I'm in love with Joel because he is basically just Stiles and Thomas combined, and what more could you ask for?
Anyway, here's another Dylan O'Brien fanfic, because why the hell not?
Hope you guys enjoy x
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Delilah Moon was sixteen when the world ended.
Well, it didn't end - but it was pretty close.
Apparently, an asteroid named Agatha 616 had been on its way that day, Earth directly in its path. All the leaders from around the world had come together to save humanity, working as one for maybe the first time.
Their idea was to launch a series of rockets at the asteroid in hopes of blowing it up. They went through with this plan, and at first, it worked - the world was saved and everyone was grateful. Hooray!
People cheered for half an hour and then went on with their lives as if it was just any other day. Except, there's always a catch, isn't there?
And this particular catch, well, it was a bit of a bitch.
Actually, not a bit. It was a total bitch.
Like spit in your face, tear up your books, wake you up from a really great sleep sort've bitch.
You see, as any low-level science student could tell you, the reason rockets did what they were made to do was thanks to chemicals. Not just a few either, but heaps. And, unfortunately for us, mixing chemicals didn't always end well.
This mix of chemicals rained back down on the Earth right after the rockets blew up Agatha 616, and changed everything. Not straight away, either. We saw it rain down, but it took a few days for the chemicals to reach the ground.
The whole world didn't change, but enough did to turn our lives upside down. All the cold-blooded creatures on Earth were affected, each of them mutating and turning into monsters.
And suddenly, humans were no longer at the top of the food chain. As Delilah's father had learnt, these creatures had found a taste for humans now that they were bigger than them.
The military was quick to respond, but it was hard when the world had never faced this sort of threat before. Over time, during their fight to overcome the monsters and other countries, the military took each other out. Because, apparently, not even a common enemy could bring the world together.
Guns became in high demand amongst everyday people, some of which who had never handled a weapon before. It had definitely been a first for Delilah, but she found she was a quick study. After the first few monsters, killing them became something she wasn't afraid to do.
She wasn't entirely sure how she felt about this new side of her, but it was their new reality.
Within the first year of the monsters taking over, the world had lost 95% of its population. Survivors and stragglers realised that they didn't stand much of a chance against the creatures. The majority of humanity began to hide away in bunkers, caves, panic rooms - anywhere where they were able to protect themselves from the monsters.
Delilah, her mother, and her brother hid away in a bunker with some people from their town not long after they had driven away from their home. Apparently, a man who lived across town had been preparing for D-Day and built one in his back yard.
That day hadn't exactly been D-Day, but when mutated animals were trying to rip you in half and eat you, you took what you could get.
And now, seven years later, Delilah couldn't be happier.
The first week or two out above ground alone with Boy were rough, but she learnt pretty quickly that their new reality didn't exactly allow the time to sit around stewing in your feelings. You either stood up and fought, or laid down and died. And one thing was for certain -
Delilah Moon had never felt more alive, than after the world had ended.
She set about finding herself a new home pretty early on. She had been in a few bunkers, but she found it difficult to get along with a lot of the other survivors of the tragedy. Most of them were set on staying below the ground and living out their days in darkness. Delilah realised though, that this wasn't how she wanted to live her life. So, in the end, she ended up staying above ground.
So she had been travelling alone with her dog, almost dying several times. One time when she had come particularly close, she had had her life saved by the first person she'd met in a long time that didn't annoy the shit out of her.
Like Delilah, Daniel Braxton was alone. He didn't like to speak about it a lot - all Delilah knew was that he had barely been home with his fiancé, Corinne, two weeks from the army when the accident happened. He had been called out to fight the monsters with the rest of his troop, and when he'd returned home he and his fiancé ran.
He told her about how he had gone on a supply run, returning to the bunker to find the walls painted with blood. A monster had gotten inside and eaten the residents.
So after travelling alone for so long, he almost chose to leave again. But he knew that leaving the young girl to survive on her own was the wrong thing to do. So, to get past the loss of his fiancé, he focused all that energy on protecting Delilah. Over time, he came to see the girl as the annoying younger sister he hadn't asked for but would die for anyway.
