Out of Cryo | A Horizon: Zero Dawn Fanfiction

Chapter 1: The End of the World

Hello! Welcome to Out of Cryo! This series tells the story of a girl named Becks, who goes into cryogenic sleep with her family until she is awakened by none other than Aloy herself. This series spans two "seasons" as well as an interlude, some "behind the scenes" chapters, and a few spin-offs. I've rated this series M for a variety of reasons including profanity, violence, sex, and an array of scenes that may be traumatic to some readers.

I'm Kitewalker and this is my first work for H:ZD so I'm very excited to share it with you. :) The first chapter is on the short side but it's simply the introduction and future chapters are longer. I hope you all enjoy it and stick around! I love this game so much! You can follow me on tumblr at zerodawnkitewalker for OoC updates or just in case you're interested in my random musings.

Cover art by the talented DRON261095.

Just a last note - I probably shouldn't have to say this but there are spoilers all over the place in this and Horizon Zero Dawn belongs to Guerrilla Games, who are very awesome for making this amazing game.

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"Becks, hurry up! Dad said we gotta get downstairs now!"

Groaning in frustration, I covered my left ear with one hand so that I could hear Jenna better through the Focus. Frankly, I was surprised long-distance comms still worked what with most of the grid down on the coast but I tried not to linger too long on that fact that it was only a matter of minutes before I would not hear my best friend's voice ever again. "Sorry, Dennis was telling me something," I said. "What were you going to say?"

Silence.

"Jenna?"

For a moment, I thought the call had gone dead. But a few seconds later Jenna's voice came through, though it was so broken that at first I assumed the call quality was just going to shit. "T-the news just came in, my parents said. Mom got the call."

My chest tightened. This was really happening. The surrealism of it all was overwhelming. "I-I'm sorry," was my lame response.

I heard her swallow before she spoke again. The way she did that – I knew she was trying to put on a brave face and sound tough. Whether it was so that I wouldn't freak out or so that she wouldn't freak out I'll never know. "Yeah. Well, I mean, we knew this would happen, right?" She offered a nervous laugh that came out as a distorted warble on my end.

"Becks, now!" my brother yelled. I wanted to turn and snap at him to leave me alone, just like I used to whenever he would bother me while I was on a call. But this was different. He wasn't just being my annoying and at times, condescending older brother. The fear in his voice was obvious – he was just as scared as I was. As we had all been over the last year.

I didn't want to leave Jenna, though. She had an entirely different situation to deal with. And I was terrified for her. But if I could stay on the call just a bit longer, maybe-

"You should go. I think my parents are about ready anyway," she said with a heavy sigh.

I froze up at her admission. "Jenna..."

She laughed and for a moment she sounded like my best friend again, not the weary, broken girl who had to watch her world be destroyed, no, devoured. Consumed. That's all we were to them – food. I clenched my fists, angry beyond words at the people who did this, at the militaries, at Jenna's parents, at my parents, and mostly just at the utter helplessness that I felt knowing there was not a fucking thing I could do to help my best friend or her family.