#and then family members have to take care of a zombie

[gazpacho-deluxe]

zombie movies really are just the perfect vessel for mass violence, huh? literal and immediate dehumanization of the enemy that makes it okay to kill as many as necessary and in fact encourages the killing of as many as possible. and it’s okay because it’s self defense against an inhuman enemy. but we never consider a cure for this. it’s usually immediately fatal and we never see even an attempt to save them

[luveline]

hello lovely angel!! humbly requesting zombie!steve au, perhaps more of jealous steve? i love their dynamic so much💗 maybe someone is flirting with reader, and enter protective steve:)

thanks for requesting! fem, 2k

You tend to think of it in two weird halves. You love Steve, and you never would’ve known that without the end of the world, so things are okay. Sometimes you wonder if he ever could’ve loved you if he hadn’t been so close to you for so long, but he loves you in this insane capacity of softness that says otherwise. Like, soulmate style. 

It didn’t begin that way. Steve your reluctant guide, and you his unlikely saviour. You’d stopped him from dying at the very start of it all and he couldn’t leave you behind. And Steve, he’d been mean to you. He didn’t want to take care of you initially, but you’d grown to get along. You’d argue black and blue and he’d still rub your back at night. 

There are so many moments you’ve shared that make what you have all the more special. A hundred different memories from before you’d ever kissed. You think about it now, watching him across the firepit as he shows a young girl, Cassandra, how to braid her hair. 

The one that’s sticking today is when Steve got really bad food poisoning for the first time. When you’d known you were in love with him for a while, and when he’d stopped pretending he didn’t know. He’d been sick everywhere, on both your shoes, and you’d rubbed his back through everything.  

It was nice to take care of him. Nicer that night when you’d shared a bed and he’d hugged you half to death. 

He has no idea how much he means to you, or how much those moments with him kept you going when you were all alone. You’re lucky now to have found community, but those stolen hours in bed with him hugging him and getting to be his support, you wouldn’t have made it here without them. 

“Hey.” 

You look up as a man sits down. A boy, a man —what do you call twenty somethings? You don’t feel like a woman most of the time, but you are. 

“Hi,” you say. 

“I’m Jamison.” 

“You’re Eddie’s friend, right?” 

“Who, Munson?” Jamison makes a kidding face, a disgusted scrunch of his eyebrows that falls away to more friendly fondness. “Yeah, we go back. You’re Eddie’s friend too, right? I saw you guys taking out some laundry a few days ago.” 

Jamison is handsome. He has tan skin, short hair, and a crooked nose. His smile is disarming. If you hadn’t fallen in love with the handsomest guy around, you might feel nervous under his gaze. 

Time spent ugly under Steve’s reverent handling makes you confident. You genuinely feel prettier knowing Steve loves you, and it makes it easier to be yourself with strangers. 

“Eddie’s awesome,” you say easily. “I thought he was gonna kill me when we first met, but he’s too nice.” 

“Nice, really?” 

Jamison is casual, as people go. You wonder what his motivations are for talking to you at first, but as conversation stretches, littered with the cracking pops of the fireplace and brief pauses of surprisingly comfortable silence, you realise he’s just talking. Maybe he’s lonely. You know how that feels. 

He tells you that he and Eddie had been in a rock band together before the apocalypse. You’d known to some extent that Eddie was in a band, but Jamison tells you all the details you’d been missing. They were called Corroded Coffin, four members, Eddie played guitar and Jamison thought he was pretty fucking good at it, actually. 

“I don’t think we would’ve been, like, Metallica. But we could’ve been good. We were gonna make a record.” 

You smoke sympathetically. “I bet you could’ve been.” 

“What were you doing? Before all this?” 

“I honestly barely remember,” you say quietly. Your life before Steve is a blur, and it’s painful, too. “Things are harder now, I know that. I wish every day that we could go back to how things were, you know, I miss TV and grocery stores and my family.” You lick your lips. “I wish things were different, but somehow, I think I like my life now. I have stuff to do. Is that crazy?” 

“It’s not crazy. Everything fucking sucks,” —you both laugh— “but that’s not crazy. I’m lucky, I still have my dad, and my friends. There’s purpose in being here.” 

You nod emphatically, just once. “Exactly.” 

You have purpose, now. You get to be a friend, a girlfriend, a confidente. You take care of people. 

It all comes back to Steve, at the end of the day. Would you change the world if it meant never having met him? 

Nope. 

You glance across the fire for him, but he’s not there. 

You put your arm behind your back and bend, looking for him. 

“Looking for someone?” Jamison asks. 

You deflate with relief when you spot him standing near the gaggle of tents about fifty feet away. He’s looking at you from over Robin’s shoulder. You wave, and he waves back with a big smile. 

Something seems a little wrong. 

“Steve,” you explain. 

“He’s your boyfriend, yeah? Eddie told me you’ve been together since the start.” 

You don’t bother correcting him. He might not mean together as how you’re thinking it. “Yeah, that’s him. Have you met him?” 

“Kind of. We all thought he was a huge dick, back then.” 

“He sort of was,” you say. “I mean, we all had our own stuff going on. I get that I’m biased, but he’s my favourite person I’ve ever met. He’s so kind, I don’t think I could describe it to you or anyone just how much he cares about people. I wouldn’t be here without him, and… I don’t know, I’m not saying you’re wrong, but if you ever wanted to meet him again, he’s amazing. He’s a great friend. He’s so fucking funny, he makes me laugh every day.” 

“He’s sort of giving me the stink eye,” Jamison says. 

You wave your hand weakly. “He has raging jealousy issues.” 

“Shit, am I getting you in trouble?” 

“No, never!” you say, tempted to laugh. “He doesn’t get mad at me for stuff like that. He’s normal, I promise. Just sensitive.”

You tell Jamison that it was nice talking to him because it really was, but you’ve been missing Steve for hours already and you need to get back to him before you go totally bonkers. 

He’s sitting on the floor in the tent. The weather has been beautiful lately, you could sleep under the stars if you weren’t scared of being zombie charcuterie. Steve has stripped down to just his jeans and socks, no t-shirt or shoes to be seen. He has his sketchbook splayed open on his thigh, but he abandons it the moment you kneel down. 

“Hey,” you say. 

Steve folds his book closed, pencil between its pages. “Hi. Have I told you lately how beautiful you are?” 

You shuffle in to take his hand. Clumsy touches, his fingers warm and a tad clammy between yours. “You told me yesterday that I have a smile like an angel. I know you were kidding, but I still felt it.” 

“I wasn’t kidding,” he says, wrinkling his nose with a smile. “You think every compliment is a joke.” 

“Don’t make me laugh so much, then.” 

He squeezes your fingers gently. “Sorry I didn’t introduce myself to Jamison. Just, I knew him already from school. And he did not like me.” 

“That’s okay. He seemed nice, I think you’d get along if you met now.” You kick your shoes off and crawl as close to him as you can get. He looks up at you, but you look down at his lap. “What are you drawing?” 

“I was just trying to touch up that landscape I did of the river,” he says, a sheepishness to him as he opens his sketchbook. 

You read it with affection, trace lines and hatchings in awe. “Steve, I really wish you had time and space to do this stuff properly. Not that you aren’t doing it properly, just, I know you could make something just as beautiful as this with paint.” You slide to be sitting properly, putting you both at the same height, so you can meet his eyes as you continue. “Did you know what you wanted to do, when you were finishing school? Did you ever think about art?” 

“I thought about it.” His lips quirk. “Mostly about how my dad would’ve kicked me out if I said something that stupid.” 

“It’s not stupid.” 

“I know.” 

That would’ve been a nice life. You and Steve living together, with a basement for his paintings, or a garage turned studio. You’d read books together every night like you do now, and you’d scrub paint smudges off of his cheek. 

You love him so much it must give you an aura. 

“I’ve got nothing to worry about, huh?” he asks softly. 

You drift in, tipping your head back for a kiss you don’t take. “I don’t know, Steve, Jamison used to be in a rock band.” 

He scoffs in disgust. You think it might be a mixture of anger at Jamison and himself. “Who wants to date a rockstar?” 

“I might’ve.” 

You’re teasing, of course, smiling as your kiss draws nearer, and nearer. 

“Well, I can be a rockstar,” he says quietly, warmth of his breath on your lips. “Just give me a chance to get there.” 

You brush the tip of your nose against his and hold your breath. “That’s okay,” you say, letting it rush out of you in a huff, your excitement to be kissed too much to bear, “I like my guys all mixed up. Preferably good at track, and swimming, but with a soft side. Kind of guy who fills a sketchbook up with my face.” 

Steve lists to the side. Your lips are so close, you can feel the phantom of them against yours as he moves in. “It’s not just your face… it’s your hands, your arms… your everything–”

He cuts his own explanation off with a soft kiss. That softness swiftly hardens, turns rough, ten long seconds of sweetness before his hands coming up behind your head and he’s pressing inward, deepening the kiss, and giving you little room to breathe. 

You have no intention of dating any rockstars, but his jealous streak has nothing but upsides for you. Steve knows that his jealousy over the innocuous is his own problem, his own insecurity that he’s working on, and while you sympathise with him (after all, haven’t you yourself worried he’d find someone else he liked more?), you have to confess to enjoying the edge to his kissing. 

You make a pleased, humoured sound as he breathes you in like you’re a drug he’s been waiting for. He gets sloppier, and you can’t help pulling away to laugh. 

“What?” he asks, thumbing at your cheek in a soft juxtaposition. “Sorry, am I being a dick?” 

“No, it’s fine. Kiss me how you want to.” 

Steve kisses your cheek softly. “He knows you have a boyfriend, right?” 

“He knows.” 

Steve hums like he’s smiling and nudges your nose with his, until you part your lips, and he wades in for another dose. 

[bitchesgetriches]

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[nsharks]

bleeding blue | apocalypse au

part six —other parts

pairing: Simon "Ghost" Riley x fem!reader words: 3k tags: death. blood. zombies of course. reader menstruates. single dad ghost. there will be sex but it isn't here yet. slow burn!!! enemies to lovers. summary: After losing your companions, you run into a skull-masked man and his daughter. They are your last hope for survival. a/n: this was longer but i decided to break it up sorry :p

The last glimpse of civilization you had was a chaotic one.

It was the first day of the outbreak.

Freshly infected running around. Bodies scattered in the streets like dead flies. Screaming. Paul grabbing your hand and tugging you towards the treeline. Your nephew shrieking in your sister’s arms. It’s funny how trauma likes to grab hold of the minute details. You can also recall seeing a bus pass by with an ad for some superhero movie. You had planned on seeing it. The bus crashed into a house and the ad was licked by flames.

