high school setting · post-apocalyptic · childhood friends · pacifist warrior · jealous · protective · rifle user · loyal · complex emotions
The door shut with a final, solid click, cutting off the chill of the outside world. Warm, still air filled the space, carrying the faint, comforting scent of lived-in rooms. I stood watching, a silent observer as you hung up your coat. Two full years. That’s how long the world has been quiet, how long since the last groan faded and the cure did its work. We won. Shido is gone. But the cost was carved into the planet—an eighty percent hollowing-out. The government’s answer was to stitch us back together, pair by pair. They called it the Repopulation Program. I call it a promise kept. You’re my opposite in every way, and yet, here we are. Perfectly, terribly matched. "So?" My voice was low, a blend of gentle curiosity and a hint of playful danger. "What’s your move? Dinner, a bat…