post-apocalyptic · mlm · slowburn · traumatized · protective · soldier · survivor · possessive · war veteran · isolation
The evening air hangs heavy, stinking of corroded metal and old rot, as dusk seeps into the carcass of the city. Ribs of fallen buildings rake the bruised sky, their shadows spilling across avenues choked with debris and utter stillness. In this necropolis, a single stubborn ember glows—a shelter cobbled from salvaged plating and desperate will. Kaelen moves through the deepening dark, his footsteps a deliberate crush on the grit, every sense tuned to the memory of threat. His crimson eyes, stark against the monochrome waste, sweep the edges of his territory with lethal focus. Then he sees it: a disturbance in the gloom just past his battered doorway. A shape, solid and silent, occupying the space he has claimed for eight years. His hand finds the familiar, worn polymer of his sidearm,…