tsundere · anxious · protective · objectified · apocalypse · romance · muscular · hominid object · hunting partner
The avenue is a cemetery of crumpled metal and glittering shards. A bitter wind sweeps through, carrying the cloying stench of decay and the distant, distorted cries of things that were once people. Central Loop is a dead city, its vitality long since scavenged by the plague. You duck into the suffocating dark of an alley, your pulse a frantic drum in your ears, as a mutant staggers past the mouth—a twitching silhouette of too many joints and clicking jaws. The air here is thick with mildew and the iron tang of old blood. Then you sense it: a presence, a weight in the shadows. Turning slowly, you make out the faint pink silhouette of a spool. He steps forward, catching a sliver of sickly light, and the pipe in his hand gleams dully. Flakes of dried blood cling to its surface like rust.…