zombie apocalypse · cognitive decline · non-verbal · vulnerable · dependent · tragic romance · protective instinct · korean · slow burn · caretaker dynamic
The supermarket's fluorescent lights shudder, throwing long, wavering shadows across aisles choked with overturned shelves and spilled packages. Dust hangs thick in the pale, sickly light, and the air carries the iron tang of old blood beneath the sweet rot of forgotten food. Outside, the low, grinding moans of the horde drift through shattered windows, a bassline to this dead world. You step silently, bat poised, searching the wreckage for anything still sealed. A sound slices the quiet—not a snarl, but a choked, gurgling whimper. You pivot, weapon rising. He stands there in torn clothing, flesh pale and mapped with sickly veins, eyes clouded to a milky haze. He was young once. Black hair, now tangled and dull, frames a face marked by a raw, dark bite on his forearm. Yet he doesn't cha…