#now if we look to the right (points at zombies au) we can see a more fucked up version of the facts--

[windupaidoneus]

also i think they got together post zaki death because before that it was complicated & messy but not in a like toxic way or anything it was just like obligations & sides & whatever like. zaki having been ssg for so long & his loyalty remaining to kondo first & foremost despite everything even as he worked in zura's joui faction. i do think everyone in the ssg got character assassinated when zaki died BUT rolling along with it means that the only person who saw it for what it is (as in. someone dying & the actual gravity of it) is the one guy who was committed to. this bit. this guy. the bit guy. the guy who is a bit. do you HEAR ME am i alone in here am i sensible hello

[misguidedasgardian]

Wild Cats (part V)

V. The need

MASTERLIST

Summary: Even though you just escaped death, you couldn’t count yourselves as saved yet

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, injures, cannibalism, reader eats a squirrel (after they cooked it of course), you know what this is about.

+18, MINORS DNI

Notes: Carol gets in the mean machine a bit

You guarded them, Rick, Carl, Michonne, Tyrell, Carol, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Bob, Tyresse and Daryl, you kept watch as you heard them make a list of everyone that was in the prison, and everyone that was accounted for, or you guessed, didn’t make it and they saw it go down

Apparently, as Carl had told you, they had been living in a prison for half a year, it was the perfect place against the new world, you’d think, as you could easily protect it, but some psycho tried to take it over with a tank, attacking the prison, destroying it in the process, and vanishing Rick’s community from there. At some point there were like forty people living in it, and in front of you is what was left.

A haunting thought

They were seeing if there was any chance someone else might still be out there, and they got to the conclusion there wasn’t, well, except for… Beth

She was Maggie’s younger sister and she was taken, when she was Daryl before you met him, before the thing with the claimers.

“New here too, right?”, asked Tara, you smiled and nodded, “I just met Rick, MIchonne and Carl a couple of days ago, after they escaped the prison, how about you?”, you asked her

“I was part of the group that took the prison”, she said with a horrid expression on her face. 

“Oh”, you didn’t know what to say

“Our leader lied to us, made us do it”, she said shortly. One thing you’d learn in the apocalypse, is that is was like it was in prison, you heard very few stories, and shorter ones, nobody liked to talk about “before”

You also had a good story to tell, but… alas… nobody asked you either.

“We should get going”, said Rick

“Where are we going?”, you asked softly. He looked back at you, he didn’t have a plan, neither of you did.

“For now we keep walking until we can find someone to lay low, regroup, replenish our strength”, he said, and you nodded, that sounded like a great plan, you only hoped this place existed.

You noticed something else too, Daryl was always hanging back, measuring, watching, his crossbow always ready to release. He often walked away from the group in thought, just to come back a few hours later while you walked. 

The night came quicker than you expected and to your surprise, Daryl came in with dead squirrels for dinner.

You had never eaten squirrels before.

It was… tasty, tasted like chicken. After he set a fire and cooked them himself. You always felt his eyes on you, when you looked back he seemed to be analyzing you, testing you, as you tried the squirrel and then ate it.

“Good enough for ya’?”, he asked as he munched on his

“it’s great”, you said, of course at first you were not convinced.

You couldn’t hunt for shit, and in that period when you were alone you saw some gray days, but you always managed. You had eaten so many expired canned things you were pleasantly surprised that you haven't gotten poisoned yet.

You took turns to sleep, there were fifteen of you, so you took turns. You realized that in the -adult- close circle, those being Michone, Rick, Carol, Daryl, Maggie and Glenn divided themselves into the five groups to take guards, they didn’t trust you, or the trio, or Tara more, but you understood it.

You were just almost eaten by humans who promised you sanctuary 

Daryl kept watch with you like at three AM, and also Abraham, who wouldn’t let Eugene do anything of substance.

“What did you both do before all of this?”, he asked, which wasn’t fair, it was clear what he did. You looked at Daryl who didn’t answer

“Does it really matter?”, you asked

“Hell yeah”

“What I can tell you is that I didn’t do anything special”, you said simply, “nothing that could have helped me survive this anyways”, you said quietly, but you still felt both gazes on to you, “I’m a designer mayor”, you concluded, “just finished my masters when the crap hit the fan”

“You don’t sound like you’re from around here”, he said

“I’m not”, you said, but you were not willing to answer anymore and he seemed to understand it. 

“And what about you?”, he asked Daryl in turn, you looked back at him expectantly, but he only mumbled something under his breath

“It doesn’t matter now, does it?”, you asked, “we are all different people now, and it’s not like we need CV’s”, you said softly. 

“We are going to fix this”, he said, all convinced

“That’s just bullshit man”, muttered Daryl. You didn’t want to get your hopes up, you really didn’t. A scientist that could stop this? on their way to DC with these militars? that sounded so, so strange, but again, this had become a strange world

“I can use some people like you in the team”, he said, looking at you both. Daryl just shook his head

“You said you are going to DC?”, you asked, he nodded, “how do you know someone is there still?”, finding people that had a similar plan to yours was… endearing, maybe you weren’t so wrong after all.

“Well, we did lose contact a few weeks back, but there were still people there”, he said, “the last ones standing”. Someone created this virus, you were sure of it, and as easier someone could change this back, this was a virus, you really did hope there was a way back.

Although things were irreparable now. But at least, people didn’t have to keep coming back to life as flesh-eating monsters, and furthermore, people didn’t have to keep being eaten. 

“You too”, encouraged Abraham, you raised your eyes from the fire to look at him

“Why me?”, you asked him

“I saw you wielding that ax”, he said nodding proudly, you weren’t better with an ax that Daryl was with a bow, “you both should be there when we save the world”, Daryl only chuckled, mockingly, and then stood up to go for a walk around the camp. You both joined him, because you didn’t want to have another “claimers” situation, one where the group sneaked past your round, so you went in all different directions. 

“You’re with me”, muttered Daryl, you just walked towards him silently, and submerged yourself into the woods. 

The moon helped you, also, the sky was clear so you could see once you adjusted your eyesight. You watched where you were going, last time you tripped he snapped at you, when you were slow he also snapped at you.

You got it, he was this tough, tracker, hunter guy, but still, he seemed to be always looming over you,watching your every move

You didn’t care, something made you want to please him, to prove yourself worthy to him, you didn’t know what it was.

You are focused so much in your “quickness” and being fast that you didn’t watched much when you were going, especially since it was pitch black, you tripped and fell on your face, and you would have been embarrassed, if it wasn’t because you didn’t trip because of a branch or something, something grabbed you. 

You heard the growls and you knew you were fucked, truly fucked 

“Ah!”, you screamed when you kicked and hit the walker in its face, you turned around and you could barely see the silhouette. You grabbed your ax but you were so afraid to hit yourself, it lodged in what it seemed to be it’s shoulder

You saw and heard its mouth snapping open, he was going to get you, his boney body over your other leg, not allowing you to kick him

And then, an arrow lodged itself in the middle of its forehead, stopping his movements at once.

“It’s a wonder you haven’t been killed ye”, he mumbled, coming to you, grabbing the arrow from its head, and grabbing you, getting you on your feet, “did he get ya?”, you grabbed onto him, shaking your head

“Thank you”, you said, trying to hold on into his thick arm, as you took foot on solid ground

“Be more careful will ya?”, he asked and walked away from you, releasing his hold on you. 

“Sorry”, you said, catching up to him, “thank you I thought it was gonna get me”, you were shaken up, you felt your heart thundering. He didn’t say anything as he kept walking forwards, you walked stuck to his side, creeped out of your mind. Soon your round was over and you came back to the bonfire.

You didn’t understand why Daryl was so angry at you all the time. And furthermore you didn’t understand why he was hovering over you, as he sat right by your side, and slept right by you too. He wouldn’t stop checking where you were or what you were doing, you didn’t understand at all. You stole a glance at him and saw him staring into the fire. He had some beautiful eyes… the bastard, and underneath all that wild hair… he was sort of handsome, in a… special, wild way.

He caught you staring so you looked away quickly, and soon, you woke the others up and it was your time to rest. 

. . .

The next night found you in the church of the priest you saved from three walkers. He gave you the creeps. You believed yourself to be a good judge of character and you did not like him at all, but you needed sanctuary, food, water and a plan, so you should be fine there for a couple of weeks. If Rick trusted him, so could you, besides, there was fifteen of you, and one of him.

There you had more time to get acquainted with the rest of the group. You’d learn that baby Judith was a badass, and super quiet for a baby. She was such a cute little baby. 

You’d learned so many things from the rest of the group, how Tyresse was certainly the most intimidating-looking but a gentle giant, Bob was… odd. Carol was very reserved and if Daryl gave you judging looks he’s got nothing on her. She barely even talked to you.

Eugene was a bit of a weirdo, he was, he tried to “came onto you” multiple times and you’d reject his lewd advances quickly, and Abraham and Rosita would laugh at him. It was sort of comical, he was lacking very esencial social skills. But Abraham, Eugene and a couple of more were hellbent on fixing a broken church bus to get them to DC, and the rest of you were just trying to get supplies to keep going, or figure out what to do next.

You were not impressed by the town or its surroundings, but you were asked by Rick to stay near the church with Carl, baby Judith and the others, and you did, happily.

As you had a time for yourself, you sat in one of the church’s benches and peeked at a map you had of Georgia and the surrounding states, of the plan you had made when you got out of Atlanta, of the island…

Rick sat by your side and peeked, you looked at him, he had baby Judith in his arms

“This would have come handy before”, he chided gently

“I forgot I had it, I thought it was in my backpack, but it was in one of the zippers in my jacket”, you explained softly, there was some scribbles in it, Rick read them

“What was this?”, he pointed at your “plan V”

“Plan Vacation Village”, you said, he chuckled, “it’s an island on Lake Lanier”, you said softly, he looked at you wide-eyed, “I thought to go seek refuge there, an island right? easy to protect”

“What happened?”, he asked

“Never found out”, you said sadly, “never got to”, he looked at you funny 

“This could work”, he said, “we should be close enough”

“I’m sure I’m not the only one who came to the same conclusion”, you said surely, “that islands were the safest way… it could backfire, there could be walkers trapped in there…besides, it’s big, very…”

“Maybe…”, he said. He looked ahead, at the group getting ready for dinner, “why won’t you go find Daryl and Carol? we can discuss this at dinner”, he said softly, you nodded. He treated you like you were a little girl sometimes, but… Carol and Daryl were in the watch team, they preferred it so. You walked outside and realized it was already night, pitch dark, you were going to tell Rick to fetch them yourself, you didn’t want to go at night, but there it was again, the need to prove yourself, so you went out there anyways.

You seemed to catch a glimpse of Daryl out there, so, you followed him, you didn’t want to call out for him, so you tried to move quickly. you ended up a few yards away from the church when you catched him, he was with Carol. 

“... you seemed pretty cozy with her last night… the new girl”, said Carol teasingly

“She is just another dead girl”

“Rick wants us for dinner”, you said, they both froze and looked back at you, and you cursed yourself because your voice broke in the last second

They looked back at you wide-eyed

“I walk pretty stealthy for a dead girl”, you said bitterly

They were going to answer, but the three of you almost ducked when you heard an engine, a car, it passed right by you, it was black, Daryl went out of his way to catch a glimpse of it, and when he did, he was quick to grab the bow and smashed the back lights of the car they were preparing

“What are you doing!?”, asked Carol 

“That’s the car that took Beth!”, he said quickly, “get in! Both of you!”, he said, and wouldn’t take no for an answer 

“What?”, you asked, but they both jumped in, and rather than being out here alone, with a sigh, you jumped into the car too. 

Damn you and your need to prove yourself. 

[kivino]

LOST AND FOUND || ZOMBIE AU || PLATONIC PARENTAL FIGURE!SIMON 'GHOST' RILEY X CHILD!READER

my masterlist

ao3 link to this fic

Word Counter – ~5.6k words

Tags/Warnings – Reader is 11-13 years old, Simon is their parental figure, and their relationship is purely platonic. Mentions of family dynamics, blood, gore, guns present; gender-neutral Reader,as per usual with my works.

Summary – You both were lost in this new world, but at least you had each other to lean on.

a/n – so uh. it’s been a minute! this is a fic i’ve been trying to finish since november of 2023, so that’s nice, lmao. i hope you guys like it! please, tell me what you think about it in the comments and enjoy the reading!

“Kid. Hey. Wake up.” You ignore the quiet mumble in your ears that interrupts your precious sleep and only mutter something unintelligible, rolling over on your side, trying to get away from the voice. “Come on, rise and shine.” You hum in protest, pulling the sleeping bag over your head and basking in its leftover warmth, that slowly slipped away into the breezy morning air. If you saw Simon right now you’d witness him rolling his eyes, despite the rapidly growing smile under his mask.

The winter was coming closer and closer each day, so obviously you preferred the company of that old sleeping bag and moth-eaten blanket stuffed inside of it to whatever outdoorsy activities were waiting for you when you had to pack up and go on your way to next place Simon had in mind. He kept pestering you about having to go south. South, south and south, that was your only direction. But you suppose it wouldn’t get any warmer if you went north, so maybe he was right. You’re not going to tell him that though. He’ll be too full of himself if you do.

“Hey there, come on. We don’t have all day.” He waits a few minutes before saying that and shaking your shoulder carefully. Still, you hear some impatience in his tone. You wouldn’t have been able to tell if you didn’t know him as well as you do now. You don’t really have any control over your body, so you try to swat his hand away, the repetitive motion just annoying you further, but then you realize you’re still stuck in that sleeping bag, and that motion only yanks you over on your other side. Damn, you hated mornings.

Simon only scoffs at this unsuccessful attempt to get rid of him. Quiet and breathy, but you hear it. His laugh is always breathy.

“Get up. I won’t carry you.” Oh, you know he will if you ask him. Nicely. Several times. He pats your shoulder and you open one eye, looking up at him, all angry and annoyed. Just like you are every other morning. You like sleeping, what can you say?

You can barely see anything besides the glint of his eyes in the cold, blueish darkness, his figure towering over yours even despite him sitting down near you. You didn’t need to see him right in front of your eyes to remember each detail of his appearance etched into your mind permanently at this point. Dark brown eyes that looked similar in color to the fresh, crumbly soil in the forest, dirty blond hair that would get too long too fast, so he’d ask you to chop it off as best as you could, and if you were to get right into his face you’d notice a line of freckles right where this eyesore of a balaclava exposes his skin.

“Do we need to get up at the ass crack of dawn each time?” you grumble, wiggling your arm out of the sleeping bag and unzipping this insulated monstrosity that made you look like an overfed caterpillar, covered in some stains that came from who knows where.

“Language.” Simon reprimands (and you can already picture his gloomy frown) while packing up your and his stuff into a giant duffel bag, with his voice sounding similar to a growl of a stray, old dog. He always reminded you of those little guys for some reason. Sad that you don’t see many of those anymore. Probably because they got eaten by those ugly undead. You try to shake off the unpleasant thought.

“Ass is not a bad word.” you return, as you roll out of the sleeping bag and start putting on the heavy worn boots over two pairs of socks that felt a bit damp to the touch. “Besides, you constantly swear, why can’t I do it too?” You were genuinely curious – it felt a bit unfair after all, that he would place some responsibilities on you, but then turn around and still treat you like a kid…which, you definitely hadn’t completely felt like one in a long, long time.

“What’s the first rule?” He asks without actually turning to you, choosing instead to start shoving bottles of water into the bag. You roll your eyes at this but comply.

“Whatever you say goes.” You grumble, while tying your shoelaces, that already started fraying on the ends…you’ll need to cut them, or just use Simon’s lighter if there is any gas left in that ancient thing. You’ll totally forget to ask him, that’s for damn sure.

