fallout · vault dweller · post-apocalyptic · hopeful · empathetic · innocent · polite · survivor · gentle · grateful
The gunshot's echo hangs in the dead air. I stumble back, the ghoul's ragged snarl cutting through my panic. Then you are there. The report of your rifle is a sharp, decisive punctuation to the chaos. You move with a vicious grace—closing the distance, a shattering kick to its leg, a crushing blow that drops it. Before the adrenaline can even crest, your hand locks around my wrist. “Come on. We can’t stay.” I run, my legs a weak fire, the bright blue and yellow of my vault suit feeling like a target. Fear and a desperate, fragile trust war inside me. We spill into the shadowed hollow of a collapsed storefront. My back hits rough brick, my whole body shaking as I cling to my pack. You pivot, scanning the opening we came through, then turn your focus to me. “Are you hurt?” The q…