Alright! As I promised, the rushed part of the story is over and it's time to keep this going and put the chapters and character development back. I want to thank you all for sticking with me, and I'm glad I can really get back into my Rhythm. Now! I discussed it partly in the last chapter, but this chapter is going to be for me to really solidify the way Y/N, a broken survivor, is written in this story. And I'm excited, because this is all gonna be from my head.
I just want to really thank you all, because this is just amazing. Over 7k reads so far, and so many comments that genuinely improve my day! This is just amazing, when I first started this project I didn't know what kind of response I would get. Now we're here, and I'm so thankful. To show that, here's my longest chapter yet over our favorite character, Y/N! Enjoy!
2 Years Ago
Y/N took in a deep breath as he opened his eyes, the first thing entering his mind being confusion. He shifted around quietly, sitting up and rolling his right sleeve up to his shoulder. There, on his bicep, was a bite that was still not fully healed. There were cysts and nasty looking scarring around it. "I thought... it only took a couple of days?" He muttered to himself, looking confused. Today, he would've been bitten for 56 hours.
He stood up slowly, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. His gear was scattered around, but he bent down and picked up his personal combat knife. He didn't expect to be alive still, he had to find Jen. Maybe she knew what was going on. Y/N opened up the door that blocked him in the room he was staying in. They were still in this house they were bit in, barricading themselves in. If they had any bullets left, they would've shot themselves. Jen stayed outside, and she told Y/N to stay in a room. In case she turned first, Jen didn't want to kill him.
"Jen?" He called out into the house. He didn't know what he was expecting, but for the first time in a while, his heart was beating in his chest faster than ever. He was worried about Jen, scared about what he would find. Y/N heard some noise, and moved a little quietly through the house. He knew something was wrong, he didn't even feel the slightest sick. His only hindrance was a little dehydration right now.
He heard something getting thrown around, and he moved quietly towards the crash military truck. Y/N took in a breath, opening the door into the room. He was met with Jen facing away from him, seeming to breath heavy as she was just staring at truck. "Jen- you're not gonna believe this! Look, I'm not even sick!" Y/N said, letting his guard down as he cheered about it. Jen's head perked up, he body swiveling around quickly to meet the boy. Y/N stopped dead in his tracks when he was met face to face with Jen.
Her eyes seemed completely dim, void of all life. Her skin was paled and veins were showing as she stared into Y/N's eyes. What Y/N feared, were the small pieces of fungus growing out of her face. "Jen?" Y/N asked, trying to hold onto some hope that she was alright. But then she screeched loudly, and came barreling towards Y/N. He backpedaled quickly, surprised and fear in his face for a moment as he almost tripped over his feet.
Y/N watched as Jen got closer, until he realized he was out of the room. He grabbed the door, forcing it shut and leaning against it as Jen slammed herself into the door repeatedly. Y/N was breathing heavy, despite the fact he didn't do anything except close a door. He couldn't believe this, it was flashing before his eyes. Jen was infected... Jen was gone... he was still here.
Y/N panted until he didn't feel any force on the door, and came tumbling off it, landing on his knees. He didn't know what was going through his head. He thought since he was alright, that Jen would be to. He couldn't, his mind refused to process the fact that the person he thought as his mother was gone. He couldn't even bring himself to stand as grief wracked his body, tears were falling down. At one point he threw up something, he didn't even know he had food in his stomach.
Why was he still here? He should've been turned, but he felt just fine. Y/N fell over to his side, holding onto his arm with the bite on it as tears kept falling. "Why?" He asked softly, those being the only words he could muster out. Why would this world do this to him? Why was he still here? With everyone gone, why couldn't he join them. Why should he even keep going...
***
The fire crackled softly in the silent of the night. The light illuminating the area around the campfire that was made. There, sitting by it, was a teenager as he stared blankly into the fire. He sighed softly, pulling off the mask that covered the bottom half of his face. Y/N moved down and scratched his arm slightly, that was covered by a long sleeved shirt. Touching the bite on his arm, it's what brought him back to reality. It reminded him of the world they lived in.
5 months ago he watched as his mother-figure became infected and turning in front of his eyes, while he never did. He reached over, letting a hand trail on the rifle Jen had used, and he had took with. Even after all this time, he couldn't get over it. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know where to go. All he knew what to do, was survive. He had gone up north some more, now on the border of Maine and Canada.
It was better up here, the infected had a harder time surviving in the cold. Most of them time, they weaker infected just die out. Which was fine by him, it meant less things to mess with. It also meant the infected he did come across would be stronger and more dangerous. Y/N didn't mind, the sooner he meets his end, the sooner he can be happy.
He was lost in these thoughts, when he heard the sound of a branch snapping nearby. He reached over and grabbed his handgun, rolling off the stump he was sitting on and aiming it into the woods. He stayed quiet for a minute, not hearing anything else, but he knew he had heard something. "Come out! I know you're there!" Y/N ordered, gripping his handgun tighter.