He trained her in hand-to-hand combat and the use of weapons so that if they ever got separated, she wouldn't be completely helpless. But, after five years together they had perfected their system and neither had gotten separated from the other.
Just like how Brax knew that Delilah was currently on the bus, while he went in search of parts for a radio he was trying to build.
The two moved around quite constantly, not staying in a place long enough to be found out by the monsters. They stayed anywhere from houses to trailers, to abandoned supermarkets. Their most recent home had probably been the one that they'd been in longest, which Delilah wasn't opposed to given it had probably been her favourite so far.
Delilah was laying on her bed with Boy at her side, staring up at the makeshift windchimes she had made for herself. She had made them from broken pieces of glass she had found over the months. Seeing the light hit the coloured glass always made her smile, finding small pieces of beauty in their crazy world.
"You know you have a perfectly good bed right there?" Delilah reminded Boy, pointing to the bed she had made him, which she had even gone to the added length of sewing his name into it one day when she was bored. Boy went to the bed and picked up the small blanket that sat on it in his mouth, before jumping back up beside Delilah.
After the monsters had attacked, Delilah had given in, allowing Arlo to call their puppy 'Boy'. No matter how redundant it appeared to be, it made Arlo happy, which made Delilah happy.
Boy shifted, resting his jaw on the girl's stomach and nuzzling her, asking for attention. Delilah obliged, scratching the kelpie behind his ear. His leg kicked slightly in satisfaction as he moved closer to her.
Delilah was surprised that Boy had made it this long. Over the years though, he had come accustomed to the monsters also and knew when to fight and when to run. She refused to let anything happen to the canine, swearing she would lay down her life for him.
After all, he was all she had left. Besides Brax now, of course.
Getting rather bored, Delilah decided she would go and scout the area and see if she could find some food. Even after being here almost two months, she and Brax were yet to search the whole area surrounding them.
Writing a quick note just in case Brax made it back before she did, Delilah checked her bracelet was on her wrist, grabbed her jacket, crossbow, makeshift sheath, and the blade that Brax had gifted her and headed towards the door to the bus, whistling to Boy.
She wished she still had a gun, but even with Brax digging out the supply he had kept in his basement, they'd run out of ammunition just over two years ago.
The dog looked up at her but didn't move.
Delilah pointed to the door, "Boy, let's go."
Boy looked like he was considering it before he rolled over on the girl's bed so that he was laying in the sun. The bed, being a mattress that Delilah had shoved on top of two bus seats. It was the apocalypse; you worked with what you had.
"You're really not gonna come with me?" Delilah asked her friend.
The canine didn't say anything as he laid in the sun, continuing to stare at her with his bright brown eyes. Delilah wasn't too surprised, since he had gone on a run with Brax that morning, but she couldn't say she wasn't disappointed that she wouldn't have company.
"Fine," she sighed. "I'll be back later. Look after the supplies. And if you go out for a run, don't go leading monsters back here."
Boy's head fell to the side, and she decided to take that as him understanding what she was saying.
Delilah pulled on the rope that opened the door and left the bus, heading out into the abandoned streets. She walked across the concrete quietly, careful not to attract attention to herself. The smallest noises caught her attention, the girl turning in that direction to make sure no monsters were on her tail.
After about half an hour of walking, she spotted a building in the distance, heading in its direction. She hadn't been this far over this side of town and therefore hadn't seen this building before. She only hoped that it hadn't been picked clean of all of its remaining supplies yet. Delilah and Brax moved around now and then when food was becoming scarce in the area.
Delilah hoped this home lasted longer than the rest. The bus had really become something over the two months. Every couple of days, Delilah went out and found things and brought them back to decorate the abandoned vehicle. It almost felt like home.
Entering the building quietly, Delilah had her crossbow at the ready. It was eerily quiet like every other building they had ever found. Moving down a hallway to a larger room, Delilah's face split into a grin when she spotted a shelf on the far side of the room that appeared to have boxes on it.
The only downside? There were monster eggs on the ground beside the wall on her left side, meaning that there was at least one monster nearby.
