RFYL -- A Shot for Humanity

She woke up to the usual sounds of the morning; the sounds of her fellow survivors slowly waking, the sounds of silence that made her sick in the morning.... There was a light pounding at the front of her skull but the brunette had worked through bigger hangovers before....

Amber eyes glanced to the warm body next to her, a soft chuckle in the back of her throat to see him dozing off. Hanji managed to crawl out of the sleeping bag, pulling the blanket back up to cover the man with a smile. It wasn't long to stay, the woman grabbing her glasses and jumping to her feet. Boots were pulled on, knife at her side, and gun stashed in her backpack. She glanced towards the window with a small sigh. Dawn was breaking, so she woke just in time.

Careful not to be ask much as a klutz as usual, Hanji hurried out the door and felt the second wave of nausea when she passed the door to the basement. Rico was just starting down the steps of the attic, the pure look of distaste not hidden from her expression.

".... Sleep well?" She heard the blonde hiss. Unfortunately she couldn't say much back, all the brunette could do was bite her tongue. The first fight she got in with the other woman had nearly gotten her thrown out... there was no need to make things worse now that it was evident she favored the new stranger.

It was a bit of a shame; she wondered what tedious chore the man would be doing to make up for his sleep of the night before. Would he bother staying again?

She tried not to think much on it, the brunette climbing the stairs before plopping down in the only comfortable chair in the entire church, letting out a small happy sigh as the cushions made her feel just a little at home every time.

Giving her glasses a quick wipe on her shirt, the now on watch woman picked up the attic-use-only rifle and took a look around the edges of the woods around them. Seemed... calm... Good, a nice morning.

This is how it would be for awhile; she watched from the window as Mitobi left the church with a catch-pole and quickly tried to look away to prevent any following thoughts. Not too long after, Ian had led Levi out the front with the buckets - well, she supposed that was one way to make Levi serve....

---

The faint noises of groans was the first thing that he caught upon slowly gaining consciousness. His skin crawled as a snapping noise faintly broke through... There were several of them! Pulling, gnawing, feeding. Cool blue eyes snapped open, panic sweeping through the man to find his weapons were out of reach, that the woman was gone -! There was nothing.... The room he had fallen asleep in last night was empty; both of the woman and of any sign of threat.... That couldn't be right... Where had the noise come from?!

Levi grabbed out for his bag, wrenching his crowbar free and jumping to his feet. Where the hell had the sounds come from?!

"Hey!" The man jumped at the voice, turning to find the disgusted scowl of Rico staring him down from the open doorway. "You're on fresh-water duty with Ian. Get your shit together."

Well, wasn't that perfect? She didn't say anything else as the shorter left him to scrounge the room for his boots and hurry to scarf down some of the jerky and water. He was lucky enough Ian was waiting for him outside the room with a bucket.

"The creek not crisp enough for you?" The obsidian muttered, looking the metal pail over.

"Can't be too careful. We follow it uphill a bit more further from town, away from the Infected... Don't want anything a confused corpse has been floating in..."

Well, there was something Levi had never really thought about. He instantly felt a heaviness in his stomach and was thankful for the water he had stalked up and bottled at the spring with his previous group. That water had been brought in, boiled, and then cooled before being poured and dispersed. Nice group for some merciless raiders really.

He tried not to think of them, or really any of his previous groups. Instead he focused on the man in front of him as he led him upstream, listening to the water or the woods around them for any sign of the dangerous things walking the lands - humans were just as frightening to come across anymore as the Geeks.  

---

Hanji leaned against the basement door with a slight impatience, knife held up close to her chest and at the ready. Her hand was shaking, that much was true, but this was so routine now that she hated the amount of fear that came with living in this godforsaken church.

Finally the knock on the other side came, and the woman backed off to throw it open, shaking hand and narrowed eyes on the dark room in preparation. Very quickly Mitabi and Kitts hurried out, the former looking a bit pale. The door quickly slammed behind them, Rico finally out as well with a grim look.

Hanji could only breath a sigh of relief, sheathing the pathetic knife. She didn't like to think much how useless it may be in a worse-case scenario situation but.... No, she shook any lingering thoughts away. "....S-So?"

"Treatment will continue." Kitts grumbled gruffly, walking past her with little acknowledge of the anger that flashed in the dark brown optics.

"This is pointless!" She shouted, following after the man with thundering steps. "You can't honestly thin-!"

"Bite your tongue!" The bearded man reeled on her, arm moving fast enough to have lost her attention, all Hanji noticed was the sting in her cheek not a second afterward. "Or you can very well leave with that trash!"

Levi.... Her shoulders slumped as she glanced outside. It was already past noon and Ian and Levi probably wouldn't be returning for another half hour at least with the water. There wouldn't be a whole lot of time for their 'guest' to find whatever piece it was to fix his truck at this rate... He'd have to stay another night, and he wouldn't be allowed that luxury if she got herself thrown out.

"... Yessir." She would have to remain quiet, shoulders slumping as her sight lingered on her shoes in bitter resentment. Hush up, stay silent... that's all she had been allowed to do since she arrived...

---

The trip itself had taken hours, let along filling the buckets and then carrying those heavy ass things back...! Even worse was the welcoming committee; two Titans lingering on their path back home, and with their groans a third had wondered into the clearing just in time to lumber into Levi and knock him to the rock littered ground and get his knees and hands cut up as Ian took the third fucker out. Bleeding hands were no excuse to not carry the bucket though, and frankly the trip had only gotten slower as he limped behind the brunet man.