Paul was always the one to make the trips to pharmacies and markets. He was the one who wielded a gun, not you. You were the one to stay behind, fortify the fence, and watch over the two broken members of your family.

Society's dust— that is what you leave Ghost’s territory for.

You know you need to.

You wait for your period to end.

Freshly spilled blood is not a scent you want to carry. Greys are drawn to it like flies to rot. Something you learned the hard way once during a hunt with Paul. They were able to catch your scent from a further distance than usual because of it.

To your relief, Ghost lets you look at his map.

Of course, you can’t take it with you.

“Jus’ memorize it,” he grumbles under his breath.

So the evening before you venture out, you study the map of Northern England. Ghost brought out a whole stack of them from the room you’re certain is his. You notice a map of the European continent on top, briefly catching a glimpse of a black circle drawn in the middle somewhere, but he is quick to move it underneath the pile.

You focus on the one you need.

There is a black dot to indicate where their camp is amid the forest. Some 20 kilometers south is the closest city. Or village rather. Ribchester. Maybe that is a safer bet than going by yourself to a big city like Manchester. You may have a bow and knife and some strength, but you don't have a car or guns like he does. Or companions coming with you.

Blue helps you turn your pillowcase into a strapped bag with some scissors. You need something to carry what you find. Ghost isn't willing to let you leave with his backpack. Bitterly, you get it. It’s a useful item.

The next morning, you feel as prepared as you can be. You wake up earlier than usual, before Blue has the chance to poke inside your shed with Grim. You eat a big breakfast of two dried squirrels. You have a third one to take with you.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Blue picks at her breakfast as she sits beside you at the table. Her lips twist around thoughtfully.

You glance between her and Ghost. His stare is unreadable like usual. Dark, stoic, and hiding under lowered brows. You wonder what he thinks— if he would be secretly relieved if you don't make it back alive. Probably. He could get rid of you without Blue pointing the blame at him.

"Medicine is important. I need to find my own.”

We can’t risk sneaking anymore, you would say if he wasn’t right there. But by the way she slides her blue eyes to discreetly meet yours, you think she gets the hint.

"Just be careful, okay?" You nod. "And remember—" she lifts a finger, "—you have to shoot those fucks in the brain."

"I know. I've been practicing my aim a bit."

The smile you offer is only half-there. The truth is, you are risking your life with this. Part of you wonders how deeply she has processed that.

Despite her lips appearing more chewed-through than usual, they give a wary smile in return.

“Yeah, we could hear you hitting the trees. Right, Ghost?"

He hums low, but characteristically, doesn't have much to say about you.

But when you head for the cabin door after eating, his firm hand surprises you, gloved and skeletal. It wraps around your bicep and brings you to a halt before you can step outside. Heat spreads through his glove and the layers of your clothes. You turn around just as a metal object is silently offered to your chest. Ghost holds your stare before you look down at what he is giving you.

It's the revolver. The one they collected from that man.

The gun with only one cartridge.

"Thanks."

You bite your cheek to hide the dry tone, slipping the revolver into your coat pocket. Maybe it will come in handy. At least he now trusts you enough not to immediately point it at him or her.

Blue is the one to follow you out to the gate of their camp.

"I hope you find something good."

"Me, too."

"You know, Ghost and I only went on one trip that I can remember," she says as she unlocks the bolts for you.

"Yeah?"

"To get him more ammo from a military base," she explains with a wave of her hand. "It was pretty close, though. He says that we went on one other trip back to Manchester when things first happened, but he carried me on his back the whole time so I don't remember much except for all the loud sounds.”

This part she adds quietly: "Think I closed my eyes for most of it."

"I would have closed my eyes, too, Blue.”

The next glimpse of civilization you get is a desolate one.

Again, you are on your own. Though, maybe you’ve been alone this whole time in a way.

It is that weird time between winter and spring when the air is crisp but the sun is bright. You hope to complete the trip in one day, which gives you about nine hours. You walk and walk, leaving Ghost's familiar territory behind until the trees become new to you again. You’ve never gone south before. You stop by a creek to drink some water along the way. By high noon, you exit the forest for the first time in five years.

You can see it. Overgrown shrubs and dry vines that crawl over cracked concrete. A road. A billboard arches over with a peeled ad for shaving cream, the woman’s face looking mangled. Your bow is poised as you follow the highway towards the village, recalling a time when you used to take the bus ride down this very route to visit your sister’s home. You liked watching the trees and rolling hills pass through the window as you tucked your ears under headphones.

It is so strange.

The air is quiet with abandonment.

Briefly, you ache for a world that once existed and the life you once lived. Car rides. Music whenever you wanted. Drunk outings on the weekends when you were supposed to be studying for nursing school. Hope for a family of your own someday.

But you have to ignore all that to stay focused on the present. Now, life is whittled down to basic needs and protecting yourself the best you can.

The village soon appears as stone buildings with unkempt wisteria scaling the sides. Abandoned cars haphazardly parked throughout the streets. You keep your guard up and your nose flared as you approach. There is a faint, awful scent that looms in the air, but it is not strong enough to cause concern. Not yet.

A pharmacy.

You need to find one.

If you want to make it back to their camp by nightfall, then you can only waste about an hour or two here. You could spend the night in a tree and trek the 20 kilometers tomorrow, but sleeping in a branch is even more unpleasant than your shed and it is risky. You were willing to do it when you had no other choice, but what if some unfriendly people find you this time? Perhaps even unfriendlier than the threat of Ghost's knife to your neck.

An hour is killed just searching for the pharmacy.

You roam the empty streets.

Finally, you catch sight of the faded sign and your heart leaps. But the excitement fades away when your nose and eyes detect the group of Greys just outside the building in an empty parking lot. Their pale eyes aren’t pointed at you yet, so you move behind a crumpled car for cover. If you had gotten any closer, they surely would've smelled your human flesh.

You take a deep breath. How many are there?

Carefully, you poke your head out just an inch to survey the threat. Six of those fucks. That is doable given the range.

The last time you ran into Greys, you had no choice but to run because of the bow Ghost stepped on. This time, you can kill them off with the bow carved by his hands.

You are quick with it. You stand and release arrow by arrow. Four of the six are headshots. You aren't perfect. The last two receive arrows through their shoulders, but this type of wound means nothing to a Grey. It is their brains that are infected with the virus, just like Blue said.

These two begin running towards you, now catching a whiff of your scent.

You climb on top of the car. Hitting a running target is far trickier. You go for the faster one first, using two more arrows before hitting the skull, grey chunks of brain splattering onto the concrete. The slower one just barely reaches the car before you finish it off, the closer distance sharpening this final hit.

The pharmacy is reachable now.

As you run over, you gather the used arrows. Precious ammo. You pull them out of their bodies with a twist and a putrid squelch.

When you push through the doors to the pharmacy, you almost choke. The shelves— they are empty. You breeze through every aisle, eyes and hands seeking anything that could be left, but there is nothing. You check the back. You check the shelves behind the counter.

Empty, empty, empty.

“Oh, fuck me,” you croak. Hot tears spill down your cheeks.

You half expected this.

But you’ve come all this way.

You need something.

There must be somewhere else you can look.

The cars maybe. Most people used to keep med kits somewhere inside. There is a slight chance that one could’ve been forgotten. It is worth a try.

You keep moving, not wanting to return with an empty bag. The white sun hangs high. The dry air turns your tear-stained cheeks sticky. You pick up rocks to begin breaking the windows of the abandoned cars, poking your arm inside to undo the locks, and rummaging through the glove compartments.

CDs, magazines, condom wrappers.

Nothing.

“Please, please.”

You make it down the street like this, checking every single one. Distracted, you shatter the glass of a white sedan without noticing the shadow laying in the backseat.

Fingers wrap around your wrist as you reach for the inner lock.

A maggot-filled mouth lurches for the flesh of your hand.

An arrow won't work here. With a cry, you use your free hand to grab the revolver from your pocket and shoot its head. The sound echoes. The single bullet burrows right between its eyes. The Grey writhes for a moment before going limp against the seat.

Panting, you have to pry the bony fingers off your wrist.

Again, you search the glove compartment. In this car where the stench is thick enough to sicken you, a med kit and a Twix bar fall into your hands.

“Fuck— thank you.”

You stash both into your homemade bag.

You could leave now, but you are itching for some antibiotics. The kit will help you clean wounds without Ghost's help, but it won’t save you if you develop an infection.

The next idea you have is to check a house.

By the look of the sky, you can fit in at least two quick searches. You run over to the next street and kick at the front door of the first one you see. Nothing but knocked-over furniture and torn wallpaper. The bathroom cabinet is empty.

The next one you fight inside is decorated with furniture that smells like faded perfume. The first room you check is a bedroom. In the center, a full set of bones lies on the bed, void of any meat after God knows how long its been there. You try not to look at it. On the floor lies a pile of clothes. You could use some more, still dressed in the ones Ghost found you in. You don't even look at them, just grab what you can fit in your bag and move on to the bathroom.

Here, beside a pair of molded dentures, you find two half-full bottles of pills.

Amoxicillin.

Paracetamol.

You cry some more.

It's not much, but it is enough for now.

Your muscles are fatigued by the time you make it back.

You reek of sweat. It is a long walk. You run into a few more Greys but manage them. You eat the squirrel you brought.

Darkness covers the forest just when you spot the camp's fence in the distance. Relief. You actually did it. Some pride breathes into your tired lungs.

As you get closer, you make out two silhouettes leaving the gate. One is a girl who you tiredly smile at the sight of, and the other is a bulky tank.

You leap over the trench.

But when your boots land on the other side, the end of a rifle pokes your breastbone and prevents you from getting any closer.

"Ghost."

You can't help but shout at him, eyes widening. He is pointing a gun at you? You were just beginning to think he could tolerate you enough to not threaten murder anymore. The memory of your first encounter resurfaces.

"It's just me! What the hell are you doing?"

Panic finds you once again. Your chest rises and falls under his gun’s touch. You glance at Blue, who tries to get near you, but he sticks out an arm to keep her away.

"Dad," Blue groans, "Do you really have to— ”

The tip of the rifle brushes up over your collarbone and toward your neck. Your nerves awaken under cold metal.

"Let me see." His voice is firm.

Oh. Bites. He wants to see if you have any bites.

"Okay, okay." You nod breathlessly.

Swallowing, you gather your braided hair in your hands as he clicks on a flashlight. You have not been offered string to tie them with so most of the hair has fallen out as always. You roll your neck to one side, and then to the other to show him the unmarked skin. But he is not satisfied yet.