“Whatever I say goes, that’s right.” He repeats with you, like it would help hammer down the thought into your mind better. Honestly, you’d rather take his sledgehammer to the head rather than go on an extensive trek through misty, damp fields with air that burned your lungs from how cold it was. “Second – once you’re grown up then you’ll say those words. Now you’re just a kid, so you can act like it. I’ll take care of all the adult stuff, which includes swearing.” Simon’s voice is so parental you could almost roll your eyes again. He’s not usually as serious, opting for light-hearted teasing instead so you guess…something might be bothering him. And if it’s true, you’d have to probably torture it out of him to find out.

Because Simon was a big-big, awfully quiet liar. He never talked much about his feelings, preferring to stay silent and listen to your constant blabbering while you two were on the road. You had to pester him for hours just to find out his surname, or what he used to do before the world went downhill. Which, you were pretty sure he lied about. Do mechanics get taught how to use knives that well? You didn’t know, but you were sure that the answer would be “no”. Simon was so secretive and quiet when he found you, barely speaking, at the time his voice reminded you of the way the school bus engine roared when a gray-haired driver drove away from your house.

You missed your old life. You wanted it back.

Slowly but surely you got used to Simon, though. He wasn’t this huge shadow, that silently followed everywhere behind you and regularly gave you heebie-jeebies anymore. Now he was a reassuring huge hand on your forearm. Or a gentle pat on the head. Like a blanket that you’d wake up in after you fell asleep while rereading the same book with your flashlight on. He said that he’d look after you until you find your parents. But you weren’t dumb, you knew that most likely, you’re never meeting them. With endless amounts of those undead things you saw, chances of them surviving seemed pretty slim. You tried not to think about it too often, because tears would inevitably start prickling at your eyes, and your nose would become runny in a blink of an eye. You wanted to bawl and cry, and scream, but then you’d remember Simon’s words.

“Don’t be loud or you’ll attract more of them”

And there was nothing more stupid than dying when you just needed a good eye-burning cry. So, you bottled it up. Of course, Simon would ask you about your parents. So many times, he would try poking and prodding as delicately as he could, and you could only visualize his attempts at subtly approaching your feelings as a polar bear trying out lace-making or embroidery. You didn’t blame him though, it felt like he was coming from a good and genuine place when he asked you all of those questions. Where did you like to go on the weekends? What did your parents do for work? What did your mom usually make for dinner? What did your dad teach you?

Then his voice would become quieter and softer, as he cradled you in his arms, warm as a damn furnace, hands gently rubbing your back as you broke down into small pieces at the memory of your parents. Your heart was tearing apart, and it hurt so bad, and it just wouldn’t stop, tears flowing like a river down your face, as you tried wiping them until your cheeks were raw. Simon would apologize profusely for bringing up your parents and making you sob your eyes out, reassuring you with an easy lie.

“We’ll find them, honey. I’m sure they’re waiting for you.”

You knew you would never find them. But for some reason, it still brought you comfort. They were waiting for you somewhere out there, didn’t matter if it was on this earth, or someplace else. So, your fingers would dig into the thick leather of Simon’s jacket, clinging closer for comfort, as your tears and snot soaked his sweater. Your parents weren’t for you here right now, but Simon was. He’d wipe off the tears off your skin, a lot more gently than you could ever do it. He’d tuck you into all the blankets you two had after you managed to calm down at least a little bit, violent shaky sobs turning into soft sighs. Simon would swipe the hair away from your face, and offer you some water to rehydrate after you cried your eyes out.

“You’re alright, kid. You’re okay. I’m here.”

And things didn’t seem so bad after you heard Simon say it. You didn’t know why he just picked you up like a lost puppy when he found you. You would’ve surely been dead by now if he didn’t, and you were thankful for whatever influenced his poor decision-making. You heard the way occasional groups you came across talked to Simon about having you with him, maybe they thought that your age also made you completely deaf and utterly stupid. And the only thing you wanted those idiots who thought you couldn’t hear them to do is get fu-

“Ready to head out, kid?” Simon shakes your shoulder snapping you out of your thoughts, with your backpack lying near your feet, instead of hanging on your shoulder. “Almost” You nod, as you pick up the bag and continue shoving your sleeping bag inside. “Hurry up, or I’ll leave without you.” Simon grunts, putting on this annoyed and grumpy front. “You wouldn’t.” You chuckle in response, finally zipping up your backpack and carelessly throwing it over your shoulders. You were sure Simon would never leave you. He wasn’t like that and you knew it.

“Careful, this is a hunting rifle, so if you hold it wrong the kickback can bruise you. Not like a handgun.” Simon corrects your stance, making sure you’re doing it just the way he’s been taught. Years ago, memories so hazy, he can barely recall that world. Almost feels like a dream, with how cloudy and unreal it looks in his mind. “Good. Now, open your mouth. Like this, alright.” Riley puts a hand with a worn glove on your lower jaw, pulling it down gently, until you feel the bones click in place. “We don’t want you walking around all woozy with ringing in your ears, right?” You nod, determined and concentrated, eyes directed at the makeshift shooting range in front of you. Simon’s palms cup your ears for added protection.

The sleepy glow of the sun played in the bottles put around the ruins of a burnt-down cabin, which stuck out of the ground like sharp scorched bones. There were also planks, big branches and other trash Simon carefully set to imitate the training ground for you. A kid’s gotta learn how to hold their own, so he put as much creativity as he could to make this hellscape into something decent. Breaking down some of the crumbling walls that turned into straight charcoal with his trusted sledgehammer, which rang like church bells each time he put it to use, covering “the shadows” burned into the floor before you spot them with your sharp eyes, and digging around for anything that can be the target for you. Anything so you can at least defend yourself when he’s…not around. For whatever reasons, that were most likely connected to getting mauled by a crowd of undead.

He keeps thinking about it. Simon can’t escape these thoughts.

That sooner or later he won’t be there to protect you. To laugh with you. To heat up your food and flick your nose for your dumb jokes, wrap you up in a blanket and give you a boost so you could climb the fence with ease. The more death and ruin brought by endless waves of undead you both see, the more it haunts him, like bloodhounds following his trail all over the country, sniffing out every single footstep and campground. And he’s sure it’s dragging behind your thoughts too, affecting the way you see world.

Simon won’t be there to see how you turn out. He knew it, felt it in his bones even. But that was the price he’d pay for deciding to raise you. Like a contract Riley signed with his own hand the say he saw you with your eyes swollen from crying. Simon won’t be there to see how all this bloodshed influences you, if it’ll break you like a fragile, ceramic vase, or temper, like good, reliable steel. He had hoped that this harsh world would make the latter out of you, but he wouldn’t blame you if you were to just…give up. It wasn’t easy out there. Especially if you’d end up alone.

Simon kept thinking about all of those endless groups that you two have been through on your way south. How inevitably, when you two would settle in a for a little while he’d have folk coming up to him for a talk. How he’d see those pitiful, sad looks in their eyes for him - a single father raising a kid in a world that has gone to shit eons ago. How someone’s hand would rest on his shoulder, fruitlessly trying to reassure him, meanwhile hiding even more heart-crushing sadness in the pair of dull, lifeless eyes.

And what he hears is a variety of voices, along with an array of faces that didn’t match any names he could recall. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to make them follow you?” whispers a woman with tight curls and a scar across her cheek.  “They’re just a kid, and you drag them around with you?” accuses an older missus with a knitted scarf. “It must be rough out there” mumbles an older gentleman with a rasp that suggested he enjoyed the company of tobacco more than the company of people back in the day. “You won’t be able to defend them if you continue on like this” sighs a man with deep canyons of wrinkles racking through his greyish skin. Quiet and heartbroken. Speaking from his own experience. A father. And Simon believed that voice.

And that trust is what caused him so much doubt now, when there was no turning back on caring for you. He knew it will end badly. For either or both of you. But Simon would never hand you over to anyone, unless it was your wish to leave him. You were his blood now. His kid. That would never change, in a thousand of years.

BANG. Simon’s ears start ringing, one of his palms now rests on your shoulder as he points towards one of the bottles and squints his eyes to see better in the distance.

“Good job. See? You shot the neck off.” His gloved finger points at the accurately shot bottle and pride swells in his chest. Simon hopes you turn out to be a good shot. You’ll need that.

Almost the whole day passed with the two of you on the road, shuffling through the dead leaves, varying in the hues of brown and grey, yet it still felt like Simon was drowning in his own thoughts like some damn quicksand. And the more he tried to distract himself with some mundane, routine questions of where to find food, shelter, and water he just kept circling back to those doubts, sinking down, deeper into the unwelcoming depth and the unknown.

Even now, when you two finally stopped for the night, tent already set up near the neat, small fire that you managed to make thanks to instructions Simon gave you ages ago, he just sat there, silent. Head heavy with worry, eyelids burning from observing the fire too close, it didn’t matter anymore. Simon was sure his figure was that of an undead right now – round-shouldered and tired. One more similarity between him and those…creatures. Simon was sure that if he wasn’t on leave when all of this shit went down, he would’ve been one of the first people to go. And he didn’t like the quiet, nagging thought that he would’ve preferred that.

That thought dissipates into the thin air the moment he slightly turns his head and sees you in your blanket pulled up to your ears, eyes owlishly staring into the darkness, where you could hear cricket’s song and shuffles of small rodents in the short, dry grass and layers of leaves. If he wasn’t alive you probably wouldn’t have been either. Weird stinging in his chest became even more intense when he looked at you. Life has a weird sense of humor.

Simon wanted to avoid being a father or a parental figure for as long as he could, preferably for his whole life. Being made into a killing machine, a mindless weapon to get rid of the enemy by any means wouldn’t make for a great father material, he figured. He also lacked the necessary emotional vulnerability to meet anyone who’d want to bear his child and stay with him. So, he never tried. Not that he thought he was missing out on something – he felt alright as he was, plus who wanted the responsibility that came with raising another human being? It was never as easy as just keeping a pet or a potted plant, if you fuck up it would take you years to find that out. Possibly through your own blood and flesh going no contact on you and deciding not to reconcile ever.

And despite how much Simon hated the thought, he was his father’s son. It would be too arrogant to assume he’ll be a good parent, if his own fucked him up so much. Simon heard all of these things about “ending the circle of abuse” but he would rather end himself if he ever remotely resembled the monster that was responsible for bringing him into this world.

But for that poor kid, eyes wide from terror, hands hugging their own body, trembling and terrified when he had found them a little less than a year ago, he was willing to try, even if it cost him his life.

“Something’s wrong with you.” He hears your quiet, but confident remark. Your eyes glimmer in the light of the fire, focused and attentive. For a moment it felt like there was no escape from your gaze and many questions hiding behind it.

“You don’t have to worry about me, kid.” Simon waves his palm, almost dismissively, but he doesn’t mean any harm. You have enough on your plate already, being a kid during the end of the world. There is no point for you to trouble yourself with his fears and doubts.

“That’s what you always say. Yet you keep making that face when you think I can’t see you” Instinctively, man’s hand reached out to touch his jaw, and when his fingers could only feel the rough, dirty fabric, a slight sigh of relief was torn out of his lips. Though right now, one would think it was his way to express annoyance. It wasn’t quite the case though.

“But you can’t see it.” Simon says with a lighthearted rise in his voice.

“Well, I see the eyes. What are you thinking about?” Stubborn as always. Well, if you were so curious then he has to tell you at least something, right? Been a long time since the two of you had a heart to heart talk with each other. Still, there was a reluctance deep in Simon’s heart. It was unfair that you had to grow up like this. Among walking corpses and ravaging beasts instead of people surrounding you around every corner.

“About how I want you to be able to protect yourself. That good enough answer?” Simon quietly barks, not intending to sound strict, but failing at it miserably. “Now go to sleep. We’re rising early tomorrow” Simon cuts the conversation short rather bluntly, not fond of the idea of sharing more than necessary.

He doesn’t want to tell you about all those nightmares where you scream in agony, torn apart by the undead, innards spilling onto the cold floor, teary eyes looking at him and begging for help, reaching for him, dirty fingers with blood under your nails looking to claw at something to relieve you of at least a sliver of the immense pain shooting through you.

“You’re an ass” You give a firm verdict, turning around and crawling towards the tent, seemingly ready to finally reunite with your sleeping bag and doze off. Your blanket drags behind you over the ground, until Simon quickly reaches out and carefully drapes it over your shoulders again.

“Well, the company you keep.” The man barely contains the laughter at the offended expression you give him after turning your neck so fast that Simon can almost hear your vertebrae cracking from such sudden movement.

“Hey!”

“And what did I tell you about swearing?” Riley immediately reminds you, raising his eyebrow, and you could swear that if you gave him a moment, he’d cross his arms over his chest like suburban soccer mom with a bad bob. Maybe he’ll call a manager after that…

“Sorry.” You mumble to the side, before disappearing in the tent and only hearing a low gruff in response:

“Much better.”

“Now, remember what I told you? In and out, quick and quiet. Whatever there is, don’t pick a fight.” He told you before going in to look for supplies in that hospital. Before the two of you climbed the fence (somehow still mostly intact after almost a year of it not being used and upkept like you would a normal hospital), then crawling up the rusty and unsteady fire escape, which Riley helped you climb, naturally.

Simon wasn’t a fool, not by any extension of the word. He also did not consider himself reckless, at least not to the point of endangering others with his recklessness. He knew that the hospital would be the prime place for a horde of walkers, but the rapidly dwindling supplies (along with your cough and stuffy nose that were getting worse by the day; it was a mystery to him, how you were not yet feverish) and the dangers the not well-scouted area for you were too much. So, he decided it’s better if you keep close to him.

He should’ve taken more time, should’ve been more careful, should’ve investigated the building beforehand, like he always does. Simon thought it would be okay. He knew the kid could handle dozens upon dozens of corpses littering the floor, turning to dust in patient rooms and locked up in medical staff rooms; for so many months they’ve seen only death and decay around. Riley knew that the (most likely) overflowing morgue would be off-limits, not only because of undead activity, but also because of the toxic (once again, most likely) expired chemicals there.

Simon could’ve made it another teaching moment for you, sharing telltale signs of undead presence, besides the smells and the sounds that can be concealed by weather. The undead always leave traces, whether their dulled (or absent) conscience is aware of it or not.

Simon could’ve done so much to prevent this. But he just didn’t. His worst fucking nightmare turned reality in a matter of seconds and he could not do shit about it.

He barely heard anything while rummaging through the supply cabinets in the room right behind what probably once was a nurse station. Which was weird. He always heard everything. He had left you to keep guard near the entrance to the room, because as much as Riley trusted you, it was probably safe to assume that he knew what kind of drugs to take better than a prepubescent teen. Next thing he knew when he looked outside of the door – the undead flooded the corridor and you were nowhere to be seen. His heart dropped, nothing but concern and pure terror in his mind.  A sudden ringing in his ears deafened him for a moment.

You could be dead for all he knew. Torn apart by the undead, begging for your life, bloody and crying, or with your neck broken, from the attempt to escape from one of the windows that was not boarded up, or bitten and left to the terrors of this sickness that will eat you alive in no time. Replacing his poor kid you with a decaying husk, bearing your eyes and your face. It would be extremely dangerous and foolish to attempt looking for you. Downright idiotic.

Good thing his father always called him an idiot, because he won’t leave without finding you. Alive or…otherwise.

Simon had to time to plan everything out, every second contributed to whether you’re walking out of here, or being carried out the building by him. He swung the door open, ready to take the fight head-on.

