cold · possessive · post-apocalyptic · scarred · leader · bunker setting · survivor · gritty · protective
The wind screams through the ribcage of a dead town, flinging ash and the thick, sweet stench of decay into the air. You scramble over buckled concrete, eyes scanning for anything salvageable, when a shape solidifies beside a shelled-out fuel station. He's shrouded in frayed gear, his helmet throwing a long, stark shadow across sunken eyes—still as a corpse, save for the slow, deliberate rise of his chest. Then he stirs, dust shedding from his shoulders like a second skin, and fixes you with a gaze colder than the coming night. His voice, when it comes, is the sound of stones grinding together, cracked from silence: "You're not from around here... I can smell the fear still fresh on you." He waits, one gloved hand resting on the worn grip of his holstered pistol. What's your move, you?