PLEASE READ: This story is set in the future. An android vs human war happened, humans won in the end, but the war only left ruins of what once was. Humans lost their history and androids are long forgotten about. There are tales of humanoid beings, but they are believed to be only stories. There is no government, just few people trying to survive in a forgotten world. This story is ConnorXReader, slow romance. Enjoy!
My fingertips burned from the cold. Winter is early this year, and I am vastly unprepared for the months to come. I need to keep moving, I need to find shelter, and I need to find people.
This is my first winter alone. The group I was with has long since moved on. My father got sick and he couldn't travel any longer. They left, and I stayed back to care for him. He passed, and since then I've been alone. Fuck, it's been hard being alone.
I grabbed my compass from my pack, I was headed north. Well to be more accurate, my group was headed north, towards Detroit. There's been rumors amongst different travelers that there is the start of a civilization there. That hope has driven many, including my group, to risk their lives traveling there.
It's been months since I've last seen a person's face. Weeks ago I crossed the border into Michigan, forgotten roads and rusted signs from days long gone lead me to believe I was finally nearing Detroit.
Every step I took sent pain throughout my body. My body was frozen but my head felt hot and heavy. Possibly the beginnings of a fever, I'm screwed if I can't find shelter, I thought. Broken down houses that have been reduced to piles of rubble were on either side of the streets. Nothing was even remotely habitable, I needed to find somewhere safe and preferably warm. The sun has long since set and the moonlight filtered onto the streets guiding me forward. I used a walking stick to keep my exhausted body upright, and to help aid me from walking into unseen obstacles.
I should just give up. I've worked so hard to get this far. I can't make it any farther. But I'm so close. What if this is another dead end? Then I'll move on and keep going forward. I need to keep moving forward, I need to survive.
Ahead, I spotted a small building. I rubbed my eyes to make sure what I was seeing was real, and not a feverish hallucination. It was there. An old rotted building, but it was still standing. I quickened my pace towards the building. The front side of the store was all brick, with only two glass doors in front. Well at least what used to be glass, now smashed through. I peeked through the doors. It was dark but I could make out objects inside. Rows of already emptied shelves filled the building. Broken bottles littered the ground, it seemed to be an old liquor store.
I opened the door and dragged my worn down body as far from the frozen night as I could. I found the counter in back of the store and crawled behind it. I lay on the frozen floor and clutched my legs to my chest. My body shook, but I could already feel myself warming up. Just being away from the frigid wind was enough for now. My eyes felt heavy. I knew it was no use fighting off sleep. There was no time to scout the store, no time to prepare a bed, I was there, and then there was darkness.
I awoke suddenly. My throat was parched. I sat up and grabbed my pack, digging through it for my thermos. It was almost full, I gulped down as much as I could, making sure to leave some for later. I was starving, but that would have to be dealt with later.
Sunlight filled the store. Fuck how long was I asleep? I walked to the front of the store. My body still was aching, but I could feel so much improvement from the day, possibly days, before.
I checked the position of the sun, and it must be about midday. I turned back around into the store. I still needed to check the place out and see if anything would be of use to me.
I thoroughly scoured the store. The place was picked clean of almost everything worth anything. I managed to find a full unopened bottle of cheap vodka amongst piles of glass. Generally, items that served no purpose to me at the moment would be left behind but I thought, Fuck it I'm taking it. Alcohol was a rarity and if there was a civilization being built in Detroit, alcohol would make for a great "I come in peace" gift. Or on the contrary, if there's nothing to find in Detroit, it will make great "I need to forget" gift for myself.
The last place to search in the store was a locked back room. The room was probably at some point only used for the owners of the store exclusively. A locked room means it has been untouched, and an untouched room can have many valuables.
I looked for a key but came up empty. I checked the lock on the door and took my fingernail to the wood and scraped at it. Its rotten. I took my switch blade out of my pack and started working at the rotted wood.
After some time, I finally reached the inner metal bit of the lock. All I needed to do now was give the door a hard pull and it should open. I took a spare bit of cloth and covered my nose and mouth, in a airtight room there could be many deadly substances just waiting to be released. I counted down in my head 3...2….1
I yanked the door open will all my might and it flew open. Dust particles flew up from all over making it hard to see very much of anything. I squinted and kept my eyes locked to the inside of the room and waited a couple seconds for the dust to settle. I started to make out shapes when-
"FUCK!" I screamed and fell backwards on my ass. "What the fuck! What the fuck!" I raised my switch blade to the door waiting for the man to emerge. I couldn't see into the room from where I had fallen but I had seen that right? There had been a man in the room. Not a skeleton or a rotting body that I had seen many times before, but an actual man with skin and all.
After what felt like a lifetime of staring at the door waiting for something to happen, I decided I needed to check it out. No sounds had come from the room, I must have been mistaken. I arose from the floor, standing up slowly, trying to be quiet. I stepped unhurriedly toward the door from the side, keeping my blade ready. I stood to the left of the door, and finally when i gathered enough courage I took that last step to be able to see into the room once again.
In the corner of a room lay a man with his eyes closed. I wasn't mistaken. He was on the floor, his back up against the wall facing the entrance of the room. He had silky brown kempt hair that met in a tousled wave in the front. His mouth was slightly ajar, his lips were still a fleshly pink tone that hinted he was alive. He had a chiseled jaw free from any facial hair, and defined cheekbones. Putting it plainly, he was drop dead gorgeous. I've never seen anyone like him. I stared at his closed eyes.
"Hello.." I spoke uncertainty. My own voicing sounding unfamiliar. I guess I haven't had much a reason to speak recently. He didn't budge "Hello," I said louder "My name is y/a, can you hear me?" He was a statue.
Both of his hands were placed overtop his stomach, covering something. Some sort of blue fluid stained his hands. I cautiously approached the body. He wasn't breathing, and so I leaned in to get a better look at his face. He really is beautiful, almost too beautiful to be human. I placed my blade into my pocket, and reached to place my hand over his heart. There was nothing. His body wasn't cold, but it didn't hold warmth either. The feeling of flesh against my hand felt so foreign. Has it really been that long that the feeling of a corpse is comforting me?
I kept my hand placed on his body, and I started to trace his broad shoulders with my fingertips. I continued up his neck and cupped his face in my hand. I took my thumb and felt his lips, they were soft, too soft to belong to a dead guy. What is going on?
Finally, I removed my hand, and forced myself to tear my eyes away from his perfectly sculpted face. I moved my eyes down to his hands. They were clutching some kind of metal so intently you would think his life depended on it. I took his hands into mine and pulled them away from his body. Fuck this just keeps getting weirder.
Beneath his hands was some circular mechanism. It was jutting out of his body. Is this what killed him? Some freak accident with a giant metal bit? That just didn't seem right. In Fact, the metal looked like it was connected to his body, as if it was meant to be there. On the end of the bit there was a metal handle. I'm not seriously about to do this, am I?
I am. I grabbed the metal handle, I tried to pull it and it didn't budge. "Here goes nothing." I said aloud as I shoved the metal mechanism in.
At first nothing happened. I stared at his stomach, confused at my own disappointment. Then, white metal started to form over his stomach, following suit flesh formed over the same spot. I couldn't tear my eyes away from what was happening. I was in shock, confused, and so many different other emotions were running through my brain.
I took my hand and placed it over his stomach where the flesh had formed. It's warm. I stared at the spot for a moment longer before slowly moving my eyes upwards to his face. Two deep-set thoughtful brown eyes stared right back into mine.