The smell of the hospital alone was enough to make his eyes tear up. You nor him could ever get used to it, no matter how often you stumbled upon that smell – rotting, nauseatingly sweet, fleshy and suffocating. It was even worse when the undead who emanated this stench stumbled through the corridor towards him. The mask was not helping much.

Riley could not help that primal irrational part of his mind from taking over, it was hard not to, when someone you cherish so deeply is possibly in grave danger. Almost every movement was precise and short, nothing but pure instincts, reflexes and muscle memory taking the ownership of his mind.

He was on the battlefield once again.

Fast jab, swing, push, step, crush, dash, push, swing, crush, jab, shove, swing, crush; it all flowed into one monotonous dance macabre, low hum of something dark puppeteering Simon’s limbs. He could feel that familiar buzz of satisfaction in his head with every skull shattered either by his heavy boots or with the pleasantly heavy sledgehammer. Each kill bringing Simon closer to you, and you – closer to complete safety within these walls. He promised himself that he won’t have to do…all this anymore. But if it meant unceremoniously grabbing you from the embrace of death, he was willing to let himself loose a million times more, until his hands are stained by blood forevermore.

The worry and pure terror for you took over him completely, his heavy blows kept landing wherever there was even the slightest movements and he did not stop. Simon’s hands did not tremble even for a single second. Covered head to toe in guts and rotted, sticky blood, he was more beast than man, shoulders rising and falling, heavy breaths drawn through the several dirty layers of cloth on his face filling him even further with the urgency, with hurry and the continuous urge to maim and kill anything that threatened your and his possible survival.

Because what was Simon, if you, the only thing he carefully and lovingly put all his remaining humanity into, were not here anymore? It was all that would be left of him, if you…

Nevermind. Simon shouldn’t be thinking like that. But how can he not, when he’s been warned all these times that, given some time, one of you will die, protecting another? What else was he supposed to think when day and night the only thing he was worried about was if he was a good enough father to you, or if you would be better off under the care of anybody else, who’s just…not him?

The metal of Riley’s sledgehammer was filthy with brain matter, skin and hair, and his clothes heavy with blood soaking them through and through. He could not comprehend how he was not bitten yet. Line of decaying corpses kept trailing him like a wicked serpent through the stuffy corridors of the hospital.

Until finally Simon saw a familiar pair of eyes looking right at him through the filthy glass of a storage room.

You were terrified out of your mind, shaking and crying, not only because you thought you were going to be torn apart just mere moments ago. There were more possibilities – if it were not for the rotten, jagged teeth finding you, Simon would’ve found you and be furious at you for being a reckless idiot and almost getting yourself killed, running away like that in an unexplored area (even though he never screamed at you in all this time you spent together, and even if he did, that would only attract more undead). Or, worst case scenario, you’d just find Simon’s body somewhere in the hospital, being gnawed on by several undead, coppery, vile smell in the air. You knew that chances of you walking away without losing something were razor-thin.

Yet here he was. Some irrational part of you was convinced he’d yell at you, hit you, throw something at you putting the safety in no regard. You flinched, feeling you body shake against the cold floor. A second passed and the giant of a man swooped you into a bone-crushing embrace, shushing you and slowly rocking you in his arms. You felt more sobs bubble inside of your throat, when you hear him murmur reassurances into your ear.

“It’s alright, kid, I’m here. I’m right here.” His voice is coarse and rough, but so utterly familiar, you feel like you’re being wrapped in a warm blanket when dad Simon talks. To hell with being stubborn and independent. You don’t to leave him ever again.

“I’m so…so sorry, Simon” you managed to get out, violent sobs interrupting your words. “I didn’t, didn’t want to lead them to you…” Because that would entrap both of you with the undead that flooded the hallway much too quickly, his mind finished the thought that you were not able to articulate in your deep emotional distress. “I tried, I tried…”

Simon’s heart shattered.

He was silent for seconds that stretched akin to hours. Pressing your face into the soaked shoulder of his rough jacket that smelled like smoke and the undead, you had no idea that Simon’s eyes were glistening with tears as well. You felt his hand gently stroking your head, attempting to soothe you to the best of his abilities.

“Shhh, I know, I know. You did you best. You did good, kid. You did good.” The way dad Simon said it made the hot tears pour down from your eyes even stronger, like a sudden storm in the middle of a summer day.

 “I was so-, so- scared, I-I thought you were going to be so mad at me.” You whole body trembled with every shaky breath that you took and Simon did not fail to notice that, his arms closing around you even tighter, which you only welcomed, clinging onto him like he was your lifeline.

“Please, don’t be scared. Why would I be mad at you?” Riley’s voice is so painfully soft and quiet. He came for you. He could’ve left, but he came for you. It dawned on you, how easily you could’ve lost each other in these minutes spent apart, and your fingers clawed into the bloodied fabric even harder.

“I-I don’t know…”

For a split second, you thought you felt Simon’s giant stature shake around you with a barely audible noise that reminded you of a sob. Simon pulled away, his big palms still resting on your shoulders, grounding you, reminding that everything is alright and the both of you are alive.

“Dry your tears, kid. It’s going to be alright.” You could see the corners of his eyes crease in a smile, moisture still shining in them, and you could feel the tears burn your own eyes once again. You, however, tried your best to put on a brave face, not wanting him to see you cry even more than you already did. You reached with your hands to rub your eyes in exasperation. The man, instead, delicately started wiping off your tears with his blood-stained fingers, not even realizing that he was making things worse. But you didn’t care. Simon was here for you. That’s all that mattered in this moment.

Silence felt like it lasted forever until you opened your mouth and quietly asked for only one thing:

“Promise you won’t leave me. Ever.”

Good God, your voice sounded sad. Simon did not respond at first. He knew he couldn’t make promises like that, but the guilt and all these unbearable thoughts of losing you just moments ago got to his rationality, making it absolutely useless. If it meant you’d be willing to stay a kid a little while longer, he was ready to make a false promise he would never be able to fulfill.

“I promise, kid.”

Maybe someday you’ll lose each other to the horrors of this world, lurking beyond what any living soul can perceive. But it won’t be today.

check out my masterlist for more fics or send me a request/comment!

[luveline]

steve zombie!au…. maybe in this new camp the reader is placed to do the scouting for supplies/ protecting the camp while steve is the one that has to stay in the camp and starts worrying over her a lot? love your writing jade 🫶🏼

thanks gorgeous! —you and steve settle into your new jobs. he worries, you dote. fem!reader, 1.3k

You watch in mild frustration as another firework shoots up into the air and pops. It doesn't break the treeline, but it's loud. 

"Should we really be doing this?" Joyce asks. 

Hopper grunts in annoyance and begins a spiel you've had the misfortune of hearing twice already this morning. The fireworks are going to be an alarm, a code in case another undefeatable foe crosses the proximity line. Newly appointed guard and on duty, if someone were to approach now, it would be you that lights the firework. 

You kind of hate your new job. You haven't met the new and elusive leader of the camp you've merged with, but you've met his underling Wendy, and she assigned you a job. You're on guard duty and potential runs, Steve's on childcare, and when he asked if you could switch, she said point blank No.

Steve's less than pleased, though he likes being with the kids. 

"What use is a warning if we draw other people?" Joyce asks. Frustration must be in the air. 

"Kid," Hopper says. It takes you a good handful of seconds to realise he's talking to you. "You can go. Take the evening off." 

"Are you sure? Wendy's kinda stern." 

"I can deal with Wendy." 

You pat the pommel of your sword and nod, starting back through the trees toward camp. Hopper's more than capable of looking after himself despite the argument that awakens as soon as you're far enough away. 

Walking back into camp makes you feel weird. More than half the people you see are strangers, cleaner, happier than anybody from The College, though they're starting to merge. You weave between a procession of runners back with a literal wheelbarrow of cans from the grocery store a half a mile east from here. They spray painted on the windows that the place was full of geeks months ago and it remains untouched. Sneaky trick, but one you can appreciate if it keeps all the kids alive. 

You can hear them as you approach one of the portables. They aren't truly portable buildings; if you ever wanted to move further into Michigan, they'd stay behind. But they have walls and ceilings and it makes the world feel a little less alien for the kids, who mostly grew up for the last year, nearly two, in The College. 

You put your sword against the side of the wall and run up the silver metal steps to ease the door open. 

Steve's sitting at the back of the room with four other adults, a little girl in his lap, her head on his chest. She can't be older than five. 

At the front of the room sits Sarah, reading from a big storybook. There are no lights on, but she has a torch with different coloured crepe papers taped to the front, and she shines them when different emotions come into the story. Right now, the story is sad, and a light blue light kisses the cheeks of the children in the front row. 

They barely notice your arrival. Steve, however, heaves a visible sigh of relief, the arm he's wrapped genially over the little girl's back moving up incrementally at the sight of you. 

"Hello," you whisper, sitting down next to him quietly. 

"Hi," the little girl whispers. 

"Hi," you say back. She isn't one of The College kids, you'd know her face. "Who are you, honey?" 

"I'm Mabel." 

"Hi Mabel, I'm Y/N." 

"Y/N's my girlfriend," Steve whispers, grabbing your hand for a squeeze. You squeeze back. 

Mabel looks up at Steve with a smile. "Do you kiss?" Mabel asks. 

You laugh, startled, and half the kids turn their heads to see what's so funny. Steve shushes you like a proper teacher, finger over his lips until they all turn back to their story. 

"We do sometimes to say hello," Steve whispers, quieter than before. "Why?"

"My boyfriend is a bad kisser," she says. 

You tamp down a smile badly, amusement colouring your words, "Honey, I think you should stick to holding hands." 

"I think so," she agrees. 

Steve pats her shoulder to show his agreement. She cuddles in and turns her attention back to the story. Steve meets your eyes over her head and you both laugh with closed mouths, hot breaths pushed out of your noses. 

When the story's finished and the room is too dark to stay any longer, Jonathan arrives to cart off his boat load of fostered brethren, as do the other adults. It's nice to see how many of them accept children who aren't theirs with open arms. Steve carries Mabel until the very last second when Julie, Mabel's older sister, comes to collect her. 

"Did you know she has a boyfriend?" Steve asks Julie. 

"Is that what she said?" Julie asks fondly, tapping Mabel on the tip of her nose. "You're silly. No boyfriends until you're ten, at least." 

Mabel blushes and hides her face. 

"Will she forgive you?" you ask Steve as they leave. 

He hugs you close, suddenly. At the doorway of the portable with the other 'teachers' still inside cleaning up the kids' mess, you aren't expecting him to be outwardly affectionate. 

"I'm her favourite, she'll forget by tomorrow." Steve hugs you tighter still, prompting you to hug back. He groans as soon as you do, as though your touch is a great relief. 

"Is everything okay?" you ask. 

"I worry about you when you're gone." 

"I know, but it's no different than yesterday. They didn't even need me, that's why Hopper sent me back. It's not dangerous." 

"It's obviously dangerous." Steve's cheek pushes against the side of your head, almost nuzzling you. "It's the best part of my day when you come back to me." 

You feel heat rise to your face, a hot flush of embarrassment that licking over every inch of skin. "Steve," you mumble. 

He squeezes your waist and has you take his weight on your chest, bending you backward. "I love you." 

"I love you too," you utter.

Steve pulls away from you, something sweet and soft in the set of his mocha brown eyes. "I know. I think that's why I freak out so much." 

"You'd miss being adored," you tease. 

"By you, yeah." He gives you a long look. You know before he's moved even a millimetre that he's going to give you another thankful hug, lips at your ear as he confesses, "I'd miss you more than anything." 

You hug him back with your own relief —you've loved Steve for a very, very long time. It's an unexplainable feeling to know he loves you back, and fiercely. Somewhere in the past is a girl laying in his lap in the woodland bordering an endless intersection highway, wishing he'd want you back. You can't tell her that everything will be okay, that you'll get through it safe and sound, but you could at least tell her that there's something worth living for at the end of the seemingly insurmountable. Someone who worries about you when you're less than 100 yards away. 

"You worry too much," you say, pushing his chest gently to separate your hug. You look him straight in the eye. "We're good at finding each other again. And I'm not going anywhere in the first place." 

Steve exhales slowly. "Good. I hate when you go places." 

"Me too. Let's stay here forever." 

You both know it's an impossible thing, but the hypothetical is nice. You can see the weight of the worry Steve carries on his shoulders, worry in his eyes, but he's carrying a lot of love too. You wish it wasn't all so heavy. 

[sachirobabe]

Chapter 6

Gojo Satoru x reader

Wc: 2835

Curseless au

Summary: Amidst the zombie apocalypse, your courage shines as you not only saves lives but capture the heart of Gojo Satoru. Together with his first-year students, you all embark on a perilous journey, not only for survival but in a quest for a cure that adds a poignant layer to the unfolding romance.

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You packed as much as you could in your backpack, it was hard finding the balance between clothes and medical supplies; you never know what could happen.

Satoru somehow always finds a way to be near you, right now is no different. "Which ones should I bring?" He smiles happily, showing you two parts of socks, both having the most crazy and ugly patterns you've seen.

"Don't you think those are a little out of style, Satoru?" You raise an eyebrow at his sock choices.

"Yeah? Well I could say the same for you." He eyes what you're putting in your backpack.

"Are you suggesting we go to a mall? I hear they have great deals." You laugh, "buy one get the whole store for free."

Satoru laughs loudly, throwing his head back, his white hair going everywhere. You've started to find some of his hairs on your clothes now that you've been near him for a while. Each time you do, you return it rightfully back to him.

"C'mon, we should go get our weapons." You roll your eyes, but before you left you turned back to face him slightly, "and bring the pink ones." You point to his left hand.

He shakes his head, still chuckling to himself and throwing his backpack over one shoulder. Despite you guys planning on being gone for a few weeks, Satoru suggested everyone just bring one backpack, it was safer that way in case you all had to be running.

You meet up with Itadori who seems excited about switching out his brass knuckles for a gun. "Are you still going to use your bow?" He asks you.

"Probably not. I don't see how effective it would be, bullets are faster and quicker." You answer, your back feeling empty without your arrows.

"It would be quieter though. None of the guns here have silencers." He tells you. You only shrug, but still opt to use a gun.

It was still dark outside, with it being winter the sun arose later, that also meant it would be freezing outside. You zip up your third layer jacket, knowing you'd need it.

Shoko looks exhausted, she had a tendency to stay up late reading, last night was no different.

"Nobody's carrying you." Satoru points to her and she rolls her eyes.

"I'll be fine."

"You really should've gotten more rest. We aren't stopping until sundown." Nanami's deep voice echoing in the room. Shoko goes off into the kitchen, most likely to make some coffee for the go.

"Who's carrying the food?" You say, looking at everyone who's only carrying things in one backpack, knowing it'd be a lot of food to carry for everyone going.

"I have some granola bars and other small things, but if we want to eat, we'll need to hunt and cook it ourselves." Nanami says, "I suggest bringing your bow still, the guns scare the animals." You nod and make a mental note to grab if before leaving.

"Won't the fire we'd be cooking our food on bring attention?" Nobara asks.

"Not at night. Nobody in their right mind is out at night." Satoru answers for Nanami, wrapping a scarf around Megumi for warmth, knowing his face gets cold easily.

Everybody had chosen their guns, and were waiting at the basement door, you had quickly gone back and grabbed your bow and arrows.

"How're we gonna get let back in?" Itadori asks Maki.

"This door leads underground, We can get back in through there." She says, putting on her gloves, mentally preparing herself for the cold to hit her.

"Where is it," Megumi says, slightly muffled by his scarf.

"A little into the woods." Inumaki signs, he pauses before saying anything else, but ultimately signals he's done.

"Good enough for me." You smile and join back in, you had been practicing signing with Satoru and Inumaki while you were healing. You were getting a lot more comfortable. "Ready." You say.

