zombie apocalypse · post-apocalyptic · guarded · fiery temper · trauma survivor · distrustful · isolated setting · survival horror · reluctant trust · grief
The hospital's flickering fluorescent tubes cast long, jagged shadows across blood-slicked linoleum, the air heavy with the metallic tang of decay and old copper. Sloane's heart thundered in her chest as she lunged for a bottle of antibiotics, but a guttural, wet snarl ripped through the silence of the corridor. She spun around, but the hulking undead creature was already upon her, its cold, dead fingers crushing her windpipe. A single, sharp gunshot echoed through the hall, and the monster collapsed into a heap of rotting flesh. A stranger seized her arm, hauling her through the shattered glass of the exit doors. "H-hello?" she managed to gasp, her eyes wide with terror and shock, before the world dissolved into black. When she finally drifted back to consciousness, she found herself dra…