#post-apocalypse au

[all-purpose-dish-soap]

1.5k / 20 / post-apocalypse au, part 1

...

You're injured but moving as fast as you can with your bow slung over your back. Soap is close behind you, giving chase, shouting your name as he does. Doesn't he learn? Doesn't he know you'll pull your bow on him again if he corners you?

He must know, but he's too stubborn to give up the chase. You don’t understand it.

He pushes on, just as graceful and twice as effective as you. You slip through the thick trees and their branches trailing whips of brambles. He shoves past them. You’re injured. He’s not. He's gaining, boots heavy in the soil.

"Watch yourself--!"

Your boot lands on leaf litter that falls out from under you--a pit trap. You’re moving barely fast enough for your momentum to save you from falling in. Your waist hits the edge of the pit. You brace yourself by your elbows, fingers digging into the dirt. The soft underside of your arms drag against something sharp underneath.

Soap grabs you by your coat and pulls you up out of the trap and to your feet before you can scramble out yourself. You're neither surprised nor mollified by his careful handling of you.

"Let me go!"

"Na. You're hurt. Stay still."

"Soap, I swear to God--"

"Shut up. I'm taking a look."

He holds your arm firmly with one large hand and, with the other, pulls your sleeve away from the bleeding gash. You grab his wrist with a pained curse. Whatever caught your arms—the rough wood and metal at the trap's edge—tore you bloody. Soap glares at the gash and then at you. He's close.

You could reach for your bow or for the dagger on your hip. But you know for a fact he's armed. With guns. A sniper rifle on his back and two sidearms at his belt. He knows how to use them, too. If you fight, he wins. But you know better than to back down quickly. The world is crueler than it used to be ever since things went to shit. People who show weakness don’t survive.

"Why are you following me?" you growl, your grip on his wrist tightening.

His grip on you loosens in turn when you speak. "You know why. I'm lookin' out for ya."

"I didn't ask for your help."

"Aye, but you still needed it."

"You're not a soldier anymore, Soap," you retort, trying to pull your wrist away. "It's every person for themselves. Stop following me."

"That's no way to live. The world may be a shithole, but there are still folk around who'll lend you a hand even though they don't need to. Soldier or no'."

You can't get out of his grip when he's determined to keep you there, and he is. As much as you'd like to give him a matching wound for being so goddamn stubborn, the rational part of your brain--the part that makes sure you survive--knows better than to expend energy struggling when it's not strictly necessary.

"Nobody lends a hand unless they want something in return," you mutter, glaring down at your wound as he bandages it. "Even if they're pretending otherwise."

He knows you speak from experience. You're a woman, and that means you're nothing but a resource to the worst of whoever’s left. He can't blame you for being guarded. Then again, you wouldn't be making such heated statements to his face if you really thought he intended to hurt you. You're just... defensive. Hiding under all that anger. That's what he tells himself. So he ignores your grumbled protests.

"That's how you'd look at it," he finally replies as he finishes dressing the wound. "Seein' as you've not met the right people. But some of us don't expect anything back."

"You don't expect it because you think you're better than asking. But you still want it."

"Might be so." His voice is soft, gravelly, but you can hear the steel in it. "But am not asking, now am I? So stop your fussin'. You're safe. Nae need to worry." He releases your bandaged arm.

"You run your hand along the wrapping, checking it. "Fine. But I'm... I'm not coming back with you."

"Can't promise you'll be safe out there. Where do ye plan to go?"

"I don't know. Wouldn't tell you if I did."

"Aye." He rubs his jaw, examining you with flint in his blue eyes. Pressing you for an answer would be pointless. Not that you seem to be lying—but you're not telling the whole truth. The short history you share with him is just enough that he can tell. But he also knows trying to change your mind would be pointless. If you won't listen, he'd have better luck bashing his head against one of these huge, mutated oaks.

"Am nae stoppin' ya. But these woods are full of treacherous paths. If ye run into trouble—when ye run into trouble--my boys and I, we know these woods well enough to dust you off and send you in the right direction. Cannae promise to find you before somethin’ else does, though."

You're fairly sure he's not lying. His boys, as he calls them—his old squad, you think—they've made their home in these woods. It's perilous living—bears, wolves, muties, and terrain just as hazardous as the wildlife. And still those men are the most dangerous things in here.

The offer is tempting. You consider it for longer than you should, looking down at your bandaged arm again. But then you step back, shaking your head slowly. "No, thanks. I have to get going."

It tears him up inside. You're making the wrong choice. If he lets you walk away, he's letting you walk to your death.