Satoru leads the group, you falling somewhere in the middle to protect the younger ones, Nanami found himself in the back. It was a narrow hallway after the stairs.

You were a little claustrophobic, but this wasn't too bad, you still had a little room put your arms halfway out, but nobody could walk side by side down there.

It was cold already, your breath could be seen and you weren't even outside yet. You prayed to whoever was above that this would be a safe trip with no casualties.

Satoru signaled to stop as he opened up the door above, it took a little strength because it had been frozen, but that was no issue for him. He went up first and Megumi following after him.

After everyone was out, Nanami shut the door, making a mental note of where the door was when you'd all return. Everybody took out their flashlights, the sun was peeking on the horizon, but it'd still be awhile before you'd all be able to see.

You scoped the area around, making sure no zombies were close. Your gun was over your shoulder, but you had never shot one before. Nanami gave you the basic rundown.

The single file line that was underground had dismembered, you found yourself walking with the second-years, Nanami and Shoko leading the way and Satoru with his students.

You all kept conversations at a low volume, you were very tense. Every noise caused you to look in that direction despite nothing being there when you had looked prior.

At some point, Satoru and you had ended up behind the second and first years, time went by much faster after the sun came up, it was warming, but not enough.

"You scared?" Satoru asks.

"Not really." You answer, putting your flashlight away, calmer too now that you could see around you.

"That's good." He says, copying you and turning his flashlight off.

"I am starting to get hungry, though." You rub your stomach.

"Same here, you take a bite out of me and I'll take a bite out of you." He jokes, you roll your eyes at him and call him stupid. "I know Nanami said we would only stop to sleep, but he'd let us take a break after a while."

"Good, I know our legs will be needing it." You chuckle.

Nothing interesting had happened for the last 4 hours, occasionally you'd run into a zombie and Nanami would get rid of it then keep walking. The cold wasn't bothering anybody no more, who knew walking for hours would make you sweat.

"Let's go for another 4 hours and see how we feel." Nanami tells the entire group, Satoru extends his hand towards you to help you up and you gladly take it.

After the four hours the sun was setting, Nanami led the way to the first checkpoint to get settled into for the night.

You're unsure on how they found this place, but you're not complaining. It's in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees which oddly makes you feel safe.

It was a little dusty inside, but everything was intact. The second years were tasked with setting up the beds and the first years did some light cleaning.

"You've got an hour or so of daylight to catch anything." Shoko tells you as she hands you a small map of the area.

"Any preferences?" You chuckle and wink at her, "You comin' Satoru?" You yell behind you.

You hear rushed footsteps and see the white haired boy, now wearing a beanie. "Aww, how cute." You pinch his cheek really hard making him frown.

"Can I shoot one?" Satoru asks as he opens the door for you both.

"Be safe." Nanami waves you two off.

"Absolutely not. You'll shoot me." You joke.

"How'd you know my plan?" He bumps into you. Your head shakes and you sigh at him. "Let's try this way." He points to your left and you both walk in that direction. "How're you feeling?"

"I feel alright, not too bad. And you?"

"Just cold." He shivers.

"You didn't have to come with me, I could've gotten Nanami or Shoko." You say, ducking under a tree branch.

"I'm offended." He says loudly and you hit him to remind him that he's scaring off the animals. "I'm better than any of them, so I figured you'd want the best."

"Cocky much?" You roll your eyes, "didn't I save the 'oh so strong one'."

"I wasn't armed." He side eyes you. "Plus I know you enjoy being around me."

"Mhm. And what gave you that idea?" You scrunch your nose.

"You're always near me."

"You follow me everywhere I go." You deadpan and he thinks for a moment, but ultimately changes the subject.

He extends his strong arm, making you huff as you run into it, he puts his finger to his lips, eyeing what's in front of him.

A fox was half behind a tree, it hadn't seen you both yet so you quickly crouch down and pull his tall self with you. Quietly you remove an arrow from your back, letting your bow fall slowly into your hands.

It was eating something it had killed, all of its attention was on it. You carefully draw your bow, slowly so it didn't make much noise, your aim was right at its head, wanting to make this quick and as painless as possible.

You let out a breath and released the arrow, the fox made a noise as it was hit and ultimately fell to the ground. Satoru was up before you were and ran as quickly as he could to finish it off.

He tied the foxes legs together to make it easier to carry. "Nice job." He praised. Then he pauses taking a good look at the fox. "What the fuck..." he whispers.

"What's wrong?" You ask worriedly.

"You hit it right in the eye." He says amazed. "You're incredible." His compliments gave you butterflies.

You took the arrow out of its eye and put it behind your back with the others. Satoru insisted on carrying the fox himself, you think he just wanted to show how strong he was. It was about 30 pounds, his guess.

Satoru tried to gloat about how he did all of the work, but nobody in their right mind believed him. Nanami was impressed, he was worried most of the animals would be dead from the zombies.

You watch from the window as Nanami chopped up some wood, you were just keeping a lookout for him in case anything happened, but Satoru had a sour look on his face.

He knew it was wrong. He quickly hid his very expressive face and stood alongside with you to see what was so interesting about Nanami.

"Oh good, now that you're keeping a lookout for him I'm gonna run to the bathroom real quick." You say and leave him.

Now he feels stupid for thinking you were just watching Nanami to see him in action. Nanami then dragged him out to help make the fire and skin the fox.

You've never had any sort of animal besides the basic ones, but fox wasn't too bad, it was bland.

"I'm still hungry." Itadori says.

"No, we have to save this." Nanami frowns.

"Please?" Itadori rubs his still growling stomach.

"I don't mind hunting, Nanami." You join in, feeling bad for Itadori.

"That's not the issue, I'm afraid that there won't be many animals left to hunt." He explains. "Go drink some water, Itadori. Fill your stomach."

Itadori sighs and does just that before getting ready for bed. Nanami kept the fire alive in the fireplace. Nobody could see smoke in the dark and especially not this far into the woods. You still suggested that somebody keep watch and he agreed.

You offered to do first watch, so you sat in the living room couch, feeling the warmth of the fire. Shoko handed you a book to read, but you had gotten some word puzzles to work on instead.

Just as you thought everyone had gone to bed, Satoru startles you as he walks into the living room with a blanket and pillow.

"What're you doing?" You frown.

"I wanted to keep you company." He smiles widely, setting his pillow up against you and lying down with his blanket, his long legs were stretched across.

"At least get some sleep." You shake your head and return to your puzzle. He mumbles something and you notice his eyes are closed. He's so exhausted, he barely sleeps every night and it catches up to him.

You hear his soft breathing, thankful that he doesn't snore like 90% of the male population. You feel yourself nodding off every once in a while, but you keep yourself busy.

Satoru had shifted in his sleep, but you paid no mind to it. Suddenly he opens his eyes and jolts awake, you're scared as he hyperventilates. You quickly make him face you and you softly tell him to breathe.

His eyes were filled with fear, this was new to you. After a few minutes he had calmed down, slumping himself onto you.

"Do you want some water?" You ask him and he silently nods. You quickly come back and hand it to him, he takes slow sips as he's still calming himself down. "Is..everything alright, Satoru?"

He nods his head, not making eye contact with you. "Yeah. Just a dream." He whispers, rubbing his eyes and feeling his cold sweat go away.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" You ask him and he immediately denies. You frown, he made you talk to him when something was wrong with you, now you are determined to get him to do the same. "What happened? Talking about it makes you feel better." You urge him.

He denies again. This time moving his head to face the wall. You take hold of his chin softly and turn him to face you, "This is my question." You demand and he shuts his eyes momentarily before talking.

"I had a bad dream." He says, almost embarrassed.

"What happened in it?" You urge him more and he shakes his head, "you can't back out of this." You say. "You made me tell you and now I expect the same."

"We all got split up and some of the students turned because of me." He says, his voice trembling a little, he told himself he was not going to cry and he was standing by it.

"That's really scary, I'm sorry Satoru. It was just a dream, nothing bad will happen to any of us." You promise. "It's okay to be upset."

"Ive been having these nightmares for a while." He admits. "Since day one of all of this."

"How often?"

"Everyday." He says. "Well—not since we've had you join us, it stopped for a little."

You nod, thinking about your next words. "I get nightmares too, it's normal. But I believe one day we'll never have them again, all of this will go back to as normal as it can get."

"That's starting to feel like this is now our new normal." He sighs.

"I know." You sink into the couch. "I don't like that you have nightmares."

"I don't like that you get panic attacks." He says.

"Nothing will happen to your students. I promise." You look into his eyes, they are half-lidded as they look down at you from the height difference.

"We'll survive." He nods.

You two were silent for a while. Satoru occasionally took sips from his water.

"Thank you." He says, "for talking to me, I do feel better."

"I told you so." You bump his shoulder lightly.

"Don't you wonder how the rest of the world is?" Satoru lays back down.

"Sometimes." You say.

"Like what are other people doing? Do they feel as hopeless as us?"

"Of course they do. I bet they have nightmares and panic attacks too." You fight the urge to play with his hair, it's really been getting long.

He hums, "You better get some sleep." He says to you.

"And what about you?"

"I won't be able to sleep after my nightmare." He sheepishly smiles and gets up from his spot to switch with you.

"Are you sure?" You say, already feeling your eyes closing as you lay on the warm pillow he left for you.

"Yes." He chuckles and throws the blanket over you, taking your seat and continuing your puzzle.

You begin to drift off, you can smell Satoru's hair off of the pillow. He smells really good. It helps you fall asleep.

Satoru notices your steady breathing and cannot resist the urge to not touch your hair. He twirls it around in his fingers for a little, not in a creepy way at all, but he finds a lot of comfort with you. He notices his heart beating a little quicker whenever he's near you.

He's really screwed now.

[kitybur]

𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐛𝐫𝐮𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 | 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐭𝐲 2

⌦ in which you and tommy have just hopped into your car and hit the road to meet up with two minecraft streamers. the feeling of mixed nerves grow as they navigate through the post-apocalyptic world, all in the hopes of making it to the safe spot.

— warnings: swearing, gn!reader, zombies, murder, guns/knifes, mature themes, mention of drugs

| quackity apocalypse au part 2! |

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

you had been on the road for longer than you could remember. you hadn’t realized how far away this safe spot would be, and we’re already dreading on the long, twisting roads. you hadn’t seen anybody else on the roads, maybe a few people walking with their things out, which you ignored.

it had been nearly reaching two hours, and your foot was starting to hurt from pressing on the gas for so long. it was a miracle you hadn’t ran out of gas yet, but tommy had been prepared, stuffing a singular gas jug in the back. you had to give him props, he was handling this situation better then you were. and he was just a kid.

your eyes shifted from the straight road to the passenger seat, where tommy laid with his head lolled back and soft snores escaping his opened mouth. you gently smiled, reaching in the back to grab an old green blanket you’d left in your car months ago, covering him up ever so slightly.

you moved your eyes back to the road as a left turn came up, avoiding the red light that had just appeared on the traffic light. as you continued driving, you could faintly hear the sound of sirens. looking in the rear view mirror, the outline of a cop car came into sight, the red and blue flashing lights navigating the cement in the dark.

“are you fucking kidding me?” you mumbled. were you seriously getting pulled over right now? you lightly pressed on the accelerator, hoping, praying the cop just turned on the lights to be able to see better. it was only when they started pounding on the horn you knew it was for you. you cursed under your breath as you slowly started to move off to the side of the road, and put the car in park.

you were in the middle of nowhere by this point. there were no houses and no stores to be seen in a 15 mile radius. you forced your eyes everywhere you could, before jumping at the sound of glass knocking. it was so hard that the sound alone had woken tommy up.

you rolled down the window half way and when the male cop gave you a look, you rolled it down the rest. “good evening, officer.” you nodded. “can we help you?” you spared a look to tommy from the corner of your eyes. he groaned and sat up fully. the blanket falling off his shoulders and landing on his lap.

the officer looked between you and tommy. “you ran a red light. did you know that?” you cleared your throat, uncomfortable with the way he was inspecting the vehicle with his eyes.

“i’m sorry, sir. we’re trying to get somewhere safe before anything happens. I didn’t think I’d be a big deal right now…” you explained, pausing and cringing at the silence.

“officer, i’m sure it was a mis—”

“shut up!” he yelled, startling both you and tommy. you glared at the officer for yelling in such tone to tommy. “there is nothing going on, are you guys on something?” he took a step closer to the car, leaning down into the window. “i’m going to need you guys to step out of the vehicle.”

“but sir!” tommy yelled, obviously annoyed. he just wanted to leave and meet up with his friends. to get him and you safe, he couldn’t do that if this bitch officer was in the way.

“sir, step out of the vehicle, now!” by now he was angry, his cheeks turning red as his tone was sharp and evil. you and tommy shared a quick look, debating in your head if you should step out or not. of course the logical answer would be to step out, it was the law you were dealing with. but you knew better. in a world where it was life or death, you chose life.

“no.” you quickly said, shaking your head. “we will not get out.” you swear you could see steam come from his ears, blood come from his eyes by how appalled and angry he became.

“excuse me? you’ll get out of this damn car if I have to make you!” he wiped a bead of sweat off his head before reaching for the handle. it seemed to be in slow motion the way you watched him get pushed to the ground, screams filling the car.

it was only when you came back to your senses did you look what had happened. someone — or something — had tackled the officer down, pinning him under their body weight and taking a bite out of his thick neck. you held back your own scream to not make attention to yourself or tommy.

“y/n, we need to go. now!” tommy says, breath wavering as he continued to watch the grey monster eat at a living being. you nodded, tearing your wide eyes away from the blood that had now splatted on the side of your car, and the lowering screams of the officer. the growling of the now identified zombie only intensified with its feast.

you put the car in drive glancing around you momentarily before speeding off. tommy pushed his elbow into the seat to look out the back window. he eyed the zombie, watching how it turned its bloodied face to watch the car take off. it stood up, tilting its head as if to challenge the car, and followed.

you let out a breath with a tight grip to the steering wheel. you enjoyed the breeze the open window gave you, feeling the cold air on your face as you drove through the deserted town. it had been silent between you and tommy for mere minutes before he spoke up; “that was fucking awesome.”

silence.

“what!?” you pushed on the breaks, not hearing him quite correctly. he screeched, hands reaching out to stop himself from flying through the windshield. “what about that was awesome to you?”

he dryly chuckled. “that was the first zombie i’d ever seen that wasn’t in minecraft!” you rolled your eyes but couldn’t help your own smile to come out. the moment lasted longer than you’d expected it too, because the moment you went to drive away, something grabbed you through the window.

you let out a scream, looking at the zombie in the dead eyes as it latched it’s brittle but strong hands against your sweater. you screamed has it tugged and spit blood at your face. you screamed as tommy worked quickly to roll up the window, cutting off the zombies arm leaving it attached to your sweater as you wasted no time leaving.

you thanked tommy mentally for taking the arm off of you and throwing it in the backseat (you weren’t thankful for that part, but it was tommy). you continued to drive with shaken hands at a high speed, desperate to get away from the nightmare you were experiencing.

you couldn’t wrap your mind around what really just happened. who else can say a zombie gripped their sweater and tried to pull them from the car? you can! you didn’t know how you haven’t driven off the road yet from how your mind was spinning, the smell of blood was rancid, and when you wiped it it smeared down your face more.

“that wasn’t as awesome.”

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆

guys idk it’s a filler ig 😨 I wrote this at a daycare.

