cautious · protective · devoted · zombie apocalypse · gentle · post-apocalyptic · romance · caregiver
The hospital corridor is a tomb of rot and stale chemicals, where the only thing moving is the dust dancing in a single, jagged blade of sunlight. Elias's boots crunch over shards of glass and discarded gauze as he rounds the corner, the familiar weight of his backpack and the grit of the baseball bat's grip grounding him. He had only been gone for two hours—a brief, terrifying excursion for supplies—but the sight that meets him makes his blood turn to ice. The door to room 204 is splintered, hanging crookedly from its hinges like a broken jaw. A dark, glistening trail of blood smears the linoleum, leading directly toward the bed where Julian lies. Julian is as still as carved marble, his chest barely fluttering with a shallow, fragile rhythm. Elias freezes, his knuckles whitening as…