#X Men The Ravages Of Apocalypse | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vodika-vibes · 11 days

Note

okay this follower event is intriguing so I’mma try something👀 okay so. I’m thinkin about an Apocalypse AU with Fox. romance for the genre because you know it gotta be romance with Foxy, & girl you can go WILD with the plot, I give you free reign. unless you don’t want free reign, I can just send another ask. but for now BE FREE🦅

Woe To The People

Summary: According to everything you read as a child, the end of the world was supposed to be the end of the story. It’s a shame that none of the stories tell what happens to the people left behind.

Pairing: Commander Fox x F!Reader

Word Count: 2230

Prompt: Apocalypse AU

Warnings: None

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni @imabeautifulbutterfly

A/N: You said be free, and so I was free. You know how in some farming sims, the end of the world happened, and then people have to recover. That's what this is. I could have gone with apocalypse heavy, but I wanted to do apocalypse light. Please let me know if you don't like it. The title came from a CamiCat song called Woe To The People Of The Order. Also, I'm limited on how long I can sit at the computer right now. I...hurt my foot pretty badly and I can't elevate it properly from the computer, lol.

You were a child when the world ended.

You were barely 9 summers old on the day that the blue sky burned red, and acid fell from the sky. You managed to find shelter in a skyscraper, climbing higher and higher up the building as the acid water flooded the rivers and the streets.

And you refused to leave, even when the other people you were seeking shelter with did.

It took almost a week for the flood waters to recede. A week where you survived off of snacks and soda from the vending machines. A week where you didn’t have anyone to talk to, where all you could do is watch the burning sky through darkened windows and watch the flood waters slowly recede.

There was no internet, no TV, and your only source of information came from a small battery powered radio you found in the janitor’s closet. And it was from there that you learned what was going on.

You learned about the natural disasters that ravaged the world. Massive wildfires that raged for days, floods powerful enough to wash away buildings, sinkholes opening in places where it shouldn’t be possible, earthquakes destroying entire cities, storm systems creating tornadoes in countries that have never had one before.

And when the flood waters receded enough for you to leave the building, you ran home. Though you already knew what you were going to find when you arrived. Your home destroyed, completely flooded out, and your family, like every other family in your neighborhood, lay dead.

Burned almost beyond recognition.

At barely 9 years old, this should have been the end of your story. You were not big enough to fend for yourself, haven’t learned enough about the way the world works to even consider it.

But you’ve always been lucky.

Several days later, after returning to the sky scraper because where else could you go, a survivor found you.

A firefighter, to be specific.

His name was Jango Fett, and he told you about the safe haven that his family set up, where they have food, clean water, and doctors. He praised you for surviving as long as you did on your own, calling you clever and resourceful as he scooped you into his strong arms and carried you down the stairs and to the massive fire engine that somehow survived the floods.

He passed you up to another man, who settled you on top of the engine and offered you a proper sandwich while he covered you with a reflective blanket, and murmured assurances that you’re going to be fine, that everything’s going to be okay.

There were fewer survivors than you expected, as men and women trek out of the nearby buildings in groups of two or three.

And then you heard Jango call out that that’s everyone, and the truck started to move, slowly pushing through the debris covering the roads. Miles, the firefighter looking after you, adjusted the blanket so you couldn’t see the bodies strewn across the road.

Jango brought the survivors to the Mereel Compound, a massive group of buildings set up on top of, and around, a dam. The reservoir was empty, and Miles explained that the reservoir had been emptied before the flood, so you had nothing to worry about.

After that, you were sent to a creche, a place for young children to receive the care and education they needed to be productive members of society. Of course, the education was a bit different than what you were used to. But at the same time, you realized that you probably didn’t need to know what a noun was in this new reality of yours.

So you settled yourself in to learn what you needed to survive in this new world.

It’s been over a decade since the day the world ended, and very little has changed. Oh, sure, there haven’t been any other massive storms since the original ones, but it’s still a struggle to survive.

Enough of a struggle, that you had to move out of the Mereel Compound. You ended up in a building that used to be a mall. And, with help from other young people, you managed to turn it into something like an apartment complex.

Your job in the complex is to ensure that the water wheel, which provides electricity to the homes here, remains in working order.

It’s not a hard job, but it is a very physical job.

In fact, that’s what you’re currently working on. With a thick pair of gloves to protect you from the acid that lingers in the water. The filters do a good job in making sure that most of the acid doesn’t make it this far, but they’re not perfect.

The water needs to go through a seven point treatment before it can be ingested safely. Luckily, over the last decade, the survivors did manage to perfect that technology.

You look up as the door to the water room clicks open, “How’s are the water wheels?” A voice asks from the door. It’s a voice you’re intimately familiar with, seeing as it belongs to your boyfriend.

“In perfect working order,” You reply as you straighten, and stretch your arms over your head to work the knots out of your back, “I’m probably going to have to take water wheel 3 out of commission for a couple of hours to replace a part, but I want to have all of the parts on hand before I start.”

You turn to face Commander Fox properly.

Commander Fox is one of Jango’s many children, and is the man responsible for this complex. He’s a fine leader, you think, quick thinking and decisive. Not to mention protective of the people under his care.

He’s also the love of your life, so you might be biased.

“It’s not like you to check on the water wheels personally,” You note lightly as you pull your gloves off and set them in the solution that keeps the acid from eating through them, “Something wrong?”

“Thorn is ill, so I took his route.”

“That’s unfortunate,” You murmur, “Nothing serious, I hope?”

“Just a stomach bug, but better to isolate him rather than risk everyone else getting sick.” Fox allows, he moves to the side as you step out of the room, before he follows you and waits for you to lock the door behind you, “You haven’t seen anything unusual lately, have you?”

“In what way?”

He folds his arms over his broad chest, “I got a message from Wolffe-”

“From the forest compound?” You ask, after thinking a moment.

“Yeah, apparently there have been raids on the compound, and I’m...concerned.”

“Raids? All of the Compounds from the desert to the mountains belong to the Mereel/Fett clan.”

“Hence my concern.” Fox rolls his shoulders and for a moment you see just how exhausted he is, “Cody’s putting together a group to investigate, but if there are raiders out there-” He exhales sharply through his teeth.

He doesn’t need to put word to his worry.

You’re hardly stupid, your expertise with water and the filtration system makes you valuable. And a target for anyone with malignant motives.

“I’m giving you a guard detail.” Fox says, “And restricting your movements to within the compound.” He drops his hand from the back of his neck, “Your apartment is on a wall, isn’t it?”

“It is.”

He sighs heavily, and you feel guilty for a moment. But then, you didn’t ask for a wall apartment, you were assigned it. “It’s fine, you can crash in my room.”

“That’s hardly proper, Commander.” You tease lightly.

“Your safety is more important to me than propriety.” Fox counters, completely serious, “The alternative is sending you back to the Mereel Compound.”

“Please don’t.”

He chuckles, “That’s what I thought.” He motions for you to follow him, and you easily fall into step next to him, and he glances at you out of the corner of his eye, “Besides, it’s not like you’ve never crashed in my apartment before. Or even in my bed.”

You elbow him, “This situation is a bit different, Fox. There isn’t a small difference between me sleeping with you because your my boyfriend, and me sleeping in your apartment because I need a protective detail.”

He leads you through the bustling halls, and you feel a soft surge of delight when you see that the market is bustling with activity. Only a few years ago, this scene would have been impossible.

How far you’ve all come since the world ended.

Fox’s hand on your elbow encourages you to keep moving, as he guides you through the winding streets, until he unlocks the door to his apartment.

Fox’s apartment is bigger than all of the other apartments in the compound, with good reason, as a whole quarter of the room is filled with the computers that connect him with his brothers, and father. Not to mention the dozens of outposts that dot the country.

He shuts the door on the working half of his apartment and leads you to the living half of his apartment.

And you immediately head to the window, peering out at the red sky and over the wall that separated the compound from the wildlife. You hear some movement behind you and you turn to watch Fox remove his armor.

It’s leather mostly, reminding you of the old westerns your dad used to watch when he was still alive. Still, it offers a fair amount of protection against anyone who might want to hurt him, so you’re happy he has it.

He focuses his gaze on you, and a smile, soft and warm, graces his tired face. “Do you have any idea how stunning you look when you’re framed by the sky?”

Your face heats, and you turn away from him, “You’ve mentioned it once or twice.”

He laughs softly and walks over to you, his arms sliding around your waist, “Then I clearly need to tell you more often.”

You face him again, your hands settling lightly against his chest and smoothing the thin shirt he wears under his uniform, “I know you think it, Foxy.” You tease, “I know you, after all.”

Slowly he leans in and presses his forehead against yours, his gaze locked with your own. “You know, you could just move in with me. That would make everything easier.”

“We’ve had this conversation-”

“And you never think I’m serious, but I am. I want you to move in with me.”

“Ask me again after this crisis.” You counter.

Fox sighs and lifts his hands to cup your face, “We’re not guaranteed tomorrow, angel. Especially with the way the world is. We need to take what happiness we can when we can.”

“And what if you change your mind-” You start.

“Never. I will never change my mind. I love you. I’ve loved you since we were kids in the creche and you were that bossy little girl who told me that I was wearing my jacket wrong. I loved you when we were teenagers and you had your heart broken by my brother and I was your shoulder to cry on. I’m not going to stop loving you. Ever.”

You’re quiet for a moment, and then you huff, “I was not a bossy little girl.”

“You were so bossy. It was adorable. It’s why I went along with it.”

You pout at him, and he grins at you, looking young and boyish in his delighted amusement, “Fine. I’ll move in with you, but only because you’re being pathetic about it.”

“I can live with that.” He agrees, before ducking his head just enough to catch your lips with his.

You lean into the kiss, intent to deepening it, to fan the flames of passion, when there’s a loud chime from the other room, and he breaks the kiss with a sigh. He tilts his head to the bed, and murmurs an instruction to get comfortable, before he releases you.

A giggle falls from your lips as you sit on his bed to wait for him. You watch him walk into the next room and you watch, through the open doors, as he reads something on the computer.

And you watch as tension lances through his body.

“Fox? What’s wrong?”

“Cody found the raiders,” Fox replies from his work room, you get to your feet and walk over to him, “Apparently they’re not raiders. They were informed that you, and several other people who are in charge of food, water, and power were being held against your will.”

“Who are they?” You ask, offended that anyone would think something so poorly of the men who saved you.

“They call themselves Jedi. They’re demanding to meet you and the others.” Fox scowls, “Cody doesn’t think we should do it, he says it stinks like a trap. Dad says that we should, but we should meet in a neutral place. He says that survivors need to stick together.”

“And...what do you think?”

“I think I want you to stay safe, but if this is the best option…” He trails off and then turns and pulls you into a kiss.

You sigh into the kiss, melting under his skilled touch.

“I promise,” He breathes against your lips, “No one will ever hurt you.”

#star wars #tcw #vodika-vibes 650 event #star wars au #commander fox x reader #fox x reader #star wars fanfiction #x reader fanfiction #f!reader fic #answered asks

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mymreaderlibrary · 5 months

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Maybe it's just cause I'm replaying Dying Light but with Cod zombies being a thing I'm thinking about the TF141 in an apocalypse type scenario. Just a blurb idk if I’ll do anything with this.

Gonna lean heavily into the story of Dying Light here because I love it. Note that mc/ reader takes a combined role of Bracken, Jade, and Kyle C. That being said there is no Bracken, Jade, or Kyle in this universe and Rahim is reader’s younger brother.

[TF141 x male reader, no relationship (yet), zombies, death and gore, ramblings/ lore skimming]

[Length: 1,480 words]

The 141 are given a private mission to infiltrate the city of Harran and hunt down a terrorist residing in the area. He's stolen highly sensitive documents and is threatening to have them released through an informant if something happens to him. A standard deal where the task force is concerned however Harran itself is the dangerous part of the mission.

A disease has ravaged the city, being the first documented case of what is now known as the Harran Virus. It is a strain of rabies that zombifies any of those infected, making them instinctively hunt down other warm blooded creatures to spread. The city has been completely quarantined and the virus has not gotten outside of it yet, but this also makes the area a cesspool, concentrated with death and disease. Reports say there are no living (or at least non infected) residents remaining aside from the terrorist group which have holed themselves in an unknown location. Because of this a strike has been permitted to raze Harran in hopes of destroying the virus or at the least any violent infected. A counteractive medicine is in development with its prototype being given to the task force in case of emergency, however there is no solid solution beyond massacring infected. It's not pretty work but the world can't risk this disease breaking out.

The 141 are given specialized equipment, thick gear, loads of medical equipment, and a collection of high end firearms. The team are air dropped into the lower city and instructed to start their search immediately.

The sun is already beginning to set by the time they land. It would almost be pretty if it weren’t for all the viscera in the streets creating a sour rotten stench. Both Gaz and Soap wretch but do their best to push through, keeping their eyes peeled for any signs of life. It doesn’t take long for them to find hostiles except to their surprise it’s not infected. Instead a group of well armed thugs attempt to corner them. They’re all carrying machetes and nail bats, some with masks while others have paint creating three jagged stripes across their face. Ghost notes their lack of firearms as odd but chalks it up to lacking proper equipment (even if their body armor told otherwise).

Regardless it goes about as well as you expect for the thugs against such well trained soldiers, however hell breaks loose when Soap decides to fire his pistol. A banshee like scream is heard from across the street and their attackers scatter without hesitation, even leaving behind their wounded. Quickly a horde of infected begin rushing towards the task force, mouths gaped wide and moaning. The zombies they were told of were slow and bumbling but these were ravenous. They ran, yelled wildly, clawed at the 141 with a fervor, and with each shot of the team's firearms another horde would soon follow. It was clear they were overwhelmed and the fear that the mission was over before it even began quickly hit. A pained hiss sounded from Ghost as a zombie managed to pull off his glove and bite into the calloused flesh of his hand. Another slammed Gaz onto the pavement and began chewing into his shoulder. Price and Soap just barely threw off their friend's attackers but the assault only continued.

