Chapter 1:How We All Came To Be Here
Resting her elbows on the counter Olivia watched the other people in the room, chatter and innocent laughter filling the air. Looking at them laughing and joking over their eggs and biscuits it was hard to believe the past six months had truly been real. Seeing such an easy carefree display nearly made it possible to imagine the nightmare on the other side of those fences had been just that, a nightmare. A memory filled her mind her grandmother's voice marveling at the resiliency of children, she'd said it following Liv falling out of a tree when she was seven. Looking around herself now she couldn't help but think her grandmother's observation had never been more true than it was right this moment. Perhaps if there were more adults around their situation would seem more depressing, more dire but Liv found it difficult to feel either of those when surrounded by so many innocent faces and bright eyes. In a room of eleven people Liv was one of only two to have seen an eighteenth birthday. Though only twenty-eight some days she felt downright ancient but considering she'd somehow ended up caring for nine children it seemed a reasonable way to feel. Not that she was unaccustomed to handling a full house. She'd become pregnant and given birth to her daughter Annabeth, now nearly fourteen, at just fifteen. Shortly following the birth of her second daughter Sky, now four, Liv's older half-sister Leah and Leah's husband Micheal were killed in a car accident. At twenty-four Liv had suddenly found herself raising not only Annabeth and newborn Sky but her nieces Isabel and Mary as well.
For the first few weeks after the outbreak she hadn't been the sole adult woman, she'd had company in her neighbor Angela, a military widow who had lived a few miles away. Angela and her son, two-year-old Wyatt, had come seeking help and safety at her property. Raven Glenn, Olivia's property left to her by her maternal grandparents, consisted of 10 acres encased by a 15-foot high solid stone wall that went below the ground several more feet. The only entrance a metal gate that even the Incredible Hulk couldn't bash his way through, Liv had thanked her grandfather's obsession with Celtic architecture again and again, without it the wall and gate would not exist and this beautiful place would have long ago been savaged by the walkers. Liv had felt another barrier would increase their protection so she had made a run to a nearby town and gathered supplies. She and Angela had erected a reinforced chain link fence twenty feet tall surrounding the property 10 yards out beyond the stone wall, topping it with barbed wire, razor wire and whatever else they could find to hinder anyone or anything's ability to climb over it. They'd been nearly finished, merely attaching the last reinforcements to the hinges of the gate when a female walker cleared the small stand of trees, thinking it alone Angela had grabbed a spare metal rod from the grass. Despite Olivia's wish to err on the side of caution and get inside the walls so she could take care of it with her bow (currently leaning against the main gate), Angela charged the walker piercing it through the head just as three others cleared the trees a few feet away. In fear for her friend Olivia had pulled her knife from it's sheath on her thigh and thrown it dropping the walker closest to Angela at the same time Angela had taken down another. When Angie had tried to pull the rod from it's head it caught, only for a moment but a moment was all it took for the third to catch hold of her, sinking it's decaying teeth into her throat. Liv had sunk her retrieved knife into it's head at that moment but too late the damage had been done. She had lost her friend and gained responsibility for her little boy.
Olivia had a lot of responsibility and a lot of work. The others helped to a certain extent. Though her work lasted nearly every waking hour Olivia had divided everything easy into chores for the children. Her father, Bill, was the oldest of Raven Glenn's occupants and at nearly seventy was unable to do the heavy labor. He pitched in by taking night watch over the security monitors and making everyone lunch each day. Mary, now fourteen, had always been the more serious and motherly of Liv's nieces despite being three years younger than her sister. She helped by doing the dishes, laundry and helping to keep an eye on the littlest ones when Liv needed to handle tasks too dangerous or difficult to do with them underfoot. Isabel, now seventeen, spent her days canning and preserving the harvests from the garden and standing watch on the roof every afternoon. The Holden boys took care of the animals. The other smallest ones helped Olivia, mostly in the garden though with it now being the end of November the only thing left to do there was harvest the last of the apples from the apple trees and spread the compost over the field to help enrich the soil for spring. Annabeth took morning watch and did the preserves every evening usually with Sophia helping. How Sophia had come to be here was pure luck but she had taken to Annabeth instantly and rarely left her side.