Soon after, he heard a few more footsteps. They weren't rushed, they seemed to be close together and shuffling. It wasn't infected. He breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing slightly. He watched a small group of people, no more than 10 walk out of the woods. They weren't heavily armed, and didn't look like they wanted to attack and rob him. Y/N had never been up against people, even at his age, he didn't know that people can be capable of killing others.
All his life Y/N had grown up in peace, until infected attacked. Then he survived the harsh environment and more infected with someone that was more than willing to help. He thought this was the way it was, everyone needed to help each other to get through this. "It's dark out, you should be more careful." Y/N said, standing up from his kneeled position and lowering the gun. One person seemed to step forward to meet him, looking like an older fellow. "Sorry to scare you, but we saw the smoke and came to see if we can find some help." He spoke, looking at him.
Y/N looked back to the group to see some of them injured, some were really hurting. "I got some supplies, but it's not much." Y/N stated looking back and motioning to it. When he looked back, he was met with a gun aimed at him. Y/N's eyes went wide as he seemed a bit frozen, not knowing what to do. "Sorry son, but I'm going to need all of that." Y/N put his hands up slowly as people started walking by, looting his small little camp.
"What the hell?" Y/N asked, looking back at the man with a gun to him. He felt a foot connect with the back of his knee, and Y/N was forced down to his knees. He looked up to see that man even closer now; but another guy was behind him. "Just stay calm, son. I don't want to kill you, so don't make me."
People started walking by now, some with medical supplies, and some with his food. Y/N stayed silent, not knowing what to think, but he was feeling a little pissed. He thought people were supposed to trust each other in this, they were in this together. So why was he being robbed of his stuff and held at gunpoint? "Why?" Y/N asked, feeling the pressure on his back leave. "Because I won't let my people die. You understand, right?" The man said, backing up slightly.
Y/N saw the last person leave, and out of the corner of his eyes he saw a rifle. He knew that they didn't have a rifle when they showed up, and seeing some initials on the stock made his eyes widen. "Give that back!" He shouted, catching the attention of everyone. The person with the rifle just scoffed, walking back to her group. "Kid, I don't think you understand how a robbery works." The man said, backing up a little more now. "This is ours now. Come on, we're leaving."
Y/N felt his heart racing, he couldn't let them have that. That was his, That was the only thing he had to remember Jen. His emotions seemed to be shoved aside by one: desperation. At this moment, even if they were other people, they were taking something precious to him. Y/N moved forward, no longer frozen. The man seemed scared, firing a shot off that went into his shoulder, but Y/N didn't stop. He took a knee to his stomach, disarming the man of his pistol. Y/N held onto the gun, turning the man around and putting the gun to head.
"Give me my gun back!" He shouted, looking at the group. Some of them had guns aimed at him, others were carrying stuff. Y/N saw that they weren't moving, and aimed the gun down, firing a round into the mans knee. "I wasn't fucking asking!" He shouted, something in his eyes. Blood was dripping down his shoulder, the pain nulled by the adrenaline. He watched as the woman dropped his gun onto the ground, backing up slightly. "Let him go, kid."
Y/N had rage flowing through him. How could they do this in the first place? How could they harm and steal from other people, how could they steal from a teenager?! How could they try and take what was precious to him? Y/N felt his mind cloud up, he couldn't think clearly. He turned the gun, aiming it forward at the crowd, and fired.
***
Y/N staggered slightly as he made his way down the road. He was holding his shoulder tight with his free arm, his rifle was bumping against his back as he walked, his bag soaked slightly from the light drizzle that was coming down. He was breathing heavy, the screech of infected far behind him. Y/N grounded in pain as another spike went through his body, and he had to lean against a house. "Damnit." He grumbled, looking at the house to his right. Y/N grumbled, seeing a door that he tried to open. It seemed to be blocked from the other side.
Y/N looked over down the street to see the head of a clicker a mile or two away. He took his leg back, and kicked the door as hard as he could. It didn't budge at first, but another kick got something loose. He used this opportunity to shove open the door, stumbling and falling down inside the building. He shoved himself up, trying to get on his feet when something knocked him to the side. He forced onto his back as a runner started trying to tear into him.
Y/N tried desperately to reach over to grab his gun, but with his injured shoulder he couldn't even lift it. He continued his struggle desperately, grasping for breath and looking for any escape option. He rested his foot back to try and kick the infected off, but only managed a couple of seconds of breathing time. He thought it was over, he couldn't even fight off one damn infected. Just as he was starting to relax, ready to just give in, when a gunshot went off.
The infected in front of him dropped, causing the boy to fall over, breathing heavy. He heard the sound of the door being forced close, and then something being moved to block it. Y/N was trying to get up to face whoever saved him, because after what happened he was wary. "Did that thing bite you?" A man asked, walking up to Y/N to check him out. He checked Y/N out, the boy seemingly out of strength. "Damn, you get shot?" The man asked, looking at the wound. "Don't... touch me." Y/N breathed out, looking up to meet the mans eyes.
