The Apocalypse (A Steve Saga AU)

Chapter 2: Stranger

Thanks to the people who appreciated my first chapter, it really meant a lot to me!

This story will have the following:
-Swear words
-Blood
-Graphic descriptions of injuries
More will be added in future chapters, if you're not comfortable with any of the listed above I suggest you to not read this story! Other than that, enjoy!
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How much time has passed? There's no presence of time in this universe. It felt like forever since Sabre had gone out of his bunker to obtain food, he has seen nothing other than mist and some husks that were quite easy to deal with. It came as a shock to him when he finally saw something nearby, an empty village.

He felt overjoyed, but he can't get his hopes up yet, there isn't an exact chance that there'll be a leftover food source inside the village.

He slowly walked towards the village, his left hand gripping tightly on his bat in case any husks decides to strike him without him noticing. And as he finally steps foot onto the village, most of the mists has faded away.

He looked around, some houses seemed to be withering away but nothing more, not even a single husk can be seen in sight.

Sabre wasn't quite surprised as some of the other villages he had checked out also appeared the same way. But unlike other villages, this one was special.

He can see a giant statue further inside the village, its left hand holding a sword while the other holds a shield. Its condition looks better than the houses but a part of its head has started to break and fall over.

Sabre looks at the statue and starts to get deep into thought. Although he had met many husks and ultimately killed some to survive, he couldn't help but feel empathy as they all most likely used to be just normal living beings, establishing villages and surviving in groups like he is, but after the apocalypse one by one they started to get infected and become lifeless creatures, they had no freedom and their own goal is to increase its numbers.

"I should probably not think about this too much, the past is the past, after all. What matters now is to search this village for any possible food source I can get to survive", he thought.

And search he did. He checked every house and looked at every chest, but there wasn't anything valuable other than some strings and weapons, which were too weak to deal any damage so it wasn't necessary to take any of them.

The last house he hasn't checked was the house next to the statue, it's a bit farther than the other houses so it must've been a house for someone important.

The house didn't have a door so he could just go inside it. And inside was a furnace stacked on top of a crafting table, a half-broken window with shards around it, two beds next to each other, and a double chest.

Sabre looked around before inspecting the chest, and when he did he finally became overjoyed. There were 9 pieces of raw beef in the chest, he thankfully knew how to start a fire so he didn't have to worry about it too much, there wasn't anything else special inside the chest other than some cobwebs, spider eye and a flower, so he stashed the raw beef into his inventory and left the house.

He looked at the village once more, before finally deciding to walk back to his bunker. But before he could get far enough for the village to get covered by mist, he heard something behind him.

In a panic, he grabbed his bat and turned around, but he didn't see a husk...

He saw someone.

The stranger looked at him through his blindfold, the left side of his head seems to be exposed with their skull and the surrounding flesh was rotting, he had a pair of wings that are cut and bruised, the end of the wings disappearing into dust. Even then, he had a worried expression on his face.

This isn't just a husk at all, this stranger has emotion and he looked like he was a normal person despite the obvious injury. He looked like one of the blue husks Sabre fought with a while ago, but this stranger had a darker color than the others.

The stranger didn't move, he started at Sabre as if he wants Sabre to get closer to him, yet he didn't give off any vibes that he was infected, even though he is.

Sabre hesitated, sure, this is his first time finding someone that isn't just a husk, but he can't trust this stranger, he might just be newly infected and is slowly but surely turning into one of them. But that should be impossible, the outbreak happened a long time ago, so the stranger shouldn't have been alive right now. Or maybe?

Sabre decided to walk towards the stranger, who had been stepping on the path of the village. He continued to grab his bat just in case and went he finally stepped close to the stranger, it tilted its head and didn't attack Sabre.

A moment later, the stranger looked confused as if he had forgotten his surroundings. He tried to reach one of his hands to Sabre, but Sabre quickly notices and yelped, fearing that he might get infected.

In response, the stranger gave a disturbed look in an instant, even though moments ago he looked clueless. He started to tremble and almost fall over, looking at both of his hands as if he had done a crime.

"Yup, I'm not dealing with this-" Sabre decided that talking to this person isn't worth the time. Plus, anytime now and he'll most likely get attacked by a swarm of husks, it's better to just take the raw beef and run to his bunker. He still doesn't understand why this stranger hasn't turned into one of the husks yet, but it isn't the time to question now.

He sighed and quickly took off into the mist, the stranger noticed and cried, seemingly pleading with Sabre to stay, or that's what Sabre thought. Sabre really wanted to help the stranger and perhaps take him into his bunker to find a way to treat him, but it isn't worth the time and effort, plus there isn't any cure for the infection so the stranger would just turn into one of them anyway.

He held tightly on to his gas mask, and slowly the stranger's cries faded until it was just as quiet as he first came across the village.
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Word count: 1,059 words

Little did Sabre know, he just abandoned the most important thing he'd need in the future