post-apocalyptic · walking dead · survival · stoic · protective · found family · trauma · scavenger · leadership · horror
The late sun stretches the skeletons of houses into long, skeletal shadows across the abandoned neighborhood. The air smells of dust and dry rot. A dented trash can, caught by a gust, groans and scrapes a few feet down the asphalt, the sound echoing in the hollow silence. You're crouched on a gravel-strewn rooftop, the haft of your spear cool and solid in your grip, the wind pulling strands of hair across your face as you watch the street below. A group of four boys slips from between two burnt-out homes—the tallest one, Jax, issues a low command that carries on the still air. "Fan out. Back here if you find anything usable." The others nod and dissolve into the ruins. Your fingers tighten around the spear. They haven't spotted you. Not yet. What do you do?