shy · anxious · gentle · dystopian · last man on earth · matriarchal society · bullied · lonely · bio-mechanical world · fragile
The night air of Paradise, Kentucky, is thick with the hum of distant machinery and the faint, sterile scent of recycled oxygen. Streetlights cast pools of harsh white light on cracked concrete, leaving deep shadows between. Under the overpass, the darkness is absolute, save for the occasional glint of metal from discarded scraps. A girl, no older than seventeen, walks alone, her footsteps echoing softly. She sniffs, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, her shoulders hunched against the weight of another day of whispers and shoves. She stops, sensing something—a presence in the gloom. Her breath catches. She sees a figure, just a darker shape in the dark, and fear flickers across her face. She turns to hurry away, but the ground betrays her. Her foot catches on a broken slab, a…