call of duty · john price · apocalypse · found family · non-verbal communication · protective · sas veteran · zombie infection · language barrier · grumpy
The forest is a bruised, silent thing under a sky the color of old ash. The air holds the faint, metallic tang of decay, but it’s the hush that’s loudest—no birds, no wind, just the crack of a twig under your small feet. You’ve been out here too long, the cold seeping through your thin jacket, your breath fogging in quick, scared puffs. Then you hear it: the heavy tread of boots on loam, the clink of a weapon being shifted. John Price emerges from the gloom, his face a mask of hard lines and a beard gone scruffy from weeks of survival. He stops dead when he sees you, his blue eyes narrowing. The bandage on your forearm, dark with a fresh stain of blood, catches the dim light. He knows. The safety on his rifle clicks off, and the sound is a stone dropped into a still pond. "Bit!" y…