As another infected went to claw at Price's face the zombie's head flew clean off. The corpse flopped down to the side, convulsing wildly, but unable to keep attacking. A group of young men and women, wearing uniforms unlike the thugs from before, began dragging the team out from the horde. They threw firecrackers over their shoulders and onto the street, catching the infected's focus and separating their numbers. A man in particular seemed to be leading the 141's saviors, giving quiet orders through hand signals to his comrades.

They got a solid distance before the same man began looking them over for injuries in a building. The lowered visibility from the growing dark made it difficult but not impossible. Gaz and Ghost were the only ones bitten meanwhile Soap and Price were scraped from their scuffle with the thugs. Despite the bites being small they bled heavily and the two men had already broken out into sweats. Shaking violently Gaz’s legs buckled and he began to cry out in pain. Ghost faired no better his eyes looking dazed and unfocused as he could only hiss out panicked breaths. Gaz's pain seemed to recapture the attention of the infected outside as banging began on the door of their refuge. A young woman went to barricade the entry but the vicious sound persisted. A fist broke through the wood and scratched at the woman's eye but she didn't falter, using her back to block the entry.

In the commotion Price recalled the prototype medicine he had been given by their contractor and quickly pulled out two small syringes. Their rescuers gave them an odd look before the leader snatched it out of his hands and injected both men without question. It took a moment for the medicine to take effect but the pair began to go lax, heartbeats slowing to a normal pace. However they were still too weak to stand and the door was beginning to buckle. The woman barricading it was grabbed and dragged out into the dark street by the vicious creatures. The rescue leader tried to pull her out but it was too late.

With a pained look in his eye the leader commanded the remaining men and women to take the 141 back to "The Tower" while he distracted the zombies away from them. He left no room for argument and they were whisked away quickly from the regrowing horde. The now nearly black streets greeting them as they ran, carrying their fallen comrades.

The journey to this tower, which turned out to be an apartment complex covered in UV lights, took a lot of climbing but eventually they were welcomed through the front gates. Or well, welcomed was an overstatement, it was more like begrudgingly let through after some convincing from their rescuers. The guards at the door glared at the men and Price could hear them scoffing about their missing leader and how “Rahim is gonna be pissed”. Seems that man wasn't just a leader to those runners but to this tower as a whole. And well if that wasn't a way to instantly ruin your reputation.

They were transferred to the medical ward where Gaz and Ghost stayed, far too out of it to get out of their cots. It was honestly quiet odd seeing the two laying dazed and pale. While the medicine seemed to have some sort of effect, there was no saying for how long. It was still only a prototype.

Soap and Price on the other hand could leave after getting bandaged, only suffering superficial wounds. They were instructed to rest, guided to some rooms a floor below where they saw several civilian types. Men, women, children... a mother in the corner cradling her crying baby trying to convince him to go back to sleep. A father sitting beside his two daughters resting on a cot covered by a thin sheet. A teen boy sitting alone, curled up on a chair shaking. Life. Something they were told didn't exist down here outside of terrorists.

One day on and the mission was already a mess, two soldiers down, emergency meds already in use, a whole community of civilians discovered, a possible ally MIA, and they had not an ounce of info to show for it. Sleeping after that just didn't feel right but the two men supposed there was nothing they could do as the tower was locked until morning. If the screams and yowls of dead were anything to go off of, it sounded like the infected were more active in the night. Who knew if this tower’s leader was even alive out there amongst the savage undead.

It took what felt like a year for the sun to rise again but just as daylight cusped the window Price could hear commotion downstairs. Cheers, shouts, panicked calls for a medic. As him and Soap peered onto the floor above they spotted that same leader from before now being dragged in to the medical ward from the stairs. Blood trailed behind him, his arms littered with cuts, bruises, and bites, but he was conscious and attempting to walk. A thick stream of red pooled from his temple down his chin and for a split second his gaze caught Price. His eyes were near unreadable, murky like Ghost's but still alert enough to be aware of what was going on. He seemed almost satisfied seeing the captain alive and well but quickly was taken away to be bandaged.

This mission was already hell.

#mw #my work #cod #cod mw #dying light #crossover #captain price #soap mactavish #simon ghost riley #gaz garrick #male reader #unspecified male reader #x male reader #cod x male reader #zombie apocolypse au #zombie au #dying light au

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aralenorimaki01 · 1 year

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Hi guys, January is ending. What do you think about this month? I hope you guys enjoy my content and help your sims living an awesome sims life :)

So ive tried to make this timeline map, fot the next 3 months. It was my WIP list, so far. I havent decided which character will be Patreon Exclusive, is it from this list, or maybe something totally new :)

In February, you will get:

Wakanda Forever CC Set

Dick Grayson OG Costume

Taskmaster MCU

Paul Atreides Hair - Dune Universe

The Flash Live Action Set (Reverse Flash, Jay Garrick, CW S1-S3 suit, The Flash Comic)

Messi Tattoo, PSG and Argentina Jersey

Captain Falcon Added wings, glasses, and shield

In March, you will get:

Green Arrow CW

Black Bat Cassandra Cain

Supergirl CW

Blue Beetle

Katana

White Tiger

Clea

Loki TVA Hair and Uniform

Supergirl Sasha Calle

Ravager

In April, you will get:

Deadshot

Black Canary

Hawkman

Wondergirl

Supergirl Classic

Cyclops 90s

Thor Comics

White Canary CW

Mystique Skin from X-Men Movies

Owlman

Honorable Mention:

I will also try my best, if its possible, to add these into the list. If i can't make it ontime, then i will to swift it into the next phase project.

Ultraman

The Boys - The Seven

Damian Wayne Teen CC Outfit

Wolverine Apocalypse

Jean Grey 90s

Phoenix/ Dark Phoenix

Cyclops Astonishing

Mephisto

Ghost Rider

Mr. Fantastic, Johnny Storm, Sue Storm

So, i hope its a good news, and since i have show you guys the plan, i will try to be professional and commit to deliver it to you guys.

Cheers and happy simming!!

#wip #male cc #female cc #maxismatch #ts4 cc

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hellstromknight · 1 year

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I got bored and decided why not.

My top ten favorite live action comic book movie costumes!! So far.

Spider-Man’s integrated costume from No Way Home.

Batman’s costume from The Batman 2022.

Blue Beetle’s costume from Blue Beetle.

Thor’s Ravager costume from Love and Thunder.

Monica Rambeau’s costume from The Marvels.

Star-Lord’s costume from GotG Vol. 3.

Harley Quinn’s first costume from The Suicide Squad 2022.

Iron Man’s nanotech costume from Infinity War.

Black Panther’s costume from Civil War.

Wonder Woman’s costume from the DCEU.

Next up will be the shows and such.

Honorable mentions?

Shazam’s suit from the first movie, Thor’s Stormbreaker costume from Infinity War, Robin’s from Batman Forever, Superman’s from Superman Returns, Superman from Christopher Reeves’ movies, Judge Dredd ‘s suit from Dredd, Deadpool’s costume from the Deadpool movies, Mysterio’s costume from Far From Home, Scarlet Witch’s costume from Multiverse of Madness, Captain America’s from The First Avenger, Winter Soldier’s from The Winter Soldier, War Machine from Civil War, Sandman’s costume from Spider-Man 3, Ocean Master’s costume from Aquaman, all of the costumes from X-Men First Class and all of the costumes at the end of X-Men Apocalypse that never paid off.

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found-in-retro-game-mags · 3 years

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Cyclops’ greatest weakness (GamePro #112, Jan. 1998)

#x-men: the ravages of apocalypse #cyclops #marvel #protip #x-men #screenshots

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themutantages · 4 years

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youtube

Maddy and Ryan continue their way through the 90's X-Men Quake conversion game "Ravages of Apocalypse", and this level is just inundated with hundreds of X-Men clones.

Thank goodness for cheat codes.

#the mutant ages #mutants #podcast #x-men #marvel #marvel comics #comics #comic books #cannonball #ravages of apocalypse #apocalypse #quake #90s #nostalgia #retro gaming #90s gaming #90s nostalgia

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techturd · 7 years

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X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse - a Quake total conversion - Zero Gravity Entertainment, DOS / Windows / Mac 1997

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yoongi-sugaglider · 3 years

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Daegu Quarantine

Jungkook x reader

Gang/ zombie apocalypse au

Warnings:

Gore, violence, zombies, mention of drugs and drug dealing, weapons discharge in self defense, main character death, zombies, course language, zombies, drinking, did I mention zombies?

Summary:

They were the top of their game, known throughout the city as the smartest and most dangerous crew to ever hit the Daegu streets. But what’s going to happen when this group of young men encounter something right out of a horror film?

Word count: 2825

Part 16===Part 17===Part18

Jungkook sprinted up the stairs two at a time as Rose helped me hobble my way behind him. The house above was a chaotic mess of screaming and pistols cocking by the time we’d made it to the first floor. Rose abandoned me at the stairs, sprinting off towards the kitchen to find Taehyung as I motioned Yoongi over.

“Jin and Jeanette are at the shed. Rose saw movement, so there’s no telling if more are back there.”

He nodded, face a mask of murderous intent as he sprinted for the back door. By the time I’d pulled my own weapon out Jimin was at my side, nervous sweat dripping from his forehead as he handed me an extra clip.

“Go. Jungkook, Namjoon, and Hobi are gonna need you out front. I’ll send Tae your way once he’s armed.” The doctor hesitated for a moment, giving me an anxious once over before nodding and sprinting off without a word.

I grunted, shifting as much of my weight as I could manage to my uninjured leg and hobbling for the front door when Taehyung and Rose rejoined me.

“Front gate Tae. Rose’s got me.” I muttered, wiping at the tears of pain now streaming down my cheeks.

He paused, pecking Rose gently on her cheek and giving my arm a quick squeeze before rushing out the door after Jimin.

Rose was white as a sheet as she gave me her arm to lean on. “Holy shit...what do we even do…” She wondered as we slowly walked out onto the front porch.

“The only thing we can do, make our way out to the driveway and watch for anything that might flank the boys. We have to have their backs. But with you being new to shooting that means I’ll have to do the work, you just make sure to keep me standing no matter what.”

She nodded, her eyes wild with fear as she helped me down the stairs and out to the driveway.

Already I could hear the shots in the distance, each one sending a pang of panic through my heart as I imagined them being the last one for any one of my boys. Pushing that fear down though I continued on, heart racing and mind focused as the men at the gates came into view.

The barrier that Namjoon and Yoongi had worked so hard to put in place had been somehow smashed to pieces and a pile of bodies was already growing from the boys taking down as many of the monsters as they possibly could.

“Right here’s fine Rose.” We were about 30 yards or so behind the boys. Close enough that I wouldn’t lose accuracy but far enough away that if we got overwhelmed, well….I’d have time to think about how much it would hurt before I died.

I began shooting, Rose bracing me with her body as I fired off round after round.

Two bodies came at Namjoon, a snarling mess of teeth and grabbing hands as he hastily reloaded his shotgun while struggling to stay on his feet and walk backwards at the same time.

I fired 2 shots, the first hitting one chatterer directly in the forehead and dropping it, though the second missed and buried itself in a tree further back. Namjoon finally managed to reload his weapon, a grimace to his face as he finished off the closest ravaging chatterer to him with two shots to the head.

I’d already moved on though, eyes seeking out Jungkook in the mass of bodies. He was holding his own, alternating between shots from his gun and large sweeping slashes from a machete identical to the one Hobi was using several paces behind him. I knew he’d be okay as I watched one head fall and roll away and another body drop a few seconds later.

I began firing again, picking off chatterers that forced their way through the gate while slowly allowing Rose to back me up a pace or two every few minutes. We weren’t exactly being overrun yet, but we weren’t gaining ground on the gate either. If we wanted this to end we’d have to find a way to shut it.

Jimin shouted, drawing my attention to where he’d been backed up into a tree. He had 4 bodies on him, two without arms though they kept lunging at him regardless. He fired where he could, tears streaming down his face as he screamed again when one got too close. I picked off two of them, the third having already dropped, leaving Jimin to fight one elderly lady by himself. He hesitated a moment, eyes wide as if in recognition of the woman, though when she went to bite at him again it seemed the moment hardened his resolve.

He fired a shot, gagging as the head exploded and showered him in viscera. But the deed was done and he moved on, providing back up despite his tears.

And then...things changed.

They came out of nowhere. Men and women in army fatigues and black tactical gear, weapons raised and firing at the monsters from all sides.

I’d have felt relieved at the sight in any other situation. But as the monsters were pushed away from the house and back towards the gate I quickly realized these were not Korean Army here to help us.

No. These were Americans.

As I watched them raise their weapons at my boys an entirely different set of fears washed over me. They knew who we were somehow. Had to. And it might just be that some of us weren’t getting out of this alive.

***

They’d rounded us up at the front of the house, the boys on their knees while Rose and I were held at gunpoint to keep them compliant.

“We’ve got two more back here!” A voice shouted from around the corner.

Two…

My eyes widened as I saw Jeanette and Yoongi forced at gunpoint to march towards us, Jeanette in tears and Yoongi being restrained by two large Americans and quite literally being dragged over to where the other boys were.

“Y/n..they...they shot Jin.” Jeanette sobbed when they shoved her into my arms.

My skin flushed cold, adrenaline coursing through my veins as shock hit me like a freight train.

Not Jin...Seokjin the jokester. Our favorite chef and the dad of our group.

Shot…

Gone...

I screamed, dropping to my knees and clinging to Jeanette as tears coursed down my cheeks.

“YOU MOTHER FUCKERS!!!” Jungkook howled, fighting against his restraints as he struggled to climb to his feet.

“Boss, please…” Jimin whimpered. They’d shoved him to the ground, one soldier having planted a steel toed boot in his spine to keep him down despite the handcuffs pinning his wrists to his back.

Tae and Namjoon had been cuffed together, the shorter man serving to pin Namjoon in place, out of convenience or just spite I hadn’t been sure. But each of them was screaming or crying in some way, while Yoongi continued to glare death in their direction.

Three soldiers appeared from the house, each carrying various weapons from our vault.

“Sarge, you’ll never believe what we found down in their basement.”

I couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, grief took hold, gripping me tight in it’s embrace as I sought out Jungkook’s gaze.

They’d invaded our home. Killed one of our own.

The next thing I knew shots were being fired again.

