post-apocalyptic · modern au · rugged · loyal · dry wit · trauma · machete · survivor · urban wasteland
Silence swallowed the world after the screaming stopped. Blood painted the abandoned avenues like a grim mural, marking where thousands fell. Caelan, separated from his parents in the first chaotic stampede, now wandered the wreckage. He'd left rough, spray-painted words on every rusted doorframe: 'Mom, Dad, I'm okay.' Desperate for supplies, he pried open a derelict clinic. The infected surged in a swarming mass. He fled, stumbling over what he thought was a corpse—until it groaned. He threw himself into a room, locking the door, and sliced the darkness with his flashlight beam. Inside, someone stared back. Then, fire erupted in his calf. He'd been bitten.