Well, I do love a good challenge, Delilah thought to herself as she lifted her crossbow back up and began to tiptoe towards the shelf.
So far, there was no sign of the monster being anywhere nearby, but that didn't mean anything. She wished she knew what she was looking for, but it was hard to tell from just the eggs.
Getting closer to the shelf, she began to hear a scratching sound. Starting to rush, she pulled her backpack around and unzipped it, beginning to search the boxes. She only found a few packs of biscuits and a chocolate bar, but it was good enough.
Shoving all the packets into her bag, she threw it onto her back and began to head back to the door to move onto another room. However, as she walked across the room, she heard a screeching sound.
Delilah began to run, only to come face-to-face with a mutated lizard. It was about five times Delilah's height, with dark green scales the size of dinner plates.
"Fuck," she hissed beneath her breath, seeing as it was blocking the only way out of the large room.
The monster roared again as it ran towards the girl, sharp needle-like teeth bared. Delilah was quick to run out of its path as it charged at her, only to be whipped to the side by its tail.
She hit the ground hard, before rolling onto her knees quickly and getting back up. Sure, she was in pain, but laying there and getting eaten wasn't exactly going to help. Brax has taught her well.
Delilah reached for her crossbow, only to see that it had come unattached when she had been hit with the tail.
"Really?" she mumbled as she stared across at her bow which, of course, was on the other side of the lizard.
The monster, realising that she had moved, turned around and faced the girl once more. Its slitted eyes narrowed before it bounded in her direction once again, growling as it did so.
Delilah began to run, trying to think of a way to get to her crossbow. Unfortunately, the monster was right in the way. The lizard mutants had quite a thick outer skin thanks to their scales, which made them hard to kill. An arrow through the eye usually did the trick, but without her crossbow, Delilah wasn't sure she'd be able to get close enough or bury the arrow deep enough on her own. This left Delilah with a quiver full of useless ammunition and a machete.
The girl slowed down for a moment, coming to a stop with a smile. Looking down at her hip, she saw the machete still hanging there, an idea beginning to grow in her mind.
"I'm gonna Chamber of Secrets this bitch," she mumbled to herself as she detached the machete from her belt, spinning it once in her hand.
Hearing the monster growl, Delilah looked up. Putting one foot back, she prepared herself as it approached, taking a few deep breaths.
"Come on, come on," she whispered, building herself up whilst also taunting the creature. As it got closer, she tightened her grip on the blade screaming, "Come on!"
The monster opened its mouth wide as it lunged at her, ready to eat her. But that wasn't happening if the girl had anything to say about it.
Taking a few steps to meet the monster halfway, she thrust her arm into its open mouth as it went to take a bite out of her. Not stopping, Delilah used all her strength to push the machete up, forcing it right through the roof of the monster's mouth.
The monster retracted immediately before it got the chance to sink its teeth into her, roaring in pain as it clawed at its jaw. As desperate as it was though, it couldn't get the blade out. Once the lizard was finally out of her way, Delilah ran over and picked up her crossbow, loading it faster than she thought she ever had.
Going down onto one knee to get a better angle on the creature, she brought the scope up to her eye and aimed. The monster stopped swinging its head - possibly attempting to get the machete out that way - and searched for Delilah.
As soon as it focused on her, she hit the trigger. The arrow whistled through the air, driving itself straight through the monster's eye. One last pained screech escaped it before it fell to the ground dead.
Delilah dropped to her other knee, taking deep breaths as she tried to steady herself. There was always a moment right after killing where she was reminded of how surreal this was. If the monsters hadn't happened, she would be have been off at university, living in a dorm room, visiting her family on the weekends and living a somewhat normal life.
Swallowing heavily, she climbed to her feet and walked over to the creature. She did so slowly, just in case it wasn't completely dead.
Reaching into its open mouth Delilah freed her machete, face scrunching in disgust as she looked at the blood-covered blade. Finding a rag on the ground, Delilah wiped clean her favourite blade, before strapping it to her hip once again.
A heavy sigh escaped her as she looked around the room. Just another day in the apocalypse.