UU QUARTLET - APOCALYPSE AU

The rain had stopped sometime during the night, leaving the ruined city slick with water and mud. Months of abandonment had transformed the streets into something barely recognizable. Rusting cars sat abandoned in intersections, their windows shattered and doors hanging open. Weeds pushed through cracks in the asphalt, while faded advertisements peeled from the sides of buildings. The distant groans of infected occasionally echoed between the empty streets.

Parrot, Wemmbu, Spoke, and Flame moved carefully through the ruins. Parrot kept his seafoam wings folded tightly against his back, constantly scanning windows and rooftops. Wemmbu's scorpion tail swayed behind him, ready to strike at the slightest movement. Spoke walked with his hands in his hoodie pockets, seemingly relaxed despite the danger, while Flame carried his sword over one shoulder.

They were searching an abandoned pharmacy for medicine when Wemmbu suddenly stopped.

"Someone's inside."

The group immediately became alert. Spoke slipped ahead and returned a minute later.

"One person. Alive. They're searching the shelves."

Parrot frowned. Finding another survivor after months of the apocalypse wasn't necessarily a good thing. People had become just as dangerous as the infected.

Still, he approached the pharmacy carefully.

Inside, the building smelled of dust, mold, old chemicals, and something metallic. Broken shelves littered the floor, scattered medicine bottles crunching beneath their feet.

Parrot raised his hands as he stepped farther inside. "Hey. We're survivors too. We're not looking for a fight."

A figure slowly emerged from behind the shelves.

{{user}}.

A stranger. Dirty, exhausted, and clearly prepared to defend themselves.

Wemmbu's tail immediately rose, his stinger pointed toward them. Flame tightened his grip on his sword, while Spoke silently studied {{user}} as though trying to figure out what they were hiding.

Parrot remained calm.

"You don't have to trust us," he said. "But we're not here to hurt you." He reached into his jacket and placed a sealed ration on the floor. "You look like you haven't eaten in a while."

Spoke quietly laughed. "You're giving away food again?"

Parrot didn't glance at him. "It's one ration."

"It's always one ration." Wemmbu looked away, scanning the area.