I ducked down, covering Jeanette’s body with my own as I sought out who could have possibly been firing.

There stood Hobi, face bright red with anger and mouth agape in a scream of rage.

“Hoseok no!” I screamed, but it was too late.

His body went flying, a series of shots having rung out from the soldiers behind me.

It was too much. All of it…

“Y/n!!”

I think...that was Jungkook.

I couldn’t tell.

It was going dark.

Strange...as it was the middle of the afternoon. And...I could no longer hear....anything.

I let go, allowing my body to relax. Sleep...sleep would be good right now….

***

The next thing I knew my world was filled with a roar of sound. My body tensed up, though a familiar set of eyes bore into mine when I finally managed to open them.

Jungkook sat across from me, pinned in place between two American soldiers just as I was. I glanced around, unsure of where we were until I glanced over to see clouds moving past at such a high speed that it took me a moment or two to realize we were no longer on the ground.

“The bitch is awake.” A voice muttered into my ears. They’d put headphones on me to cancel out some of the noise from the helicopter blades, how nice of them…

I grunted, shifting upright and taking in my surroundings. Including Jungkook there were several others on the seats surrounding me. Taehyung sat with Rose while Jeanette sat on his other side. The rest of the space was filled with soldiers, each carrying weapons and steel faced as they either glared at our crew or out the windows.

“Airstrip’s clear Sarge. Preparing to land.”

The soldier beside me nodded, reaching over to rip the headphones off my ears as the helicopter descended and landed with a massively jarring thump.

The sudden influx of noise from the blades left me stunned just long enough for the soldiers to shove me out of the doors and onto the tarmac without much struggle, though as soon as I spotted Jungkook I tried to run for him.

He shook his head and I sobbed when my arms were almost dislocated from my shoulders when one of the Americans jerked me back and away from him.

As the helicopter engine shut off my hearing slowly began returning to me and I began to pick out the sounds of yelling and movement that surrounded me.

A second helicopter had landed before ours and the rest of my crew were already lined up, each with at least three automatic rifles aimed at their heads.

As we moved away from the helicopters to join the others I glanced around, quickly realizing they’d taken us to the military base north west of Daegu. I’d only passed the place on a few occasions, a collection of buildings distinctly American in nature with the occasional military plane or helicopter taking off from the air strip for destinations unknown.

A thrill of relief passed through me as I did a quick head count, though the feeling was dampened slightly when I realized that...those of us who’d survived were all here.

“Get to moving.” The soldier I’d been sitting with growled as I turned to look at him.

I hesitated a moment, locking eyes with him and sending him the fiercest look of fury I could muster. The soldier shoved me forward with the barrel of his rifle, causing me to stumble over my shoelaces. Luckily, despite being handcuffed, Jungkook was able to catch me. The sudden pressure of landing against his forearms though had me gasping in pain as my still healing ribs shifted.

“Oi! She’s injured!” Jimin cried out, earning him a jab to the ribs with the same rifle that’d shoved me.

“Shut it tiny. I could give two shits less if she was the Pope or Jesus incarnate. When I say move I mean double time it. You hear?”

Jungkook and Yoongi growled almost in unison at the American’s words.

“I’m killing you first.” Yoongi muttered and I was forever grateful that I’d been the only one to hear him.

“Easy boys, I’m fine.” I straightened with a groan, nodding to each of them for them to keep moving.

As appreciative as I was for that protective nature, now was not the time for posturing.

***

They lead us to one of the smaller buildings, a sign with a ball and pins labeling it as the bowling alley. It’d been heavily reinforced from what I could tell of the barricades on the doors and the armed guards stationed outside.

The interior was dark, several lanterns giving off the only light I could see and lending it the gloomiest of atmospheres I’d encountered in a very long time. But seeing the lanterns let me know they were far worse off than we’d been. No generators.

We were split off at this point, Taehyung and Rose being led off in one direction while the rest of us were forced towards a set of steel double doors that when opened revealed a massive kitchen.

Huddled inside were several dozen people. Civilians from their dress and grouped up into what I could only guess were family units.

There weren’t very many children. Only 3 from what I could see, and their destitute and resigned faces broke my heart to see.

Making my way into the depths of the kitchen I picked a spot, glancing back to watch Jungkook sit directly across from me. Turning to face him I slid down to sit, leaning back against the cool steel of the oven door in the hopes of finding some sort of comfortable position to ease the throbbing in my chest.

I looked up to Jungkook, watching as his head hung low with his knees pulled up to his chest and his fists clenching and unclenching on the floor to either side of him.

He’d been quiet since before they’d taken Tae and Rose away. Silently stewing over our situation. I knew he was plotting, planning some way to get us out of this. But honestly with the amount of guns being pointed at us, there wasn’t a whole lot any of us was going to be able to do.

A sniffle sounded from my left and I glanced over, almost tearing up myself at the sight of Jeanette clinging desperately to Yoongi. He had that thousand yard stare. The one he got right before a mission where he sat and pictured every scenario that could or would go wrong should shit hit the fan. And yet even with that focused glare he still found it within himself to calmly stroke her hair, occasionally whispering reassuring words to her when her whimpers would turn to sobs and her grip on him would tighten.

Namjoon and Jimin sat just opposite them, each staring off into space as if struggling to find a way to cope with everything that’d just happened.

We sat around for several hours, not a soul in the room speaking as we waited to hear news on what they’d done with our friends.

Several soldiers walked in, talking amongst themselves as they stopped to stand before Jungkook.

“We’re never gonna get the woman to talk.” Grumbled one as he glared down at Jungkook who refused to even acknowledge their presence.

“What information are you even looking for?” I demanded, sitting up straighter and glaring at the soldier that’d spoken.

“You’re little hacker friend, Jangmi they call her. She’s got shit we need.” He sneered at me, the look causing my skin to crawl.

“But why do you even need this information?” I demanded angrily.

“Because even when the world’s gone to shit we still have a job to do. Take down the bad guys. And guess what the fuck you and your people are.” He stepped forward, shifting his shouldered weapon as he crouched down before me.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch her.” Jungkook lunged forward, though several soldiers pinned him down immediately to keep him from going further.

“Four soldiers we lost trying to get these useless fuckers. Four good men with wives and children and mortgages. And for what?! A couple of gangsters and some tech smart bitch and her boy toy who can’t even talk??”

“Fuck sake Jenkins get ahold of yourself!” The man who I’d assumed was in charge before barked at the irate soldier that was still in my face.

“No! Fuck this!”

The next thing I knew he had his fist in my hair yanking me to my feet as I screamed out in pain.

Jungkook roared, straining against the four men that held him down as Yoongi and Jimin fought their captors as well trying to reach me.

“Look at them!” Jenkins sneered, pinning me to his chest and pressing his cheek to mine while he glared at my boys.

“This one’s their weakness. This one will get us answers. Maybe she doesn’t have them, but I can guarantee if we push just hard enough,” with that he squeezed his arms around me, shifting my still sore ribs in the process and causing me to scream out again with pain, “they’ll all start squealing. Just you watch me work Sarge. I’ll have all the info those Langley fucks want and you won’t even have to lift a dainty little finger.”

#bts #bts jungkook x reader #jungkook reader insert #jungkook angst #bts jeon jungkook #bts gang au #bts zombie au #bts angst #bts fluff #bts reactions #bts imagine #bts scenarios #bts x reader insert #bts fanfiction #bts x reader #bangtan boys imagine

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itzaras · 2 years

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Magneto

Known Relatives: Rogue (wife), Charles (son), Pietro Maximoff (quicksivr the Earth is filled with violence through them; And, behold, I will destroy them with the Earth". —Magneto

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

Name: Erik Lensherr

Height: 6'2"

Eyes: Blue

Weight: 215 Ibs

Hair: White

Universe: Age of Apocalypse

Education: College

Place of Origin: Canadian? or someplace in Europe.

Identity: Known to the general public

Known Relatives: Rogue (wife), Charles (son), Pietro Maximoff (quicksilver, son), Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch, daughter, dead), Magda (wife, dead).

. ⋅ ˚̣- : ✧ : – ⭒ ⊹ ⭒ – : ✧ : -˚̣⋅ .

───── ❝ 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞 ❞ ─────

Erik Lensherr's life changed the day his good friend Charles Xavier was murdered by Legion, a time-traveling madman. Legion, who was actually the future son of Charles Xavier, traveled back in time to murder the man who would become his father's nemesis in the future, Magneto. When Xavier sacrificed his life to save Magneto reality changed. And it appeared Xavier's dream of coexistence between mutants and humans would die with him.

Xavier's death profoundly changed Lensherr's life. He made a promise on that day to carry on Xavier's dream: to take mutant kind by the hand and create a world where homo sapiens and homo superior would live together peacefully. This dream would never come to pass. The mutant known as Apocalypse made his presence known over a decade earlier than he would have if not for Legion's interference in the past.

As Apocalypse made his play for world domination, Magneto gathered a mutant army of his own. He began with his children, Pietro and Wanda. He learned of their existence while traveling through Germany and invited them to help him create a team of mutants to protect those who could not protect themselves. Both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch embraced their father's cause and helped him gather his team.

During this time Apocalypse grew stronger. He gathered a legion of mutant followers who believed in his survival-of-the-fittest mantra. By the time Magneto had gathered his X-Men team together, Apocalypse had grown too strong and had gained control of a substantial section of North America. The X-Men, named after Xavier and his dream, went into hiding and used guerrilla tactics against Apocalypse's army.

In the early days of the X-Men's existence, Magneto provided a place for young mutants to learn how to use their powers and fight for genetic equality. Hidden in the Wundagore Mountains, this would be the X-Men's base of operations for years.

Surrounded by a team he knew he could trust, Magneto began to counterattack Apocalypse. When Magneto learned Apocalypse had sent his Horsemen to Florida to launch the United States nuclear arsenal, he and his team rushed to stop them. He left his daughter, the Scarlet Witch, in charge of the young mutants not yet ready to fight for the X-Men. One of these young mutants, a girl named Rogue, had just been delivered to Wundagore by Mystique.

The X-Men were successful in Florida but that success came with a price. Apocalypse's son, Nemesis, attacked Wundagore and killed Magneto's daughter. Ravaged with guilt, Magneto considered giving up. The X-Men rallied around him and convinced him to go on. The young girl Rogue, who had promised Scarlet Witch she would care for her father, told Magneto his daughter believed in what they were doing and would have wanted him to carry on. Magneto did just that, but he swore he would have his revenge on Nemesis.

That revenge would come years later in Japan. Attempting to prevent Apocalypse and Nemesis from turning Japan into a wasteland, Magneto led a team of X-Men into Tokyo. Apocalypse and Nemesis were recovering from a gigantic plasma explosion unleashed by a captured Sunfire. Nemesis absorbed the plasma energy and believed that power would be substantial enough to defeat Magneto and his X-Men. He was wrong. The enraged Magneto used his powers to tear Nemesis apart leaving him for dead on the battlefield.

As time passed, Magneto grew closer to Rogue. Unfortunately, Magneto's close friend Gambit also cared for her. Magneto expressed his growing feelings for Rogue when he told her that since both of them possessed magnetic powers they actually canceled each other out. And the two kissed. Gambit witnessed this and was enraged. Moments later, during a sneak attack by an evil mutant named Wolverine, Rogue chose to save Magneto instead of Gambit. The Cajun mutant left the X-Men, and Magneto and Rogue carried on their romance.

Magneto and Rogue would marry and have a son, Charles. They would continue their war against Apocalypse, doing what they could to stop the madman's plans. But it became clear to them that they were fighting a losing battle. Not until the reappearance of Bishop, an X-Man from the true Marvel Universe timeline and a man Magneto had not seen since the murder of Xavier twenty years, did Magneto realize there was truly hope.

Magneto learned another reality existed, one in which Apocalypse was not a ruler of America. One in which Xavier was not killed and he created the X-Men. Seeing the desperate nature of the world he currently lived in, Magneto took the chance to change the past for the better. He sent Nightcrawler, Colossus Kitty Pryde, and Gambit to retrieve the necessary items and people to travel back in time to save Charles Xavier. He then sent the rest of his X-Men team, including his wife Rogue and son Quicksilver, on missions to save as many humans as they could from the upcoming genetic war in case Bishop was truly mad.

While his X-Men were scattered across the globe, Magneto stayed in Westchester with Bishop and his young son, Charles. The three of them were ambushed by Apocalypse there. Magneto, Bishop, and eventually his young son, were all captured. Magneto was taken to the New York City capital of Apocalypse's kingdom and tortured. He was eventually freed by the genetic clone named Nate Grey, known as the X-Man.

With all elements now in place, Magneto was able to send Bishop back in time to prevent Legion from murdering Charles Xavier. The original Marvel Universe timeline was restored. And Charles Xavier was saved. With Bishop safely sent back in time, Magneto turned his efforts back towards Apocalypse. Using all of his magnetic powers Magneto tore Apocalypse apart.

Magneto was able to reunite with his wife and son as the nuclear weapons launched by the Human High Council rained down on New York City. How the Age of Apocalypse survived not only Bishop saving Xavier in the past but also the nuclear holocaust which was going to obliterate them all is unknown. All that is known is Magneto and his X-Men stand ready to rebuild the earth and face any threats that may come their way.

#magneto #erik lehnsherr #marvel #marvel comics #comic books

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theweekinarrowfic · 3 years

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Completed Arrow Multichapters on AO3, February 14-20, 2021

NOTE: I’m now crossposting to https://theweekinarrowfic.dreamwidth.org. Also, I'm looking for volunteers to test out my fic recommender! Need more Arrow in your life? Why not try one of the multchapter fanfics recently completed by our talented fic writers?

Olicity

Family Affairs by Eleni_Sk (25/25, 18 Feb 2021) - “What are we going to do?” she asked softly after a few minutes. “What do you want to do?” Oliver knew that he wanted the baby, but it wasn’t his decision to make. It wasn’t his body. “I don’t think- I don’t think I can have an abortion.” She whispered. “We’re having a baby, then.” he smiled softly. And truthfully, he was excited, very much so. “A tiny little human,” a ghost of a smile settled on her lips. It was scary, what was to come, but they were going to deal with it. Together.