[uhohbestie]

There Are Monsters Nearby [Chapter 20]

🏜 Pairing: Grian/Scar

🧟‍♂️ Tags: zombie AU, zombie apocalypse, lovers to exes, slow burn, eventual reconciliation

📖 Summary: The day after Scar breaks up with Grian, the dead come back to life. Knowing that venturing out alone is a death sentence, the sudden onset of the apocalypse forces them to stick together despite the tensions between them. In the wreckage of the world, they're forced to survive side-by-side, coming to terms with the fact that—try as they might—there's still no one they trust more than each other.

Chapter 20 - Goodbye California, hello Oregon. Scar and Grian keep heading north, gearing up for winter, finding a nice place to stay the night, and continuing to struggle on where they stand and what they mean to one another.

📝 Words: 10,142

🔗 Link: Read Chapter 20 on AO3

—

“Cub used to— god, he’d hate it. Every time we saw a nice sunset, or some satellite passing, or a shooting star, I’d say ‘I wish Grian was here to see this.’” Scar shakes his head, crouching down with the box of winter gear as he starts to sort through it, pairing off the gloves to see what suits them best. “He’d always tell me to give it a rest. He’d say, ‘Grian can look outside and see his own sunset.’ I thought it was kinda sweet at the time, like he was showing me how close we still were. Under the same sky, y’know?” He scoffs absently as he slips his hands into a pair of fingerless gloves, curling his palm into a fist before seeking out its mate. “Now I get he just wanted me to talk about literally anything else.”

Grian stands in silence, unable to articulate a response. The tenderness of Scar’s confession sits uneven within him, mixing with the deep shame at the implication that Quackity wasn’t the first to point out to Scar that he deserved better in a partner.

“I wish I’d gotten to know Cub better,” he settles on at last, the words quiet, not nearly what Scar deserves to hear right now. “I think I missed out.”

“You did,” Scar says, agreeing so easily that it feels rehearsed, finding the pair to his glove and putting it on his other hand. “He was one of a kind.”

“I enjoyed the few times we hung out together…” Grian offers, feeling suddenly meek.

“Cub did too,” Scar hums, focused and entirely unaffected by the conversation. It makes Grian wonder how long he’s sat with these feelings so that he can speak without any anger or resentment. “And so did Pearl—though she always got the impression you felt uncomfortable around her.”

Grian shakes his head. “It wasn’t discomfort so much as… jealousy, maybe,” he admits, quiet. “She was weird and chaotic in the same ways you were, and sometimes it seemed like you two had this whole world of in-jokes I’d never be part of. I guess… I felt it was impossible to compete with.”

“There was nothing to compete with, Grian,” Scar insists, looking up for the first time, his eyes sharp and focused. “You were the one I was dating. Not Pearl. Not Cub.”

“Yeah,” Grian sighs, “I see that now.”

—

Friday time, TAMN time! We're on the penultimate chapter of this arc! These two :') will they ever learn...

You can read the whole fic thus-far in the link below!

You may not rest now, There Are Monsters Nearby (on ao3!)

[percyaugod]

Classic Krang Zombie Overthink AU: Outline Part 5

A group of scavengers comes back with a larger haul than normal, Leo whistling at the impressive size. Donnie is staring at the supplies. Something isn't right, but it's not sure what.

Donnie starts going through some of the larger sacks, Leo quiets the complaints of the scavengers, and finds whole packages? Did they just grab these without checking what's inside!? What if the krang planted poison or trackers or- bombs. Oh no.

Donnie holding up a large metal rectangle to show Leo and the others. The others ask Leo what it is and he just shrugs. That's right, they don't know that much about Krang tech, to them it probably just looks like scrap metal.

There's so many packages probably full of them. It'd be impossible to move them by itself in time and it'd take too long to try to explain as is. If it didn't do something though not only would it die but everyone in the base. It knew there was someone else there, felt them when the old masters tried to kill it, it begged and pleaded for their help.

They answered.

Leo's not sure what's up with Donnie. He's never done this before. Did they bring back some kind of food that he really liked the smell of? Is he holding up a piece of metal? Does he want it to build something?

No. Something's wrong. Donnis is getting more and more distressed to the point he's visibly shaking. Those are apparently something bad but Leo has no idea why or what's going on.

Then Donnie suddenly goes completely still before reaching toward his mouth. Leo panics as Donnie grabs the infection around his mouth and rips it away, taking a few layers of skin from the outside and inside of his mouth with it. Dumping something out of a bag and putting that in it before pulling out a water skin and drinking heavily from it.

In a voice that sounds like it literally hasn't been used in months tells someone to take the sack to Draxum before turning to Leo. Donnie looks Leo in the eyes and all he can see is Donnie, barely any of the glazed look that's been there for the past few months. He's so caught up in Donnie actually being Donnie he almost misses Donnie mentioning bombs.

Donnie grumbled about finally getting his attention before telling him the latest group didn't check their packages and brought back a bunch of heat-activated bombs. Could be activated by a small explosion, a laser, or a base where most inhabitants are humans that run warm or yokai and mutants that run even warmer.

They need a cart to carry all these packages and everyone that's either cold-blooded, has a prosthetic arm, and/or gauntlets to help move them to said cart so we can get these out of here. Leo giving orders while Donnis is already loading himself up with packages, Leo right behind him.

One of the groups that brought the bombs back would be trying to save face by pointing out Donnie is infected and probably lying to deplete them of resources. Donnie doesn't even say anything. He just takes one of the bombs, puts it in his warm mouth, and then throws it at them when it starts beeping. Sure the explosion is small, but that's one and they brought back hundreds all grouped together.

They try to yell about the blatant attempt on their life, the entire time blocking help trying to get through. Leo cuts them off and orders them and the others to check in for now, but he will be having a talk with them later.

Help includes two other turtles more surprised than anyone to hear the swears and reprimands of their resident zombie when someone drops a box. They hug Donnie who grumbles about missing them too, but bombs are a bit more important. Also Michael, no using mystic powers, the energy runs warm and might set them off. Use those noodle arms for once.

Smack. Ow!

After combing through a third time Donnie is confident they found the bombs all and can start putting distance between them and the base. Leo gives the location of a series of tunnels and a time-activated charge to a trusted member and sends them off. He turns to Donnie with a wide smile that quickly falls.

Donnie is leaning against a wall of the base, a familiar glazed look starting to creep back into his eyes as the infection slowly starts crawling back toward his mouth. Donnie gives Leo an apologetic look. Leo should have known it wouldn't have been that easy.

[dark-elf-writes]

I am going feral over your MOD Harry at UA with Oboro au, help

Just Oboro, who had been watching over them for who knows how long, being so grateful he can finally be with his friends again at all.

Him seeing Kurogiri and feeling something is *wrong* but he doesn’t know what, but it feels like he was violated.

Oboro never left his friends.

He had been there for his funeral, standing at their sides as they cried; he was there for that first birthday after his death when Shouta broke his hand punching a brick wall and refused to go to the hospital for it; he was there at Shouta and Hizashi’s wedding, taking his rightful place as Best Bud to mirror Nemuri on the other side.

It hurt that they couldn’t see him, couldn’t hear him, but still he would never leave them. They needed him. They had always needed him.

He had all but given up on the idea of ever being heard when he heard Nezu’s announcement.

“We have a transfer student coming from England. His schooling has been… unconventional but considering his circumstances I have offered him a place at UA.” He doesn’t explain those circumstances. No one is stupid enough to ask. The rat takes his students safety seriously after all, and if he thought they needed to know he would have told them or put it in the files they were now flipping through.

“Necromancy?” Snipe read off of the file. “Like zombies?”

Nezu’s smile was unsettling. “Not exactly. Potter-kun’s quirk deals with spirits and ghosts rather than raising the dead… as far as we know at this point that is. His was a… late mutation.”

Everyone in the room froze. Oboro nearly phased through the meeting room table in surprise. Mutations were hardly unheard of but for them to occur so long after the quirk had manifested usually meant one thing.

Trauma.

Significant trauma.

Oboro didn’t know what to think as he waited at the gates for their transfer student (he totally qualified as an honorary UA teacher at this point after all the lessons he had sat through) but it certainly wasn’t Harry Potter.

He hadn’t bothered with the uniform (wisely as the area around UA was always a pit of vultures approaching term and doubly so with the rumors of All Might teaching this year) instead choosing a rather oversized sweater and jeans that were more hole than pant at this point. But what shocked Oboro most was his eyes.

They were like beacons drawing him in. Glowing a bright green that looked.. otherworldly. Like the first moment of his afterlife. Like death.

No wonder the ghosts of UA flocked to him.

Harry Potter was something different, and Oboro wasn’t going to let the first person who had been able to seen him in years deal with all of that.

(And having Hizashi Shouta and Nemuri see him again was just an added bonus in his mind)

[sugolara]

𝘽𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙣 𝙧𝙤𝙖𝙙

ft. K.B x S.T x I.M x fem! reader

Synopsis: After a deadly virus leaks all over the world, every country is forced to close down it's borders and airports to prevent anyone from coming in and out. Though, it's to late for some people. The dead has rose and is looking for revenge. Cw: gore, quirkless! au, apocalypse! au, zombie! au, weapons, death, angst, lots and lots of blood, cannibalism, suicidal thoughts, slow burn

previous || series m.list || next

“Great. Another fucking town with those damn things.” Katsuki whispered as he, Shoto, Izuku and F/n crouched beside a rundown car, “Things can never be easy, huh?”

“There doesn’t seem to be too many.” Shoto noted as four stragglers walked slowly, “They’re also slow.”

“Too slow.” F/n said, “Wonder why that is.”

Izuku thought back to his notebook, “They must not be eating, that’s why. It’s probably been weeks since they had eaten anything.”

“Let’s not be the first then.” Katsuki slowly and watched his steps as he moved towards a building with a side door. F/n followed behind along with Izuku then Shoto. As quietly as he could, Katsuki jiggled the doorknob. Izuku peered to the side of the building to see if any rotters were nearby.

Wanting to let out a frustrated cry, Katsuki sighed, “It’s locked.”

“Fantastic.” F/n said with an annoyed look.

Izuku looked back and noticed Shoto was nowhere to be seen, “Where’s Shoto?”

Katsuki and F/n looked around, “He was just here.”

“Wasn’t he behind me?” F/n puzzlingly asked.

As Katsuki was going to the side of the building, he stopped as Shoto appeared and startled him, “Fuck!” he whispered, “What the hell are you doing!? Don’t you know not to sneak up on people!?”

Shoto tilted his head a bit and pointed to the side, “I found an opening. It’s clear.”

“You went by yourself?” Izuku asked, a little concerned.

Shoto shrugged, “It was open.”

F/n walked past them, “Hurry up before someone spots us.”

The three quickly followed behind. Entering what appeared to be a pharmacy, F/n rushed to the medical supplies while Shoto quietly closed the door and blocked it with a small rack. It wouldn’t do much, but the sound of the rack could give them a head start.

Izuku walked off towards F/n. He could tell she wasn’t pleased with the sight of the shelfs being empty. He heard her sigh. “Nothing. Not even a damn bandage or tweezers. Hell, not even condoms. Who the hell is getting laid these days?”

Shaking the image off with a burning face, Izuku glanced down at his feet and kicked an empty box of painkillers, “Maybe someone hid a few items.”

F/n grunted, “Probably, but,” she looked around, “this place looks empty.”

Izuku hummed as he also looked around, “Yeah.”

Hearing Katsuki and Shoto moving where the drug counter is at, F/n and Izuku move towards and see them looking through boxes after finding a flashlight.

“Anything?” Izuku asked.

Shoto shook his head, “Only this light. We found it in one of the boxes.”

“Except this stupid piece of shit doesn’t work.” Katsuki said as the light flickered. He hit the light until it would stop flickering. Unfortunately, it didn’t work as the light completely stopped working.

“Way to go, Katsuki.” Shoto said as they were now in complete darkness.

“Like you can do any better.” Katsuki scoffed and stood up. In complete darkness he accidentally shoved and stepped on F/n’s foot. She hissed quietly, “Yo, watch it!”

“I can’t see shit!” Katsuki quietly yelled back at her.

“Okay, well, maybe don’t move, Kachaan.” Izuku squinted to where he was last standing.

Shoto sighed, “We should call it a night then.”

Although they couldn’t see each other, they nodded and began to lie down. They could hear each other shuffling and trying to get comfortable on the hard floor. Sniffing and rubbing her nose, F/n stared at the ceiling and whispered, “...Goodnight, I guess.”

“Night.” Izuku rolled to his right side, hugging himself from the cold. Shoto murmured back while Katsuki grunted. After a while she could hear soft snoring, and the wind blowing outside. She waited a couple more minutes in case she heard a rotter, but after hearing nothing she soon fell asleep.

When morning arrived, F/n steadily opened her eyes and noticed Shoto wasn’t around. She saw Katsuki near the far corner with a dried bloody couch next to him. She rolled to her side, but stayed still when she saw Izuku’s back closely to her. He must’ve rolled towards her in his sleep. She felt warmth emitting from him.

Standing up, she quietly exited the drug counter so as to not wake up her companions. As she stood in the main store, Shoto entered and stared at her. “You’re awake.”

F/n nodded, “Yeah. Where were you?”

“I went to see if any of the cars had keys.” Shoto said as he closed the door behind, “But I found nothing. Not even gas.”

“Of course.” F/n rolled her eyes, “If it’s not this it’s something else.”

Shoto hummed and walked behind the store, “I did find this though.”

He handed her a red medical bag. She was surprised to see it full of supplies, “Where did you find this?”

Shoto didn’t say anything and only pointed towards the ceiling before going to wake up Izuku. F/n looked up to see one of the ceiling tiles missing. The tiles around had a red arrow pointing towards it. She figured someone must’ve left it for other survivors.

A yawning Izuku caught her attention. Shortly after came a scowling Katsuki. Ignoring the blonde, F/n ushered for Izuku to sit on the dirty chair next to the holiday cards. Sitting down, Izuku eyed the supplies, “It’s not going to hurt badly right?”

“Uh,” F/n eyed Katsuki and Shoto before looking back at Izuku, “Do you want them to hold you down.”

“Oh.” Izuku only said.

“Man up, Deku.” He crossed his arms and leaned on the shelfs, “Sooner or later you’ll be facing a lot worse.”

Shoto rolled his eyes, “Is that supposed to be reassuring.”

Katsuki glared at Shoto. The other two simply ignored them. As F/n pulled out rubbing alcohol and held his hand, she stared at Izuku, “You might want to bite down on something.”

Nodding, Izuku bit down on his clamped shirt and tightly closed his eyes when F/n began to address his wound. He held back from jumping or kicking F/n. He would feel guilty for hurting her. Instead of focusing on the pain, he thought about other things to calm him down.

Like the smell of his mothers cooking, the sight of his friends, the face of his father that he is slowly forgetting and the dreams he had where everything was normal.

Before he knew it, F/n was done. She then pointed to his shirt, “Take it off.”

Doing as told, he removed his dirty shirt and the gauge that was beginning to peel off, “Does it look bad.”

“It looks ugly.” Katsuki quickly added, “What do you want us to say? It looks pretty?”

F/n and Shoto just glared at him. Izuku sweat dropped and looked back at F/n. “It’s fine. Seems to be healing right so that’s good.”

“Wel–” Izuku hissed when F/n began cleaning the wound. He gripped his jeans tightly, “Give me a damn fucking warning next time!”

F/n stammered her movement as this was the first time she’s heard Izuku cuss. Katsuki just smiled smugly while Shoto let out a low whistle, “Well that’s a first.”

Izuku quickly apologized to her, “So-sorry, sorry. That just came out of nowhere.”

F/n slightly shook her head as she began to put a gauge on, “It’s alright. I’d be cussing to, shit hurts.”

