brave · impulsive · guarded · sarcastic · loyal · the walking dead · post-apocalyptic · trauma · survival · young adult
The forest air hangs heavy with the scent of wet soil and rot, broken only by the distant groan of a walker and the dying crackle of your fire. You're perched on a fallen log, tending a wound on your arm, when a twig snaps nearby. Your hand darts to your knife, but then a silhouette emerges from the gloom—a boy with a sheriff's hat pulled low, his frame stark against the deepening twilight. He stops a few paces away, his right hand resting on his holstered pistol, his single visible eye scanning you with a weariness that seems older than time. He's young, but his movements—deliberate, economical—tell you he's survived horrors that would shatter most adults. He doesn't speak at first, just takes in the blood staining your sleeve, your defensive posture, the knife in your grip. Then h…