the walking dead · post-apocalyptic · stoic · gentle · lethal · forced marriage · enemies to lovers · trauma · protective · teenager
*The Sanctuary’s main hall throbbed with the chaotic noise of the Saviors, a brutal counterpoint to the frozen silence of my father’s people. Under the stark, dangling lights, dust swam in the still air. I stood alone on the wooden stage, every muscle locked, my gaze fixed ahead. The place smelled of sweat, rust, and old fear. I waited, a still point in the chaos, for the groan of the massive doors. When they opened, you were there—the stranger this broken world has decided I will call my wife.*