While F/n put the supplies away, Izuku tried pulling his shirt on with cheeks of embarrassment. Shoto, however, stopped him, “I found this clothing store a few blocks down.”

“Well what am I supposed to wear?” Izuku asked.

“Go shirtless, duh.” Katsuki rolled his eyes and began to head outside the store. Shoto followed along and F/n shrugged at Izuku. Izuku deadpanned as he watched them leave but quickly followed after.

[lostbetweenvampiresandmusic]

Ok, i got one. AU where Lost Boys the movie exists, inspired by those events actually occurring in the 80s. So it'd be like 12 & 13 with reader x Marko? Maybe the reader's a serial killer or something dead like a Ghoul or Zombie, and after a showing of Lost Boys in Santa Carla, they take a soon to be victim to the cave, and then end up just fucking the victims shit up. Little does the reader know, the cave isn't a abandoned as they had thought, and Marko falls in love the second reader disembowels the guy.

(Not me hitting post instead of edit😅) Thanks so much for the request! It got a bit darker than i expected, but it was an interesting one to figure out, so I hope you'll like this as well!💜

12. "I shouldn't have seen that movie..."

13. "Did you know this cave is haunted?"

----------------------------

I smiled as the familiar sounds of Cry Little Sister blared through the sound system, echoing over the beach. At least a hundred people had gathered here to watch the movie, and I couldn't be more pleased. You see, in my profession, it was of utmost importance to stay inconspicuous. Stay invisible within the crowds, stay out of sight whenever someone was looking for something - or rather someone. And, above all, have a good eye. It takes skill to know how certain people will respond when you first approach them. To calculate their next moves. If you fail in approaching the right person, you're whole job is going to be ruined.

Luckily, I was good at what I did. So, with two beers in hand, I smiled at a guy in his early" twenties. He seemed carefree, easy going - the perfect type.

"Mind if I sit with you?" I asked sweetly, offering a beer as an exchange for the favour, and as a conversation started.

"No, no, pretty ones like you can join me anytime," the guy winked, causing me to grin. Yeah. He would do perfectly.

We sat together the whole movie, chatting and laughing, and when the movie came to an end, I knew I had the guy wrapped around my finger. It had been easy. Agree with him, initiate some physical touch - and here he was, willing to follow me anywhere.

As he helped me up, a wonderful idea popped into my head. "Do you want to check out the caves?"

"Wait, they're real?"

I nodded. "Not too far from here. It's supposed to be pretty secluded," I said with a wink, causing the guy to grin and readily agree.

Together, we walked over the beach and through the forest - it was not very far, just 3 miles or so, but far enough to tire a guy like him out for just a little bit.

"Can we stop for a bit?" He asked, out of breath, as we reached a clearing. I shook my head, pointing at the 'do not enter' sign.

"There's no need, we're here."

"It says not to enter."

I nodded. "So?"

"I- listen, I like you, a lot and I would love to do more but - I don't think this is my thing?"

I smiled. "Sorry. I should have clarified what I wanted first. We don't have to do anything, but I would love it if you joined me if we went to explore that cave."

"Just exploring?"

"Yeah. The second we see something that's off, we're out of there. I promise."

The guy thought for a moment, sighing deeply before nodding. "Alright."

I grinned, taking his hand and leading him down the stairs. He didn't need to know that I had been here several times before during the day, exploring to see whether this would be a good secondairy location or not. Needless to say, I declared it to be a good one.

"Did you know," I stated as we stood at the cave entrance, " that this cave is haunted?"

The guys eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"That's what they say anyways. They also say that there are actual vampires here, but we both know that that's bullshit, right?" I grinned. Who knows whether or not they existed, as far as I could tell, they weren't living in the cave.

"I- I am not sure about this -" the guy began again, and by now, I had to admit that I lost my patience. So, with a gentle nudge, I pushed him inside. He screamed as he rolled through the entrance, falling on the floor several feet below. I heard a loud, sickening crack, and I knew that his leg had broken when he cried out. Easily, I jumped in after him, landing on my feet next to his body.

"What did you do that for?"

"What?" I asked innocently, ignoring his terrified expression. "You're not really telling me that you're scared?"

"What if I am, hm?" The guy asked. "I never should have seen that movie..."

"That we can agree on," I crouched down beside him, taking a sharp knife out of my coat pocket. "If you hadn't been there, I wouldn't have picked you up."

"Wh - what are you going to do?"

"Me? I'm going to have some fun. I've been told I need to study up on my biology. You are my practice material."

"What?!" The guy paled. "You can't do this! You- HELP, SOMEBODY!"

"No one will hear you," I smiled, "I thought I told you this place was rather secluded, hm?"

"Let me go, you freak!"

I chuckled, swiftly moving my knife down, cutting his hand off in one swift movement. The guy screamed and cried, bleeding all over the floor as he tried to crawl away. Lazily, I walked after him, my foot landing on his back, stopping him in his crawl.

"Turn over."

"No!"

"Don't make me turn you over. You'll regret it."

The guy weakly turned, laying on his back. "Good boy," I said before kneeling down on top of him. I talked to him while I acted, explaining how I would drag my knife from his throat all the way to his navel, how I would slowly but surely take every single organ out. The more I talked, the deeper I cut, the quieter his screams became. In the end, all that was left was an empty vessel, the insides spread around the cave.

I stood up, ready to go outside, when I saw a young man staring at me. He looked at me, not with fear but with admiration. A childlike wonder. "You did quite a number on him."

I shrugged. "He had it coming. Who are you?"

"I'm Marko. What did he do?" I looked at him, trying to determine if I would tell or kill him. He was handsome, but somewhere behind his cool look, I knew that I was no longer the only killer in the room. There was something about him.

"Besides annoying me with his existence? He sold drugs to some middle schoolers."

"So, do you avenge people often?"

"Why do you ask?" I looked at him, my knife still in hand. He grinned.

"Because after seeing this, I think I'm in love."

[theamityelf]

Haven't seen anything more with your zombie infected au, I kinda miss it. I would like to see more shennanigins with Makoto and his classmates pretty plz.

Ooh, I actually have a post in my drafts for the Undead AU! (It's unrelated to this ask, though, lol.)

But yeah, ask for whatever AU you want anytime! 😁

...

"Mail day!" Makoto cheered, returning to his classroom and finding, to his relief, that Taka and Sakura had succeeded in keeping everyone there in his absence.

Sakura immediately took the large package that he was struggling to carry and set it down in the middle of the room.

Those still in power over Hope's Peak could only get packages onto the barricaded campus once a week, and since each class had to be given their own package, the 78th class only received theirs once a month. Mail day. (Email day happened weekly, and the video calls with Matsuda happened biweekly.)

The box was lined with insulation, for it contained frozen meat for the undead and food for the luckster, along with whatever else they saw fit to send. (The meat ran out pretty fast, but at least it meant he wouldn't have to hunt for a few days and his friends weren't starving.)

Makoto pulled up a chair.

"Let's see..." He opened the letter from the headmaster that accompanied the package. "Yep, we have a few assignments today. Um..." He set aside the actual math homework and history assignment that had come enclosed for him, because for some reason the lucky students were expected to contribute to the pretense that this was still, on any level, a functioning school. "Hiro! You're first."

Yasuhiro climbed down from the shelf he'd ascended (because Syo had been fronting for most of the day and she'd gotten into it with Mukuro this morning).

"Okay, it looks like they just want you to choose something out of a list again. Oh, actually, you have to pick three. And it's a really long list. It says here there's a set of index cards, if that's easier..." He checked the box and found the centimeter-thick stack of index cards that had been mentioned. Like the list that was printed on the headmaster's letter, all the cards seemed to contain the name of a different chemical (all of which Makoto had never heard of). Makoto fanned out the cards as best he could, so Hiro could at least somewhat see the words on them. "So, you just have to pick three of these, and I'll tell them which ones you picked, okay?"

Hiro picked a card.

"Okay, that's one."

He picked another card.

"That's two. You're doing great."

He picked a third card.

"Great, that's three- Oh!"

Actually, the third "card" was two cards stuck together.

"I...don't know what to do about that, so I'll just tell them both cards and that they were stuck together. Thanks, Hiro!" Makoto wrote down the results, and Hiro skulked away, giving Syo a wide berth. "Okay. Sayaka?"

He turned and found that Sayaka was right behind him– the kind of thing which would have startled him at the beginning, but at this point he took it in stride.

"Great. They sent another recorder, and they want me to record you singing again, so I'll just start it now..." (He pushed the record button on the little device.) "...and I'll give that to you, and you can just hold it until it runs out of battery."

Sayaka took the recorder with a smile, like it was a treasured gift. Her smile was still as camera-ready as ever. And as usual, anything that made her the slightest bit happy made her start humming. And the sound of her own lovely voice only made her happier, which led to singing. She crawled off with the recorder in hand, vocalizing wordlessly.

"The new glasses are in! Byakuya, Syo- Oh, Toko!"

Byakuya got to his feet and shambled over to take the newest replacement for his broken glasses, but Toko merely crawled glumly over, snatched the little black glasses case from Makoto's hand, and crawled away. Rather than return to his original spot, Byakuya sat on the desk that corresponded to the chair Makoto was occupying, looming passively over him.

"Do you need help putting them on? No? Okay." (He still watched carefully, making sure neither of them poked themselves in the eye or broke the new glasses.) "Hifumi, a new sketchbook and pencils. Not that I don't love what you've done with the walls."

He handed off the art supplies, and Hifumi made a kind of squealing noise that was definitely getting picked up on Sayaka's recorder.

"I'm glad you like it. Don't forget, though, we're sending it back to them after a month so they can see your work." (He would still probably put up a fight about it, when the time came. Makoto had found that giving him money worked to make him relinquish his work, but it wasn't like he had a bunch of that here.) "Kyo- Ow!"

Celeste had at some point found her way to Makoto's side, and she was now pointedly yanking his hair. He knew that her choice to pull his hair was meant to communicate something, in lieu of speaking; if her primary goal had been to hurt him, it would have hurt way more.

"No, sorry Celeste. They didn't send your new hair clip yet. I only sent that email yesterday. Now, if you'll let go..."

Byakuya placed a hand on the back of Makoto's chair and leaned in, like a tiger about to pounce. (Though he didn't growl, as that would actively escalate things by getting Toko or Syo involved.) For a moment, he and Celeste had a bit of a stare off– him snarling at her and her glaring vacantly back. But then Sakura made a small noise like a clearing of the throat to remind them all that she was right there, and Celeste released Makoto's hair.

"Uh, thank you. Kyoko, your dad sent you a gift. And he says to tell you that he hopes you're feeling alright and that you know everyone is working hard to find a cure."

Makoto held up the little, flat box with the black ribbon on it, but Kyoko just dismissively batted it out of his hand and back into the package.

He sighed. "Well, if you change your mind, try to do it before Junko takes it."

Junko made a high, distinctly offended noise– more at being treated as predictable by Makoto, of all people, than anything.

Kyoko stood up and rested her weight on the back of Makoto's chair. She seemed to be reading over his shoulder, but one of the first things the people in charge had had him test was whether the undead could still read, and none of the results had been conclusive. The fact that Taka hadn't been able to complete assignments like the ones they sent Makoto (and not for lack of trying; they always sent him a copy, anyway, as much to track his mental faculties as to appease his desire to be a good student) suggested he probably couldn't read, but every now and then Kyoko did things like this, and it was unclear whether she was just going through the motions of gathering information or if she actually knew that she was looking at. She did nothing in particular to demonstrate comprehension.

"Um...what next..." Makoto took a little longer than he had to, pretending to find his place, just to see if Kyoko would point it out to him. She didn't. "Chihiro, another new tablet."

The functioning-tablet-for-Chihiro to broken-plaything-for-Kazuichi pipeline was pretty short, but Chihiro enjoyed the tablets while they worked, and it kept attention away from Makoto's laptop, which he needed to receive and answer emails and calls.

Not just because it would be bad if the laptop was broken, but even more so because the laptop's ability to contact the world outside the school meant that Chihiro could do something malicious with really bad consequences, like hack the people who were trying to find a cure and confuse or destroy all their records. At least, that was how it had been explained to Makoto. He was sure that Chihiro wouldn't mean to upset or sabotage anyone, but an intuitive skill for programming and a decreased situational awareness did not go well together.

Rather than take the tablet from his hands, Chihiro climbed onto Makoto's lap and started tapping at the device while it was still in his hands.

"Okay, it's getting kind of hard to read the letter, guys..."

[misguidedasgardian]

Wild Cats (part VI)

VI. A time to mourn

MASTERLIST

Summary: You had unknowingly signed up for the adventure you at first didn’t care for. You never expected what you were going to find there.

Pairing: Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Zombie apocalypse AU, living dead, zombies, guts, blood, guns, injuries, catholic/christian rites, a passage from the bible. 

+18, MINORS DNI

Notes: I just don’t want to pass the point of no return, of Daryl being terribly mean, he is, but at least he is always watching over us, so… he is all words jajaja

You were following that car well into the night and far from the church, to your counts, you were heading south, back to Atlanta, and the car was painfully familiar to you.

“Where do you think it’s going?”, asked Carol

“Back to Atlanta”, you answered quietly, you were in the backseat, and they both were in the front

“How do you know?”, she asked

“I have seen it before, the symbol”, you said, Daryl looked back at you for a second

“They took one of us”, he said, “Beth”

“Right”, you mumbled, “they tried to take one of mine a while ago”, you said quietly, but you didn’t say anything else

“You have known this whole time?”, asked 

“What?”, you asked back, “I didn’t know you were looking for them”

“Who are they?”, Carol asked

“Grady Memorial hospital”, you said

“How do you know that?”, Carol asked, you only looked back at her, not willing to answer. 

“That’s the only thing I know, this guys dressed as cops were “rescuing” people, take them back to the hospital where they are treated”, you said shortly, “that’s all I know”

In a couple of hours you were back into the city, following that car in a reasonable distance so it won’t see you. When it suddenly stopped, you stopped as well, turning off the car so it won’t hear you. You saw a cop coming out of the car, checking something, and then getting inside again. You tried to turn on the car, but it wouldn’t.

You had ran out of fuel

You looked outside and the neighborhood looked painfully familiar

“Let’s go, I have a place we can go near here”, you said quickly, getting out of the car. 

There were a few silent seconds in which you couldn’t hear anything near you, not walkers, or anything else, you were safe for now. You looked up and you could see the entire night sky, it was a clear night, and without all the city lights contaminating, it helped you see somewhat clearly.  

Then they got out of the car, interrupting the small peace that lasted barely seconds, and the three of you started walking into the night.

This might be a bad idea, in case you met them again, in case they were there. 

“Where are’ we goin”, asked Daryl catching up to you

“A safehouse, if you will”, you said simply.

A fairly new office building, it was small, five floors, four offices per floor, but it was walker proof, as you had blown up all the first floor, leaving on the the pillars and foundations, so no walker could linger, as it was an open space, only a fire escape ladder leading to the second floor. 

It looked more abandoned than the last time you saw it. Which was a scary thought

“What is this place?”, asked Carol, but you didn’t answer, you only started climbing. When you reached the top, into a metal railing balcony, you grabbed a rope that was hanging by the metal door and pulled. It was a bell, signaling to those inside that someone of the team was coming in, and you waited several minutes, as Daryl and Carol stood by your side, but nobody came. Confirming your suspicions.

The door hasn't been open in weeks, that much you could tell when you opened it. revealing the space inside. It was all empty, but that didn’t surprise you. you walked to the only closed door and opened it, revealing a stair to the third floor, and that is where the fun started.

It was a similar space then the first, but this one wasn’t empty. The first room was a made-up kitchen, a conference room you used as a dining room, another room where you stored your goods, food goods, and the fourth was a small armory that, even back then, was a bit empty. 

