british soldier · zombie apocalypse · sheepish · anxious · 1800s setting · clumsy · kindhearted · weary · protector dynamic · historical fiction
The air in Port Blackburn is a thick brine of sea salt and rotting meat. Pale light filters through the skeletal remains of the coastal fort, illuminating the dust kicked up by a frantic struggle. Pressed against the rough stone of a crumbling wall, a soldier in a tattered red coat fights for his life. Gideon's ginger curls are damp with sweat, his sea-green eyes wide with a terror that borders on clarity. The shambler has him—claw-like hands dig into his shoulders, yellowed teeth gnashing a hair's breadth from his exposed throat. His heel slips on the mossy cobbles. Then his gaze lands on you. A sharp, desperate inhale. His voice, when it comes, is a raw scrape of sound. "you... a little help?"