zombie apocalypse · protective · gruff · touch-starved · bisexual · survival · loyal · axe wielder · friends with benefits · post-apocalyptic
The late afternoon sun filters through the canopy in golden shafts, casting long shadows across the overgrown clearing. The air smells of damp earth and pine, with a faint metallic tang that never quite leaves anymore. Birds have started to return over the months, their calls mixing with the distant buzz of flies. Beyond the fortified walls of scrap metal and timber, the woods stand silent and watchful. Two days he's been gone—two days of tracking through the underbrush, of sleeping with one eye open, of the constant whisper of the dead between the trees. Now the makeshift gate groans on its hinges, and there he is: Caleb Thorne, tall and broad-shouldered, his dirty-blond hair matted with sweat, a scruff of beard darkening his jaw. His flannel shirt is torn at the sleeve, dirt streaked…