Other Ships/Characters

The Legends Strike Back by AFY2018 (Sara/Ava Sharpe, 2/2, 18 Feb 2021) - Sequel to a New Legend, set during Rogue One.

Invasion! by Sirius04L (Barry Allen/Oliver, 3/3, 16 Feb 2021) - Barry and Oliver team up with Supergirl and the Legends to take out the Dominators - a retelling of the corssover with a Barry/Oliver twist. Barry feels like this is all his fault, Oliver feels guilty for what he sees when the Dominators abduct him. But they don't come first, the planet does.

gay by themagnificentquack (Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel , 7/7, 15 Feb 2021) - laurel is undercover with cayden giving info to dinah and she and dinah are good frens and laurel never kills vince; laurel is thinking "wow im so in love w this bitch" and dinah is thinking "this is crazy i want to hug her so bad, i've never had a friend like laurel before"; ya'know, gay shit

City of Moon. by IAmMattis (Barbara Gordon/OMC, Nyssa/Sara listed as side pairing, 9/9, 18 Feb 2021) - The son of the Demon spends one night in Arkham City with everyone gunning for his head.

The Wrath of Apocalypse by Bl4ckHunter (Sara/Oliver, 16/16, 17 Feb 2021) - In a universe, where MCU, Arrowverse and X-Men are one and the same, the first mutant ever born starts to ravage the entire world and Team Arrow, Team Flash and the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants and the Avengers must work together to stop Apocalypse.

Fake Dates and Real Love by ScarletFire313 (Dinah Drake/Earth-2 Laurel , 40/40, 18 Feb 2021) - Laurel has to go to a family reunion and hates when people ask her if she is dating anyone. Dinah comes up with a plan. If they pretend to date, what's the harm? And what happens after?; It is mostly fluff with some moments of angst, so it's pretty well balanced I should add that the Avalance in this fic is very brief

#arrow #Olicity #dinahsiren #canarrow #olivarry #Avalance

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g4zdtechtv · 7 years

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youtube

ScrewAttack's Top 10 - X-Men Games

GO and Save the City!

#ScrewAttack #gaming #web stuff #comic books #X-Men: Gamemaster's Legacy #LEGO Marvel Super Heroes #Quake #X-Men: The Ravages of Apocalypse #X-Men vs. Street Fighter #X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse #X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse #X-Men (Genesis)#X-Men Origins: Wolverine (game)#X-Men Arcade #X-Men: Children of the Atom

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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Animation Reviews: OK KO: Red Action to the Future

On to part 3 of Red Action 2 days because my schedule got nuts, and this one.. I was dragging my feet on beause I didn’t remember liking it nearly as much as the rest of the red action trilogy. Now while the same held for “Your Everyone’s Sidekick” I ended up liking that one.. this one... not so much. This one is however earlier in the season than it’s sisters in red action spotlighting: “Back in Red Action” was towards the end of season 1, while “Red Action 3: Grudgement Day” is literally the last episode before the finale arc, something i’d forgotten till today. This one is pretty early into season 2 and the why.. is really easy to figure out. For Season 2 Enid actually got a pretty intensive and long spotlight arc about her time at point prep, with rad and ko only showing up in a portion of it, so late in the season wouldn’t be fair as enid not only had the halloween episode then, but also just had a 7 episode arc basically to herself with Elodie as her co-star and rad and KO out of focus or even absent at times, so they likely did it early to prevent overloading the season with her. Granted they could’ve just had Red show up at school and done one episode there that wasn’t part of it’s overarching story, and still HINTED at the glorb doping arc while she was there, but they may also have not decided which one of the two they wanted Enid to end up with, and thus didn’t want to put her and elodie in the same space. I dunno. We’ll also be covering the POINT arc here eventually, but obviously there’s a lot of episodes to get to first, including the whole gar and carol backstory arc, before we get to that one. And with that out of the way, let’s take a look at Red Action to the Future, under the cut.

We open with Red playfully helping KO stock the shelves with new Double Dipped Lazer chips since, as Enid points out, it’s rad’s day off. She can also fire things in her canons , which is neat. It’s also highly noticable that she and KO are now on good terms and the two seem to be friends. Which despite their last interaction really isn’t THAT weird surprisingly: K.O.’s a forgiving kid as long as your not an out and out supervillian, and even earlier this season he was worried about Lord Boxman disappearing despite hating the guy most of the time for good reason. And with her past behind her in the future, Red is likely inclined to be more the fun kind of cool instead of an edgelord asshole, and likely apologized off screen and as we’ll see next time, she genuinely regrets her actions. That being said I do feel we could’ve had an episode with red trying to be better, but I do get the show has a lot of ground to cover, so this was an easier thing to have happen off screen. Anyways the three are palling around, with red and enid being couply while KO panics when ENid points out his newly beloved double dip lazer chips are probably a limited time thing... ko’s wimpering “no I love them” is so relatable it hurts. But before Red can figure out KO’s snack dillema Yellow Technique yells at red to come home and help, Enid is too worried abotu pressuring her to ask her to stay, and Yellow refuses to let KO and Enid come along for reasons.. and frankly I don’t get that even with possible damage to the timeline. Besides you know, the end of this episode, we also have the fact that you guys HAVE TIME TRAVEL. If they gain a year or two, they’ll still come back and fufill their places in the timeline and you can CONTROL THAT, so if they had to stay longer than a year or needed to be back for something specific, you could bring them back and have two incredibly powerful allies for your war. The x-men have had a good handful of members from the future and look how well that turned out. Some of the time I mean Bishop did turn evil for a while and the younger cable whose around stabbed the older one and rachel went into a coma and then the future but she’s back now.... okay maybe she has a point.

Anyways Enid regrets her decision, Red comes back for a quick break, with years having now passed, Blue shows up to yell at her to come back which seems.. harsh. Like I know she’s like Killowog, a good person whose probably murder on recurits but seems nice off duty from waht we’ve seen and her happily saying hello to enid, which makes me want an episode where they actuallyv isted the hue troop instead of this SIGH. Anyways, Enid finds a stray time capsule and goes to be honest with red

So now in the post apocalypse, Enid finds Yellow, who got seperated from red as they fight a giant version of the robots they’ve been fighting, with Red showing up just in time. But as with all giant killer robot based future’s they’ve evolved so these things have shields and Enid suggests laaunching her. So red shoots her girlfriend out of her.

youtube

And they win.. but Red refuses to let enid stay and gets huffy with her before Enid can tell her the truth and Enid leaves in a huff. Now this scene.. I really liked, from the action sequences to the fact that we see how their similarities, what attracts them to each other, is also a roadblock to them having a proper relationship. Both are stubborn, put walls up , and are reluctant to be honest with their feelings, we’ve seen that with red in the last episode and Enid in the episodes mentioned last time. They both prefer to run from their feelings and while their both growing, as you’ll see when I cover more tom lucitor stuff, it’s not that easy to just “become” a better person and sometimes old habits flair up.

Enid regrets how things went, KO regrets not learning about chips, and we get one final red visit.. from a much older Red. i’m Dubbing her Cable!Red because A) her timeline probably still exists, it’s just not the one our red is linked to anymore nor the one the plaza future we see would create. She and enid hug and Red explains that it turns out the robots were weak to organic maatter and given they were only shooting at them, they didn’t realize it and it STILL , as shown by the fact Red is grandma age now, took years to fix and she has things to get back to with space congress, war hero stuff and all that. Also just a small note but something I only noticed this time that the episode DOES deserve credit for in my book is Kali Hawk’s voice acting as Red. Noticably with each time we see her red’s voice gets deeper and by future red she sounds entirely grown up. It’s a subtle change most probably wouldn’t of cared about aside from on old red, but it’s a nice touch that really does help theemotional part of the episode. Enid is finally honest about how she felt, and sad about it but understands.. but is also understandably still broken up when Old Woman Red Action leaves.. only for present-day.. ish time travel tenses are weird to pop up behind them has a hug with enid and flirtly says “I never left. “ Turns out Future Red decided to say Screw Destiny and told her past self to stay, what enid felt likely, or got enid to admit it or whatever, and told her to stay and enjoy her youth. She can go back and be a war hero later if she wants. And my honest guest given the Hue Troop turn up fine later is rather than callously abandon her teammates, Red’s future self simply went there for them and , to prevent a decades long war from ravaging her future, pulled a Cable and told them how to defeat the robots YEARS before they got so powerful it’d take years to beat them, as well as probably having knowledge of where they came from, how to kill them all or make peace with them or whatever, and future weapons to help even things. IT’s not an unfair assumption given that besides missing out on a future with Enid, Future Red would also not want her friends to go through untold decades of pain and death and since she changed the timeline already, there was no sense in not going all in. Also the chip thing is resolved with KO finding out they WILL be discontinued.. but replaced with triple dip instead. KO”s delighted and enid and red happily share a moment, the future is now what htey make of it. THE END. Final Thoughts: As I made plain i’m not a fan of this one.. but in re-watch I did find things to like about it. The time travel story device was used really well,though I would’ve liked them to have old red say she was going to back instead of me having to infer it and feel, given theyd on’t show up at all next time and only show up for a cameo in the finale that the Hue Troop was vastly underulitized and coudl’ve used their own ep, and for once the cancelation dosen’t excuse this as they had the second half of season 2 to do this AND never dealt with Red, who gave up a future war for her, dealing with enid going way for what’s clearly months and was expected to be years. It’s also not very funny , which is fine if the episodes more dramatic like TKO, but for a standard ep it really didn’t quite work. It was just more dull than it should’ve been: it had an intresting hook: red slowly loosing her youth due to a future war, and Enid loosing her because of it, and Red’s cable self deciding to fix that, but it was instead a standard poor commuincation kills plot but with future robot wars. IT’s the first OK KO episode here i’ve reviewed that’s not good and honestly one of the few they had that genuinely wasn’t, and even then it had some good ideas just a flawed execution. Thankfully next time, there’sd none of that as we instead look at one of teh series very BEST episodes. IT’s grudgment day, and until then later.. today hopefully. If not tommorow.

#ok ko let's be heroes #red action #enid #rednid #red action to the future #yellow technique #blue power #time travel #reviews #ok ko #ko #lbgtq+#pride month

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langdxn · 5 years

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sanctum | pre-outpost!michael x fem!reader

SUMMARY: What happened in the 18 months before Michael arrived at Outpost 3. I’m driven by filling in plotholes and this one intrigued me the most. This is my first fic so constructive criticism is more than welcome!

WARNINGS: More fluff than Build-a-Bear, pregnancy and mentions of children, trauma.

WORD COUNT: 1.8k - it’s pretty short for a first attempt but I was cautious about rambling for too long.

“I’m just going to Outposts 1 and 3 to check on their security, my little dove. I’ll return as soon as I can,” Michael breathed into the shell of her ear, scooping his arms around her waist from behind. Protectively placing her hands atop his statement rings and dipping into her shoulder, she clung to his touch as if it were the first time they met.

“I’ll miss you,” she sighed, tracing gentle, reassuring circles over his rings with her fingertips, “we all will.”

Her eyes darted across the room to the dark wooden crib, elaborately carved by her husband’s delicate hands as they waited in Outpost 2 for the right time to execute the next phase of his father’s repopulation plan. She recalled all the days and nights she passed his office expecting to find him nose-deep in important Cooperative paperwork, but instead her eyes fell upon him hunched over a carving knife and a mahogany branch. Stepping towards his desk and deftly sweeping up the discarded shreds of bark that littered the office floor, she examined the intricate flames he was crafting into the wood, her heart igniting with love to the point of implosion.

Sixteen months had passed since they first met in Outpost 2, nestled in a bunker in Beckley, his cerulean eyes meeting hers across the radiation decontamination chamber. She was the grey assigned to spray down his clothing as he entered the hideout, he was the mysterious Mr Langdon everybody immediately feared without really knowing why - everybody except her. She was assigned to the outpost after years of faithful service to the Satanic Church despite her kind nature, after all, nobody was perfect. She hadn’t remained a grey for long as she fell pregnant immediately after her first romantic meeting with Michael on his office desk, scaling the ranks from a mere servant to the outpost’s first lady due to the unplanned yet nonetheless welcome development in their new underground world. Out of the darkness above ground came the new life between the Antichrist and his angel.

“I promise I’ll come home to you and the boys.” He gently lowered his palms to meet her burgeoning bump, reminding himself of how much her womb had provided for him, one heir and another on the way in a matter of weeks. Not long after the arrival of their firstborn son, Damien, Michael and Y/N celebrated their status as new parents in the only way they knew how — between the sheets. The next morning, as they lay basking in the afterglow of an intense night of pure intimacy and love, Michael placed his hand on her abdomen and felt a new life once again.

If she had met the incarnation of Michael that chaired Cooperative meetings months earlier, she would never have stayed. The dictatorial, power-drunk Antichrist with his show-stopping red leather gloves and ominous black coat mellowed immeasurably at the mere suggestion of a family of his own. After the disastrous upbringing he endured, Michael refused to allow such a future for his own children, insisting on catering to Y/N’s every whim at any time of day or night. She gave him purpose, a reason to fight, a family to defend from the wasteland above ground. That said, if he had met her and her calming demeanour a month earlier, he would never have initiated the Apocalypse in the first place.

“Travel safe, please baby? We’ll be right here waiting,” she clasped her hands over his on her abdomen, willing herself not to shed a tear in front of him. The journey ahead of her husband would be treacherous, relying on a solitary pair of horses to carry him between the two outposts and back home again. He had only made this same voyage once since they first met, she had dreaded this day ever since but had remained strong for Michael and their growing family.

“I don’t want to leave you,” he whispered solemnly, snaking his arms around her waist and turning her to face him. As he planted his hands back on her bump, he dropped gracefully to his velvet-clad knees in front of her to level with his new life.

“Daddy’s going to be right back, little one. Don’t go making an appearance before I get back, you hear me in there?” He leant his forehead against the bump and closed his eyes, focusing on the strong heartbeat booming inside. He turned his head to face the crib where the blissfully sleeping Damien lay behind its bars, silently deciding not to wake him before he left so Y/N didn’t face another three hours to attempt to calm his cries.