He moves the rifle down to the hem of your shirt and uses it to lift up the fabric just beneath your breasts, revealing the skin of your stomach and ribs. You should feel exposed, standing here with your bare midriff under the light, but the two of them have already seen this much of you. You are more concerned about the fact that he could kill you if he actually suspects you could’ve been bitten.

The cold air invites a shiver. Your teeth clench as you stare at him. In the darkness, his eyes almost lean red.

He lowers your shirt.

"Roll 'em up for me,” he demands, now giving a nod to your trousers.

You bend over to roll up the pantlegs, all the way up to your knees so he can’t complain about it. All that is revealed are your unshaven legs and sweat-laced socks. You are sure they can smell them from where they stand.

"She doesn't have any stupid bites, Ghost, alright?"

Blue tugs at his arm with a huff. Finally, the rifle lowers. You straighten back up and exhale the short breath you were holding.

There is a silent moment where the three of you just stand there. An owl hoots. Ghost rubs at his masked jaw and looks you over some more, eyes flicking to the filled bag over your shoulder with a raised brow.

And then, something unexpected.

A small body whirls into yours and you almost stumble back in a step. Blue wraps her arms around your waist and excitedly breathes out, "I knew you'd make it back. Ghost said you wouldn't. I told him you would."

What?

It is a short-lived hug.

But still, the first one you have had in a long time.

After this tiring day, your eyes close with some more moisture. It is a strange feeling, her young embrace. Her palms spread flat against your back and she presses her forehead to your shoulder because she is tall enough to reach it. You are just about to hug her in return, move your arms around her shoulders out of instinct, but she is soon tugged away by a skeletal hand. Her blue eyes drift down to her boots. She looks a mix of irritated and embarrassed.

In a daze, you end up back in the warmth of the cabin.

Blue begs you to show her what you found. You dump the contents of your pillowcase onto the table. Her father’s shadow lurks behind you somewhere, always watching and taking up space, but for now, you ignore him.

You cannot recall a time when you were in this kind of mood. It is enough to surface the waters of your grief. Because now, your survival does not have to rely so much on Ghost's mercy or the risk of Blue’s sneaky hands. Food, a med kit, one type of antibiotic. It should all be enough to keep you alive - to take care of yourself - for at least however long you end up staying here.

"Shit balls." Blue rummages through the goods. "You did pretty good."

"Right? I can't believe it," you whisper numbly. You wipe your eyes.

She holds up the clothes first, starting with a large, floral blouse that looks like something an old lady would wear. Her head tips back with a giggle.

"This is way too big for you."

"I'll make it work," you say, shrugging, but almost manage a quiet laugh, too. You don't really give a fuck what the clothes look like. At least you can change finally into something else - something that didn’t belong to your dead companions.

Where you care about the medicine, Blue is far more intrigued by the candy bar she discovers. She holds it up, and inspects the wrapper with curiously wide eyes, shooting a glance at her dad.

"T-w-i-x," she sounds out with pinched brows. She looks back at you. "What's this?"

"It's like... chocolate," you tell her.

"Oh— no way. Could I try some?"

You don't really care about the Twix bar. You almost forgot about it since the moment you found it in the car. But before you can tell her she can just have it as a late birthday gift - because she has done so much for you - Ghost moves to take it from her hands.

He puts it back down on the table.

“What’s hers is hers, kid. That’s how it works here.“

[steelstreqq]

pov i revive an old project from 2021 because i watched one sorry boys video

this is the 'rustout au', its a combination of TWD, fallout 4, and rust but i shoved silly block men (and ted nivison) in it. essentially its a zombie apocalypse au that takes place at some time in the 80s or 90s following a nuclear fallout that occurred due to undisclosed government activities with foreign global superpowers. none of the normal civilians really know why the nukes went off and only a few of the most wealthy in the community really were able to get down to the bunkers in time

there are a ton of characters i want to include in this au, but considering i made this in the peak of the dsmp fandom i have to be kinda careful to not pick out any ccs who are still a part of dream's posse.. :pensive:

so far, the other characters in this au who aren't displayed here are fundy, techno, philza, bizly, grizly, condi, connor, jack, eret, and a few others i cant think of rn >_<

some character information below ^-^

WILBUR G. SOOT - the widowed father to fundy. wilbur lived in a house in a suburban neighborhood with his teen aged son before the nukes went off. once the initial fallout occurred, will and fundy had an argument about where they should shelter. the day after the argument, wilbur awoke to find fundy had completely disappeared. grief stricken at the loss of another family member (under the impression that he was the reason fundy had 'ran off'), wilbur risked his safety to search for his son, traveling from settlement to settlement. he hated himself and blamed himself for his son's disappearance. by this point, he wanted to lie in the dirt and rot with the corpse of the land below him

TOMMY ZA - the adoptive son of phil, a single child. tommy was at school during the blasts, thus he was separated from his father. he and the rest of his school were ushered to the basement following the explosions to protect them from fallout. when given the all clear, tommy ran down barren streets to find his way home, and never did. too frantic and unable to navigate his way properly, he became stranded and lost. the crushing anxiety of being alone seemed to summon a taller man with a guitar case from a local town. he had found himself wandering into tommy's neighborhood. and therein, an alliance was formed.

"RANBOO" - ranboo is a mysterious creature who doesn't really appreciate questions about his history. tommy and wilbur found him a month or two into constructing their own settlement. ranboo was found uncomfortably asleep in a cramped car not far off from Dome. he was rudely awakened with a violent mugging from tommy. wilbur caught up to the shorter brit and apologized for his actions, suggesting that ranboo could stay at their camp as compensation for the troubles that tommy had brought to ranboo. ranboo reluctantly agreed and now is a part of the dome's settlement. tommy speculates ranboo is secretly a mentally mutated creature-freak-thing and must be put down immediately, ranboo just wants to eat dinner in peace.

CHARLIE SICKLE - charlie is the latest member to join the settlement. the former front man for the hit pop group Roll With You. during an england tour, the nukes went off and front man charlie had been stranded during his burger lunch break. separated from the rest of his band mates. charlie has faced deterioration in his mental state due to the stress of surviving during such a gruesome time period. by the time wilbur finds himself at the receiving end of charlie's gun, he is already unhinged. wilbur manages to talk charlie into submission carefully, and decides to see if he can form a fragile alliance with charlie for some sort of twisted protection. charlie agrees, as he is so *sick* of being alone. charlie simply insists he is just a silly billy, everybody else thinks hes clinically insane

DOME- dome is a passive settlement founded by wilbur soot to bring in local survivors and give them a small and safe community to rebuild humanity. although this is a large goal in such a hostile and dangerous situation, tommy gives wilbur hope to keep going. who knows, maybe while scouting for survivors, they could stumble across phil or fundy

TED - ted is a serial killer, plain and simple. hired by schlatt to be a bodyguard after the fallout, ted had escaped his cinder block hell to essentially be a guard dog thanks to the nukes. it turns out prisons arent explosion-proof. ted is silent, he doesnt speak much, but he has a clear cut focus on what he wants. when he does speak, he talks clearly and normally. mostly, about his travels with his good buddy 'eddie nine pins', whom he apparently did everything with before getting caught

J. SCHLATT - schlatt is a larger than life business mogul, the ceo of a handful of companies that produce clothes, products, music, etc. hes an incredibly creative and intuitive man who knows how to get what he wants. he is the forefront leader of his settlement in the bunker. schlatt is falsely married to quackity, both of them agreeing to commit marriage fraud when they initially entered the world of entrepreneurship as it looks better and improves both of their charisma in social situations. their 'marriage' is entirely superficial and loveless, purely for aesthetics

A. QUACKITY - you might say quackity is a strange last name, he'd tell you to mind your own business and call you poor in two different languages. quackity runs a small 'medicine' dealing business on the surface. in exchange for fancy goods and food, quackity will give out medicine to needy survivors with no real idea of what any of it does. indirectly, quackity has killed 15+ people with his medication and harmed countless others. he doesnt feel bad, as long as he gets something out of it. he's been spoiled by his previously lavish life and just can't stand to let it all go

TOBY "TUBBO" SCHLATT - tubbo is the adoptive son of schlatt. while schlatt opted to adopt tubbo purely for aesthetics, just as he did with his marriage, he ended up getting somewhat attached to the little guy (and so did quackity). adopted at the age of 13, tubbo was quickly exposed to the inside mechanisms of business, the lying and cheating that goes on behind the retina and he has no interest in becoming a mogul like his father. rather, he opts for weapon studies and collecting a massive arsenal of different types of guns and bombs. tubbo sees the fallout as more of a playground than anything, being able to collect and test as many 'toys' as he wants. tubbo and tommy have crossed paths on several occasions, wherein they both will have a bit of a scuffle until theyre tired, then sit and talk. they consider each other friends, and neither of them know of the conflict between schlatt and wilbur

THE BUNKER - the bunker was once a safe haven for the one percent in england, but only a week into shelter, everybody was slaughtered. quackity and schlatt performed a hostile takeover of the bunker for no greater reason than the fact they wanted more space and more liberties. theyve now claimed the entire bunker as their home, and they want to see how far they can expand their power and control.

if youve made it this far, thx so much for reading it means the WORLD to me.. ill be posting abt this au alongside my other projects like claymore hills and the sanatorium au (which also was a 2021 thing!!)

heres a playlist i made for the rustout au if anybody is as interested in music as i am

thanks sm again, likes and reblogs are both appreciated ^-^ asks are open and heavily encouraged if you wanna know more :DD i know dsmpblr is a little dead but maybe mcytblr might like this, u never know if u dont try so ill take shot in the dark ^-^

note: NONE of these characters should be confused with the CCs. they are loosely based off of real interactions and projects but are entirely FICTIONAL in this universe. i do not support the actions of content creators such as dream, george, sapnap, punz, and many others associated with dream thus they will NOT be in this project. thank you.

[dracoroma]

I think it's safe to say now that Vax is completely fine with the situation he finds himself in. He has all but said those exact words to Vox Machina.

"I would rather not have [The Raven Queen] gone"

"Death is a part of life"

And this should put Keyleth blaming The Matron for "taking Vax from her", and Pike "not giving up on Vax" into perspective.

I don't get why we are blaming The Matron time and time again when Vecna is the one who killed Vax. He would not be in this situation if not for Vecna. Meanwhile, The Matron has to look over all life and death.

Matt said it well in the wrap party for TLoVM S3. She's a neutral entity, she's persuing her own goals,regardless of what society, or even her, deems moral and just. She has to protect the sanctity of death. In fact, she's basically said why to Bell's Hells, she needs to prevent stagnation.