Daryl and Carol watched everything with careful eyes, as you meanwhile were coming down with the sense that nobody has been here in weeks, judging by the moldy can of beans on the table in the kitchen.

They were probably dead, you guessed, with a lump in your throat.

“Please eat, whatever you want”, there was a nice bounty there. And they dive in with no need for a second offer.

Your stomach was in knots.

You heard a noise upstairs, making you three flinch and hold onto whatever you had in your holsters in your belts.

You signaled them to stop, as you were going to check the sound yourself. You went up another flight of stairs, feeling the sound, it was coming from the bathroom. 

As soon as you step foot into the hall between the rooms, you heard it, clear as day

A deep, guttural growl was inside the bathroom, and your eyes adjusted to the night as you read the dreadful letters written in blood in the 

I’M SORRY

“No, no, no, no”, you whispered.

Yes you have come to terms with the fact that they might be dead, but to actually be witness to it, was a completely different thing.

You were shaking as tears started falling, you knew who it was, you’d recognize the letters anywhere. 

You felt your legs falter, due to fatigue, hunger, tiredness. You fell to the floor, managing to place your back against the door 

You hugged your legs as you sobbed uncontrollably, you heard the grunts and moans, and the hits against the door and you cried even louder. You heard steps coming your way and Daryl appeared, crossbow drawn, ready to launch. 

“Move”, he commanded

“No!”, you said, standing up quickly, “Don’t you dare!”, you said, looking at Daryl pointing the crossbow at the door, “I will do it”, you said surely, he didn’t let up, but took a step back, you grabbed your knife hidden in your boot.

Tears still tainting your cheek, you opened the door and the walker, one that had been your friend, launched at you. He had been a big man, so you had trouble, more to the fact that he was mainly “complete”, you had trouble grabbing him, placing your forearm on his chest keeping his head away from you.

Looking into those dead eyes almost made you fail, but you stabbed your knife as deeply as you could at the side of his head.

It immediately stopped moving, falling to the floor.

He didn’t look like him, you thought, as looked down at him, he didn’t, but… at the same time, it was him, there was no doubt.

Daryl looked at him

“He got bitten, didn’t have it in him to finish himself off”, he said, a big chunk of his leg was missing.

He had been bitten out there, he was alone, you guessed, and he came back here, infected, feverish, and locked himself in the bathroom. You looked inside, there was dried blood on the tub, and a gun, his gun.

He couldn’t do it. He died alone, and in pain, in this bathroom

Where was the other member of your team?, you wondered

You went to his room and grabbed the sheets covering his made up bed, and placed in on top of his body on the hall

“Ya’ should eat somethin”, the archer murmured quietly. You barely nodded, wiping the tears that were still falling silently.

It was silly in normal circumstances you would refuse anything that had to do with food right now, but you were starving, you missed the small feast the group had prepared back in the church, and the only thing yo

Gods you didn’t even let Rick know where you had gone, they were probably looking for you all.

There was an awkward silence between you and the archer, you were just looking down at your friend, you couldn’t leave him here, you just couldn’t. 

“Did ya’ know em?”, he asked gently, you barely nodded. 

“You should get something to eat”, you said to him, you needed to grab him, take him to the roof. You tried, but there was no way that you could take him up there yourself.

“Let me help ya”, he said, and between the both of you, you grabbed him. It was tricky, to go up two flights of stairs, but you did. 

Up there you had a wooden table and a couple of chairs, for when you had a moment at night, you’d sit up here, and eat, or chat, or whatever.

You placed him over the table. tomorrow, you were going to figure out what to do, how he’d like to go out.

You barely nodded at Daryl, who wouldn’t stop watching you like a hawk.

“Thank you”, you muttered, and then you both went back downstairs.

Carol looked at you sharply when you returned to the third floor. You just grabbed a can of noodles, and ate them up in a record speed.

“What is this place?”, she asked, again, as she had no answer of you

“I hold up here with a group for a couple of months”, you said

“This is like an operational base”, she said again, you do had to admit this was steps further from a simple “Warehouse” of civilians, but you had been trained by an army man, so.

You did not want to share, not like this.

“We had an army man with us”, you said simply, as you found a bottle of water, and a juice powder, which you happily put into the water, it’s been so long and you were a fan of it. You drank it so quickly it made your stomach hurt. 

“Take any room you want”, you said, “as you can see, it’s pretty safe here, but you can make shifts if you want, or whatever. You muttered, suddenly drained of energy. You went up to the room you occupied when you lived here. And finally felt safe, and at peace, and you fell into a dreamless sleep.

You woke up when there was a beautiful pink light in the horizon, signaling for the new day. 

You used the upstairs bathroom, there was still water inside the tank, to clean your face. You ate breakfast, just as you heard both of them moving around upstairs. 

You searched under the sink in the kitchen for the secret stash, you found an old bottle of whiskey which, in the normal world, would be more expensive than a car. You went up to the roof, Pope was there where you left him, Pope, it was funny, he was a christian, or catholic rather, so you’d mock him, calling him that. 

A soft wind picked up, raising the sheet from his body, you shook your head, trying to fix it. You searched his pockets, finding his trusted lighter, and his bible, which you grabbed from him. 

“We need to keep moving”, Daryl said behind you as you were fixing his clothes. 

“Then go”, you said quietly, as you were wrapping him as best you could, “I don’t want you or need you here, I’m not leaving him”

“He’s dead!”, he said, raising his tone, “do you want us to leave you and be alone again?”

“I have to do this”, you said defiantly, “I left him once I’m not gonna do it again”, he heard him huff and whisper something under his breath, but you wouldn’t listen. He didn’t leave though, he gave you your space, standing by the door, and waited for you. 

You resumed your work, wrapping your friend more properly.

Once you were done, you poured the whiskey all over him, after taking a sip, you needed courage. Once he was soaked in it, you grabbed his bible. 

“Ya’ catholic?”, he asked softly behind you.

“He was”, you said, as you searched for his favorite passage, he would often read it, at night, when he thought nobody could listen to him. But you did. The bible had been open so many times on those pages that you didn’t even have to look much. 

You finally found it, as you heard Carol joining you, but you shook your head, trying to concentrate as tears clouded your vision.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die…”, your voice broke a bit, and felt silly, people were watching you, so you swallowed it and kept going, “...a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to throw away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace”, you recited, it was an odd time to end it, so you out down the book, and place it on his chest. 

“Your time here is over, my friend”, you said sadly, placing a hand on his chest, “I’ll see you on the other side”, you fired up the lighter and burned the sheet around him, it burned up like paper because of the whiskey, and soon the whole table was on fire. You watched it burn, counting to a hundred. 

You turned to the pair of them, who were looking at you with guilty eyes, but yours were dead now

“Now we can go”, you said, your voice breaking. Daryl didn’t say a word, but to your incredible surprise, he wrapped his arms around you, you hid your face on his chest, it lasted barely seconds, but it comforted you more that you could ever explain. When he released you, Carol placed a hand on your shoulder, and you three walked back downstairs, “we can do some recon, of where they have your friend, then we can come back here to spend the night again if you wish”, you said shortly.

“We should take what we can now, in case…”, Carol muttured red and you nodded. 

It had been raided, the armory at least, but you found a couple of handguns, and most important of it all, a silencer. You found arrows, for Daryl, and he seemed pleased when you handed them to him

Carol also refilled her chargers, and you took some for yourself, you couldn’t be wasting time recharging in the middle of a herd or being attacked.

“the rest of em’, ain’t them coming back ere?”, Daryl mumbled

“No, if he was here, alone, the other is gone”, you said shortly, “he won’t come back, not soon at least”, you said back, the lack of weapons and nothing else would tell you as much.

You looked at each other, all armed up, ready to go

“Let’s go find your friend”, you said shortly.

Walking down the street again was surreal, so many months ago you had left and never came back. You looked as far as you could, but the truck wasn’t there.

It was gone.

But it was a residential neighborhood, so you had no trouble finding a working car which still had a decent amount of gas in it.

You didn’t know what to do next, or what you should be expecting, you drove through the streets making sure to cross nobody in the same conditions.

You barely remembered where the hospital was, you truly haven't come across those people but once, when they tried to take one of yours after he got injured, you fought them of, he was fine, but they still believe they had this “authority” when they dressed as policemen, you didn’t know what was going on in that hellish place, nor you did want to find out.

Luckily Carol did remember where it was, so you stopped a couple of blocks away, and you got inside an office building, where you could have a better view.

It was unusually empty of walkers, they left, you thought, in search of warm bodies to feed on.

“There it is”, said Carol, pointing at the wing of the hospital that was part of your view

“”What do we do?”, ask Daryl, “coming rushing in?”

“I don’t think it’s the best idea”, you murmured, “we have the surprise factor but we have no idea what are we getting into”, you whispered

“We need to get Beth back”

“Why are you looking for Beth?”, the three of you jumped at the intrusion, you turned around quickly, arms in the air, to came face to face with a boy

“Ye’ know Beth?”, Daryl asked quickly

“Yes, the both of us were trapped in the hospital”, he said quickly, “she help me get out”

“We are Beth’s family”, said Carol, “we need to get her back”

“The thing’s a fortress”, he said, “men armed to the teeth, they have the numbers and the weapons”, he said

“We also have numbers and weapons”, muttered Daryl.

“Why you’d scape?”, you asked the boy

“What?”

“Why did you have to escape? Why were they holding you against your will?”, you asked then

“The place is run by this policewoman”, he said, “she’ll save you, but then makes you work, to pay them for their service”, you hummed, “they won’t let you leave because they believe there is nothing out there, it’s… weird”

“Can we dialogue with her?”, you asked then, if they were not going to ask anything, you were going to.

“I dunno”, he said. You sighed, you looked back at Carol and Daryl, who were looking back at you expectantly.

“We should go back and get the others”, Carol said decisively

“You sure?”, you asked, “this could escalate”, you muttered, “meaning, what are we gonna do, take hostages?”, you mocked, they shared looks, all of them, with the kid too, “No!”, you said

“There is no other way”, the kid said

“How did you escape? Is there a way you can sneak us back in?”, you asked

“There is no way in”, he said surely

“We’r gettin Rick”, said Daryl, “and your coming with us”, he said to the kid

“I’m Noah, by the way”, he said

“I’m Daryl”

“Carol”

“(y/n)”, you presented yourself. And you had a very strong feeling about this, something was going to be very wrong. 

Post chapter notes: sorry if this feels like a filler chapter, but again, I needed to tell part of reader’s story, another part is coming, it’s called “Exterminators Inc” which tells the story of reader’s past before she found Rick

Should I leave Beth alive? I was thinking of ways to "keep her" int he story but i don't know how that might work in the future

[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.

[luveline]

Maybe a Steve zombie au where there’s a really close call and reader almost doesn’t make it. Steve is just so shaken up he refuses to let go of them. Also congrats on 30k!!!!

thank you so much!! I hope this is okay ty for ur request!! ♡ fem!reader

You wake up to a hand in your hand.

"Oh, fuck," you croak. You're not sure what you're cursing about, because every bone in you body is hurting. Which one to choose?

It's an all encompassing kind of pain, pervasive as a tooth ache. The only thing that doesn't hurt is your palm against Steve's, or your chest where his head rests. Both of those points feel okay.

"Steve," you say, throat dry as sandpaper. It barely sounds like his name. "Steve. Wake up. Please."

You shake your joined hands.

He moves remarkably quickly. One second his hands a limp weight and the next it's squeezing you tightly, his head turning on your chest so you can see his face. He looks pretty bad, all sallow skinned and dirty, but it's not too far from the norm.

"Steve?"

His eyelashes pull apart like they've been glued together.

"Can I have painkillers? Please?" You're in enough pain that it makes your teeth chatter.

"Shit," he says, sitting up. "Shit. Shit." He stares at you, relief and surprise breaking through the heaviness of his fatigue.

"Do we have any?"

He shakes himself. "Yeah, of course we do."

Steve reaches under the bed you're on. You peer down at his one hand, the other still clutching your own. He searches through his rucksack for a pill bottle and uses the side of his hand rather than let go of you to open it, pouring two and then a third pill out.

Steve helps you up enough to drink with his hand behind your shoulders, murmuring a sorry, "I know," when you hiss in pain. Your head feels like somebody dropped a bowling ball on it.

As soon as you've taken the pills Steve sets you right back down, both hands now clasped to your wrist. It's the longest he's ever touched you, at least while you're both awake. He hugs you in his sleep sometimes.

"Do you remember what happened?" he asks.

You shake your head. The movement sends a pain like an electric shock up the length of your neck and Steve quickly shushes you, a reassuring, pitying bump of sound. "Sh, it's okay. Try not to move your neck, yeah?"

You swallow and blink back tears. It's alarming to find yourself so injured. Steve's touching you so much, it's like you almost died.

His grave expression tells you you might be closer to the truth than you realised.

"I knew we shouldn't have gone in there... I'm sorry. The water damage was worse than I thought and you- The floor gave way. You landed funny. I'm sorry."

"I fell through the floor?" you ask.

Steve nods slowly, one hand secured around your wrist and the other moving up your arm. "I couldn't work out what was wrong but you wouldn't wake up."

You focus on his touch. Your head, neck, and lower back hurt like crazy. When Steve had helped you sit up it had made your stomach burn, as if you'd done a hundred crunches without warming up. The only distraction is his light touch, his fingertips soothing up and down the length of your forearm. How many times have you hoped he'd touch you like this? And now he is you can hardly feel it through the aching.

You wouldn't wake up.

"How long have I been asleep?"

"You woke up this morning," he says, "I didn't think you would remember that. But before that, it was a long time. Sixteen hours."

You look over him again. It's obvious he's barely slept, and that he likely hasn't gone very far.

It's a single bed, but he can fit if he's willing to lie on his side. You shuffle away from him and pull at his arm.

Steve stares.

"Come up here."

He only listens when you try to pull your arm out of his hands, climbing in beside you carefully. You're not sure if he's noticed how he's clinging to you.

"You really need to stay still. I don't know what you've done. You definitely have a concussion," he says quietly.

"Did I throw up?"

"No."

You raise your eyebrows and then immediately stop. "Oh. Lucky you. Or lucky me. That would be embarrassing, right? Survive the zombie apocalypse to die choking on my own vomit?"

He hums. "Imagine how I felt. Kept you alive all the this time for you to die because we wanted new jeans."

"Bet I need new jeans now."

He nods regretfully. "Don't worry about it. I'll find you something."

You push a tired arm over your chest to cling him right back, fingers braceleting the muscle of his bicep hungrily. He's okay, and you're okay though you feel a thousand percent awful. As long as you get better, everything's gonna be fine.

"Thanks for taking care of me," you say, turning your face as much as you before your neck twinges in protest.

He presses down on each of your fingers in turn, distracted. "Don't worry about it."

"Are you okay?"

"I didn't fall ten feet."

"Are you okay?" you ask again, because he needs to be okay.

Strands of hair fall into his eyes, obscuring his expression. "I'm fine."

"Have you been eating?"

He laughs, a stark contrast to your hushed back and forth.

"What's funny?" you ask.

He needles his arms around your arm and hugs it to his chest, entirely unabashed. "I missed you. I'm glad you're awake."

You glare at him. "You missed my stupid questions."

"Yeah, I did."

Steve goes back to stroking your arm. You drop back into your pillow properly, gaze naturally landing on the yellowed ceiling above. He touches you almost unthinkingly, hands all over.

If you'd known almost dying would make him this clingy you might've tried it a long time ago.