“Let’s renew our vows when you come home,” she suggested as he rose to his feet. Michael beamed from ear to ear and nodded in agreement, while his eyes flashed with her thoughts of their wedding in the outpost just before Damien arrived. A dark affair of course, his bride wore black, an endlessly elegant gown cascading into a deep blood red as the taffeta reached the floor. Michael was always dressed for a wedding so he donned his favourite matching velour dress suit, with a single black rose threaded through his lapel. Fellow Outpost 2 residents Jeff Pfister and Mutt Nutter served as best man and maid of honour respectively. Y/N mercifully allowed her maid to attend without the embarrassment of a dress, Mutt’s unusually groomed beard offsetting his velvet suit in a most uncomfortable display for the typically slothful office-dwelling creature.

Silently acknowledging the urgency of his timely departure, Michael placed a deep, haunting kiss on Y/N’s lips as he ran his fingers through her raven black hair for one last time. Without the strength to say a proper goodbye, he closed his eyes and turned on his heels to charge out of their bedroom door. He wanted so desperately to look back, but then he might never leave.

The cold breeze grazing her bump signalled his departure and as she watched his angelic curls and velour coat tails make their way to the exit, she whispered to herself.

“Please don’t go."

———

Michael spent an arduous, mind-numbing fortnight examining the security procedures at Outpost 1 in New York. There was to be no unofficial communication with the ominous blonde Cooperative representative for the duration of his stay. Agents and informants flitted in and out of his makeshift office during the day, while the night would be spent alone in his quarters catching up on sleep or waiting to communicate with his wife after she finished her official duties in his absence. Tonight, a knock on the bedroom door broke the aching silence.

“Mr. Langdon,” a stern voice called from beyond the door. Michael could barely contain his rage at being disturbed when he had important emails to write, particularly one to his wife to let her know he was thinking of her and would be home soon. “A message has arrived for you, sir.”

She’s sent me a carrier pigeon? Michael thought, wracking his brains as to why his wife would require the archaic communication format over a simple email. Had the power gone down at the outpost? Was there something wrong with the baby? Had their son arrived too early? He slammed his laptop shut, rushing to swing open the door and nearly bumped into the grey behind it, holding a small copper tube in his hand.

“Give that here,” he hissed as he grabbed it impatiently from the grey's clutches, his hands shaking as he fumbled to find the end of the scroll inside, yanking it completely out of its casing. As Michael’s eyes laid upon the Cooperative’s signature obnoxious font filling the small sheet, his heart sank.

OUTPOST 2 HAS BEEN OVERRUN. CANNIBALS HAVE RAVAGED THE COMPOUND. MR. JEFF PFISTER AND MR. MUTT NUTTER ARE HEADING FOR THE SANCTUARY. INITIATE SANCTUARY RELOCATION IMMEDIATELY.

No word of his wife and children.

Michael's mind was already halfway to West Virginia before he shoved the grey out of his path and barrelled towards the exit. Throwing on a radiation suit as fast as he could on the way, he unchained his black horses from the Outpost gates and hurriedly connected them to the front of his bleak carriage. Bundling himself into the back, he cracked the driving whip furiously in a blind rage.

——— A month later ———

The foreboding gates to the Hawthorne School for Exceptional Young Men bowed to the presence of Michael’s carriage through the toxic mist, issuing a welcome to the last remaining sanctum, Outpost 3. Two figures in dark radiation suits paced towards his vehicle wielding archaic weapons, Michael exited the vehicle and aimed his Cooperative identification card in their view.

“Tend to the animals,” He dismissed in the direction of the figure he assumed to be Ms Mead, pacing towards the familiar school entrance. He would not be needing their assistance anymore.

His initial day of formalities and informing the outpost’s population of the developments outside of the confines of the former academic institution culminated in a meeting with the outpost’s leader, Ms Wilhemina Venable. Ushering the lavender-clad woman into the gloom of his office beside a roaring fire he conjured minutes earlier, Michael swallowed hard as he prepared to inform her of his journey that lead to Outpost 3. The length and trauma of the journey had hardened his resolve, returning to the arrogant facade shown only to the esteemed members of the Cooperative.

“You’re the leader in here. You need to understand what’s at stake, what’s really going on out there.” He slumped into a leather chair beside the ferocious flames, gesturing to the stern female to join him in an adjacent seat.

“On the way here, I came across a woman. A young mother with two children. They were some of the unlucky ones who were far enough from the blast radius to survive the fireball but not the radiation.” Michael raised an arm in demonstration, a chink emerging in his assertive facade as he detailed a vision more painful than he could bear.

“They were covered in tumours, sores, their lungs were burnt from the toxic air.” Molten tears coursed from both eyes, tracking multiple scorching routes down his countenance as he choked on his thoughts. His fists clenched and his throat constricted, memories searing before they reached his tongue, his steely demeanour long since departed.

“After a few moments, I realised that the child she was carrying in her arms was already dead. She was begging for us to murder her other child out of pity. Mercy. She didn’t have the strength to do it herself so she prayed for someone to come along and do it for her.”

“Did you?” Ms Venable queried.

A single tear rolled down his pale cheek.

“No.”

---- read part ii here ----

#fanfiction #American Horror Story #AHS Apocalypse #American Horror Story Apocalypse #Michael Langdon #Michael Langdon fanfiction #Outpost!Langdon #AHS fanfiction #Michael Langdon imagines #outpost!michael

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today-we-will-survive · 5 years

Text

As The World Burns Around Us, Ch. 1

header made by me

Pairing: Jungkook x Reader ft. Taehyung

Genre: Apocalypse!AU, Angst, Thriller, Romance

Warning: dark themes, violence, some blood and gore

Word Count: 11.6K

Parts can be found in the masterlist under “As The World Burns Around Us”

Summary: You haven’t seen the sun in two years. The Virus wiped out a good three quarters of the world’s population and then the wars that followed wiped out half of that. After everything happened, it was only a matter of time before the different countries started blaming each other and emptied their nuclear arsenals. You’re still surprised Seoul survived – if you can call what it has become “surviving”.

A/N: This was initially an original work of mine meant to be a sequel to a book I self-published but of course, BTS has taken over my life so it would only make sense that they would take over this story too. New parts every Friday 💜

Steady.

It didn't take long for even the tamest of the animal species to revert back to their primal instincts. The weak were killed off by the strong and the strong were killed off by the stronger. Now only the most resilient are left and let me tell you, there aren't many. Even now watching this wild dog—that probably looked like a pit bull at one time but now resembles something out of a horror movie—as it picks through the garbage in the overgrown grass, you have a hard time remembering the last time you saw one. It's been even longer since you tasted one.

Steady.

A drip of water lands on your gloved hand making a sharp tick sound when it hits the leather, but you don't flinch. Even the tiniest movement will give you away and you'd be going another night without fresh meat. Another drip lands on your exposed cheek and you feel it slide slowly, burning down and soaking into the cloth covering the lower half of your face.

You haven't seen the sun in two years. The Virus wiped out a good three quarters of the world’s population and then the wars that followed wiped out half of that. After everything happened, it was only a matter of time before the different countries started blaming each other and emptied their nuclear arsenals. Crouching there you're still surprised Seoul survived – if you can call what it has become “surviving”.

After the wars completely screwed up the climate, a gray, toxic haze covered the sky and hasn't gone away ever since. When it isn't raining, it's snowing. Now the buildings that haven't completely deteriorated are overtaken with plant life. Ivy climbs up the walls, clinging to whatever it can. Weeds grow up through the cracks in the crumbling concrete and devour long abandoned cars and mailboxes and street signs. You're just glad it's raining now instead of snowing, though even the rain tends to burn a little bit when it hits the skin. Just acidic enough to sting but not enough to do any serious damage as long as you aren't in it for too long. You can see deep pink lines trailing down the wild dog’s back from living its life out in the poisonous elements. It shutters as the rain starts coming down harder. You need to move before it decides to run off and take shelter.

Steady.

Your fingers wrap tightly around the handle of one of your throwing knives and you breathe in the cold, bitter air until your chest hurts. Then with a quick flick of your wrist, you hurl the knife forward and the blade buries itself deep into the dog’s neck. It yelps once before falling to the ground dead. The air escapes your lungs and clouds in front of your face. Finally, you’re going to go to sleep tonight with a full belly instead of tossing and turning with hunger pains.

You get up and step over the crumbling concrete wall you were crouched behind. The dog is completely still and the rain pelts its pink, scarred skin now, each drop making a tiny sizzle as it hits. You need to get this thing out of the rain before it becomes inedible. Quickly, you shrug off one of your coats and wrap it around the dead dog, tying the sleeves together so you can use them to drag your catch back home.

You turn the corner, your eyes scanning the street for any danger. These days it’s everywhere. Wild dogs like the one tied up in your coat like to hide in dark alleys and under cars and wait for something, anything, to come along. If anyone were to come across a pack of them, they’d be screwed. You did once and only made it out alive because of Jungkook and Tae.

Halfway down the block, one of the sleeves slips and the whole coat comes unraveled sending the dead dog sprawling onto the road. Its black tongue flops out of its mouth making the thing look like it rolled over to have its belly rubbed. With a sigh, you crouch down to wrap your catch back up.

Just as you get balanced on the balls of your feet, a gust of wind makes the sleeves of your jacket flutter and the sound of rustling material comes from behind you. In a split second you reach back pulling a knife out of a band under your arm and whirl around sending it flying. The blade buries itself to the hilt in the chest of a masked man. He makes a choking noise before falling to the ground and you stay frozen where you are listening for any other sounds that might be riding on the wind.

Nothing but silence.

As quietly as possible, you get up and hurry over to the body. The man is tall and wearing layers of dark, mud caked clothes. An animal skull, most likely a cow's, is fixed over his head and his wide eyes stare at you through the holes. You’ve never seen a raider wear a mask like this. Usually they just keep cloth over their faces like everyone else. The skull is grotesque and bleached white from years in the wind and acid rain. Horns grow out of either side of the skull, long and menacing like the tips had been sharpened recently. Why can’t these people just keep to themselves like you do?

You sigh in disgust and reach down to pull your knife out of his chest. It comes out easily, tinted red with blood. With a quick swipe on the man's jacket, the blade is clean. Another gust of wind catches the edge of his coat and pulls it back revealing a black cord tied around his neck. Your eyes grow wide as you lose your grip on the knife and it clatters to the ground. You can’t tear your eyes away from the teeth that hang from the black string. Human teeth. This guy isn’t a raider. He’s a ravager. And according to Tae, ravagers don’t travel alone.

You need to get out of there. Quickly. You bend down and pick up your knife and when you turn back toward the dog, four more tall men in skull masks block your path. It takes all you have to hold their stares so they don’t sense your fear. You can’t see their eyes so you focus on the dark eye sockets of the cows’ skulls. Every other part of you is covered. They can’t tell your mouth is trembling. More importantly, they can’t tell you’re a girl. You need to keep it that way.

“Take the dog and leave me alone,” you say trying to make your voice as low and steady as possible.

“It’s not the dog we want,” one of them replies. You don’t see any mouth moving but judging by the way one of the men in the middle strokes the collection of human teeth around his neck, you guess he’s the one that spoke.

Out of the corner of your vision, you see the man on the far right step forward and you immediately hurl the knife you have in your hand. As soon as it hits the ravager in the shoulder, he goes down and the other three spring forward. You rip two more knives from the holster under your arm and flick them forward hard sending one of the ravagers crashing to the ground and the other stumbling while he tries to get the blade out of his bicep. The one in the middle comes at you pulling a big machete out of a sheath behind his back. As he approaches, you notice something brown and crusted on the blade. It’s either rust or blood but you’re guessing it’s the latter. The ravager comes fast slashing the machete sideways and you duck to the left hearing the blade slice through the air.

You start running, reaching under your arm to grab another knife. Empty. Crap. You should have one more. There’s one each in two of the ravagers; a third buried in one of the dead ones on the ground. Where is your fourth knife?

You curse under your breath as your eyes dart back to the dead dog now being pelted with poison rain. You totally forgot to take the knife out of its neck.

A hot pain slices your arm causing you to lose your footing, and tumble to the ground. As you try to get back up, the ravager with the machete towers over you holding his weapon above his head. It comes crashing down and you roll out of the way just before it hits the concrete, sending sparks in every direction. One quick glance at your arm tells you another ravager hurled one of your own knives at you. It sliced into your skin pretty deep and now blood soaks into your coat.

A foot connects with your side knocking the air out of you for a second but you manage to grit your teeth, get up quickly and ram into the ravager with all the strength you have. His mask and machete go flying and clatter to the pavement a few yards away. The man doubles over from the blow to his stomach and you use that moment to ram your knee up into his exposed face. It connects with his nose and you hear a loud crunch just before he goes crashing to the ground. Blood spatters your leg but you don’t have time to react before another ravager is on you. He grabs your arms from behind and you immediately throw your head back, connecting it with his throat and causing him to loosen his grip. When you turn around to face the man, you notice one of his arms is stained red.

Where’s the other ravager you got in the beginning? As if to answer your question, an arm wraps around your neck from behind and pulls. Your back hits a body and you begin clawing at the arm, trying to get your nails into the skin. No luck. The ravager in front of you is holding his own throat with one hand and grabs your face hard with the other. Your teeth dig into your cheeks and you taste blood.

“Well, you’re a little firecracker, aren’t you?” he spits, his sour breath permeating the mask and making you gag. The arm around your neck tightens quickly, causing a sound to escape your throat. The ravager cocks his cow skull head to the side and you can feel your stomach churn violently. With one quick motion, he pulls your hood off and rips the cloth off your face. “What do we have here?” he asks excitedly watching your long hair swirl around your head in the wind. He catches a strand and pulls his mask off so he can swipe the hair under his nose. The ravager’s face is disfigured, scarred from the rain. You wince in disgust as he brushes your hair against his face. “We haven’t seen a pigeon in a long time. Eh, Madd?”

“No we haven’t,” the one behind you breathes into your ear.

You try tilting your head away from him but his grip around your neck tightens. The one in front of you steps closer and runs a jagged fingernail down your cheek. “You’ll be very useful, little bird,” he whispers scraping his nail down your neck and along the zipper of your coat.