If not for The Matron, how could we ever truly stop people like Lorenzo, the Chroma Conclave, Ripley, the Briarwoods, Avantika? And how do you think people would feel if their loved ones were disrespected and brought back as zombies?

How about we look at the materials for spells that defy the matron, things like clone and resurrection spells. Spells that when tied together can gove one functional immortality. But these are also expensive and powerful spells, that require a ton of resources. This can create a world where the rich and powerful, through magic, are immortal, unable to die. While the common folk do not have that luxury. And this is a world that many a cyberpunk story depicts.

Even on a smaller level, it becomes a world where some people have to wonder why their family member, their sibling, their lover, their friend, was not brought back when someone else was. And that is an incredibly unfair world

But, there's also a spiritual component here. To Vax, this is his choice. It was mentioned before that he would not be willing to come back through true resurrection. It was his choice to accept his death, his fate. To take that choice away from him feels wrong on many levels, from a level of personal agency to that of denying someone their faith. The desire to bring him back to life is incredibly selfish on Keyleth's, and the rest of Vox Machina's, part.

And, I think there's a final component here. Vax is not just dead. While none of the books explicitly say as much, his role as a psychopomp means something. To me, as a polytheist, Vax achieved apotheosis, he is a minor god now, like Heraclese and Psyche in greek myth. It is a metamorphosis for him into something else.

One of my friends has been talking a lot about how "people rebel against the gods" is not a compelling reason to say that the system is irreprably broken. And that's because they, frankly, have a raw deal. Erathis and Pelor and Bahamut, as entities of law, are going to constantly piss off the punk types like Ashton by representing law. Corellon and Avandra, as entities of freedom and change, are going to constantly piss off people who see law as a virtue. And while Melora and Kord can be channeled to do good things, nature and storms and war are forces that do not care about good and evil. They will cause blights and disasters because that is what they are.

And the center of this issue is The Raven Queen. The protector of the dead. The one who stands against necromancy. Because it is important that oir rest, when we die, not be disturbed. And because of that, she cannot make exceptions

[bonkwosher]

Ho could you do a joel x reader where maybe tess is jealous. And maybe that we get close to ellie ?

A/N: I just got caught up on the show for this... Bill & Frank- I need a hug, they are so precious. Anyways, yes, this. I'm not hung up on anything /j /lh

Pairings: Joel Miller x GN!Reader

Contains: Jealous Tess (obviously), Bill & Frank (CRY ABOUT IT), family member death, implied age gap (10ish years), only one bed? lmao, reader gets injured

2009, Six years after the apocalypse started

You were in your late-20s when you wound up lost & alone. Your dad was a conspiracy theorist before the outbreak & he kept you safe. You lived in a bunker in the middle of some random forest. Everything was fine, you were as happy as one could be in a zombie-infested world. Well... you were until your dad didn't come back from hunting. After a week, you went outside. The color assortment that filled your vision had you borderline overwhelmed. While taking in the view, a guttural sound hits your ears. You turned to see your father, infected & staring at you like a starving predator.

"No," you muttered, there was no way he could've been bit, right?

Your denial was ripped from your body when he began to run at you. You screamed & sprinted off, out of the forest. As you ran, a fence slowly came into view. Safety? You beelined towards your possible safe haven, barely taking note of the tripwire on the floor. At the last second, you jumped over it & kept running. You continued running until a gunshot went off. you quickly stopped & raised your hands above your head.

"I'm not infected!" You yelled, gulping & closing your eyes.

The fact that the sounds of your assailant had stopped made you turn your head. Your father, or what was left of him, lay dead on the floor. A bullet hole on either side of his head.

"It's just a stray infected, Frank!" Bill shouted from behind you.

No sudden movements, they'll shoot, "I'm not infected! Please, I need help."

"Turn around!"

You turned slowly to face the man. He was tall, 50s maybe older, the more important detail was the large gun pointed at your head.

"That's a hunting rifle, my father loved to hunt," you tried to find common ground.

"Where is he now?"

You nodded behind you. Bill slowly leaned to the side to look past you & kept a poker face, his boyfriend did not, "You poor thing."

"How are you alive when he's...?" Bill trailed off.

"My father was a prepper, I just got home from college graduation the day that things went to shit. This is my first time seeing a color other than gray in years."

"When did you last eat?" Frank yelled from behind the fence.

"Five days ago."

"Oh my god, Bill, let them in!"

Bill seemed very upset, "Hold your horses. You, stand still & keep your arms in the air."

Bill pulled out a cordyceps scanner & held it to your head. You know you weren't bit but you still were afraid it would show red. The device beeped & Bill gave it a cursory glance before nodding towards the gate. You two walked back & into the gated town.

Frank directed you to the shower & laid you out some of their clothes for the meantime (They totally take you to the boutique later). As much as Bill wants to kick you out immediately, Frank convinces him otherwise. You eat a meal & cannot stop completing Bill's cooking. As soon as you finish, Frank asks you to sit on the couch while he talks to Bill.

"We have to let them stay, they're practically a child!" Frank whispered.

"No, absolutely not. We do not have to do anything to help them."

"Okay, Bill. We don't need to. I- I want to," Frank hesitated with his words, knowing no matter what, he'd upset his boyfriend.

"They could hurt us."

"They don't want to!"

"You don't know that!"

Frank grabbed Bill's arm & led him into the living room. You were curled up in a ball & fast asleep. Bill's eyes softened for a moment, he knew he wouldn't win this argument.

Bill was cold around you initially, but he grew to care for you. Frank, on the other hand, practically babied you. He wanted to do everything for &/or with you. He would style you, go on runs with you, teach you how to garden & paint, whatever made you happy. You quickly became something like his own child. You tried your best to learn from Bill, thinking it would allow you to be closer. Boy, were you right. When you asked him to teach you how to hunt he wanted to sign the adoption papers right there (if there were any). Although you were a full-grown adult, it became an unspoken thing that you were their child. You thought you wouldn't see another human until one day you heard your fathers fighting outside.

"Well, I've been talking to a nice woman on the radio!" Frank yelled (I'm too tired to find the exact lines).

There was a pause, "YOU WHAT?!"

Within a couple days, visitors appeared at your gate. The three of you walked up to the gate, all dressed nicely. The only thing that reminded you that you were in the apocalypse was the fact that a gun rested at your hip & another was pointed by Bill, right at the visitors.

"Please put the gun down, Bill."

"It's me, Tess! I brought my friend Joel like I said!" The woman yelled.

You became distracted by the man for a second. He was tall & dressed in a nice brown jacket & jeans, a gun holstered on his hip as well. He's smart. Frank let the two in & scanned them to keep Bill sane.

"They're healthy, Bill!" Frank turned to you, "Y/N, take Joel to get some vegetables for lunch. It'll make cooking lunch easier for your father. I'm going to show Tess around."

"Alright," you spoke quickly, desperately trying to hide the fact that hanging out with this handsome stranger excited you.

Joel gave you a soft smile as he walked towards you. Unbeknownst to you, Tess saw your cheeks flush as you looked up at her friend. She gave an unseen glare in your direction before Frank whisked her away for a tour. You lead Joel to the main garden, filled with vegetables.

"So... they're your fathers?" Joel tried to start a conversation.

"Well, you know, not biologically. They took me in last year & kind of... adopted me."

"Aren't you an adult?"

"Twenty-nine, yes. I don't care, it's nice to have a family in these times."

"I guess you're right."

You two knelt down next to the garden to pick some carrots.

"Is Tess your...?" You began, seeing if you even had a chance.

"It's complicated, I guess, no."

"Oh, I'm sorry to pry."

You both reached for the same carrot & you grabbed Joel's hand on accident. You jumped & apologized profusely.

"Hey, Y/N, it's okay," hearing his deep, southern voice say your name sent chills down your spine.

"We- We should pick some lettuce or something, I don't know."

"You don't have a list?"

"No."

"Lettuce it is."

The two of you picked vegetables for a while longer & Joel offered to carry everything back for you. Arguably, a good thing for two reasons. One, you didn't have to waste your strength. Two, you ended up falling flat on your face & not one vegetable was harmed. Your leg caught on a root of an overgrown tree & you hit your head on the sidewalk. Your consciousness level was unstable at best, Joel set the vegetables down & picked you up.

"Bill! We need some bandages!"

Joel opened the door & brought you into the dining room, setting you down in a chair. Bill entered the room & saw you hurt.

"What happened?!"

"They fell while we were walking, hit their head on concrete."

Joel lightly pressed a towel to your forehead, "We're lucky, no broken skull. Can you get some bandages?"

Bill left & returned with a first aid kit & pulled out some rubbing alcohol, pouring a little onto your cut. You winced & Joel's hand darted to yours, offering you comfort through reassuring squeezes. The two men wrapped your head in some bandages & brought you random snacks.

"Feeling any better?" Joel was still holding your hand.

"Yes, thank you. I'm such a klutz sometimes."

"Well then, I think I need to come back more often to make sure you don't hurt yourself," Joel gave you a small smile before looking down at your hand.

Tess & Frank walked through the front door talking about possible trades. Tess had picked up the basket of vegetables that you two had left behind.

Frank noticed you in the kitchen & rushed to your side, holding your face with both hands, "Y/N, what happened?"

"I'm fine, I just tripped again. Joel bandaged me up & stopped the bleeding," You spoke softly & gave Joel's hand a squeeze to say 'thank you.'

"Thank you, Joel, you don't even know how much this means to me," Frank stood up & took the vegetables from Tess before heading to the kitchen, "Keep them safe, I'm going to help Bill in the kitchen."

Tess looked down at your & Joel's hands then held eye contact with Joel. She directed a glare at her friend. Joel looked at the floor & quickly pulled his hand from yours. You looked over at Joel only for him to stand up & walk towards the kitchen.

"I'm going to see if they need help in there."

With that, you were left alone with Tess. She seemed nice, but you managed to miss all her looks & just thought something was up with Joel.

"Joel & I are together," Tess finally broke the silence, crossing her arms.

Well, now you didn't want to be a home wrecker, "Good for you two."

"Get the hint, kid. It means back off."

"I'm not a kid."

"Oh shut the fuck up, Joel is at least ten years older than you. You're practically a baby."

You paused to figure out how to word this, "Look... I don't want to cause any problems. Joel told me there was nothing going on between you two. Plus, we met maybe half an hour ago, nothing was happening."

Tess dignified your response with a nod before sitting down. You two sat in silence for a moment. You heard a lot of metal clinking coming from the kitchen.

"Y/N! Come help Joel!" Frank yelled.

You entered the kitchen to see Joel on his knees picking up a pile of utensils. How did he manage this?! You knelt down beside Joel & began picking up all the utensils. Once they were collected, you handed them to Bill & Frank to wash. They, in turn, trusted you two to bring out the plates & glasses.

