[summary] — Baron/OC (platonic) [Apocalypse!AU] Normally, the lorries return empty, but this time …

A/N — Written for round 10 of QL, where I had to write about the Baron. I also had the optional word prompts sinking and eager.

Also written for DADA, with the prompt: write about a group of two or more people working together to achieve a common goal.

And I'd like to thank Dina, Carmen and Liza for the help with this.

[1700 words]

The world ended not in fire or flood, but in the mistakes of mankind. Technology had never been advancing faster, there seemed to be nothing humans couldn't invent; they were the rulers of this small space they had created for themselves. But that had all been a very long time ago now, and not many people remembered the Golden Age of Humanity.

The Baron did, in brief flashes that all merged into one vaguely distorted memory, but most people had stopped caring. No one wanted to know about a world that they could never return to, not when it was such a struggle to survive the night.

"Mister Baron, Sir!" a girl called, looking up at him with wide eyes, her face streaked with dirt and her clothes ragged. Her matted red hair was tied up into pigtails with scraps of fabric that had been too small to do anything else with. "I think they're leaving now."

There was a large lorry behind her, mud covering the roof and sides in a crude form of camouflage; he couldn't see them, but he knew there were people crowded together inside. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best they could do.

The girl coughed, a horrible wracking sound, and wiped her hands on her tattered shorts.

"D'you think they'll come back?" she asked, looking up at him with such hope that he nodded, pushing down the guilt at the lie. She grins widely, showing her wonky teeth. "My daddy's on there."

If he were still alive he'd have felt his heart sinking, but as it was he just smiled, mumbled a vague agreement, and drifted off, leaving the girl standing expectantly by the gates.

.oOo.

He drifted the halls aimlessly for a while — he could almost remember when this had been a school, but it was so long ago now, and the place was in disrepair — but he found there was very little for him to do. He knew these halls better than he knew himself, and they couldn't hold his attention for long.

Eventually, he let out a deep breath he didn't need and returned quickly to the girl.

She was where he had left her, though this time she was sitting with her knees drawn up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. She didn't look up when he approached, but she said:

"When d'you think they'll be back?"

"Not for a while, yet," he said, sitting down beside her.

"They're going to look for other people, aren't they?" she asked. "People like us?"

He nodded. "But it'll take a while," he said. He didn't know how to tell her that these missions were hopeless; that everyone here now had been born within sight of the old castle. It was only the sick and the elderly sent on these missions, and even he didn't know what happened to them outside.

"My name's Kyra," she said abruptly, turning to face him. "My mum said you've always been here."

He nodded slowly, and said: "I've been here since almost the beginning."

"Since they built the wall?"

"No. Since the beginning of the castle. Did you know it used to be a school?"

She shook her head, smiling in confusion. "What's a school?" He looked at her for a moment, brow furrowed. Of course she didn't know what a school was, they no longer existed — hadn't for years.

"It's … a place of learning," he said slowly.

"Like when Dad teaches me about the virus?" she asked. "Or when Mum showed me how to do sewing on a person?" He nodded.

"You'd probably have been too young for … Hogwarts." The name felt strange on his tongue, unfamiliar, and he gestured vaguely behind him. "You would have needed to be in your teens, I think."

"Was that this castle?" Kyra asked, looking up at him in awe. He nodded, a faint smile pulling up the corners of his lips; he has vague recollections of the place, but he's almost positive any solid memory he could bring up would be false. "Why don't they fix it?"

He looked up at the old ruins and said: "They can't. Any resources went into building the wall."

.oOo.

They sat there for hours, waiting for the lorry to arrive. Darkness fell, and still they waited; it wasn't until the sun was just beginning to arrive that the lorry finally returned, but that was the way of things now. Long periods of boredom and inactivity followed by brief periods where everything seemed to happen at once.

The lorry rolled slowly through the gate, two people holding the gate open for the vehicle, shutting it quickly afterwards. There was something strange, though, as if the lorry weren't running on its own steam. He couldn't hear the engines.