You nudge his hand off and spit hard, speckling his face with blood from your cut cheeks. The ravager behind you grabs one of your arms and wrenches it hard behind your back and you clench your teeth to keep from crying out. The man in front laughs as he wipes a speck of blood off his nose and licks his finger. “Let’s go,” he says and turns away from you.

The ravager holding you lifts you off the ground with the arm around your neck, giving you no leverage to resist. You try wiggling and kicking your legs but he only twists your arm further up your back. When you hear it pop, you begin thrashing harder. Everything around you starts to fade as your lungs fight for air. Your body goes limp and something explodes right in your ear. You don’t even notice when the ravager loosens his grip on your neck and you go crashing to the ground.

Slowly, your surroundings come back into focus. Your cheek rests on the wet pavement and the rain hitting your face feels like a million little pin pricks in your skin. A few gunshots crack the air and you quickly lift your hood, covering your face from the rain and your already sensitive ears from the noise. A loud laugh causes you to lift your head to see just what is going on.

Your vision is still blurry but you can just make out the horns of one of the ravagers’ masks and a flash of brown hair under a dark hood. The ravager goes down with one slam in the face from an elbow. You turn your head the other direction to find a darker blur, completely in black, ramming a booted foot into another ravager’s stomach causing him to double over. The butt of a shotgun comes down hard on his back sending him sprawling to the ground.

Clickclick. Bang.

A spray of blood erupts from the ravager’s head and he goes still. You wait until only the celebratory laughs of the best friends fill the air and then you slowly get to your feet.

“You fired your gun? Are you trying to get us all killed?” you ask, your voice rising with anger as you approach them.

Taehyung smiles, his teeth gleaming. “Judging by the way you were handling yourself, you wanted to get killed. I taught you to fight better than that,” he replies pointing a smug finger at you.

You bat it away. “If you hadn’t noticed,” you sneer. “There were four of them and one of me.”

“Well, there was one of me and I still got the job done.”

“You cheated,” you mutter watching as Taehyung twirls his hand gun around his finger.

Jungkook nudges his best friend hard causing him to almost drop the gun. “Who got the last shot in?” he asks glaring at Taehyung. Then the black haired boy turns to you before Taehyung can give him an answer. His gloved hands cup your face. “Are you alright?” Jungkook asks you as concern fills his dark eyes.

All you can do is nod before burying your face into his jacket.

Then

You met Jungkook the first day of your freshman year of college in Busan. The two of you hit it off so well, it wasn’t a difficult decision to make when he asked you to be his girlfriend. There was something about the shy art major that you fell in love with instantly. His warmth, his sense of humor. Not to mention his beautiful, dark eyes and bunny smile made your heart melt the moment you saw him. You’d never believed in love at first sight until you met him.

Becoming best friends with his goofy, lovable roommate/childhood best friend was just as easy. Taehyung’s happiness was infectious. He was like a puppy, always so excited and eager. The type of person you could trust easily. The kind that meant what he said and kept his promises. He was a science major. He’d wanted to become a pharmaceuticals scientist like his dad had been. Everything about the career excited him, but mostly, the idea of finding cures for incurable diseases.

He was a good student. A great student. Yet he always found time between studying and classes to hang out with you and Jungkook. Some would think it would suck being a third wheel, but the three of you were a unit. You were always together, until Taehyung went to do a summer internship at Bang Pharmaceuticals in Seoul.

The company was the largest supplier of pharmaceuticals in South Korea and the fact that Taehyung had managed to snag a spot in their summer internship program was a huge deal. One that the three of you celebrated for the entire week before he left. He promised to keep you guys updated, promised to call and text all the time, Skype on the weekends. And for a while, he did. You still missed him of course. You’d never seen Jungkook sulk before and it broke your heart.

A couple weeks into the internship, Taehyung called you and Jungkook one night, sounding uneasy. He explained there was something going on at the company. Something shady. Something that made him not want to be there anymore. He told you he was going to drop-out of the program and come home.

Though you were sad for him that he wouldn’t be finishing the program—therefore missing out on the credentials that go with it—you couldn’t help but be excited to get your best friend back. And Jungkook was even more ecstatic.

That was the last time you heard from him before The Virus was unleashed on the world. It started in Seoul and spread like a wildfire, latching onto people, making its way around the world, taking out the most vulnerable first. Somehow you and Jungkook managed to avoid it, though many people at school weren’t so lucky. Both of you watched your families, your friends die around you. You lost everyone except for each other. You didn’t know what you would have done if you lost Jungkook, especially after losing Taehyung.

With your best friend on your minds, the two of you made your way to Seoul in hopes of, if not him, at least finding out what happened to him. You wanted answers. The wars started not long after you got there.

As soon as the first bomb hit, Seoul and the surrounding cities erupted into chaos. All effort by the police to get everyone under control was futile and before long, they gave up and sat back as people grew more scared and violent.

You and Jungkook were left to fend for yourselves in the big, broken city. You learned to survive in the madness. Learned to cling to each other, to rely on each other, to protect each other.

Weeks went by with no sign of Taehyung. In a last ditch effort, the two of you broke into the Bang Pharmaceuticals building, sneaking past the people that had banded together to form gangs. You searched floor by floor, whispering his name as loudly as you thought was safe and of course never getting a reply. It didn’t surprise you, though. You knew deep down that he was gone. That you’d never see your best friend again. Both of you knew it. The truth clung heavily to the air between the two of you. You were so completely sure he was gone that turning the corner and crashing into the very person you were searching in vain for caused you to scream and Jungkook to turn ghostly white.

Taehyung looked completely different, almost unrecognizable. The boy was pale, his dark eyes empty like two bottomless pits. He was skinny, too, and so completely out of it that at first he lunged on top of you, wrapping his bony fingers around your throat and squeezing until you saw stars. Jungkook was able to get him off of you before any damage was done but still your heart broke at the fact that your best friend still looked at you like you were another danger.

His memory of the two of you returned slowly over the following weeks, but the rest of him never did. Taehyung was a shell of his former self. His boxy grin, his deep laugh, the spark in his eyes, it was all gone. But you had him again. You had your best friend back, and even if he wasn’t completely the same, he was alive and he was warm. He was there.

Taehyung refused to talk about what went on during his internship but judging by the drastic difference between the Taehyung before and the Taehyung now, it couldn’t have been anything good. You knew this now. That they’d been developing chemical weapons, using innocent people as their lab rats.

It took many more weeks for him to open up to you and Jungkook. To tell you what happened. He told you of some of the horrors he witnessed. The sounds he heard every time he passed certain wings. The screams.

About a month into his internship, he’d begun to feel strange. He’d sometimes suddenly be so exhausted, he’d just collapse in the break room and wake up feeling even weirder than before. He became paranoid after being there for a while. Said it felt like someone was always watching him, or studying him, rather. Something happened to him while he was at Bang Pharmaceuticals. Something bad enough that his own mind didn’t want to remember.

One night the three of you had been sleeping in a heap on the dusty floor of the abandoned fire station you called home when you were awoken by the sounds of glass shattering. Both Taehyung and Jungkook went out to see what was going on and you laid there in terrified silence when the shouting started. You couldn’t tell how many people were in that front room with them but by the time you made it to your feet and hurried out to the front, at least five bodies lay motionless on the ground and both Taehyung and Jungkook were struggling with a few more intruders. You stood there frozen in panic just watching as one of the dark figures grabbed ahold of Jungkook’s shirt and threw a fist, cracking their knuckles against his cheek.

Your eyes darted to the body closest to you and something shiny caught a glint of moonlight. Finally, you were able to move. Without another thought, you reached down and snatched up the shiny object from the dead intruder’s hand. A knife, short and sharp edged on both sides.

Jungkook let out a pained grunt as his attacker landed a punch in his stomach and your fist tightened around the handle of the knife. You didn’t think. You didn’t hesitate. You only reacted.

You reared back and threw your arm forward in an arc, letting go of the knife. It left your hand in what seemed like slow motion and sliced through the air. The blade barely grazed the raider’s face but he let out a shriek and stumbled back. That gave Jungkook enough time to regain his footing, swing his shotgun around his shoulder and bring the butt of it down on the back of the man’s head. With a grunt, the man went down and didn’t get back up.

With a quick glance your way, Jungkook hurried over to help Taehyung and the two of them took the others down quickly. After it was all over, the three of you just stood there gazing around at the five bodies—some dead, some unconscious—at your feet. The window facing the road was completely gone except for a few shards clinging to the frame, and the sounds of chaos and war filled the place. People ran past your building on the street, crying and shouting out names while others plowed into them, grabbing whatever they could before running off the opposite way. When had it all turned to this?

“We need to go,” Taehyung said wiping blood from his face as it dripped from his mouth and down his chin.

Jungkook held his shotgun at the ready and looked at you again. “Thanks for helping me,” he said with a half smile.

You nodded back then looked down again at the body you’d gotten the knife from. A black holster was wrapped around her leg just above her knee and you took it quickly, wrapping it around your own and securing the Velcro. The handles of four throwing knives rested against your thigh and you spotted another holster with a strap that you had to lift off the woman raider’s shoulder. Another three handles poked out of their slots. You lifted the strap up over your head and let it fall so the knives rested at your side under your arm.

“Here,” Jungkook said handing you the knife you’d thrown. There was a place for it in the holster below your armpit and you slipped it in as the three of you made your way out onto the busy street.

You ended up fighting your way toward the business district. Or rather what used to be the business district. Though the tall buildings still towered over the streets looking down like amused spectators at a gladiator fight, all the lower level windows were busted out and people had set fire to some of the lobbies.

Taehyung led you through the chaos in a familiar direction that made your stomach churn worse as you got even closer.

“Well, isn’t this ironic?” you uttered as you worked to get the heavy chain off the front entrance to Bang Pharmaceuticals.

Taehyung turned to look at you, but then his eyes focused on something over your shoulder. “Move!” he yelled and swung the chain toward you. You lunged to the side just as the heavy links made contact with the man behind you. They hit his temple and he stumbled back, giving the three of you enough time to slip inside the heavy double doors. Once in, Taehyung threaded the chain through the handles several times and locked it in place with a piece of metal he’d found on the floor. No one was getting in.

It was weird revisiting the place you had found Taehyung over a year earlier, not to mention taking refuge in the building of the company responsible for all this. He gave you a quick tour, you all brandishing your weapons and taking out the stragglers. There were only a few. The building had been pretty tightly secured.

The three of you spent most of your time on the basement level. What once was a place where they kept their experiments locked away became a marginally comfortable place to sleep. At least the crinkly mattresses you dragged down there were better than sleeping on the hard, concrete floor.

You’d found the biggest lab on the fourth floor and made it your common room. It was just down the hall from where you kept your food and supplies and this high up, the windows were still intact so it didn’t feel as hopeless. Though at the same time, it gave you a perfect view of the dilapidated city below.

The three of you spent the first couple of days clearing the room of the random equipment that was left behind when everyone had evacuated, and dragged in any furniture you could find from the waiting rooms and break rooms. It was slowly but surely beginning to feel like home. You even managed to find a desk calendar in one of the offices and used it to track the days for that first year. Once it was all used up, you took a permanent marker and drew a big calendar of sorts on one of the blank walls in your common room and made a tick mark for the appropriate day.

Slowly the wall filled with tick marks and the world outside grew emptier and darker.

Now

Every fifth tick mark under Friday, you grab a pair of scissors and cut both boys’ hair. One at a time, they sit on a stool in front of the mirror in one of the bathrooms and watch silently as you snip away at their scruffy locks. Taehyung likes his long enough to almost be in his eyes while Jungkook keeps his a bit shorter.

Even though it makes him look more rugged and older, you miss the way it used to fall in his eyes whenever Jungkook looked at you. You know he’s still the same person but he looks different. Not worse, just different. You all look pretty different. Though, devastation will do that to a person. Tragedy changes you inside and out.

“I can’t wait to get a taste of that dog,” Jungkook says as the smell of the cooking meat wafts into the bathroom from where it cooks in the common room. It’s tinged with a faint sour smell from the acid that managed to soak into the dog’s skin while you were fighting off those ravagers.

A cold shudder makes its way down your spine. You can’t stop thinking about the way the ravager’s breath smelled as he talked so close to your face; like death and starvation. Or the way his nails scraped down your cheek. Or the feeling of the other man’s body pressed against your back, his necklace of teeth biting into your spine. If Jungkook and Taehyung hadn’t come when they did, your teeth could have ended up on a necklace…

“Hey!” Jungkook barks and jerks forward, slapping a hand over his ear.

Your scissors clatter to the floor. “Crap. I’m so sorry,” you gasp, pulling him around to face you.

“You trying to cut my ear off?”

You yank the scarf from around your neck and pull his hand away from the side of his head. Blood wells up from a slice in the upper part of his ear and starts making its way down his neck.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper again, clenching the scarf in your shaking hand and dabbing at the blood. “That’s never happened before. I’m so sorry,” you repeat. Even when you first started cutting their hair and made them look ridiculous, you never hurt them.

You’re completely focused on getting Jungkook’s ear to stop bleeding so you don’t even notice him watching you until his fingers wrap around your wrist. Your eyes lock on his.

“Hey,” he says softly. “Are you alright?”

With a nod, you open your mouth to say you’re fine but a sob escapes before you can stop it. Then Jungkook is up, wrapping his arms around you, pulling you to his chest.

“I thought I was going to die,” you crack as tears fall from your eyes and soak into his shirt.

“But you didn’t,” he assures you and tightens his arms around you, almost like you might disappear if he lets you go. “You’re safe now.”

Pulling back away from him, you look up into his eyes. “We’re never safe,” you whisper. “We’ll never be safe, just less in danger.”

Jungkook opens his mouth like he wants to say something but no words come out. After several silent moments pass, he shuts it again, the muscles in his jaw becoming prominent as he grinds his teeth together. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he says. “And neither will Tae.”

Finally, a small smile pulls at the corners of your mouth. “I know you wouldn’t.”

Taehyung on the other hand is still so different after you found him and he’s just gotten worse. You’ve been friends with the boy for four years but you find yourself trusting him less and less. At first, you had to convince Jungkook that things would be okay, that Taehyung would be okay, but after a while, it was Jungkook who had to start assuring you.

