infinitus - [infinite , unbounded, immense];

Before Wren had always expected the end of the world to be something to do with fire. Hot and wild, something which burned through the world and cleansed it. She had been wrong; the end of the world was icy and desolate. There was no way to know how far through winter she was, how much longer she had to endure what felt like her bones shuddering beneath her skin. Maybe it was forever. This was how she would die: not torn to pieces by the walking dead or the darkspawn Masters but coming to pieces one shiver at a time. A whimper not a bang. Which was unfair in such a loud, explosive world. Not that she wanted to die either way. Or perhaps she did now. Perhaps she had waited long enough for death that she was just... ready.

Especially as no one had come back yet. Three nights and no one had returned to the base they had created in an abandoned apartment block. Left behind, traitorous voices whispered, making her duck further into the mismatch of blankets she had pulled around her. The room was dark but for the periodic splashes of moonlight which spilled through the yawning window to her right. Wind whistled through the window, rattling the glass and threatening to blow it inward so its icy grip could reach Wren proper. It was time to move on, to continue on to the Haven they had heard of on the radio but cowardice kept her rooted to the spot.

A noise below had her jumping, hand shooting out of her blanket fortress to reach for the shotgun beside her. Fingerless gloves settled on the heavy as she rose, the blankets tumbling away from her. She tilted her head, straining to hear the noise again. A scrape of boot on concrete perhaps. Or talons, claws ready to rend her flesh. Silently she moved forward, shotgun dipped low but ready, her finger hovering over the trigger.

[ open to all ● post-apoc, supernatural ]