Three months ago Olivia had made a trip to some farm and ranch lands about a hundred miles or so to the south of here hoping to maybe find some cattle unscathed or at the very least some extra feed for the animals they did have. She'd made the trip on foot planning to find a truck and trailer if she did in fact need one, rather than try to clear paths to get through, and she had gone as the crow flies to make the trip as quick as possible. At a small farm she'd found just what she was looking for, a herd of what probably started out as a hundred. Fed on by a single walker that was eating the innards of a poor young steer as Liv walked up, there was now only seven. She dispatched the walker managed to herd the remaining cattle, which to her delight also included a young bull, into a small stock trailer she'd found hooked up to a pick up. It had had a few boxes of household things in it as though the owners were going on a trip, Liv had tried not to think of what must have happened to them as she had cleared it out. After loading the cattle up and securing several supplies from the barn in the truck she had gone into the house hoping to find the truck keys, a high school boyfriend had taught her to hotwire a car once as a teen but she wasn't entirely sure she remembered and would rather try the easiest way first. The keys to her fortune had been found rather quickly laying on the kitchen table as she turned to leave she'd heard a thump from the small pantry, pulling her .45 back out of her shoulder holster she had eased closer before hearing a sound that had made her heart stop, a small whimper. Throwing open the door she had found the little girl curled up on a pallet at the bottom of the empty pantry. After finally calming Sophia enough to get her to the truck the poor thing had slept the whole way home, exhausted. After learning how Sophia had been separated from a group and her mother, Olivia had gone back to the highways nearest where she'd found her but could find no sign of the living. After three days, defeated Liv had no choice but to return home empty handed.
Liv was brought back to the present by the sound of chair legs scraping the floor, she looked up to see Bill heading off to bed and Mary had begin taking dishes to the kitchen. Seeing everyone had finished their meal Liv settled her two-month-old son Alexander into the carrier across her back. "Okay guys. Chores." she said heading for the door and the garden with the two youngest in tow.
Isabel headed for the basement to start canning the rest of the fruits and veggies the garden had produced. Annabeth headed for the attic where she would go through the window and climb to the apex of the roof near the solar panels to keep watch with the binoculars. Scanning the fence lines and horizon at constant intervals for signs of walkers with a walkie, couple bottles of water and her little blonde shadow to help and keep her entertained. The Holden boys headed off towards the animal pens. At fourteen the twins were as different from one another as day is to night. The dark brown curls and storm grey eyes is where their similarities ended. John's quiet, kind, and intelligent demeanor played perfect counterpart to Henry's outspoken and brash personality. Olivia had again been on a supply run when she came across the Holden children four months earlier.
They had lost their parents and youngest sister in the early days of the outbreak, Their twenty-year-old brother Luke had been trying to make his way to Fort Benning with his siblings, sticking to rural areas hoping to avoid the infected, when they were surprised by a herd of around fifty dead. Luke did his best to protect his family but their eleven-year-old sister Kathryn was killed by a walker from behind, the screams alerting Olivia a quarter mile away of their presence. Driving the four-wheeler as fast as she could, she'd found the group backed into an over-pass wall by the remaining 40 or so. She pulled up short bringing up the AK-47 she'd slung over her back before the vehicle had even stopped, she dropped twenty before hearing the inevitable click of an empty magazine. Immediately letting the gun fall from her hands she pulled her twin 1911's from the shoulder holsters on either side of her chest and dropping another dozen in quick succession. The noise of her arrival had distracted some of the walkers momentarily allowing Luke to drop several as well, unfortunately he hadn't seen the walker coming up on his left until it was too late. By the time Liv had dropped the remaining walkers coming at her and turned her attention back towards the group it had already sunk its teeth into his shoulder tearing away a chunk of him. He'd swung around stabbing the crow bar in his hands through it's head but the damage had been done.
Knowing he would soon turn and seeing his fear for his remaining siblings, Liv had sworn to look after them. Following sob filled goodbyes and leaving Luke with the small .22 revolver from her ankle holster, Liv had loaded the boys on the ATV and headed back the way she came, determined. Both to get the children to the safety of her home and to get out of hearing range before the two shots would ring out. One for little Kathryn. One for Luke.