Kyra stood up quickly, standing on tiptoes and craning her neck to see better. "They're back, Mister Baron!" she said, excitement colouring her tone. She turned to him, a wide grin spread across her face, but his attention was still on the lorry. Something was different.

"I think you should go," he said. She nodded eagerly, taking off towards the lorry, but a harsh "no" stopped her in her tracks.

Kyra turned to face him. "Is something wrong?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper.

"You should — You should find someone, someone you know, and stay with them," he said, eyes still glued to the back of the lorry; the mud covering the trailer had been splattered with red, the colours mixing together, and he could faintly hear a noise coming from within.

"I know you," she said quietly, her large eyes filling with tears.

He shook his head sadly. "You need someone corporeal." She tipped her head to the side in confusion. "Someone alive; human." Her bottom lip quivered, but she nodded and ran off towards the castle.

No one exited the cabin, but the scratching from inside the trailer was getting louder, accompanied by the occasional wordless yell. He took a hesitant step closer, unsure why he felt fear when he couldn't be harmed.

He walked through the wall of the trailer. The creatures' screaming grew louder, more frantic, as they tried to grab a hold of him. Coming in here was a mistake, but at least he had a rough idea of how many there were now, though how much good that would do them was debatable.

Their bloodless skin, red eyes and wide mouths made for an alarming sight, and they all crowded closer to him, reaching out with long fingers, nails looking more like claws.

He left quickly.

The sound of the creatures throwing themselves at the metal side of the trailer echoed through the castle grounds, and he could see people running from the building, carrying the few belongings they owned. Most were heading towards the Forest, and he decided he might as well meet them there. He could have stayed if he wanted to, but didn't relish the thought of being alone with these creatures. Most of the other ghosts had moved on. It was just him and the girl left, and she stuck to one of the rooms filled with pipes and stale water.

He reached the Forest just as a loud crash resounded from behind him, and he turned just in time to see the doors spring open. The creatures dragged themselves out, using claw-like hands to dig into earth and flesh alike, seemingly uncaring at their own injuries. Once they were on their feet they were surprisingly fast, and he knew the humans didn't have time to linger.

.oOo.

It took a few days for them all to regroup — or for them to stop waiting on others to arrive, assuming those absent to be gone. The creatures roamed the castle grounds freely, but only a few had bothered to enter the depths of the Forest.

"Mister Baron?" Kyra asked; he had no idea how she'd survived, but there she was, missing a tooth and with a few extra cuts and bruised to join the myriad of scars that covered her body. "Will we be safe in here?"

He nodded, once again lying to the child. She dropped down onto the ground by his feet, and he slowly sank to join her.

"I'm gonna stay with you, Mister Baron," she said, pulling her knees to her chest. She was shivering, but there was nothing he could do about that.

"Alright," he said, and watched as she fell asleep still sitting, her head dropping forwards and resting on her knees.

He could hear the creatures growing closer that night, and every night that followed.

.oOo.

They tried to stick together, but it was nearly impossible to always remain with someone. Dwindling numbers and the maze-like forest saw to that. And soon, there was only a handful left.

And then just two. Kyra, against all odds, had survived, but the wall prevented them from actually leaving the Forest. The other woman — tall and thin, obviously malnourished — didn't seem to be faring so well. She had a fever and suffered from nightmares every night that caused her to wake up screaming, though she never spoke a single word.

It was a miracle the creatures hadn't found them yet, with the noise she made, but he'd noticed after the first few failed attempts that they seemed to avoid him. The fact that they had the ability to learn worried him the most.

So, naturally, the creatures arrived at their little camp when he wasn't there. They'd gotten lazy; developed a pattern in where they spent the night, and ultimately that had been their downfall. In thinking that the creatures would not get over whatever aversions they had to him, they had sealed their fate.

.oOo.

He returned to the old castle; wandered the halls of the building for years. The building slowly deteriorating around him, but little else showed the passing of time.

And then, one day, the wall was rebuilt.