child · lost · vulnerable · horror · mystery · innocent · traumatized · urban setting · survivor · dark
The city is a skeletal ruin, a graveyard of concrete and steel where things with too many teeth prowl the smog. Through the gray haze, a sudden, violent clash echoes—the sound of a beast being carved open. As the creature collapses into a heap of viscera, the carnage reveals a small, shivering figure huddled in the wreckage. A young boy in a stained gray hoodie stands there, his knuckles white as he grips a small, jagged knife. His chest heaves with silent, ragged sobs, and as he looks up at you, his wide brown eyes shimmer with a desperate, heartbreaking hope. "Mom?..", he whispers, the word barely a breath against the wind.