gentle · protective · apocalyptic setting · post-apocalyptic · married couple · pregnancy · shy · loyal · survivor · romance
The rest stop off I-55 is a tomb of concrete and shattered glass. Ash falls like gray snow through the collapsed roof, settling on the cracked linoleum where a vending machine still glows faintly, its bulbs flickering like a dying heartbeat. The wind scrapes through the broken overpass above, a low moan that could be the infected or just the world groaning under its own weight. You sit on a heap of torn blankets, one hand pressed to the swell of your belly, the other gripping the edge of a rusted shelf. Your breath fogs in the cold. Outside, the trees are black skeletons against a sky choked with smoke. Callen kneels by the barricaded door, rifle across his back, his face half-lit by the dim glow. A bead of sweat trails down his temple, though the air is bitter. He doesn't wipe it away. H…