"Don't drop them this time, Joel," Frank teased.

The two of you walked outside & began setting the table. Tess sat on the porch & watched you.

"How'd you end up dropping everything, that looked like you emptied the whole drawer," you laughed.

"Your father, Frank, stepped away from the sink at just the right time to bump into me as I was heading outside with everything."

"Well, maybe you need me to make sure you don't hurt yourself either," you teased, giving him a light jab to the arm.

Joel looked down & smiled, "Yeah, maybe I do."

"Joel! Come over here, I need to talk to you about the trade deal we're making!" You two finally noticed Tess on the porch.

Joel gave you a soft smile, maybe saying he was sorry to leave again, & ran off toward Tess.

Joel & Tess chatted on the porch while you finished setting the table. Every time Joel would unknowingly turn his attention to you, Tess would do her best to pull his attention back. She was growing annoyed each time you'd walk by, drawing his eyes to you. Still believing the two of them were in a relationship, you resisted the urge to touch his arm or pat his head as you walked by each time, simply to remind him you were there. Not like he needed you to remind him anyways, he was doing pretty good at that by himself.

Lunch was short, Bill kept a gun pointed at Joel for a while, much to your & Frank's chagrin. Frank decided to show Tess something & left you with Joel & Bill. You continued to eat your food as the two of them spoke.

"If my," Joel paused & looked at you, "If I had a partner that did this, I'd be upset too."

You were genuinely confused & hiding it didn't even come to mind. Joel placed his hand on your arm, pulling your focus back to him.

"Something on your mind?" He chuckled.

I shouldn't bring it up, "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Frank had decided it was too late to let your visitors return home, they had to stay the night. After dinner, you took the dishes & began washing them. You could hear the conversation, even with the door closed.

"Alright, Y/N can share their bed with one person, the other can have the couch in the living room."

Joel practically jumped the gun but did his best not to sound excited, "I can share the bed with Y/N."

Tess looked shocked. Frank looked at Bill with a knowing smile.

"I-I mean, I'm too tall for that couch. It would be uncomfortable. Tess would fit, right Tess?"

"Yeah, you're right."

You walked back into the dining room & Frank asked you to show Joel to your room. You avoided eye contact with Tess & walked toward your room, the only thing implying Joel was following you was the sound of heavy footsteps. You arrived & opened the door, allowing Joel to walk in first. He silently admired your room while you hopped onto your bed. It was getting late so you were already on the verge of knocking out.

"Ready for bed?" You asked with a yawn.

"Just about," Joel spoke as he saw you bury yourself in the covers.

"It can get pretty cold in here at night, but maybe with the two of us it'll be tolerable."

Joel took off his shoes & climbed into bed next to you. Your comforters were softer than he'd felt in years.

"Oh my god, this is so much better than the QZ," Joel turned to face you & the reality of the situation hit you like a truck.

Your face was extremely red now. You were sharing a bed with this stranger you just met, who may or may not be in a relationship, & you have a huge crush on him. His face was close enough to the point where you could feel his breath.

"Are you & Tess together?" You felt like a broken record.

"You already asked that," Joel chuckled, pulling more of the blanket on top of him.

"Well, Tess said you were together."

"I guess, together in the sense that we came here together (This himbo lmao), but we aren't dating."

"Oh, she seemed upset when she saw us holding hands."

Joel let out a huff, "Alright, Tess & I... we had a thing. I don't know, but it's over now. It does feel weird trying to flirt with attractive strangers in front of her."

Joel looked up with a small smirk, as if you could become any redder.

"You- Wait, you were flirting with me?"

"Maybe a little," he teased.

"I like you, Joel."

Joel placed wrapped a hand around your waist & pulled you close, "I like you too, Y/N."

Joel looked down at your lips then back to your eyes. You seemed to finally catch on & nodded, bringing another small smile to Joel's face. He closed the gap between you two.

A/N: Not my best work but I'll edit it at some point. I forgot about the Ellie bit but I can make a part two or another one-shot. Tada!

[maleyanderecafe]

A Room Without Windows (Webcomic)

Created by: Dacto Gongji

Genre: BL/Mystery

This webcomic is only about 5 chapters, but my goodness does it have a good twist at the end. Considering it starts out with kidnapping, amputation and memory loss, you know you're in for a good ride.

The story starts out with Song Gi Tae waking up in an underground bunker. He can't seem to remember anything past that he was on a date for a bit and that one of his legs has been cut off. He's been underground for about one and a half months only being fed by someone who comes in every day to give him lunch. Gi Tae gets aggressive and attempts to attack the man, Ji Hoon, but Ji Hoon only wants to know more about him and take care of him, however, Gi Tae continues to reject him as he's the one who has cut off his leg. Gi Tae has a nightmare about being able to escape, only to be caught by Ji Hoon and have him tear apart his other leg with his teeth. To get a hairpin that Ji Hoon is wearing, Gi Tae is willing to sleep with him so that he can use the hairpin to pick the lock. Despite the two having sex, Ji Hoon actually does catch Gi Tae taking one of his hairpins, but allows him to keep it as a gift. Ji Hoon sends him out to get sweets, and while Gi Tae is picking the lock, he starts to wonder how he was able to gain these skills. Opening the door, he finds that he has been locked in a facility, and takes the elevator up to the first floor. Despite his instincts yelling at him, he decides to open the door to the outside only to get attacked by a zombie. He starts to remember what happened the days before. He remembers his last days before the zombie apocalypse, where he was buying food for his date before all hell broke loose. After almost a decade, he ends up with a group of people starving in the snow. Given that his leg was already damaged, the rest of the group attempts to cut his leg off to eat it, attacking him as they travel. This is where Ji Hoon comes in and defends him by killing off the rest of the members and carries him back to the bunker. Upon remembering this, Gi Tae realizes there's nobody out there for him anymore, and is about to kill himself before Ji Hoon's face flashes in his mind. We get backstory of Ji Hoon when he was younger, seeing that his family was already aware that the zombie apocalypse was coming, they built a bunker for everyone to live under. The live relatively happy, until one by one the people in the bunker disappear, his mother and father leaving him behind with a bunker filled with food. Ji Hoon lived happily alone, occasionally going out to get toys and other things, while maintaining the bunker, however, eventually started feeling extremely lonely after a while. He decides to go out and finds Gi Tae with the others, with Gi Tae announcing what he's done to survive to get the others off his back. He falls in love with Gi Tae at first sight and kills the other members, taking him back to the bunker and cutting off his leg. However, after a while of Gi Tae rejecting Ji Hoon, he eventually lost his memories, with Ji Hoon worried that if he reminded Gi Tae of what happened, he would try to hurt himself again as he did before. Ji Hoon goes out, finding a prosthetic leg and sweets for Gi Tae, and goes home to find him crying in the bed. He promises to be together with him forever, and to take care of him.

Even though Ji Hoon seems to be a cruel person in the very beginning, seeing that he did cut off Gi Tae's leg, we see that this is actually probably the best case scenario for both of them given the twist of the zombie apocalypse. It is a very fun way to see how the main character's perspective gets flipped around, something that reminds me a bit of how The Black Mirror was done. The twist for the yandere to actually be (for the most part) rather caring is really nice, and it's well done for a story that is only about 5 chapters. Gi Tae really both lucky and unlucky that Ji Hoon took interest in him given that he probably would have died otherwise if Ji Hoon didn't interfere and kill the rest of the survivors.

Ji Hoon as a yandere is kind of interesting given that he's more of the innocent type, as he was raised in the bunker for pretty much all of his life, but wasn't really given a chance to develop properly due to the fact that his parents left him before he became an adult. As a result, he has a more childlike personality, only really falling for Gi Tae because of his "puberty" though he had the extreme patience to wait nine years for him to regain his memories, which is extremely impressive. He does kill off about five different people to save Gi Tae along with disregarding other survivors when he goes to find the prosthetic leg for Gi Tae and takes great care in making sure that Gi Tae is fed properly, even happy that he was able to give a gift to Ji Hoon, even if it was used for him to escape temporarily. I've seen in some of the twitter extras, that Ji Hoon even helps Gi Tae walk on his new prosthetic leg in the end.

Overall, I think that this webcomic is very good for a short story, giving a nice backstory for both characters and how they came to met each other, as well as a bit of a subversion of how the yandere is really like given the situation and the concept of the story.

[symphonyofsilence]

WWX stans saying he would have been the best uncle and Jin Ling's favorite uncle like we didn't see the man see Jin Ling go through the most horrifying event in his life and witness his uncle (who was also one of his two guardians) painful, traumatizing death after the said uncle was dismembered and after some really earth-shattering truths being unraveled, and LEAVE THE BOY THERE CRYING WHILE STARING AT HIS UNCLE'S COFFIN to go fuck in the bushes with LWJ. Like not an hour after the incident, or even a quarter of an hour. no. right after that whole shitshow happened!

(And JL accusingly asked JC why he let them go! JL...my boy... the real question is why did THEY choose to go?! When WWX had a traumatized nephew & a literally and figuratively bleeding brother to take care of, and LWJ had a traumatized brother who seconds ago WAS WILLING TO DIE WITH JGY and LWJ hadn't yet made sure that LXC's willingness has ceased since!)

And then WWX didn't even go to check on JL after that! While JL was a 15 y/o sect leader dealing with the power vacuum left after the scandals of the previous sect leader who was also coincidentally the Xiandu, & going through a power struggle with one of the worst sects out there.

WWX asks after Jin Ling from the Lan Juniors instead of going to see him himself! When he next sees JL it's said that the news of his struggles had reached Wangxian in Gusu, meaning that WWX hadn't dropped by to check on JL to hear of these from JL himself and he hadn't dropped by to check in on him even after hearing these news! He was only there bc JL had invited the Lan Juniors for a field trip!

WWX shows his love with drastic, big, dramatic, sacrificial acts like giving his golden core to JC or transferring Jin Ling's curse to himself, but since he himself loves to run away from his traumas and his responsibilities, he's not someone who can be counted on to help his loved-ones with their traumas and responsibilities. He didn't do it with Jiang Cheng and he didn't do it with Jin Ling. He never even talked to Wen Ning about Wen Qing and the Wen Remnants. (Or how WN feels about being a zombie forcefully brought back to life in a world that hates and fears him)

Maybe diplomacy is not his strength and he'll only make things worse by trying to help JL with his sect leader duties, but it wouldn't have taken anything from him if he had only stayed by JL at least for the night after the Guanyin Temple, not even doing anything, but just being there. (And I understand that narratively it might have been a point in the story where some readers might want to see the main couple sail off into the sunset together, but all it would have taken for the main couple to be shown as less of a dick was adding a phrase like "the next morning..." or even "later that day" or something like that before writing about them disappearing into the sunset...or the bushes.)