"Relax kid, I'm not going to kill you. If I wanted to, I would have let that damn infected do the job." He said, helping Y/N lean back against a wall. "My names Taylor, I need you to relax. Christ, what happened to you?" Taylor asked, looking at him. Y/N felt his vision starting to darken, he had lost a lot of blood. "They... took the... gun." Y/N mumbled out, his eyes starting to close. "Alright, I got you kid. I'll patch you up, just say with me." Taylor tried to say, but Y/N slumped over as his eyes closed, and just like that he was out.
***
Y/N felt his eyes open up slightly, some small light filtering through. He didn't know where he was, which had him freaking out slightly. He turned his head over to see a window, the outside seemed gray and cloudy. The room around him was white and blue, resembling a hospital of sorts. He tried to take not of his surrounding, seeing his stuff resting on a nearby chair. Y/N tried to sit up, but was met with a bit of pain in his shoulder. He reached up to grab it, but was met with bandages that were wrapped around his body to cover his shoulder.
"What the hell?" He asked looking around the room now as he fully sat up. Y/N swung his legs off the side, going to stand up. He found himself wobbling a bit, feeling more weak than usual. He stumbled around, heading over to his stuff and grabbing it. He felt relieved to see everything there, including his rifle. Although, it looked like his ammo was gone. Y/N grabbed a shirt, which certainly wasn't the one he was wearing earlier. He pulled it over his head, seeing it was a little tight.
He went to grab his backpack when he heard the door to his left click. His head turned over to see it open, seeing someone who looked a lot like a doctor walk through. She looked at him standing up, and seemed a little stunned for a minute. "Hey, the kids awake!" She called down the hallway, walking in to meet the boy. He seemed to back up a bit, reaching to his bag for something. "Hey, it's alright!" The doctor tried to assure, taking a few steps closer.
Someone came into the room right after, seeing the scene. "Hey- calm down now! She's trying to help!" Taylor called, looking at Y/N. The boy seemed to recognize him and relax slightly. The doctor led him to sit back down while she double checked him, making sure everything was alright. "That was a hell of a nap there. It was lucky I found when I did, you had lost a lot of blood." Taylor stated, bringing a chair over and taking a seat.
The doctor gave a thumbs up after she was done, heading out. "You plan on telling me what happened to you?" Taylor asked, looking at Y/N, who wasn't looking at him. Y/N looked over at the man, sighing softly. "Some dicks tried to rob me." Y/N said simply, not giving much more thought on the matter. "Tried?" Taylor asked, clasping his hands in front of him. "I didn't just walk away." Y/N said, still not really meeting his eyes.
The boy didn't know if he could trust, and he hated it. He hated these emotions inside of him, this conflict. He never meant to kill those people, even if they were holding him at gunpoint. They were just trying to survive like he was, they were people like him. And Y/N killed them all in a fit of rage. "Where am I?" He asked, looking out of the building. "Right, welcome to the Safe Zone of Augusta, or the SZA." Taylor said, motioning out to the area. "We managed to secure the city."
Y/N stood back up slowly, going over to the window to see the city. There was a wall around everywhere he could see, and there seemed the be genuine life here. People were walking around on the streets below, guards were patrolling the wall. "Amazing, right? I was out on a patrol when I found you. We always offer people a place to stay here." Taylor said, standing up next to him. "It was lucky I found you. It sounds like to me you ran into some nasty people. I can promise you safety here if you want to stay. Think about it for a while, why don't you?"
***
14 Months Later
For 14 Months Y/N lived in peace in the SZA. It took him a while to get over what had happened in the months prior to him coming to the SZA, but he was able to recover a bit. Even though he was young, Y/N joined the patrols to try and help people out. This meant he was working with Taylor, the first person he trusted here. Everything was fine, Y/N did end up getting another bite on his leg, one that Taylor saw. Y/N barely made it out of that without getting shot by his own squad leader. But other than that, Y/N avoided near death experiences.
This time, they were tasked with heading off to Portland to search and hunt for supplies. It was going well until their transportation was ambushed by a group of hunters. The group was forced to try and hide to the city, in hopes of running away. The plan didn't work, and everyone died. Everyone except for Y/N, who after all of the events that went down, found himself shaken and broken again. He didn't know who to trust, what to do, but someone gave him a goal.
"Go to... Boston. There's an immune girl there... join her."
I apologize for making that sorta bad summary for the last part, but I can explain! That entire part is meant to basically be the same as Pittsburgh, except for the fact that only one made it out. And most of the flashbacks I dropped were usually in this area. But I really did hope this all helped you guys understand the character of Y/N, and I appreciate you sticking along for the ride!