He looks at you for a moment. You can tell he's got something more to say. But he changes his mind, stepping back as well. He pulls something from his belt and holds it out. A handgun, scuffed and black, grip held toward you. You stare at it for a second before looking back up at him. He's serious?

"I'm not gonna take that--"

"You're damn well gonna take it." His voice is low and insistent. "You think I don't know you'll run into trouble out here? Don't be a fool. I have spare. Take it."

Your one rule is don't owe anybody anything. How the fuck are you about to owe this man twice?

Fine. Whatever. It's not like you have to use it. Could just barter it. Not like you’re going to see him again. You take the gun, biting back a retort.

He nods his approval. The steely look in his eyes softens, though he still looks dismayed. "Mind where you point that. And when you pull it. Biters'll hear it for a mile and come running. Survivors, too. The curious ones." He glances at your bandaged arm one more time. Then he adjusts the bag over his shoulder and turns his back, walking away from you. Back to camp. "Am expectin' you to keep yourself alive with that," he growls. "Or else it's a lot of good time and material I wasted on ya."

"I didn't ask you to waste your breath," you retort, practically snarling at his retreating back in your irritation. You watch him go until he's disappeared into the trees. You need to make sure he doesn't plan on doubling back and following you.

Then you set off on your own. You take a winding path to throw off any trackers. Never can be too cautious. The gun in your pocket is heavy against your thigh, and you try not to think of it as a comforting security.

You came here to get Roach back, and you don’t care how long you have to wander this Godforsaken forest. You’re not leaving without him.

…

Soap feels your eyes on him until you disappear.

He wants to divorce himself from this, but he’s on edge. People who strike out on their own here come to a nasty end. But he’s not going to take away your agency by deciding what's best for you. You were right about him not being a soldier, after all. He doesn’t have the authority to herd you back to his squad’s campsite. Your life is in your own hands.

He just hopes you live to do better than he believes you will.

That night, he sleeps restlessly. Which is why, when he hears a cluster of gunshots in the distance, he wakes up instantly. It's you. In trouble.

The night watch—Gaz tonight—is already there, tossing Soap's gun to him. "You were right," Gaz says.

"Course I was," Soap says with a lopsided grin. "Owe me a ten-piece in the next poker game, aye?"

...

[part 1] / part 2 / part 3

more Soap / more multi-141 and poly 141 / masterlist tag

#mine #story #post-apocalypse au #cod zombies #cod #cod x reader #call of duty #call of duty x reader #cod mw2 #cod mwii #tf 141 #tf 141 x reader #poly!141 #john soap mactavish #johnny soap mactavish #soap cod #johnny mactavish #soap mactavish #soap x reader #soap x you #johnny mactavish x reader #johnny mactavish x you

[27dragons]

New Year Countdown: Dec 16

Today's ficlet is a Stuckony post-zombie-apocalyptic AU!

Dec 16 - Stuckony - Post-Apocalyptic AU - Stars

Bucky found Tony sitting on the roof, leaning against the chimney for warmth and looking up at the sky. There was still a soft pinkish glow against the western horizon, and the darkness above them was slowly filling with stars.

“You okay?” He crouched next to Tony. “Steve was worried that you might’ve taken a hit during the swarm.”

“No,” Tony said. He shifted to the side a little, patting the space to invite Bucky to join him, but his eyes didn’t lower from the skies. “Bruce checked me out and everything.”

Bucky settled carefully onto the wooden slats and wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulders. Slight as he was, Tony was always cold. Bucky felt Tony’s shiver as he snuggled close, and made a mental note to tell Steve that they needed to come up with an excuse to put Tony in the middle of the bed more often.

“We used to know things,” Tony said, after a moment. “About the stars, I mean. And the planets.”

“Yeah,” Bucky agreed. He and Steve had been alive before the Plague, and had volunteered to go into cryostasis when it began to become certain that no cure would be found. But in the chaos of the times, the chambers had been forgotten, their locations lost. When they’d finally been found, some seventy years later, the stasis chambers had begun to fail for lack of maintenance, and the sleepers had been awoken, while it was still possible. They’d emerged to a completely different world.

Sometimes he envied Tony, for having never known any other kind of life. Sometimes he wished he and Steve had been among the two-thirds of stasis sleepers who’d never woken up, their chambers too degraded to manage the thaw properly.

“My father used to tell me that his dad told him that we sent ships up into the sky. Colony ships, in case the Plague made this planet unlivable. Is that true?”

Steve had known Tony’s grandfather, a little, but Tony’s father hadn’t been born until after the first Wall had been raised against the swarms.

