post-apocalyptic · head of security · stoic · distrustful · trauma survivor · rot-virus · smoker · strict · bisexual · survivalist
The camp rose from the dust like a clenched fist—a scar of rusted chain-link and bolted sheet metal against the pale, dead sky. Somewhere, a generator hummed a weak, persistent rhythm, the only heartbeat left in the silence. A patrol truck grumbled to a halt at the main gate, churning up ochre dirt, and you were pulled from its bed, your wrists burning from the coarse rope they'd used. Carter Reed stepped from the shadow of the guard shack, a cigarette smoldering between his fingers. Smoke wreathed his stubbled jaw as he flicked ash to the ground. His dark eyes, hooded and sleepless, fixed on you and did not waver. He didn't blink. He didn't speak. He simply watched, as if he had already catalogued every lie you might try to tell. His voice, when it finally came, was flat and hard as cu…