort to keep them open was just a little too much. "Is he here?"

"Yes, he's just sleeping. He'll be here when you wake up."

---

Later, Dani cornered Levi while he was sharpening one of the hatchets he'd found in one of the store rooms. "So how did you know about this place?"

Levi stopped and looked at her for a moment, before starting again on the hatchet. "I lived near here before I was recruited. I was homeschooled, remember? Plenty of time to explore the woods."

"You're lying. How did you know this was here?"

"Because I know things sometimes." He stood, and clipped the hatchet into a holster on his belt. "It's my power. I sometimes things just come into my head, and most of the time they're wrong. But sometimes they're right, and here we are."

"And that's how you got us here? You just suddenly knew about it?"

"Yeah."

Dani crossed her arms, wondering why everyone had blindly decided to follow him, of all people. "Then why do you keep saying it's because you were homeschooled?"

"Because that's true too, and it sounds less crazy than, 'Let's do this because I have a hunch it will work out right.'"

The girl was about to argue back, but then Fifi poked her head in. "Evan's awake again, and he's asking for you, Levi."

[Levi Xu]

That AU Where Sean is 14

There he was again. Sean Neville had walked by the new kid a few times in the last few days, and every time, he did a double take. He was used to noise, the stray thoughts and chatter of teenager's minds, sometimes with static if they were psychics and learning how to shield, like him.

The new kid's mind was blank. He walked past and Sean heard nothing.

In Sean's two years at Hammel, he'd only experienced shields like that in training. Robert liked to shield his thoughts, but the was still a warm feeling he projected around him. Mr. Kilbourne had shielded with laser precision, his thoughts either hidden completely or clearly meant for him to hear. But a total lockdown only happened when they were training.

That was probably why he always looked so tired. Practicing shielding gave Sean a headache, every time, and he'd been training for two years. The new kid had only been at Hammel a couple of days, and he looked like he was only twelve or thirteen.

Sean had to know how he did it. If he could learn to shield like that, life would be so much easier. So he followed him out to the courtyard, even though it was January and way too cold for anyone to be out there.

Actually, it was a good place, because it was silent. The only thoughts close enough to hear were his own, or the boy's.

"Stop following me! Go find some other prey to stalk."

Well. That was not the reaction Sean had been hoping for when he'd decided to approach him. "Hi. I'm Sean. I just wanted to say hello, since you're new."

"Oh. I'm Levi." Levi sat down on one of the benches and pulled the hood of his sweatshirt up. "And yeah. I'm new."

"Aren't you cold?" Sean sat down on the other end of the bench. "Why are you out here?"

"It's quiet. There's too many people inside. Too much is going on."

"Are you a telepath too? Or a mind controller?"

Levi shook his head. "No."

"How can you shield like that, though?" Sean kept pressing. If he wasn't a telepath, the shields were even more impressive.

"I had a really good teacher." Levi curled up, with his knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. "But he died, so Jake left me here."

"Oh." Sean didn't really know how to respond, other than putting his hand on Levi's shoulder. Whatever Levi's power was, it wasn't making him project his pain, like empathy or telepathy could. "I'm sorry. Where did you transfer from? Japan?"

"I'm Chinese-American. I'm from Portland, not Japan." Levi said, "And I was homeschooled. Mr. Underwood trained me. We lived in Pilot Ridge."

"Robert said everyone with powers had to go to one of the meta schools. And that they find everyone."

"Not me. Mr. Underwood trained me for a year, and I didn't even know this was a meta school." Levi shrugged as he spoke. "Are you a telepath too? I didn't think shapeshifters got other powers."

Sean stared at him for a moment, then laughed. "I'm not a shapeshifter. I'm a telepath and I can manipulate people's memories. Why'd you think I was a shapeshifter?"

"Because you're a lion."

"Um...what?"

[Levi Xu]

No Commitment: A Continuation of a Tumblr Joke

"Levi!" Tak waved at the young man as he stepped off the bus. He looked just about as exhausted as someone should look if they had spent the past eight hours on a bus, and the previous five on an airplane. She was happy to meet him there though. "Come on. Dinner is in the crockpot and then you're going to bed."

"Thanks. You're amazing, Tak." He gave her a quick hug, then slung his garment bag over his shoulder. He was hungry and exhausted, and he only had a day to look less disheveled before his job interview.

After dinner, Levi had perked up enough to agree to watch a movie before crashing on the couch. He blushed a little when Tak curled up next to him, but put his arm around her shoulders anyway. "You're just as cuddly as I remembered."

"Hey!" Tak laughed and elbowed him slightly, "I'm just affectionate. And I've always been respectful of you being gay and your boyfriend and everything."

Levi's face fell and he stiffened slightly.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Levs. How long has it been though? A year?" She hadn't seen him since before he and Evan had broken up. The former Hammel students who still kept in touch had passed around a rumor that it was Levi's fault somehow, which her friend had confirmed. "What happened with Evan anyway?"

"I thought he was coming to dump me. So I told him it was okay, and I understood." Levi was quiet before he continued. "So I dumped him, and he had an engagement ring in his pocket. I broke his heart."

Tak wrapped her arms around Levi and squeezed him. "I'm so sorry, Levs. But you are going to find another guy. When you're ready. And maybe it will be for the best."

"Yeah." Levi leaned his head against her shoulder and just watched the movie for a few minutes, before finally something clicked. "Wait, you think I'm gay?"

"...You're not? But you only dated boys as long as I've known you!"

"I dated Evan. I like girls too. Women." Levi laughed a little. He'd actually had this conversation a lot since he and Evan had broken up.

Tak, relieved that mentioning her friend's ex hadn't ruined the evening entirely, elbowed him again. "Then what are you doing sleeping on my couch? The bed is plenty big enough for two."

Again, Levi laughed. "I'm not going to impose on your hospitality any more than I have already. And aren't you seeing someone?"

"No, that ended two months ago. And I'm just saying, it's been over a year, and there hasn't been anyone else, has there? If you want, we could do it. No pressure, no commitment. Just two friends having fun."

"That actually sounds really nice."

Levi got the job and found an apartment. Tak was his most frequent guest, even before the day she said, "Levi, I think I'm pregnant. If I am, it's yours."