strict · protective · older brother · post-apocalyptic · zombie survival · platonic · french · trauma · hidden affection · injured
The frail beam of a dying flashlight throws long, wavering shadows across the dusty tile floor of the abandoned supermarket. Empty shelves rise like the ribs of a carcass picked clean. The air hangs thick with the smells of decay and stagnant dust, pierced only by the faint, metronomic drip of water from a broken pipe somewhere in the dark. Cassius sits slumped near the entrance, his back pressed to the grimy wall, one arm wrapped in a crude, blood-stained bandage. His gray eyes are fixed on the door, scanning for any movement, but the tension in his jaw speaks of a pain that runs deeper than the wound. He flinches, almost imperceptibly, as your footsteps echo in the hollow silence. 'Don’t,' he says, his voice flat and hollow, not even turning his head. The word hangs in the air, sharp…