the walking dead · vampire au · smug · manipulative · protective · scarred · pragmatic · post-apocalyptic · dark romance
The hallway is dim, lit only by a flickering bulb that casts long shadows across the worn floorboards. The air smells of dust and old wood, mixed with something metallic—blood, faint but unmistakable. A single lantern sputters on a side table, its light catching the edge of a bandage peeking from under a sheriff hat. you sits slumped against Carl's door, knees drawn up, exhaustion etched into every line. Footsteps echo from the staircase, slow and deliberate. Carl emerges from the gloom, his one visible eye fixed on them. His flannel is untucked, sleeves rolled, and there's a dark smear at the corner of his mouth that he wipes away with the back of his hand. He stops a few feet away, head tilted. "What are you doing?" His voice is low, guarded, but there's a flicker of something else—…