I love Wei Wuxian, but post-resurrection Wei Wuxian was really...not particularly an ideal family member.

[justafriendlystranger]

New member~

:Introduction:

This is Caleb Otis! A teenager who's barely surviving in a destroyed city, in an apocalyptic timeline. There has been a virus that's rapidly been spreading around the world called the "Necroa Virex" It is a brutal, highly contagious disease that doesn't create zombies but instead destroys its victims from the inside out, leaving them conscious of their slow decline—a fate that terrifies both the infected and the healthy.

This virus spreads rapidly through airborne particles and direct contact, making it one of the most contagious viruses in history. As the infection rate skyrockets, cities become overwhelmed, and medical systems buckle under the sheer number of patients, unable to provide care for the masses. With no known cure, governments enforce extreme quarantine measures, which only heighten fear and isolation among the population. Civil unrest grows as people, desperate to avoid infection, turn against one another. Mistrust spreads just as quickly as the virus, fracturing communities and pushing society toward collapse.

Like Sylas, He fights and fends for himself but with him it's much more extreme. He kills every survivor he comes across with to take anything that can help him survive longer, his only main objective is to survive alone cause he's extremely distrustful of the very few people he sees, either from the virus or from the same mentality that he has.

:How he met Trickster/how he became a member:

He met Trickster when he was scavenging for food, he saw her without any protected gear which led him to believe that she is already infected. He sneaks out behind her and strikes her from behind with a sledgehammer and kills her, but seeing that she has nothing on her, he continued his journey like nothing happened,,, but what he didn't expect is to see her again.. It's been a few weeks since he saw her and he was sure he left her on the ground bloodied and broken, to the point she's unrecognizable,, but there she is, in the same spot wearing the same clothes.. It's probably the stress of the situation he is in right now,, maybe the first is just a hallucination. And maybe this time she has something on her that'll help him, so like before he kills her again... It's driving him insane cause he feels like he's stuck in a loop cause he saw her again in the same spot, wearing the same clothes and very much alive with no injuries. (ah yes, typical Trickster with her psychological torture ^///^) He can't do this anymore so he tried a different approach, he went in front of her, talking to her.. "who are you and how are you doing that?" he said. And that was the start of their 'freindship'! of course Caleb was very skeptical about her so it took Trickster over a year and a half to fish him out of his comfort zone and get him to convince that he has a place for him where he doesn't have to fight everyday for survival,, and she knows he wants that more than anything,,,

:Info:

General info! he's around 17-19, he's 5'8, his birthday is December 28. He suffers from severe PTSD and still thinks that there's a virus around, that's way he's very hostile to visitors and the family members. He kills visitor cause he believes that they might bring the virus inside the house and he thinks the family members are either also unclean or just a figment of his imagination cause no amount of people can survive at this point.. Well maybe except for trickster, but he thinks she's just playing along with his delusions (which he appreciates). He believes that the house is just some sort of bunker and that's why trickster isn't letting him outside. It's kinda hard to talk to him cause he thinks people there are just in his mind, he'll still answer but just vague ones.

:His relationship with the other milkshake mansion members:

Trickster: friend Casimir: infected member that needs to die Rosemary: a nice imaginary friend Chaoxiang: who? Willow: neutral Hayden: a quiet hallucination The twins: infected member that needs to die Penelope: an annoying hallucination Elijah: neutral ( @gachaclubideas) Talissa: neutral ( @gachaclubideas) Juliet: neutral ( @gachaclubideas) Tsutsuji: a quiet hallucination ( @n0vatsu) Yoake: neutral ( @n0vatsu) Star: a quiet hallucination ( @startheimpactfangirl ) Kema Umi: a quiet hallucination ( @alcohol1maid ) Trevore: an annoying hallucination ( @edgywithaheart )

Milkshake mansion belongs to @boiling-potato !!

he's already open for asks!! ^^

(his normal clothes when he's not in the milkshake mansion)

[sircantus]

I just wanted to thank you very much

Because of your fics i figured out how to be a good older sibling.

I know it sounds kinda dumb but, I was so lost in how to take care of my family newst member that o end up negleting them. One day, while I was reading "Stay underneath my wing" I realized I wanted to be as good sibing as SUMW!Wilbur and SUMW!Techno, so caring and gentle even on hard times.

Nowadays my sibling is as old as SUMW!Tommy. They don't exactly would know how to survive a zombie apocalypse, I just wanted you to know that they couldn't feel more loved. 💚

Wha

Wuh

WAHH??? 😭😭😭

Im so happy to have given you something to follow after. All the love given in those fics are from myself, for my little brother. He is everything to me. May our siblings feel endlessly loved and cherished

[nagirambles]

Rambling about Fairies - Manga Chapter 200

Warning: generally negative.

And so the decharacterisation of Juvia begins. Like, I get that Gray was the reason she broke out of her rain woman slump and all, but her new hairstyle and her friendships within the guild came from Lucy and Cana. Why does everything get reset all the way to Phantom era just because of Gray?

I feel like this could've been some kind of deep character building moment in the long term-- it could have been Juvia realizing she was being overdependent on Gray because the second he discards her (he wasn't holding on to her particularly to begin with) she dissolves back into being socially inept. It could've been her moment to go from focusing on Gray to focusing on herself and her own goals. Does she return to this form because it's the one that Gray saved? Did she want his attention again, so she reverted, so Gray could save her again? I wish it went in that direction, because then there would be something. But there wasn't. This was just Mashima's brand of humour, and it's what begins Fairy Tail's downward spiral.

Which is ridiculous! She spent so much time away from them in Nirvana and Edolas and was fine until Happy told her about Edolas Gruvia!

It's so unhealthy and I wish I could be joking right now, but I can't. It isn't even portrayed as negative unlike her usual stalker shenanigans. God forbid, when it happened in Avatar it was entirely stated that Gray was the one that needed to be brought back to their side because Juvia's not okay without him. Sure, Gray needed to be brought home, but no one mentions how Juvia is way too fucking dependent on her man that she's somehow completely unable to take care of herself once he's gone! She made herself sick and wandered about like a zombie without any meaning left in her!

What did she spend so many months in the guild for, if she somehow never experienced family enough to remember it after Gray left? Even Phantom Lord taught her the meaning of 'being accepted regardless of your flaws/baggage' and you're telling me Fairy Tail gave her nothing except crippling overdependence on Gray?

When did she become someone that only lived for Gray? Where is my strong and brutal, desperate to prove herself, confident, self-sacrificing shy girl? Where is the girl that just wanted Cana to accept her, where is the girl that hurt herself to save Gray from Meredy, where is the girl that brought Gajeel to Fairy Tail because she didn't want him to be alone after Phantom disbanded? Where is the girl that, when mind-controlled, cried because she didn't want to hurt Lucy anymore? Where is she?

I really feel like this moment and the later Avatar situation could've been a character building moment to enrich both her and Gruvia as a dynamic. Rather than Avatar completely tuning all the blame on Gray, it should've been a moment where Juvia herself went to save Gray and bring him home. She proves her place later on, during the Water Make moment--- but that's about her love for Gray. What about her pride as a member of Fairy Tail, as family, as Juvia Lockser, the strong and independent rain girl that now knows the sun? Where the fuck is she, Mashima? Why were we robbed of the moment where Juvia, after growing as a member of Fairy Tail, went and brought Gray home to a place that would accept him after he turned to the dark side? Where is Juvia bringing Gray into the sun to bring their development and relationship full circle? Why is Gruvia going up and down like a cheese grater?

[theweirdowhowantstobeamangaka]

Cult of the Lamb: Resident Evil

Hello, I secretly was thinking of this CotL AU.

Be careful! This post is long as shit!!

This AU is the mixture of Cult of the Lamb and Resident Evil (and Yakuza: Dead Souls).

In this AU, Lamb, Goat, Narinder, Leshy, Heket, Kallamar and Shamura (and Sozo and Yarlen) fight zombies and the Cult by the name of Umbrella, with the help of Leon, Chris, Jill and Ashley who came from US.

PLOT(This may contain mild spoilers):

Kallamar, Shamura and Sozo Arc: Shamura received a threatening letter saying that Webber had been kidnapped. They take Kallamar and Sozo and go on a crusade. On the way, they meet a woman who calls herself Zoe, who leads them to Silk Cradle's Baker farm. The three are safely reunited with Webber at the Baker residence and attempt to take him home, but they're attacked from behind by a mysterious figure and loses consciousness. When they eventually wake up, they see the Baker family members sitting around a table with a horrific meal on top! Trapped in the mansion by the family, Kallamar, Shamura and Sozo attempt to escape from the maddened Baker family mansion with the help of Zoe, who haunts different parts of the mansion. (This arc is based on Resident Evil 7: Biohazard) (Poster)

Leshy and Yarlen Arc: While on a picnic with his wife Yellow Cat (Emily) and their children in Darkwood, the site of his temple, Leshy witnesses a mysterious beast attacking members of the old faith, and then a zombie attack. He successfully kills all the zombies and tries to return home, but Emily and her children have disappeared, so he stands up to rescue them, and he meets up with Yarlen, who's looking for Jalala and Linor along the way. (Poster)

Heket Arc: Kallamar, Shamura, Sozo, Webber, and Zoe, who had escaped from the Bakers' mansion and were surrounded by zombies, meet up with Heket and fight off the zombies with her. They ask her to accompany them, but she refuses, saying that she's afraid that she's in part to blame for the incident and wants hold herself accountable. Prior to this incident, Heket had received an invitation to return to Old Faith from Leviathan, a former acolyte and now the second Bishop of Famine. When she refused his invitation, he handed her a map pointing to the mansion of Anura, telling her to come back if she changed her mind. What is waiting for her there? (Poster)

Lambert, Goatie and Narinder Arc: Lambert and Goatie head to Crusade to Anura with Narinder after receiving a threatening letter from someone who kidnapped Aym and Baal while they were visiting their mother, Forneus. They join forces with Chris, Jill, Leon, and Ashley from the U.S. and kill all the zombies. When Chris and the others say they need better weapons, Lambert says he knows a genius blacksmith, and they explore the mansion, kicking zombies around and finally meeting up with Kudaai, Clauneck, and Chemach. (Poster)

Cult of the Lamb Arc: Lambert and his team arrive at Kudaai's place, where they are joined by Leshy, Heket, Kallamar, Shamura, Sozo, Yarlen, Webber, and Zoe, who receive powerful weapons from him, including machine guns, shotguns, and grenade launchers. Leshy is fitted with a high-performance prosthetic eye, and Sozo, Yarlen, Webber, and Zoe stand by. After refusing to go with Chris and the others, he leaves Kudaai's place, saying that from this point on, it is a holy war for the seven gods. Can they rescue Aym and Baal, and put the end of this bloody masquerade?

