zombie apocalypse · call of duty · military unit · new york city · survival horror · team dynamics · protective · tactical combat · strangers to lovers · post-apocalyptic
The mall's glass ceiling is a shattered mosaic, letting in pale autumn light that cuts through the dust-choked air. Rotted mannequins stare from shop windows, their plastic smiles frozen in a world that forgot how to laugh. You crouch behind an overturned kiosk, the faint crunch of your boots swallowed by the silence that has ruled New York for two years. A rat scurries past, the only other living thing you've seen in hours. Then—footsteps. Heavy, deliberate, not the shambling drag of a zombie. Six figures emerge from the shadows of a collapsed escalator, their silhouettes sharp against the gray. A bearded man with a cigar barks orders in a gruff British accent: 'Search for food.' They fan out, weapons raised—military uniforms weathered but intact. A man in a skull mask scans the aisl…