“I don’t know,” Bucky admitted. “Cryo was tested and ready to go, so that’s what we decided. There was talk about colony ships, but I don’t know if they ever actually got built and launched. No reason not to believe it, I guess, if that’s what your grandad said.”

They sat in silence, then, watching the night grow darker, far darker than it had ever been in Bucky’s youth. The Milky Way poured across the dome of the sky as the stars burned bright and clear.

After a while, Steve came to join them. At Bucky’s look, he settled on Tony’s other side. “Everything okay?” he asked.

“Sure,” Bucky said, when Tony failed to answer. “We’re just stargazing.”

“Pretty,” Steve admitted, following Tony’s gaze upward. “Not much use to us, these days. But they are pretty.”

“Pretty’s enough, sometimes,” Bucky said, and tried to lighten the mood a little. “It’s what we keep you around for, after all.”

Steve snorted, but Tony didn’t react.

“Those colony ships,” he said slowly. “The ones that left. Do you think... if they found a place that was good, do you think they’d come back for us?”

Steve considered it. “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not. Not much sense worrying about it, though, is there, sweetheart? Not much we can do, either way.”

“Guess not,” Tony said, his eyes still fixed on the stars.

Steve nudged him. “What’s going on in that brain of yours?” he wondered.

Tony turned his head, finally, to look at Steve, and then at Bucky, before he tipped his face back up to the sky. “There’s a new star up there, the last few nights. It’s not moving like a star or a planet or even a comet. And I think... I think it might be something good.”

#my writing #countdown to 2024 #stuckony #bucky x steve x tony #post-apocalypse au #vague zombie reference

[maurafranklin]

I remember damage, then escape. My memories are the same as yours. They mean nothing.

#1899 #1899 netflix #daniel x maura #post-apocalypse au #maura franklin #daniel solace

[hp-shippy-prompts]

Prompt:

Post-apocalyptic AU

The world as we know it is gone, whether to magic, nuclear war, or zombies - whatever takes your fancy.

Harry finds and raises a boy, Tom, who grows up thinking of Harry as his ‘mother’. They find no one else.

Once he’s old enough, Tom decides that it’s his and Harry’s duty to repopulate the earth, and that Harry should be everyone else’s mother too. 😏

#prompt #harry potter #tom riddle #tomarry #post-apocalypse au #(THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS TOM!)

[cookinary]

Some sprites of K I did for school!

I might use the facepalm one for groupchats tbh

#Post-Apocalypse AU #K #also yes his clothes differ slightly #that was just to have him fit in #consider these his non-canon clothes #which one's your favorite?

[flowerbutton]

ooooh a superhero prompt for day 4 of sbi week 2022?

if you'd like it, here!

#sbiweek2022 #sbiw_d4 #sbi fic #sbi fanfic #sbi #mary writes #post-apocalypse au #fanfiction #dream smp fic #dsmp fanfic #fanfiction i wrote

[psychiccatpanda]

Chapters: 1/? Fandom: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America (Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Brock Rumlow, James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Brock Rumlow, Steve Rogers Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Natural Disasters, scavenging, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Identity Porn, Established Relationship, Awesome Jarvis (Iron Man movies) Summary:

After a series of bad storms, the eastern coast of the United States is in ruins. In New York, the tunnels under the city had filled with salt and storm water when the pumps failed. When the sinkholes started opening, the ground had become too unstable for large vehicles and generally uninhabitable without power, gas, or fresh drinking water.

Now, with the city evacuated, it's an empty matrix of abandoned city, sinkholes, and small wildlife starting to thrive. Bucky Barnes does his best to make a living scavenging in the five boroughs to support himself and help out his best friend Steve pay medical bills.

Sure, the money as a scavver for Stark Industries is good, but Bucky keeps coming back to see his sort-of boyfriend. ...'Sort of' in that it's just a thing they've got in the abandoned towers and brownstones of the city, not something that follows them back onto the mainland. It just couldn't work in real life... could it?

#winterbones #bucky x brock #bucky barnes #brock rumlow #scavengers #post-apocalypse au #near-future

[hijacksecrets]

CONCEPT: What if HTTYD doesn't take place in the past, but in the future? In a post-apocalyptic setting where dragons are actually evolved/mutated animals after a post nuclear war.

And what if Hiccup gets the chance to explore the world like he wants and finds something beyond anything he could have imagined?

Like a boy who has been asleep for centuries...?