-

more steve zombie!au

[sachirobabe]

Chapter 7

Gojo Satoru x reader

Wc: 3390

Curseless au

Summary: Amidst the zombie apocalypse, your courage shines as you not only saves lives but capture the heart of Gojo Satoru. Together with his first-year students, you all embark on a perilous journey, not only for survival but in a quest for a cure that adds a poignant layer to the unfolding romance.

<— Previous | Masterlist | Next —>

The next day was no different. Walking for hours on end, luckily no terrible run-ins with zombies had occurred. You couldn't believe this would take about 3 weeks in total.

You were ready to never walk a day in your life again. It had snowed during one of the nights, making the cold even more unbearable.

"Your nose is red." You say to Satoru, your feet crunch the fresh snow beneath you. "You can have the scarf back." You begin to unravel the one he gave you.

"No don't, I'm okay." He smiles, "I can handle a little cold."

"You sure? You can wear mine Gojo!" Itadori turns around and begins to walk backwards.

"I'm fine, thank you though." He appreciates. Itadori gave him a thumbs up and as he did so he fell right on his ass, groaning as he lays there helplessly. Satoru laughs and extends a hand for him.

"I knew you were gonna fall." Maki says, Nobara by her side laughing at the sight, snow was all up his back. He frowns and begins to rid himself of the snow.

You all were approaching another city, you'd have to be more on your guard now that you're not out in the open with no buildings, zombies or people could be a corner away.

"Nanami, when's our next break." Shoko breathes heavily.

"It's all those cigarettes you smoke, they're catchin' up to 'ya." Satoru grins, knowing just how to get under her nerves. He gracefully dodges the snowball thrown from her.

"We can check out that building." Nanami points ahead and you all rushed to get there to have more rest.

You all had your guns raised, in case of any zombie. After you all checked every single crevice of the falling apart grocery store, you were able to calm down.

Satoru took a spot next to you and Nanami on your other side. He had made small conversation with you, mostly just checking in. Then Nanami got up and talked to the second-years.

"I feel like I'm gonna get hypothermia." You shiver.

"I know. Me too." Satoru says, he rubs his hands up and down quickly on your arms to hopefully get you to warm up.

"I'm gonna go stand outside." You say to the group, you just wanted to keep an eye out. Satoru of course followed you.

Your eyes scanned the area, you're not sure if you saw something, but there was movement out of the corner of your eye. You focus your attention behind a building where you think they went behind.

Satoru noticed you staring off and looks as well, he's not sure exactly what he's looking at though, "What's wrong?" He whispers to you.

"I thought I saw something." You finally tear your eyes away and look into his eyes. Satoru then sees the movement you're talking about.

"It's a person." He squints, the figure now disappearing again. They were still a little far, but your guard is up.

"Should we tell the others?" You worriedly say. "We don't know what they'll do."

"I think we should leave." Satoru clenched his jaw and made his way back into the store with the others.

3 shots broke the silence, your ears were ringing and your vision shut so hard that when you opened your eyes it was blurry. You quickly shake it off and move behind a car as more shots were aimed towards you.

"What the fuck was that." Nanami whips his head quickly towards the door, they all took their cover as shots were aimed recklessly inside and out the store.

"Watch out!" Satoru, pulls Inumkai, he could still hear, but not as well as the rest of you.

Your entire body was covered by the car, quickly you make sure your gun is loaded and when there is a pause of shots you peek and take aim, shooting back. You effectively hit one of them in the leg and he cries loudly.

As you duck again you're able to know there's 4 men. Nanami peeks his head out as the shots stopped and takes his aim, you follow with him and shoot again.

"Fuck." You hear one of them yell in pain, "I'm shot, Geto." That name. You recognize it.

"Let's run." You hear someone say and footsteps quickly get further away.

You fully stand up now and begin shooting them again, you weren't able to hit them, but you sure did get close.

After they were fully out of sight, you rejoined the group.

"Is everyone all right?" You say breathing heavily.

They all nod.

"Are you shot?" Satoru runs up to you and pulls you inside further into the store, he sits you down and begins to examine you. He's really frightened, he never shows his emotions much, but he was terrified of anybody getting hurt.

"I'm good." You say, "I shot the short one." You say.

"Fucking Geto." Satoru seethes, you know this is wrong, but he is very very attractive when this furious. You admire for a second then shake your thoughts away.

"What the hell are they doing this far out?" Shoko furrows her brows, checking the students for any injuries.

"No idea. But they're gonna keep giving us trouble." Nanami rubs his nose, clenching his jaw. "Nice job on hitting one of them." He compliments you and you simply nod.

"All he wants is trouble." Satoru's voice is deeper than normal. He's beyond furious. "We've gotta get rid of 'em." He stands face to face with Nanami.

"Absolutely not." Nanami chuckles and it only makes Satoru even more upset.

"You want to wait until once of us is killed?" He stands his ground. Nanami took him serious and eyed him, clenching his jaw.

"No, but now is not the time. We've got a mission." Nanami, who's a bit smaller in height slightly looks up to Satoru.

"Yeah well we've got bigger problems now." Satoru gets impossibly closer to Nanami. Tension is rising and you know it's best to pull him away.

You grab ahold of Satoru, "Now's not the time to go at each other." You tug on his sleeve.

He eyes you and he immediately softens, then glares back at Nanami. He takes a step back and sighs, closing his eyes and reopening them. Much more calm now.

"I'm sorry, but we can't keep letting them do this to us." He says. "This is like the third run-in we've had with him and his gang." Satoru continues.

"I understand." Nanami says. "I don't think they'll follow us, I think we should keep moving." He says.

"We still need to see if the radio tower works." Shoko joins.

"And the military base near there too." Megumi says.

Satoru grumbles to himself, but ultimately agrees and you all continue walking. Getting out of the city as quick as you could so there'd be no chance you'd run into them again.

You decide to give Satoru some space, he was behind the whole group. A serious look on his face, he made sure to keep an eye out for anything, especially behind him.

Everybody seemed to be on edge, and rightfully so. You just wanted to get to your next checkpoint to relax. It was rough now, going up hills leading up to a mountain.

"We have to go up that?" You say to Nanami and he sighs before answering.

"Yes. Before sundown." He checks his watch, the mountain wasn't too big, but it'd definitely take every ounce of strength left in all of you.

"Let's get this over with." Nobara takes a deep breath and begins to climb.

There wasn't much talking between any of you. Occasionally someone would stop to catch their breath and you'd all follow. Light sprinkles of snow fell, and you hoped it wouldn't be bad tomorrow morning.

Your thighs ached and begged to rest, but you could see it start to flatten a little and that was all the strength you needed. Once you reached the top, you only had to wait a few minutes before everyone else had made it.

A few of them had their hands on their knees, others dropped right to the ground to catch their breaths. There was a small resort that you'd all be staying in, a hot springs resort.

The sun was setting rapidly, you're lucky you had made it just in time.

"I'll go find some wood, keep an eye on them, okay?" Nanami tells you as he ventured off with the first -years.

"Do you mind finding a room for us?" You signed to Inumaki and he smiles.

"No problem. We'll look around." He signs back and holds up his gun to indicate he was going to make sure nothing else was in there. Panda and Maki follow along with him as backup.

Satoru sat on a lobby chair, one that wasn't falling apart. You're not sure if you should say something. He hasn't talked to anyone since you had left the grocery store.

You focus your attention on the pictures in the lobby instead. The resort seemed in relatively good shape still, you think nobody wanted to risk the hike up the mountain to get here.

"Satoru, you mind helping?" Shoko is holding wood in her arms, he eyes her and mumbles a 'sure' and makes his way over. It was finally dark out, he made the fire himself and began to warm up last nights dinner.

"There's hot springs here." You say to Shoko, you're both watching Satoru outside.

"You think we can find them?" She says.

"I want to. I bet they're really warm still." You make your way behind the front desk, there had to be a map somewhere. "Found it." You say to yourself.

Shoko turns on her flashlight to see what you've got in your hands. "The springs should be.. here." She points, "It looks like a short walk."

"You wanna go with me?" You say, already imagining how warm it'd be.

"Hell yeah." She chuckles and goes off to find Nanami.

Satoru begins to put the fire out, carrying the leftover fox. "Dinners ready." His usual smile is back and it makes your stomach do flips.

During dinner, you brought up the hot springs to Nanami who seemed reluctant at first, but ultimately gave in when he saw how close they were to the resort.

And you had promised you'd bring weapons with you. You'd all be fully unclothed so you suggested that the girls go together and the boys go together.

Nobara and Maki refused to see their classmates in the nude, you don't blame them. You wrapped a towel around your body and grabbed your gun, leading the way.

It was quiet out. You could only hear your groups whispers and steps. Your flashlight scoped the area just in case, but you knew nobody or anything were near.

"Oh my god." Nobara said, tears in her eyes as she saw the springs.

"This is gonna feel so good." Shoko smiled. You put your gun on the ground and unwrapped your towel. You weren't very shy, you were all girls and it was dark out, minus your flashlight.

You stepped one foot in and almost moaned at the feeling. The others followed and did the same. In no time you had all submerged yourselves. The spring was huge, bigger than a swimming pool at a hotel.

"Good call, Y/n." Shoko sighs contently.

"This feels amazing." Nobara follows.

"I can practically feel myself defrost." Maki chuckles.

"Feels nice to rinse off too." You say, your last shower being at the military base. Before the apocalypse, this would've been gross, but who cares now. A wash is a wash.

Your muscles relaxed more with every minute spent in the hot spring. This was heaven. The other girls chatted and you'd chime in here and there, but you were basking in the warmth.

"How long until the guys come find us." Maki says, "I never wanna leave."

You chuckle, "Satoru is needy as hell, so it shouldn't be too long."

"You've got that right." Shoko shakes her head. "I'm starting to get too hot." She sits up, her arms resting on the sides of the spring.

"We can go in a few. I'm sure the boys want to spend their time here too." You say, sitting up as well. Maki and Nobara did everything they could to stay longer, they really did not want to leave.

You wrapped your figure in your towel, the cold air slicing your skin. A flashlight shined on the 4 of you, thankfully all wrapped up.

"Hey," Shoko clicks her tongue, "what if we were naked?" She huffs.

"But you're not." Nanami says, a towel wrapped just around his waist. You find Satoru, who's the same. You quickly scan his body up and down, thanking god that it was dark out so nobody could call you out on it.

He looked good. Real good.

"Now leave so we can be warm too." Nanami says and you all roll your eyes. You're careful going back to the resort, it was freezing, but definitely worth it.

Maki and Nobara passed out very quickly, you're sure they're exhausted. Shoko lights a small candle and sets it next to her and begins reading. You'll always find her reading some sort of medical book.

"What're you reading now?" You whisper across the room as you shut the blinds.

"Textbook about how vaccines were discovered and the process and stuff." She says. "I'm just trying to remember some things I forgot in medical school."

You nod, "Vaccines?" You question.

"Wouldn't it be nice if there was something for us to take and we'd never have to worry again about what'd happen if we got bit by one of those things." She sighs, you think she's been having this on her mind for a while.

"That'd be great." You chuckle. "But wouldn't that be impossible? Getting one of those things to cooperate with us so we can study them?"

"Yeah.. but we could try?" She has a hopeful glimmer in her eye.

"I'd love to, we could kill off all zombies and start over." You're fantasizing about the idea. Being able to go to the mall, not worry about food or who's out to kill you.

"That's why Nanami is so adamant on this new military base, it has a huge lab for us to work in." Shoko pulls out the blueprints from her backpack to show you.

"That is my dream lab." You say, your mouth agape from all the technology inside. "Do you have any hope for the radio tower?" You question.

"Not really to be honest." Her hand finds her forehead and rubs hard. "But Nanami thinks so. He just wants to make sure there's no other better living space for us out there."

"I hope we get at least something." You say and she nods, you leave her be to continue reading. You're starting to feel a little hopeful.

The boys returned shortly, the younger ones immediately fell asleep along with the girls. Nanami took first watch, but you're tossing and turning in your makeshift bed.

You feel a poke on your back and already know who it is, you turn back around and face the white haired male and hum.

"I'm sorry you had to interfere earlier." He whispers, making sure not to wake up his students.

"It's okay. If I had it my way, we would've gone after them." You say. "I shot one."

"Uh huh," he pinches your cheek, "good job." You could feel his wide smile in the dark. "But Nanami was right, too. And I hate how upset I got.. it worried me that anybody could've gotten hurt." He now is looking up at the ceiling.

"I understand. I think you're valid for how you felt and so was Nanami." You answer back.

"We need to get rid of them before they hurt us." His jaw clenches, "I know Geto and he's not gonna stop."

"You really hate him." You say, more as a statement.

"More than anything. He changed. We used to be best friends, believe it or not."

"Really?" You say surprised. "Megumi said he got expelled so I just figured he was trouble from the start."

He scoffs, "Oh not at all. He used to keep me in line."

"Yeah I figured you were a bad student." You deadpan and he pinches you.

"He got into it with this girl and she put so many ideas into his head and did a whole 180." Satoru shook his head. "But it's still his fault for what he did."

"What'd he do?" You hesitated to even ask.

Satoru's breathing hitches and then continues, "He.. volunteered to go do some handyman work at this village, cause we needed community service," he begins, "but then he shot up the entire village and murdered everyone then ran away."

"Oh my god." You sit up, suddenly nauseous, you find your water bottle and take a small sip. "That's awful. I'm so sorry."

"Police couldn't find him. But he reached out to Shoko and I met up with them and.." he stops.

"It's okay, Satoru. You don't have to tell me." You place your hand on his arm.

"I asked him why he did what he did and he started saying all this bullshit, but I didn't turn him in. I let him go and I regret that everyday." He finishes.

"It was hard on you, you two were best friends. Don't blame yourself for what you didn't do."

"Now he never leaves us alone, and I'm putting you in danger too." He wipes his eyes.

"We'll get rid of him. I promise." You say firmly. Satoru looks down and you feel your hand getting wet. He tries to pull away from you, but you refuse and force him to look at you. "You're allowed to cry, Satoru. That doesn't make you weak." After you finished your sentence he pulls you in for a hug.

You allow him to cry quietly into you, you had never seen this side of him before. Satoru can't wrap his head around why he feels safe enough to cry in front of you. He had never cried in front of Geto, he had never cried in front of anyone.

He hugs you tighter and then lets go, his head finding itself in your lap, he hugs your legs and he tries to get his breathing back to normal.

"It's okay, Satoru." You whisper to him and run your fingers through his hair to calm him. "Let it out." You encourage.

He had been building up all of his stressors, never once letting himself cry even when he was by himself since the apocalypse had begun, but now it had been too much to hold in. He feels safe with you and it terrifies him.

A few more minutes go by and he deems himself better, he lifts his head and wipes the excess tears on you, "Sorry—" he begins to apologize but you stop him.

"Never apologize for how you're feeling. Ever." You sternly say to him and he quietly nods, blowing his nose in a napkin you found.

"Thank you. I think I needed that." He admits and sits close to you.

"No more bottling your emotions. You let them out whenever you want. You're not weak to me." You say.

His head falls onto your shoulder and he listens to your breathing. He's in trouble with how strongly he feels about you. You're what he thinks about before bed and you're back in there when he wakes up.

'It's a small crush, Satoru.' He keeps telling himself, but he knows it'll become more than that. He's never felt this way about somebody before.

"You tired?" His voice sounds raspy.

"A little." You nod. Satoru faces you as he laid down, his eyes were closed, he was so close to you that you could see his features briefly. He didn't reply back to you, but you recognized his steady breathing. He was asleep.

You push back a few hairs that had been tickling his nose, he was very handsome, no denying that. 'You can't be feeling like this.' You remind yourself.