You try to keep your thoughts to yourself. Besides you, Taehyung is the only piece of his old life he still has, and you’re not about to ruin that for him.

“Dinner’s ready.”

The two of you step apart to find Taehyung leaning against the doorframe. “What happened to your ear?”

Jungkook’s hand goes up to touch the fresh cut. “Oh, it’s nothing. Y/N just tried to hack it off.”

You nudge him hard in the ribs but can’t hold back the smile as he laughs. An amused smirk flashes across Taehyung’s face just before he pushes off the doorframe and disappears down the hall.

“I promise I didn’t mean to hurt you,” you whisper wincing at the blood still oozing from the cut. Jungkook takes ahold of your hand again to keep it from touching the wound.

“I know you didn’t,” he says with a crooked smile and brushes his lips against your knuckles. “Though, maybe I should cut my own hair next time.”

With a chuckle, you pull your hand out of his. “I don’t think you could handle these babies,” you say and pick the scissors back up off the floor

There’s a small fleck of blood on them and you wipe it off on your pants before dropping them back in the cup on the counter. They hit the bottom of the glass with a loud tink.

There’s nothing on this earth that tastes as good as that first bite of dog does. Even the slightly sour, metallic tang resonating on your taste buds from the acid that seeped in couldn’t ruin your ravenous appetite. All three of you are quiet, completely engrossed in getting this rare meal into your bellies as quickly as possible. Even though you know you shouldn’t be eating this fast and will definitely regret it later, you just can’t help inhaling it. After all, who knows how long it will be before your next meal?

You eat in silence like you always do. Concentrating more on satisfying the beast of hunger roaring in your stomachs that’s threatening to tear you apart if you don’t give it what it wants.

Once the bones are picked clean, Jungkook cleans up and you go back into the bathroom, this time with Taehyung. He runs his fingers through his tangled brown hair as he takes a seat.

The blades scrape the underside of your fingers as you hold the hairs taut and cut. Your stomach bulges out a bit, rubbing against the loose material of your shirt. It’s not a feeling you’re used to. At least not standing up. That dog was the first one in way too long. Usually you’re lucky to come across a bird or a rat but even those are few and far between these days. How much longer can you stay here?

“What are you thinking about?” Taehyung asks and you meet his eyes in the mirror.

They used to hold so much warmth, used to crinkle in the corners from his perpetual smile. But you haven’t seen the warmth since before he left for his internship, and his smiles never reach his eyes anymore.

You squeeze the handles of the scissors and another feathery cluster of brown hair drifts to the floor. “Nothing,” you finally say. You’d much rather talk to Jungkook about it anyway.

That night, your body complains about eating the dog too fast but you just can’t bring yourself to regret it. At least not as far as staying fed goes. Sleeping, on the other hand, is a different story. You’ve gotten used to the shallow, hunger pain-filled sleep that kept the nightmares at bay. But with the full belly, the not quite comfortable crinkly mattress in you cell has become a little less uncomfortable and you drift out before you can stop yourself.

You can barely keep your head off the desk as you listen to the professor drone on and on about what seems like nothing. Literally nothing. You can’t even make out any words as he lectures. You glance down at the notebook in front of you that you are supposed to be taking studious notes in but only illegible scribbles and doodles cover the page. You sigh and put your pencil down. The seat next to you is empty. Where’s Taehyung? He never misses your one shared class together.

As if on cue, the door at the back of the room creaks open and you turn to find your best friend prancing down the stairs, his backpack swaying from side to side as he lopes toward you, trying and barely succeeding at balancing two Starbucks cups on top of his books in his hands. No one else seems to notice him but you and you can’t help but laugh at the spectacle. His tongue pokes out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrates on slipping into your row and making his way clumsily toward you, climbing almost literally over the people in his way.

At last, he sinks into the seat beside you with a huff, his backpack plopping onto the floor at his feet.

“You alright there?” you ask, an amused grin still stretching your mouth wide.

With another sigh, Taehyung finally turns to look at you. “I overslept a bit,” he says.

His words are made obvious by the way his hair sticks out in every direction and the striped pajamas bottoms he’s paired with his oversized hoodie. Your eyes fall on the cups on the table.

“And yet you still found the time to get me caffeine. You’re a life-saver,” you say as you wrap your cold hands around the hot cup.

“Anything for you, bestie,” he says then lifts his own cup. “Cheers.”

You tap your cup against his and go to take a swig. As the liquid passes through the little hole in the top of the lid and into your mouth, your gaze fall on Taehyung again. He stares at you out of the tops of his eyes, his mouth slightly open, the corners turned up in what you can only describe as a malicious smile. You quickly swallow and set the cup down.

“Tae?”

“Yeah,” he utters, his voice so much lower than it was just seconds before.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

His head tilts to the side and he smiles wider. “Whatever do you mean?” he asks mockingly.

“Why are you—”

Suddenly, you feel a sharp stab in your throat and you bring your hand up to cover your mouth as a violent cough escapes. The pain. The pain is like nothing you’ve felt before. It feels like an animal has sunk its claws into your esophagus and are just ripping and tearing it to shreds. You cough again, keeling forward from the pain.

“Tae—” you croak. “What did you—”

No one else in the class even seems to notice what’s going on and Tae just sits there calmly beside you, watching with an amused grin as you continue to choke and cough. You feel something wet on your fingers and you look down through the darkening haze at the bright red blood that coats your skin. Another excruciating cough and something hard and sharp drops into your hand. Tears stream down your face and your vision is fading fast and the last thing you see before it all goes black is the rusted razor blade in your palm glinting back at you.

You wake with a gasp and jump to your feet. Your hands fly to your throat and you shiver from the cold sweat soaking your body. Your vision is blurry so you can’t quite make out the shadow that stirs next to you but you know it’s Jungkook and you crumple into him when he steps up to you.

“It’s okay,” he whispers holding you up so you don’t crash to the floor. “It’s alright. You’re alright.”

You shudder and try to breathe in deep as images from your nightmare burns into your brain.

“I had one of those dreams again,” you say after you’ve composed yourself a bit. You meet Jungkook’s shining eyes in the dim light. “I don’t know how much more I can take.”

“Come sleep with me. I’ll keep the bad dreams away.”

You feel a smile pull at the corners of your mouth. The only problem is, once you’re asleep, you’ll be alone and the only person that can save you from the night terrors is yourself.

You’re still awake, keeping the monsters at bay by counting the ceiling tiles over and over again when Jungkook stirs next to you. He lets out a heavy sigh.

“Still awake?” he murmurs.

“I’m so tired but I can’t sleep,” you say, your voice husky from having been silent for so long.

Jungkook releases another sigh and his hand finds your waist in the darkness. “Me neither,” he says with a squeeze. Then the mattress crunches beneath you as he rolls over and sits up on the edge of the bed. “Let’s take a walk.” Then he slings his shotgun over his shoulder.

The two of you make your way out of the cellblock—which was very unnerving to find when you first explored the place—as quietly as you can so Taehyung doesn’t wake up.

“I don’t know how much longer we can stay here,” you say when the two of you are standing in the doorway to the supply room. Your pile of food and bottled water has dwindled considerably over the past few months. “That dog I caught today was the first animal I’ve seen in a long time and we can’t live off canned peaches and baked beans forever.”

“Not without rotting our teeth out,” Jungkook mutters scratching the back of his neck. “What do you think we should do?”

His question catches you off guard. With Taehyung being the oldest of the three of you, you were used to him making the decisions. “I think we should get out of Seoul,” you say with unfamiliar confidence tinting your words. “Away from the city. South maybe.”

“Toward Chongju?”

“Past Chongju. Just as far away from here as we can get.”

Jungkook lets out another heavy sigh. “I don’t know if Tae is going to want to leave,” he says.

You step farther into the room and pick up a can that fell and rolled away from the pile. “Why does it matter what Tae wants?” you ask, turning the can so you can read the label. Sweet peas and hot dogs. It tastes about as good as it sounds. “Why can’t you and I just go?”

“I’d rather not leave our best friend behind.” You can understand that. “But I’ll bring it up with him tomorrow. We should probably try to get some sleep.”

“I can’t sleep,” you say, your voice coming out flat. You carefully set the can on top of another in the pile.

A crooked smile, reminiscent of your days before The Virus appears on his face and he holds out his hand to you. “Well then, let’s can’t sleep together.”

You smile back half-heartedly and take ahold of his hand. He pulls you over to one of the couches and the two of you lay down. Maybe it’s the way he holds you. Maybe it’s the way he absentmindedly brushes your hair from your face. But whatever it is, you soon feel your eyelids growing too heavy to hold open and you fall into a deep, dreamless sleep to the sound of Jungkook’s steady breathing.

You feel like you just fell asleep when you’re being shaken awake again. Your eyes snap open to find a brown-haired head in your face. “A little help!”

You and Jungkook are a mess of tangled limbs and it takes you a couple seconds to get straightened out. You blink hard to take in your surroundings and duck just in time for a blurry brown object to bite into the couch behind you. You’re awake now.

Diving out of the way, you reach for one of the knives in your leg holster—you never sleep without your knives—and spin, slashing at your assailant. The blade catches him in the leg and he goes down with a spray of blood.

Jungkook rolled the other way and now dodges left and right as another man swings at him with a rusty machete. His shotgun is nowhere in sight.

“Jungkook!” you yell and toss one of your knives to him.

He catches it by the handle and quickly jabs, sticking the blade into the man’s chest and yanking hard, carving a jagged trail down his stomach. The man lets out a sickening cry and Jungkook shoves him away. You turn around in time to see your own assailant wielding a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire. Not the most unique weapon you’ve seen, but definitely a lethal one. Before he can bring the bat down on your head, you kick out hard, connecting your boot with his shin. An unearthly sound escapes his throat, muffled by the cloth covering his face and he stumbles back, dropping the bat.

No sooner has he hit the ground than another raider is on top of you, reaching for your throat. You struggle beneath him, twisting to get an arm free so you can grab another knife. Almost there. When you feel the familiar smooth handle, you pull hard, dragging the blade across the man’s face. He rolls off of you with a scream and you scurry back out of the way of his thrashing arms.

This is your chance. You stumble to your feet, grab the barbed bat tightly and swing just as another raider opens his arms to grab you. The bat connects with his side, barbs sticking into his clothes and ripping his skin as he falls away.

You spin around and set your sights on Taehyung just as he cocks his gun, pointing it down at his attacker on the ground and pulls the trigger. Blood splatters the tiled floor around the raider’s head. Two more come at Taehyung and he lets off two more shots.

They just keep coming.

Another masked man comes at you and you swing the bat, knocking him out of the way. A path to the door has cleared. This could be your only window. You lunge toward the doorway and grab ahold of Jungkook’s coat, wrenching him out of a tug of war over his shotgun.

“Tae!” you yell.

The two of you lock eyes from across the room and, after putting a bullet in one more raider’s head, he follows quickly after you. You don’t need to look behind you as you run. You already know you’re being followed by a horde of intruders and turning around would only slow you down. Taehyung passes you on your left and takes the lead, blindly shooting as raiders come at you left and right. His shots never miss their mark—though that’s no surprise since the three of you have been using your weapons now almost every day for the past two years. He takes a sharp right and you and Jungkook whip around the corner after him.

Just then, the door to the stairwell next to you bursts open and two more raiders lunge at you. A loud blast erupts behind you and the men are blown back. Jungkook pumps his shotgun and it clicks as he chambers another round.

“This way!” he yells to Taehyung over the commotion and the three of you rush into the stairwell.

That probably wasn’t the smartest idea but you don’t really have time to think about it as you race down, clearing entire flights in two leaps. You make it to the second floor when the door to the first flies open. Three more raiders start up the stairs after you.

“There’s just no end to these guys,” Jungkook growls beside you.

Your heart is hammering, your breathing ragged, your hair is all over in your eyes but somehow you still manage to follow Jungkook and Taehyung through the door to the second floor. You don’t stop to catch your breath or find something to stick against the door. Instead you take off down the hall, your boots squeaking on the linoleum and the sound of your heavy breaths echoing ahead of you through the hallway. You make it to the other end without a raider in sight—odd—and crash through the door to the stairwell on the other end. Empty—very odd. If there’s ever a time to stop and take a few deep breaths, this isn’t it. You need to get out of there. So, silently, the three of you make your way to the ground floor. When you reach the door, Taehyung stops, holding a hand up to signal you to wait.

Then you listen.

Angry, arguing voices cut through the quiet, muffled by the thick metal door separating you from them. How many have you already come across?

“Where did all these raiders come from?” you whisper, trying to keep your heaving breaths under control.

“And why are there so freaking many?” Jungkook utters next to you.

Taehyung doesn’t respond as he continues to listen through the door.

It probably has something to do with the food shortage. They must have banded together in hopes of sharing resources. Your resources.

You don’t know how long you stand there or what Taehyung is waiting for but you start to get impatient. Any second now, the stairwell is going to be flooded with raiders and you’d be done for. Someone needs to make a decision. As if reading your thoughts, Jungkook pushes past Taehyung.

“This is taking too long,” he utters then his boot connects with the door and it flies open.

You tighten your grip on the two knives you have clutched in your fists and rush after him, Taehyung right on your heels, his gun up and finger on the trigger.

The room erupts into chaos, bullets flying, bodies falling—apparently barbed bats and machetes aren’t a raider’s only weapons of choice. You can’t see very will in the terribly dim light but the smell of blood and gun powder has become all too familiar to you. You look around at the torrent of masked raiders, blending into the hazy darkness.

A shadow shoots out of the smoke in front of you and you barely have enough time to slash your knife across his throat before he crashes into you. Your back hits the tiled floor, knocking the air from your lungs and the raider lands on top of your chest. You gasp for breath as he goes limp, his dead weight suffocating you. This guy is heavy.

You’re completely helpless as the sounds of battle continue above and around you. You can’t pull your arms out from under the dead guy. You can’t suck in enough air to call for help. All you can do is lie there and hope Jungkook or Taehyung get to you before you pass out from the lack of oxygen.

“Y/N?” Jungkook calls from across the room.

