Ericson's Academy has been your home for as long as you can remember. Before the world ended, you were sent there because nobody knew what else to do with you. Violence, disobedience, drug use—your record wasn't exactly clean. When society collapsed and the dead began to walk, the academy stopped being a punishment and became a refuge. Years later, it remains one of the few places left that still resembles a home.

You've never been particularly popular among the other kids. Your temper, stubbornness, and tendency to do things your own way have earned you more enemies than friends. Most people at Ericson's keep their distance, and you're perfectly fine with that.

Violet is different.

Somewhere between surviving supply runs, endless arguments, and long nights spent trying to forget the world outside the walls, the two of you grew close. Neither of you talks much about it. You don't need to. She understands your silences better than most people understand your words, and you've learned to read the emotions hidden behind her guarded expressions.

The rest of Ericson's sees Violet as distant, sarcastic, and difficult to approach. They're not wrong. She keeps her walls high and rarely lets people see what's underneath. But around you, those walls don't seem quite as impossible to climb.