Chapter Text
"And stay out Yorker!" One of the raiders shouted, driving away with Tyler's car, which also carried all of his belongings. Fuck. He was screwed. He watched, crumpled on the ground and bleeding all over from the violent beatings he'd just received. Tyler wiped away the tears streaming down his face, jolting back as the car suddenly blew up. Smoke billowed into the air, a man hopping down from some building about a hundred meters away. He wore a hood and wore thick, strapped gloves.
"Fuckin' raiders!" he screamed, walking past the burning car like it was nothing. The man walked up to Tyler, him gasping and scrambling back, "Yo, calm the fuck down. I won't shoot 'ya. Name's Josh. You?" he held out an extended hand, giving Tyler a lopsided grin underneath his cowl. Tyler stammered before finally answering.
"T-tyler." He took the hand, being yanked to his feet.
"Looks like 'ya got yerself in a real scrap back there, eh?" Josh spoke, patting Tyler's back roughly, earning a groan of pain. He had some sort of thick accent, nothing Tyler had heard before.
"U-uh, yeah," he replied, voice tremulous. Josh let out a hearty laugh, grabbing Tyler's hands and yanking him along. They walked under some collapsed bridge, going somewhere.
"So, where are 'ya from, squirt?" Josh ruffled Tyler's hair, climbing up some truss on a building. Tyler reluctantly followed, hesitating at each groan and creak of the metal. Josh jumped up most of it, hopping to the top of the small building. Tyler was following soon after, panting loudly. "Yer stamina an' durability tells me yer not from this wasteland." Josh looked up quickly, and squinted, "Hurry up, kid."
"U-uh, I was exiled from O-old York," Tyler said, shrugging and huffing as he followed Josh up some pile of rocks. He ignored the cuts and bruises he was getting, just focusing on following this strange man. He probably wasn't all that strange in this odd world, though. The wasteland was confusing. Josh chuckled at the statement, grabbing Tylers' arm and throwing him up onto some cracked platform. Tyler screamed as it made an odd sound, Josh just facepalming and climbing up after him.
"Pussy, course yer a fuckin' Yorker! The way ye' react to thin's, the way ye' act," he spat, jumping to a second building. Tyler anxiously stood near the wall, breathing heavy. "Jus' jump! God!" Tyler shook his head, looking down at the twenty-foot drop between the two-foot jump. Josh hopped back over, grabbing Tyler's arm and jumping to the other side. He let out a shriek as he was pulled, shutting his eyes. Josh looked irritated, dragging him down some stairs. He opened his eyes, sighing out of relief. Tyler yelped as he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and slammed against the wall, being met with vicious looking eyes.
"Listen, kid, I'm sick of this shit. You hear that?" he became silent for a moment, loud rumbling sounded from the distance and was slowly growing louder, "If we don't get back to my shelter by the time that shit is over us, we're dead. Got it?" Tyler nodded frantically, Josh letting go of Tyler and rushing out of the building. Tyler ran behind him, rain starting to quietly patter around them. Josh started to full-on sprint, Tyler lagging behind. They both turned into some broken down parking garage, Josh rushing up to an elevator and prying the one door open. "Let's go," he spat, Tyler quickly slipping through the hole. Josh followed, the door slamming shut behind them. The rumbling was loud now and sounded like it was almost right on them. Josh flipped open a hatch on the top, climbing up into the small space and slipping into some crawlspace. Tyler hesitated, whimpering quietly and looking up at the worn away hole, the clouds dark above.
"U-uh, I don't l-like small spaces."
"STOP FUCKIN' COMPLAINING AND GO!" Josh screamed, crawling down the vent. Tyler clambered in, the rumbling almost deafening. The ground trembled, Josh hopping into some tunnel of sorts and climbing down a ladder. Tyler was quickly following, the roof had a few cracks, so it was open. They quickly ran into some opening for a room, rain pounding down through the cracks. It hit the ground like a tsunami, the ground shaking. Josh slid a large door in front of the crack to prevent a flood, sighing.
"Yer a fuckin' idiot, ye know that?" Josh hissed, walking up to a broken down truck. It had curtains instead of doors, and from what you could see inside it had been made into a bedroom. He knocked on the side, "YO! SAY!"
A young, scruffed up girl walked out, rubbing her eyes. She looked at Tyler, stretching.
"Who the fuck is that?" she whisper-yelled to Josh, Tyler standing awkwardly. The girl looked almost *Tyler's age, 19, and had mussed up hair. She was covered in a multitude of bite marks, and from what he could see her entire right leg, knee down was a prosthetic.
"Sage, this is Tyler. He's a Yorker who needed my help or whatever. The rains jus' began so I wasn't gonna leave him to the floods." Sage looked pissed, rubbing her eyes and hopping out.
"We're already low on food as is! I cannot believe you!" She slapped Josh, "Go get undressed! We gotta get comfortable."
"Well, we'll have actual use fer that extra bed."
"Shut up!"