:)

#hijack #my art #my stuff #how to train your dragon #rise of the guardians #hiccup horrendous haddock the 3rd #rotg jack frost #Post Apocalypse AU

[galoogamelady]

Wouldn't be me if I didn't draw a Buttons illustration for a post-apoc themed project.

This is my 3rd pic for Shaman's Wastelands 2023 art book!

#Buttons #not Fallout AU since we're doing original worlds for this #my prints are set in Hungary #this area specifically is a train crossing in my hometown #Wastelands 2023 #post apocalyptic #post apocalypse

[butterfilledpockets]

Night Watch

Part 1 -> Part 2

(B.E.N.T Au Masterpost)

#rottmnt #rottmnt comic #b.e.n.t #bad end ninja turtles #rottmnt leo #tmnt au #tmnt crossover #tmnt 2012 #don bot #mutant apocalypse #future leo #future donnie #FINALLY POSTED!!!!! #I am so tired I am going to sleep for a century #am really proud of this and nervous to post jnskrjngsk

[gingermaple]

post-apocalypse cleo

#art #mcyt #hermitcraft #life series #secret life #trafficblr #zombiecleo #secret life post-apocalypse au #cleo would be the muscle of the group and gets a very cool giant axe #she'd probably also be in charge of inventory and resources #i'd like to think that she is in some way immune or resistant to the skulk/zombie/whatever infection #which is why she isn't as afraid of close combat and riskier situations

[thlayli-ra]

Chapters: 11/? Fandom: World Wrestling Entertainment, Professional Wrestling, All Elite Wrestling Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: AJ Lee/CM Punk, Colt Cabana & CM Punk, Colt Cabana & AJ Lee, Malakai Black | Aleister Black | Tommy End/Zelina Vega | Rosita, Finn Balor | Prince Devitt/Bayley | Davina Rose Characters: CM Punk, AJ Lee (Professional Wrestling), Colt Cabana, Sasha Banks, Bayley | Davina Rose, Big E Langston, Dolph Ziggler, Original Characters, Brad Maddox, Serena Deeb, Becky Lynch | Rebecca Knox, Zelina Vega | Rosita, Malakai Black | Aleister Black | Tommy End, Kofi Kingston, Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar, Vince McMahon Jr., Finn Balor | Prince Devitt, William Regal, Nakamura Shinsuke, Hideo Itami | KENTA Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, Punklee, past trauma, PTSD, Dorks in Love, Abduction, Slavery, Slave Trade, Whipping, Branding, Bad ass women, Auction, Cage Fights, Forced to fight Series: Part 2 of Scorched Earth series Summary:

It has been nearly three years since The Event, a cataclysmic disaster that destroyed every major city in the United States and killed millions of people. Soon after, Hell’s Back Door was founded, a den of sin run entirely by criminals, taking their pick of passing refugees to use however they pleased.

Into this nightmare, CM Punk is dragged in chains, his captors doing everything in their power to break his indomitable spirit. But he knows there is a powerful force out there more ferocious than any fire; AJ Mendez Brooks, his beautiful wife.

All he has to do until she finds him… is survive!

^^^ Chapter 11 is up now!

#cm punk #aj lee #finn balor #fan fic update #post-apocalypse au #wrestling fanfiction #wwe #nxt #aew

[maurafranklin]

You misunderstood from the very beginning. You just believed what you wanted to believe.

#1899 #1899 netflix #clémence x tove #post-apocalypse au #s: itchy teeth #why do I do this to myself? #clémence 1899 #tove 1899

[flygutzz]

4 score and 7 years later I finally have time and stuff to post

Also, I wanna make an ask blog for this infection au, would y'all be into that??? Idk how ask blogs work so any suggestions or tips would be greatly appreciated 🙏

#sonic the hedgehog #shadow the hedgehog #sonadow #sonic #sonic art #sonic fanart #sonic prime #sonic x shadow generations #sonicfanart #sth #sonic and tails #tails the fox #miles tails prower #mlp infection au #infection au #apocalypse au #post apocalyptic #ask blog #sonic:sos #sonic chaos contagion au

[gray-thistleclan]

as warmup ive been drawing some gtc cats as humans!! (mostly cherrystar)

#i don't know how to design outfits IM WINGING ITT #i'm so out of practice #tf do i tag this #also in this human au they;re in the post apocalypse #i guess instead of only black-stoneclan collapsing its all of society #i don't know how it works don't ask me

[cookinary]

I HAVE AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT

That is all, good night

#polyamourous #Mutant AU #Post-Apocalypse AU #Zombie AU #Therianthropy AU #Muta #K #Macabre #Wild #Muta now has to take care of THREE idiots #this can only end well