So, I have a request for you all. Please take a look at this comic and write many assignments for writing AU comics in this post (e.g. Practice the background, don't put too many onomatopoeia, when coloring, try and make it so the lines are going on the same direction, etc...). JUST PLEASE BE CAREFUL NOT TO BE RUDE🙏

And I'll put some character design sheets someday.

[blade-liger-4ever]

I can hardly believe I just did this, but...

Here's my take for Rhaego Targaryen, the Stallion Who Mounts the World, plus small ideas for a minor AU of sorts.

Warning, I'm putting a cut here because Tumblr is stupid and won't let me order the pictures side by side in the proper order.

So for this take - which is personally how I'd like to see an AU of Game of Thrones, give or take some details that are or aren't changed - I like to imagine that both Drogo and Rhaego lived, with Daenerys and Drogo teaming up to retake the Iron Throne, Daenerys acting as the great strategist/political powerhouse (while being backed by her three dragons, who keep their names and most of their personalities), while Drogo leads the troops and trains all the men Daenerys brings him through her alliances. I'd probably let it be done so that Daenerys, maybe through a dealing with the witch that, obviously, doesn't involve her husband and son's deaths, does leave her unable to bear more children. Regardless of whether or not that's a factor at all in this AU, Rhaego has no more biological siblings, but quickly grows to view Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion as his brothers, while the dragons in turn also view him as their youngest brother and protect him as fiercely as their mother and father (Drogo being their father - oldest boy is named for him, after all.)

Robb would also live, and I'd like to, personally, introduce a tribe of white tiger shape-shifters from "The Land of Always Winter". I'm....honestly wanting him to marry the tribe's princess, who can really kick butt, too. The reason for this is that I feel the Night King's home for the last few centuries is underdeveloped, and I feel Robb should marry someone with experience in warfare - that, and I really like white tigers. Additionally, I'd probably have White Tiger Princess sent to find the Starks and reveal to them their ties to House Targaryen, and organize an alliance with House Stark as they battle the frozen zombies (by the way, this revelation is achieved by prophetesses from their land, and all members of the tribe learn to fight and care for each other because of the constant threat of the Night King.)

So....hrm, let me think. I guess it otherwise goes according to canon, but they manage to fix enough things that when Daenerys and Drogo - who have practically reclaimed most of the Seven Kingdoms, I suppose - meet them and learn of their family ties, Robb and Jon come to an agreement with them: Daenerys will rule the Seven Kingdoms, with Jon acting as her Hand and ruling most of the North. House Stark is still intact, though Ned, Catelyn, and Rickon are still dead, and Robb marries the White Tiger Princess and unites the two lands through their marriage. Additionally, the white tiger tribe (which I'm terribly sorry I forgot to mention earlier) has access to ice dragons, allowing for the regrowth of the dragon presence in Westeros through crossbreeding the species, and giving Jon his own dragon so that he can embrace his Targaryen heritage.

Other bullet points that I want to leave here:

Rhaego rides Viserion, who is the only unclaimed of the three dragons (I feel Drogo should ride Rhaegal, who in this story, grows to be nearly as big as Drogon.) Viserion is also the fastest, earning him the nickname "The Pale Wind".

Grey Wind lives, and gets to remain by his master's side all through to the war's end.

Nymeria reunites with Arya, who perhaps returns to the North or chooses another future for herself.

The Hound lives, always accompanying Arya, regardless of her life choice.

Jaime lives, actually gets to redeem himself, and maybe marries or otherwise has a relationship with Brienne.

Cersei gets to die, hopefully horribly (I hate her, okay?)

Sansa...TBD, either by myself or anyone else who reads this and enjoys it.

Jorah lives, acting as Rhaego's guardian and teacher as he grows.

Jon marries either Ygritte or some other woman; I personally prefer Daenerys x Drogo.

And lastly, we would probably get an epilogue of sorts where we see a young adult Rhaego, having inherited his family legacy and trained Dothraki dragonriders, embarking on a conquest of Valyria, which I'd use as a Sequel Hook for a future series.

And that's it. If you like this, thank you for reading it. If you didn't, just skip this post; it's merely a way for me to kick out the ideas that have been rattling around in my brain for Heaven knows how long.

Also, if anyone wants to make a story out of this, you have my blessing to do so. I only ask you credit me for the source of the concepts and original inventions for this. I'm not a fan of Game of Thrones, nor have I really watched it - I just looked up the characters, found I liked them, and thought "what if?"

Have fun people, and take care.

[paintingwhiteceilings]

❃EXO's chances of surviving a zombie apocalypse❃

A/N: because why have your first post be romantic or suggestive when it can be unserious and downright weird.

Xiumin/Minseok: 9/10

✾ Let’s be honest, this man is way too good at sports not to survive far into a zombie apocalypse. Pretty sure those skills will translate and be useful in some way. He can outrun them so easily that he never truly finds himself in any danger.

✾ Xiumin actually possesses functional brain cells and a good dose of common sense which means he makes good, well thought out, decisions. Unlike the beagle line, he won’t get himself stupidly killed.

✾ Despite all the chaos, he is incredibly organized, keeping precise track of what he has and needs.

✾ He can properly take care of himself and could run this thing solo. He is not dependent on others to do things for him and he strikes me as someone who is perfectly content to be on his own. The only reason he would team up with the others is for the company and because he finds their idiocy amusing.

✾ He has the added bonus that the zombies think he is adorable, like a pet, so they will keep him alive even when he does get caught.

Suho/Junmyeon: 5/10

✾ Remember that time when Suho fell asleep during carting? Yeah, he is beyond exhausted before the apocalypse even starts and will probably die by accidentally falling asleep. Suho will try to ‘rest his eyes’ and before he knows it a zombie is gnawing on his arm.

✾ Honestly trying his hardest to keep the rest of the members from dying, but instead of appreciating his efforts, they keep making fun of him for it. They are really testing his patience but he feels too responsible for their safety to leave them to fend for themselves.

✾ Not that anything he says matters, they never truly listen to him so instead he has to be the one to get them out of the dangerous situations they get themselves in.

✾ If he doesn’t get eaten due to his permanent exhaustion, he would be the type to accept his fate. The members will drive him insane to the point where he will simply give up and walk into a hoard of zombies with open arms.

✾ If you pair him up with his babies Kai and Sehun his survival rate somehow increases. Nobody touches his babies.

Baekhyun: ?/10

✾ Okay, so he either survives until the end or does something stupid and gets himself killed.  His survival rate is either 10/10 or 0/10, there is no in-between.

✾ Like Baekhyun is an ace in most games so he has the ability to outsmart the apocalypse if he puts in the effort. He is competitive enough to take it seriously, too.

✾ His survival truly depends on whether he gives in to his intrusive thoughts and let’s be fair, he has many and zero impulse control.

✾ He would, for instance, believe that he can successfully pretend to be a zombie to blend in with them. He has a lot of dumb ideas and will either act on it himself or get someone else to try it out.

✾ Obviously, his plans wouldn’t work and he, or his chosen guinea pig, would get eaten. Then again, it is Baekhyun and somehow he always manages to come out on top, so who knows, he might survive.

Chen/Jongdae: 6.5/10

✾ Okay, this man is a father so he gets to enjoy the father buff. If his family is with him, he is near unstoppable. Chen can be competitive and has a lot of energy, so technically his chances aren’t too bad.

✾ His main issue is that, well, every zombie and their mother can hear him from the other side of the planet. He is absolutely oblivious as to why the zombies keep finding him.

✾ Like Chen, please use your inner voice, zombies are not deaf and you are giving them your location whenever you talk.

✾ Will ‘accidentally’ push Chanyeol into a zombie when he jokes about being the C in CBX and finally find peace. At this point, he kind of deserves it.

Chanyeol: -10/10

✾ Hear me out, this man is a mess.

✾ Technically, he could survive but he is another one that for sure will listen to his intrusive thoughts. Like let’s be fair, Chanyeol has mastered an array of weird skills just because he can’t stand being bad at something; he will be just as determined to figure out how to survive during an apocalypse.

✾ The type to “I saw this in a film” and try it. He will quickly discover that most of it won’t work because those are movies and not real life. Still, he will have the biggest motivation to figure things out, even if most of his sources are fiction.

✾ The problem is that he is way too much into this whole apocalypse scenario. He will try to out-apocalypse the others or will make up some sort of stupid competition to kill time because sitting still for five minutes is for losers.

✾ He comes up with the “Who can get closest to the zombie without getting killed” game. Baekhyun might have helped.

✾ To be honest, it doesn’t quite matter how good his cards are in the context of a zombie apocalypse, he will probably die within a day because he has two left feet and a very intimate relationship with the floor.

D.O./Kyungsoo: 7/10

✾ Pair him up with another member, and suddenly their chances increase.

✾ His cooking skills make him so incredibly valuable. He will make sure no one starves, and can make a decent meal out of pretty much anything you give him.

✾ The others try their hardest to keep him alive because being in an apocalypse does not mean one has to eat grass.

✾ Then again, he would not hesitate to sacrifice the others to the zombies if they annoy him.

✾ The only one able to keep the beagle line from doing stupid shit with his threats.

✾ You can’t really count on him outrunning the zombies, though. We have all seen this man attempt to play soccer, he is not made for physical activity. He will not survive with his physical skills and will absolutely accept his fate rather than try.

Kai/Jongin: -100000000/10

✾ Listen, this man will die within the first five seconds of the apocalypse.

✾ It is not a question of whether he dies, more so than how. There are so many ways that he can get himself killed, even without the apocalypse playing a major factor.

✾ He could give himself food poisoning when he tries to cook or trip over his own feet when he tries to run away from the zombies. He does not really have a great sense of self-preservation.

✾ 10000% the type to think that they could befriend the zombies because “zombies are people too.” Luckily for him, the zombies do think he is adorable and won’t immediately eat him when he gets too close.

✾ But yeah, if it isn’t for the others constantly monitoring him, he is dead.

Sehun: 1000/10

✾ Last to die because his members will do everything they can to keep him alive. Maknae privileges and whatnot.

✾ He is very much dependent on his members to do basically anything, but the thing is, they would do it without question.

✾ He will complain the entire time and whine constantly.

✾ If Suho dies, you might as well kill him too. How is he supposed to sleep without his emotional-support-hyung??? So yeah, the only way to really decrease his survival rate is to eliminate his members.

