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Peyton and Major looked at each other, both of them with the same idea. They knew just where the boys would be safe.

She canceled her meetings for the afternoon and Major had Justin take his—there was nothing that needed his personal okay today, just a lot of hand-holding and smoothing ruffled feathers, and frankly Justin was better at that these days, anyway, as Major's patience thinned.

Together they took the boys to the back route to the safe house, careful to cover their eyes with blindfolds so they could never be used to reveal the location or how to get there, and then ushered them through the tunnels. They buzzed the safe house, and waited for the door to open.

Liv opened the door for them and they came through the closet.

Peyton went first, keeping her voice low as there seemed to be a meeting going on of the coyotes that looked pretty intense. "Hey, Liv."

"Hey!"

"Sorry for the surprise visit. Uh, something came up."

Liv looked past Peyton to Major and then the boys. "I—I see that."

Major smiled at her. God, she was pretty. By now he was so used to the zombie look on her he thought he might actually prefer it to what she had looked like when she was human. But that wasn't the point today. "Hey, Liv." He turned to the boys. "Michael, Jalen, uh, why don't you guys go take a seat by the other kids?" He put a hand on Michael's shoulder and gestured toward the living room, where the three kids were sitting away from the rest of the meeting.

Without a word, the boys went over and took places on the empty couch.

"Uh … who are they?" Liv asked.

"Orphaned zombies," Peyton said.

Major wanted to explain why these orphaned zombies were so special to him. "Yeah, their sister was in my squad."

"And she can't care for them?"

It still hurt to think about it, much less say it, but Major managed. "She was killed by a sniper." Jordan. So full of life, so much potential, such a pain in his ass, such a loyal soldier and friend.

Liv turned to look at the boys. It appeared they had been accepted instantly by the other kids, because all five of them were watching Liv to see what she would say. "Uh, well, we have plenty of room upstairs," Liv agreed at last. "This place has sort of become an accidental orphanage."

"No, no, Liv," Peyton protested. "We weren't trying to put this on you. We were just looking for advice."

That had been Peyton's plan. Major had hoped for exactly this outcome. He didn't think there was anyone other than Liv he would have trusted to care for Jordan's brothers, since he couldn't take them himself under his current circumstances.

"My advice is … leave them with me," Liv said.

Major and Peyton looked at each other and smiled, glad for one crisis to have had the right solution on the first try. They followed Liv further into the house, discovering that the meeting in process was more of a wake, for the coyote who had been lost bringing the children into Seattle.

Too much death, Major thought, looking at the man's face on the screen in front of him. Too much sacrifice of good people. Too much loss. And for what? To have humans and zombies across Seattle constantly at each other's throats? To have people still trying to kill each other out of hatred born of fear? He sympathized with the original plan to retreat to Zombie Island—if it was still there, if you could ensure a supply of brains large enough to feed the population, if, if, if.

Liv and Major turned to look at the kids, who were quietly watching the video, already seeming to be forming a bond, then they looked at each other. "You did the right thing," she said softly. "This is the best place for them."

"I hope so. Jordan—their sister—she was … she was special to me. It was … She was in Fillmore Graves because of me. She— If it wasn't for me, she'd still be alive."

"Major. You can't take every death on yourself." She gestured toward the TV with her head. "If you do … You'll drive yourself crazy."

"I think I already have. It's pretty much in the job description."

"I understand. But—we have to accept that other people have agency. Jordan could have left Fillmore Graves if she'd really wanted to, but she stayed."

"I could have told her to go. I could have—reassigned her where she'd be safer."

"I didn't know Jordan, but I'm willing to bet she wouldn't have appreciated that."

Major smiled. "You're probably right."

Liv put a comforting hand on his arm. "So you'll leave the boys here, and you'll let me and my people take care of them. And you'll go back to Fillmore Graves and you'll stop blaming yourself for things you can't control."

"The first half of that sentence is easier to do than the last."

She laughed softly. "Yes. That's true. If it was easy, someone else would be doing it."

"I guess I'm more like you than I thought."

Liv nodded. "I know. Welcome to the club."

"Are there benefits?"

She pretended to think. "Stress? Pressure? A constant stream of headaches?"

"With a recruitment speech like that, I'm not surprised it's so exclusive." Major put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a quick hug. "Take care of yourself, Liv."

"You, too."

He went to Michael and Jalen and squatted down next to them. "Liv and her coyotes are going to take care of you, and I'll check in as often as I can. You'll be safe here."

Both the boys nodded, their eyes wide, and he patted Michael on the shoulder before standing up. With a brief wave for Peyton and Liv, he let himself out of the quiet of the safe house and made his way back through the tunnels, back to the rest of Seattle, where nothing waited for him but stress, and pressure, and a constant stream of headaches.