He and Ian probably hadn't gotten back until nearly two o'clock, and with the autumn's lovely weather he knew he didn't have long. The water had been dropped in front of a very pissed off Kitts. After all, how dare he get hurt when he could possibly get blood in his wounds and get infected. He could kill the man, and damn it was tempting. Levi vaguely remembered moving his crowbar to meet the nose-tip of the pastor or whatever he claimed he was just to stop it before doing any damage. Maybe that's why he was limping with the brunette woman towards the highway.

"I'll hardly have any time..." He grumbled, ignoring the chuckling next to him. He wouldn't ever understand this chick.

"You should have hit him. Dear god, someone should!" Hanji managed.

"Can't afford it... I'll probably have to spend another night." He hated the thought of sticking around after today. A part of him felt a trap; if he stuck around he would be stuck doing chores all day until he was tired, then he would have to sleep... and do more chores to pay that night of sleep off... An endless cycle. Eyes turned to the woman next to him. Her knife was out but she still seemed so worry free... Had she been the same? Trapped here to stay?

Though...It's not like they were physically trapped. They could literally leave, right now.... And walk. No, the woman had said it before, they were in the middle of nowhere, and from what he had seen the town was void of most resources. This was the only sanctuary... Fuck.

"We should turn around..." He muttered, sighing as he sat on the closest rock. The woman turned to him with a bit of disappointment and curiosity. "What? There's no point; when we get there I'll have just enough time to look at maybe two cars around us. I'm not a miracle worker - then I'd need time to fix the damn truck up! The sun sets at what - four, four-thirty? My hands fucking burn Hanji, I can't do it today!" He growled, glaring daggers and the taller.

"... Okay... Take it easy..." Hanji put her hands up defensively. "We'll head back, that's okay... Want help?"

---

She hated seeing him like this. Yesterday he had seemed so brazen; a strong will and a rage aimed at the entire world. Now... Well, even as she indulged in using emergency supplies she had stashed in her room to clean his wounds and bandage what she could; even in such complimentary candle lighting, he seemed more defeated. She wanted to see the strength and anger in his eyes again... Or the kindness from last night.

"... You have food tonight?" She asked cautiously, eyes watching his reaction carefully.

"I'm fine." Still a harsh tone.... She would take that as a good sign. "I'll share... they seem to be giving you the cold shoulder already...

Hanji smiled, far more content to share with him once more than try and melt the ice around her housemates. Her thoughts were returning to the night before, pushing them aside. It was hard to fight them after all... she could die any moment.

Even still, there was the question on why he had said no... Maybe he was still picky enough to have a type that she didn't cut? He had seemed like he liked the idea... For a moment.

She was in the middle of taking a bite of his jerky when it blurted out of her mouth. "Is there something wrong with me?" Maybe she was over thinking it all, or maybe she just hadn't like being turned away.... The offense and hurt took residence in her expression, but hidden in the orbs was a spark of determination.

"... What?"

"I just thought I wasn't the only one who was lonely, you're the one by himself. If you'd rather keep to yourself just... say so... I wouldn't throw you out of my room or throw you out of the church, but... Just say so..."

It was one of those fronts you put up so people couldn't hurt you; if she hadn't already been doing it for years she would've been great at it anyway thanks to the hospitable hostiles she shared a roof with. A complete stranger not liking you shouldn't hurt your feelings, but everyone knew that the initial reaction to pain was to shroud yourself for protection.

"What?" Now he just seemed confused, and she felt stupid because she understood why... But.. She had never been a good flirt or anything; she wanted to be with him, wasn't that alright? "No, no - it's that I - I didn't think you were serious..." He shook his head. "I mean, we were drinking last night. I was just trying to avoid any trouble; if you're trying to insinuate something fast with no strings attached..." He seemed to be making a second attempt to move closer to her. The silence that fell between them only made her feel more foolish.

"... I am lonely..." His voice broke through, quiet, but reassuring. "It's because I've been along that I don't pick up on all these signals right..." To him, it was hard to believe anyone lusted at the end of the world... Though he didn't seem to be complaining.

"I wouldn't hold it against you in the morning." She could, even tease him for it; not that she would. "I'm not that bad..." She wasn't drunk anymore, she'd remember this. It's not like the others would have to know; they'd never guess anyway, the whole building had enough bumps in the night.

Still,the barrier had to lesson, the cold shoulder was shortly gone. Obviously it had been longer than she would have guessed - may even be a safe bet to say he hadn't been with anyone since the fall of humanity if he didn't catch a signal well. "There aren't a lot of options anymore... You're not bad looking... You'll be gone soon, if not tomorrow... Who knows after that, right? So... Why not?"

"You don't need to make up an excuse for my sake." Levi certainly didn't need one, but he let her go on because she might need to find a way to reason her own actions. The brunette seemed anxious though, less defensive, but not as sly and happy as she had been last night when the topic first came up.

The obsidian moved to break the ice, leaning in tentatively to brush his lips against the woman's, a hand settling on her waist. It was the first careful touch, like he was asking for permission rather than just jumping on the opportunity.

It was sweet; more slack than she may have given the stranger on first glance. She shifted lightly at his touch, moving closer to him enough where a small tug on his coat would make sure he didn't get too far.

The brunette knew she had a bad habit of talking and ruining moments like these, so she would have to shut herself up. Amber eyes closed, leaning into the kiss with a gentle nip of appreciation. She wasn't fragile; after the incentive was made, touching him wasn't as awkward, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to deepen the kiss was just right.