✾ Honestly, we all are simply living in his world, what Sehun wants, Sehun gets. It might even extend to the zombies. He would just ask them to stop trying to eat him and they would oblige because, well, Sehun asked.

✾ He is 1000% responsible for the cure being found. It has nothing to do with Sehun finding it himself. Instead, when/if he gets bitten, the members will stop at nothing to find a way to rid him of the disease. Sleep? Who needs sleep when Oh Sehun is dying!?

masterlist

[sagezere]

We Were Too Close To The Stars| Scaramouche x Reader | Part 1

wanted to do something a bit fun/different so have this apocalypse AU :)) (Fluff? Idk just a story that will have more parts.)

It’s feels like it’s been a few years since the apocalypse started. The zombie outbreak- You weren’t even sure how it started, but you knew one thing and it was that you needed to live. To live for your friends and family members so they can survive through the memories you have of them stored in your brain. Its grueling and tiring to survive in this day and age-you went from a giant group in the beginning to now roaming the world to survive by yourself, nothing but the wishes of friends and family to keep yourself sane and living.

It's what lead you here now, in some abandoned building rummaging for anything that can help you survive for even one more day at least. Most of the cabinets were broken, dust seemed to fill the air and grime coated the walls.

you continued to scavenge for anything- food, medicine, bandages, weapons. Yet nothing was found. You sighed and held the straps of your bag, holding it close.

Turning around your eyes in defeat, widened in slight surprise and you almost jump back from the scare as you're met with a knife right in front of your face.

"Who are you? State your purpose." A cold voice, sending chills down your spine as you follow the knife with your gaze, eyes trailing and finding a hand, the hand leads to a wrist and the wrist connects to an arm and then finally your eyes meets the holder of the knife in your face. Eyes cold and dark- yet they almost seem to glow in the darkness of the building.

“Hello? Answer me.” Your observation was cut off by the sound of his voice, the words slice through your brain sharper than the knife he’s currently holding. You can almost smell the caution and anger seeping off of him in waves- or was it just the fact that nobody really has any time to care about hygiene these days?

-

“Oh! Sorry about that.” You try to lean you head away from the knife subtly. Staring into his cold blue-ish eyes. You raised your arms and opened your palms for his eyes to see. “Just passing by. Didn’t know that this place was already taken.”

You tried to stay calm in this situation. Assessing that the guy in front of you was probably just scared as you were.

“Likely story” He rolls his eyes, his face morphing into a scowl. He keeps his knife up in front of your face, slowly moving it down to point at the middle of your neck. His movements causing you to swallow whatever spit had accumulated in your mouth.

“What?-“ You mumbled, but he cut you off immediately. “Cut the crap. I know you were sent by those bandits.” The knife was touching your throat now, but you could see the subtle shake of his hand as you continued to stare into his eyes- not wanting to make any sudden movements but also not wanting to show him any sign of weakness.

You attempted to take a step back, but his glare at your little movement made you pause. “Look, I’m being serious here. I wasn’t sent here by anyone. As I said I’m just passing by-“

He removed the knife from your throat but just as quickly grabbed your forearm and pulled you forward, making you stumble from the sudden action. He moved quickly behind you and all of a sudden you were at the entrance of the building, getting pushed out.

“uh- Hey!” You shouted in protest, turning your head to meet his eyes. The sun was out- the sudden contrast from dark to light stinging your eyes as you glared at the guy who still had a grip on the back of your clothes and kept pushing you away from ‘his’ building.

With a final push, he let go and you stumbled forward, luckily finding balance and turning around to see him already walking away. You quickly thought about your next courses of actions as you glared at his back. ‘What the hells up with this guy? He won’t even let me speak-“

You shivered, a sudden chill running up your spine as a sense of dread filled your veins. Freezing you even though the sun was beating down on you. Feeling a but of cold sweat as you remembered why you even ran this way.

Before you entered that building and met the strange man, you were running from a hoard of zombies.

“oh fuck.” You whispered to yourself as you stared into the direction you came from, even though zombie sightings has declined a lot recently it didn’t mean that they were going away. They were all just clumping up in a location and traveling in one giant hoard- a hoard that you might have lead in this direction.

You sucked in a breath as you saw a single zombie in the distance, then another and another and another and another and another-

You ran towards the male who dragged you out here and grabbed his wrist, he turned and glared at you about to shout something but you used your free hand to cover his mouth in order to not alert the zombies you saw.

He used his other hand to try and rip your hand away from his mouth, he was glaring at you but you simply shushed him and used your head to point in the direction of the zombies- however he didn’t seem to get the hint and used his strength to remove your hand off of him.

“The fuck?! Do you want to die?!” The moment he shouted, you swore you felt your world shatter. ‘Why did he have such a big mouth??’ cursing him in your brain as you heard the sudden growls and fast footsteps of the oncoming hoard.

You gripped onto his wrist and sprinted away, almost dragging him as he now saw the zombies chasing after you both.

“What the fuck what the fuck??” You bit your tongue as you ran, trying to stabilize your breathing as you felt yourself getting tired from having to hold onto his weight behind you. You managed to hear a bit of his mumbled cursing as you both were running away.

You examined the buildings you were passing by as you let go of his wrist, unsure of why you even pulled him along with you- but it wasn’t a time to think at the moment.

He seemed to run faster, catching up to your pace and even leading the way a bit. You turned your head to look back and saw the hoard quite the distance away- safe enough but if you were to stop then they’d catch up in no time.

Suddenly a tug on the clothes you were wearing caused you to fall into an alley. You hissed in a breath as you felt the sting of the harsh alleyway ground scrape your arms and legs.

“Shh!”

You looked up and saw him- the man standing against the wall, tilting his head and pointing somewhere further into the alleyway. You get up as quietly as you could and follow him, he lead you to an almost broken and rusted looking ladder.

“Come on, climb. It’s safe.” You turned and gave him a disgruntled look, before trusting him in the end and climbing. Trying your best to stay quiet as you heard him follow you up. It lead to the top of the building, you pulled yourself up and quickly went onto the roof, examining in case of any zombies or even humans up here. Nothing.

You heard a huff behind you and you turned, finding the man staring at the edge. You keep your distance from him and also look over the edge. There, you see the hoard of zombies all running along- filling the alleys and running over each other mindlessly.

“ahh, fuck.” You let out a laugh of relief as you continued to watch them- it seemed like it would go on forever. Turning over, you gazed at the man who brought you here.

He had indigo hair, obviously not in its best shape as it looked sloppily cut and dirty- but you probably didn’t look the best either. Although, despite the current situation- his skin looks unharmed. No scares or cuts in sight besides a bandage wrapped around his neck. Your eyes meet his own, his dark and dead eyes captivating your own.

“What?”

“hm?” You tilt your head, lost in thought. He rolls his eyes and looks back down at the chaos beneath us.

“You really aren’t a part of those bandits. Right?” You shook your head, even though he wasn’t looking at you.

“No. No I’m not.” You removed my gaze off of him and stare below as well. Watching them- imagining the zombies as ants. “As I said before, I was just passing by.” You heard him hum- now noticing that he was closer to you than before, it sort of put you in edge as you thought he might just push you off the building.

It seemed as though he read your mind however, “stop being so tense. If I wanted you to die I would have just left you to run from the hoard and die from exhaustion.” Hearing that, you sighed and nodded to his words, ‘Relaxing.’

“sorry…” You mumbled and leaned away from the edge, getting bored of the sight of zombies running in a single direction. You stared into the sky, the fogged grey stealing your attention even though it was probably the middle of the day.

“Why’re you apologizing?” Despite the question, his voice is still cold. Harsh.

You glanced at him, a guilty feeling passing through your body for a second. “The hoard, I’m probably the reason why they’re even here.” You gripped onto the straps of your bag, probably for comfort or just out of habit, you weren’t sure.

A full soft breeze passes before one of you speaks again. “Don’t bother. It’s not like anything can change the fact that they’re here now.”

His words causes a sigh to slip out of my mouth, bringing my head down from its raised position to stare at him. “Yeah. You’re right.”

He stares back blankly, almost awkwardly as you see him glance away from the eye contact a few times and you notice him subtly shifting his weight from one foot to another.

“Alright, since we have nothing else to do but wait is it alright if I asked for your name?” You asked, blinking a few times from the now awkward and slightly uncomfortable atmosphere between the both of you.

He only seemed to laugh dryly at my question. His laugh felt empty- almost hurt. “Do names even matter now? I simply don’t find the point in such insignificant things now in our current situation.”

His words only made you roll your eyes, but he was sort of right. What use is a name when you barely even use it now? But you shook your head and gave him a small smirk.

“Okay, but it’d still be nice to know the name of the person I’d be sticking with.” He seemed to process what you said before glaring at you.

“What?” You could sense the disdain in his voice.

“yeah, I just made the decision that I don’t feel like traveling alone anymore- and you haven’t killed me yet so now I’m sticking with you.” You smiled up at him, enjoying the annoyance that he expressed on his face.

“What if I kill you right now?” Despite the words, his tone held no malice.

“hm, I think I’m more valuable alive than dead.” You shrugged, laughing at him quietly.

atmosphere seems to change, it was uncomfortable before but now it’s just slightly calm. You hold out a hand for him to shake.

“My name is (Name). What’s yours?”

He pauses and stares at your hand for a few seconds. The brings his hand closer to your own and gently holds it- he seems a little bit uncomfortable but still gives your hand a little shake.

“Kuni-“ He stopped himself while you look at him curiously. His eyes darts off to the sides and back at your face, even traveling back towards your interlocked hands. You notice that he takes a small gulp and stares into your eyes.

“Scaramouche. My name is Scaramouche.” His voice seemed a but shaky when he first uttered his name, but it straightened up the more he spoke afterwards.

This only causes you to laugh, looking at him with a raised eyebrow. “Okay Scaramouche. Did you just come up with that on the spot?” You let out a few more giggles before shaking his hand once more and letting go, placing both your hands on your hips as you stared at his flushed face- embarrassed from getting called out probably.

“That’s fine. It’s not like I need a reason to know your birth name.” He seemed to calm down at that, glaring off to the side but you can still see the smile he’s trying to fight off of his face.

—

Alright, this is the end of this part 😘 Sorry about not making a part 4 for my other series things i jst dunno what to do or how to even continue it. Might actually just scrap it and start all over. Abyways hope u liked this little thing I started like last year in december but onky finished now 💀💀 also made a little tag thing for this so it can be viewed more easily 😣😘

also just be warned this story has a bittersweet ending ☹️ expect maybe like one or two more parts to this.