Waiting for my death | Horizon zero dawn fanfiction

Chapter 10: Stalker

"Liv?"

The sudden noise from the doorway startles me. I turn around to my side, yawning as I hold onto the sweet warmth of my blanket.

"Mm?" I lightly whimper, still not fully aware of my awakened state.

Then consciousness suddenly hits me. I'm in an apocalypse. And my grandma could come with the most nerve wrecking, terrifying news imaginable at any time.

"I was just wondering if you were awake. I made breakfast."

"Oh. Thank you" I say, silently relieved.

"And I got an idea. There's this very cozy restaurant only a few streets away. I think it would be healthy for the both of us to go outside a bit and grab a nice dinner."

My gaze targets the ceiling, considering it. Is anything even open nowadays aside from grocery stores? Besides, I look like a walking zombie. I haven't seen the sun in days.

"Are you sure it's open?"

"I'm actually not, but it doesn't hurt to go check, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so."

She gives me a smile before leaving the threshold, leaving me alone with nothing but my own thoughts.

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Feeling the evening breeze engulf my skin feels foreign. Walking through the streets of San Francisco, a city once so full of light and sounds, has now been reduced to a valley of silence and darkness. Flickering lights over abandoned shops, paperbacks drifting down the steep hills and the roads being haunted with emptiness.

"Why are there barely any people here?" I ask grandma as we're walking down the hill.

"I suppose many have left the city since the news broke out."

"Why haven't we left then? Doesn't that mean San Francisco is unsafe?" I'm no longer making an effort to hide my anxious voice, trembling with constant fear and panic.

Then she stops for a moment, looking to her right. My spiraling thoughts seem to have drowned out the inexplicable noises coming from the nearby streets. I stop walking too, investigating the sudden rampage in what appears to be an old marketplace.

"Bring Ted Faro to justice!" I hear a crazy voice yell through the crowd.

"I want my old life back! The government has failed us!"

"Death to the peacekeepers, put an end to this!"

"We are in the apocalypse! We're all going to die, don't you see? And it's all because of you greedy motherfuckers!" someone screams from the top of their lungs. Then a sudden burst of intrusive sounds pierces my ears, the sound of a window being shattered into a thousand pieces.

I now spot an hysterical majority of the crowd with protest signs, saying all sorts of nasty things. They push through the streets and yell desperately. Why are they protesting here? There aren't any buildings of significance here. Unless this is happening everywhere.

"Nowhere is safe, Liv. Now let's go. We're almost there," she grabs me by the shoulders and drags me along with her as if nothing happened. I hadn't realized that I was withholding my breath until we walked past the crazy crowd. I could still hear their distant screams of discomfort as we reached our destination.

Grandma stopped in front of a door. It was made out of glass and thin wood of light color, making the interior of the restaurant clear from the outside. There was only one table preoccupied, but the rest of the restaurant looked painfully dead.