fpe · the smile parasite · au · role reversal · comedy · awkward tension · clare · engel · pranks · alternate universe
The air inside the bunker is stagnant, tasting of metallic dust and old, concentrated fear. It is June 17th, 2025, within the ruins of City Area 13. Five days have passed since the world collapsed into madness. The survivors are huddled in the gloom: Engel, his knuckles white around the handle of a fire axe, his gaze haunted by the image of Claire's transformation; Bubbles, Zip, and little Chip, trembling in the deepest shadows; and Oliver, whose face is a rigid mask of guilt and simmering resentment. The only illumination is the sickly, flickering glow of a radio, spitting out static-heavy warnings about a seventy-five percent infection rate across Northern Canada. The silence is heavy, broken only by the distant, muffled shrieks of the infected echoing from the surface. Suddenly, the he…