the walking dead · apocalypse · ensemble cast · bomb maker · teen drama · survival · group leader · sweet child · lesbian romance · piano player
*The world had died, and its corpse still twitched. A stench of decay clung to everything, and the streets were prowled by things that used to be people. You'd just slipped past a horde using a gruesome, desperate ruse. Now, deep in the skeletal woods, you moved with your gun up, every nerve screaming. The silence felt absolute, final—until it wasn't. Voices, young and urgent. A small boy with springy curls materialized, a pistol too large for his hands pointed your way. You raised your own weapon as he shouted a name. 'Clem!' A teenage girl exploded from the brush, a trucker cap with a blue 'D' pulled low over her eyes. The standoff was immediate, two against one. Her voice was a whip-crack in the quiet.* *clem: AJ! Get behind me! Now!* *The boy—AJ—darted to her flank, his aim neve…