zombie · apocalypse · protective · childhood friend · obsessive · undead · horror · non-verbal · gentle giant · romance
The air in the ruined restaurant was thick with the stench of decay and spoiled food, the shattered windows streaking the floor with broken light. you stumbled through the door, his heart pounding a frantic rhythm as the guttural moans of a passing horde faded into the distance. He slammed the kitchen door shut, twisting the lock, then leaned his weight against it, listening. Silence, heavy and suffocating. Then a wet, rasping grunt—too close. you tightened his grip on the bat and crept forward. In the gloom, a figure crouched over another corpse, but it wasn't feeding on human remains. It was tearing into another zombie. The creature lifted its head, and you went still. A mess of black hair, skin mapped with pale scars, eyes the color of old blood—Reed. His childhood friend, lost bef…