You let out a wheeze but it’s no use. The darkness is just getting darker. Your nose starts to tingle like it does when you stand up too fast. You’re starting to fade and you can’t do anything about it. And it isn’t so much that you’re afraid to die. You’re more afraid you might dream. The same type of dreams you fight so hard to keep away.

Suddenly the man is gone and your chest inflates quickly and painfully, your brain ordering your body to breathe. Your ribs creak as you gasp for air, unable to do anything else. The place is still too dark so you don’t know whether the hands that are on you are friendly or threatening. It doesn’t matter. You aren’t really able to protect yourself anyway.

The hand grabs the front of your jacket and twists the fabric in its fingers. With a yank, you’re pulled to your feet. Your vision is still too blurred so you stumble along as they drag you through the room. You trip over a fallen raider and would have gone down if not for the arm holding you up. All you can do is clutch your knives limply, let the arm pull you and hope it’s Jungkook or Taehyung on the other end.

They make a sharp left and then you’re pushed back against a wall, the arm now wrapped around you. Hot bursts of air tickle your ear and you immediately recognize the sound. “Jungkook,” you whisper, feeling the grip on your throwing knives loosen.

“I lost Tae,” he says between breaths. “It’s too crazy in there. But then they ran and I was alone. And I couldn’t find Tae and…God, Y/N, I couldn’t find you…”

You step into him, resting your forehead against his shoulder. “This day has been a nightmare,” you say with a heavy sigh. “Correction, a nightmare inside a nightmare.”

“Nightmare-ception,” he chuckles pathetically. You lift your head and press your lips to his jawbone. “Let’s go find Tae.”

A crash comes from around the corner and then two shots fire, echoing down the corridor past you. “I think we found him,” you say.

Seconds later, a Taehyung-shaped shadow comes around the corner, pausing just long enough to fire off another round. “Let’s get out of here!” he yells and takes off past you.

You follow after him, the three of you racing down the dark hallway. There hasn’t been any electricity for years but you know this place like the backs of your hands. There hasn’t been much else to do in a giant laboratory like this besides explore…and fight off the occasional intruder.

Even blind in the darkness, the three of you make your way straight for the nearest exit. As soon as Taehyung reaches it, he throws himself into the door and it opens with a loud clang. You and Jungkook rush out after him and you hit a wall of frigid air. Acidic snow falls from the dark sky like ash, covering everything with a soggy blanket of toxic gray cotton. The slight, acrid smell of metal and pollution hits your nostrils and you pull your scarf up to cover your face. It’s crazy what two years of war can do to the world. What people can do to their home. You’ve sabotaged yourselves with your greed and anger. Even without The Virus causing this catastrophe, it was really only a matter of time.

“We need to get moving,” Taehyung says, tugging on a hat and mask he had in his pocket. With the mask covering the bottom half of his face, only his black eyes are visible.

Jungkook pulls his hood up, throwing his own face into shadows and hitches his shotgun up on his shoulder.

“Where do we go now?” he asks, his words muffled by the scarf covering his mouth.

“South,” you blurt and the boys look at you. “Maybe we’ll have a better chance of finding food. And maybe it’ll be warmer.”

“If we stay out of the big cities, we’ll be less likely to run into more raiders,” Jungkook adds.

You shudder. “Or ravagers…”

Taehyung lets out a cold, foggy sigh. “South it is, then.”

The three of you travel in silence toward the freeway as the light snow turns into a vicious flurry of hail. Your cheeks are chapped and raw and you keep pulling your scarf up to cover more of your face until finally, only your eyes are exposed to the cold. Every breath of toxic air, even through the cloth, causes your lungs to ache and your throat to burn but you try to tell yourself that it’s better than rain. At least in this situation.

The acid somehow becomes more intense by the formation of ice crystals, driving raiders and any other threat to take shelter so now the streets are completely deserted. Except for the three of you, of course. Anyone watching from their cover probably thinks you’re absolute idiots. And maybe you are.

In no time, you make it to the tunnel connecting to the freeway. It is common knowledge that most tunnels and bridges have been taken over by roamers. Raiders usually stay away from these camps since they’d be so easily outnumbered. This one in particular is packed tightly with tents and makeshift shelters. The tunnel is already cramped but the amount of roamers here make the place all the more claustrophobic.

As soon as you step inside, the smell of unwashed bodies hits you like a brick wall and you press your scarf tighter against your nose. The three of you were lucky that the lab was always well stocked with chemicals and supplies. Hygienic products were one of the first things to run out so you’d come to learn the many uses of hydrogen peroxide. It’s really the only reason none of your teeth have rotted out of your skulls.

One look at the people inhabiting this place tells you they haven’t heard about this little tidbit of information. Or else they just haven’t thought about something as arbitrary as brushing their teeth when the world has been descending into chaos.

You wish you would have thought to grab something, anything really, from the lab before running out. Though between fighting off raiders and getting out of there as fast as you could, there wasn’t really time to do much else.

A grubby looking man in a putrid, green, army coat limps over to you and sticks a finger in your face. “Yer gonna hafta find another camp,” he says. “This one’s full.”

Taehyung steps forward. “We aren’t looking to stay. Just passing through.”

“Where ya headed?”

“South,” Jungkook blurts as he steps in between you and the foul smelling roamer. He probably noticed the way the man was looking at you. Surely, you look too clean to him. Suspiciously clean, unlike his fellow campers.

“South, eh?” he asks. “Well, good luck to ya. Wouldn’t wanna be stuck in this weather. Wouldn’t want my face meltin’ off.”

“I think we’ll be alright,” Taehyung says with a hint of disgust in his voice. His words always seem to have a touch of ice to them. Like his personality has developed freezer burn over the years.

“Would you be willing to share some food with us?” Jungkook asks in a warmer tone than his best friend’s. “Or maybe some clean water and supplies?”

The roamer narrows his eyes. “What? A fine lookin’ group like you aren’t prepared for your travelin’? What kinda nonsense is that?”

“Our place was raided,” you say stepping out from behind Jungkook. The man immediately focuses his attention back on you. “We didn’t have time to grab anything. Please, could you spare us something?” You bat your eyelashes a bit for good measure.

Apparently your charms work because the man lets out a sigh then points his chin toward Taehyung’s head. “Maybe for a little somethin’ in return?”

Taehyung reaches up and grabs the hat off his head before putting it in the man’s grimy, gloved hand. Immediately, the roamer pulls it on over his own head and turns on his heel. “Come with me,” he grumbles then trudges farther into the camp.

You bring up the rear of the line and try your hardest not to step on anything or anyone. It’s pretty difficult though with how many people there are. You pass right through the middle of a bundled up couple, huddling together in front of a wimpy fire. A rat turns on a terribly made spit. That thing is barely going to feed one of them let alone both. You feel kind of bad asking for supplies when everyone else here is obviously suffering too.

You pass by another person that’s boiling water over a little camper stove. These days, the only way to get fresh water is to boil the acid out of it. It’s not the most effective method but it at least makes the water a bit more drinkable.

The roamer at the front of the line finally stops toward the end of the tunnel and you just about run into Jungkook when he halts too.

“You say you’re headin’ south, eh? Gettin’ there’s gonna be a bit rough.”

“I think we’ll manage,” Taehyung says through his teeth. He seems to be running out of what little patience he has, if he even had any to begin with.

The man shifts from one foot to the other. “Do ya have a plan?”

What’s he waiting for?

“Yes,” Taehyung says coldly. You don’t know if he’s lying or if he actually has a plan. “But we need to get moving soon, so if you would be so kind…”

You and Jungkook watch awkwardly as Taehyung stands taller over the roamer. Like he’s a lion about to pounce on a puny little mouse. It seems like the man is trying to waste time. Maybe he’s lonely, though it doesn’t seem possible in a place packed wall to wall with people.

“So, I’ll just get your supplies then and you can be on your way,” he says and crouches down so he can enter the opening of his tent.

While you wait for the man to return, Jungkook shoves his best friend in the shoulder. “I think you’re being a little too nice there, Tae,” he says. “Why don’t you find a puppy to kick?”

Taehyung turns to glare at him. “This is a waste of time,” he grumbles. “We should just catch our own food.”

“We need more than just food, Tae,” you mutter and Taehyung’s glare shifts to you.

Before he can say anything else, the man emerges from his tent with a pack. “Some water and dried dog for ya,” he says holding out a pack to Taehyung. When he tries to take it, the man doesn’t let go. “I put in a little somethin’ extra for the lady as well.”

You figure the “somethin’” is related to the thing that should be happening for you every month but hasn’t in almost two years thanks to the drastic change your body has gone through since the world has become toxic.

“I believe that deserves me a little somethin’ extra as well, yeah?” The man’s eyes fall to the scarf around your neck, his glove creaking as his grip on the pack tightens. Your stomach twists at the thought of the snow landing on your unprotected neck.

“You can have mine,” Jungkook says, pulling his from around his own neck.

“It’s been a lonely, long time,” the man says, his eyes still fixed on you. “Lonelier without the company of a woman.” You take a tentative step back and Jungkook stiffens in front of you. “I’d die happy if only to have the scent of a lovely lady for comfort.”

Before either Jungkook or Taehyung can protest, you yank the scarf from around your throat and throw it at the roamer. He lets go of the bag to clutch the thick material up to his face and takes a deep breath. A sour taste fills your mouth but before you or Jungkook can say anything, Taehyung is pushing past the man without so much as a thanks. Jungkook takes your hand and pulls you after them.

The wind is a lot stronger now that you’re no longer surrounded by the tall buildings in the city. The hail comes down harder, bouncing off the pavement of the freeway that spreads out before you in a continuous ribbon before disappearing into the fog. Jungkook has given you his scarf and you pull it up to just below your eye and squint. There are a few cars still on the road, gutted and completely undrive-able.

“We need to get out of this,” Jungkook yells over the wind.

Taehyung hefts the pack up onto his shoulder and spins in a slow circle, taking in your surroundings while he tries to think of any viable option. Trees line one side of the freeway up a hill and a barren field spreads out on the other side.

You turn toward the woods, searching for a way up the steep, snow-covered hill. A truck sits on the side of the road a few hundred yards away. Without saying anything, you jog toward the truck, hearing footsteps as the boys follow after you. When you get to the truck, you see just how badly rusted it is.

There are huge, jagged holes in the bed and the roof of the cab doesn’t look much better. Through the broken windows, you can see mold and moss growing on the damp, destroyed seats. As long as the roof doesn’t completely cave in, this could be your way into the woods.

You put a boot up onto the crumbling tire and hoist yourself up carefully. The wall of the bed crunches beneath your feet and you take a tentative step onto the window ledge. The whole truck shifts as you make your way up onto the roof. You almost lose your balance when the roof bows dangerously.

“Careful,” Jungkook says and you feel his hands grip your waist from below.

Sweat beads on your forehead. “I’m okay.”

You hoist yourself up the rest of the way and straighten up slowly, listening for any creaks—which is hard with the hail beating down on the metal. Slipping out of Jungkook’s grasp, you edge your way around the hole in the middle of the roof, keeping to the spots that look the most stable until you reach the side closest to the hill. There’s a root sticking out of the snow and if you could just stretch your arm out far enough, you could grab it and pull yourself up. Of course, it will be painful since you left your gloves back at the lab.

The truck groans again loudly as you reach toward the root. Your fingers just barely graze it so you lean forward a bit further.

“Y/N.”

“Almost got it.”

The hail beats down on your hands making them burn, making your fingers shake so you can’t quite get a good grip. The roof of the cab complains beneath you and you move your foot. The hail covering the roof is slick and your boot slips on the wet metal. You stumble forward and fall into the hill, your bare hands sinking into the acidic snow.

As you start to slip downward, you grab a knife from your thigh and stab it into the frozen dirt. It holds as the snow burns your hands and soaks into the outer layer of clothes. You grit your teeth and against the pain and pull yourself up until you can reach the root sticking out. Wrapping your numb fingers around it, you dig into the earth with the toes of your boots. Slowly, painfully, you make your way up the side of the hill until you finally reach the top and roll over the edge. You lay there breathing heavily. Surely, your hands are bright red. You wouldn’t be surprised if there are already blisters forming. If only you hadn’t left your gloves back at the lab. Then again, it’s not like you planned on leaving so suddenly.

“You okay, Y/N?” Jungkook calls from below you.

“Yeah,” you croak and sit up so you can peer over the ledge. “Your turn.”

Of course Jungkook and Taehyung wouldn’t have as difficult of a time getting up the hill. Both of them are tall enough to reach the root from on top of the truck and in no time, the three of you are trekking through the woods along the freeway.

Before long, you come to a chain link fence, or rather, what’s left of one. It’s almost completely flattened against the ground and the top is spiky and broken. It looks like there was razor wire lining the edge at some point but someone cut it off. Immediately, you think back to the bat wrapped in barbed wire and shutter. If you hand’t rolled out of the way in time, your face would look like raw hamburger right now.

None of you say much as you trudge through the woods. What’s there to talk about anyway? With almost four years with these two, you feel like you know as much about them as you possibly can. Well, other than what happened to Taehyung at the lab during his internship.

You’ve gotten used to his strange personality over the past couple of years but your nightmares do more than leave you shaking in a cold sweat. They cause you to remember the old Taehyung. The happy one. The hyper one. You miss that Taehyung. You miss your best friend. You feel like you haven’t seen him since before his internship. You just wish you could have him back.

You pass a lot of abandoned houses. Due to raiders and the damaging weather, they look like they’ve been decaying for decades. Wherever there is still wood intact, it clings weakly to the frame, swollen in places from soaking up the toxic water, blackened in others and covered in mold. None of these houses have been inhabited for a long time. There’s no way you’d find anything useful.

You pass garages with crumbling concrete walls and sagging sheds that have given up, succumbing to nature. Your heart clenches at the memories that float to the surface of your own home.

You’ve spent too many sleepless nights sifting through the “should haves” and the “what ifs”. You’ve thought of all the possibilities. All the things that could have happened. You’ve let them eat away at you until you were just a shell. Just a crust. An empty wrapper. And you do feel empty. Only the hollowness of “too lates” and “never agains” fill you, leaving you to feel black inside. But Jungkook is your candle. He’s the one that lights the darkest corners of your soul and keeps you hanging on.

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