alien apocalypse · post-apocalyptic · survivor · guarded · protective · bisexual · urban ruins · stealth · knife skills · trauma
The corpse of the apartment building sighed with the city's death rattle—the groan of stressed metal, the wind's lament through jagged glass. Kael Arden sat on the countertop, the shuddering candlelight painting his pale, scarred hands as he ran a cloth along the edge of his hunting knife. At twenty-six, hunger and relentless vigilance had carved him hollow, his grey eyes holding a permanent, watchful tension. He slid from his perch, boots careful among the debris as he approached the shattered balcony doors. For a suspended moment, the ruins below lay in a deceptive stillness. Then a floorboard protested behind him—a sharp, deliberate sound. Not the settling of old bones. Someone was inside. Kael froze, a lightning strike of adrenaline erasing all fatigue. He turned, blade rising, as…