Xiao X Reader One-Shots ♡

Apocalyptic (AU)

A searing white-hot pain shot up her forearm as she ground her teeth together with a clenched jaw, trying her absolute best to keep quiet despite the overwhelming urge to scream and cry.

(Y/N) had lost track of time long ago, as per usual whenever this started up. Hours upon hours of endless poking and prodding, all in the name of experimentation and testing, or so he'd said.

This world was definitely an odd one, lacking in the department of the typical laws and rules that prohibited this kind of torture.

The planet had been plunged into a nuclear apocalypse centuries ago, but the world was struggling to recover, at least in the United States of America.

It was nothing short of martial law, only small factions of government remaining from the ashes that desperately tried to rebuild and recover, forming new towns and organizations to try to help the world bounce back.

Of course, this still meant there would be people who would take advantage of the carnage and chaos, meaning thieves and murders alike were now all the more common and normal to come across.

The universal rule had become to always look out for yourself and keep your weapon handy, whether that was a knife, sword, or gun, anything because there weren't cops or guards around every corner anymore.

If (Y/N) had only known what awaited her the day she decided to step into that bar in that dusty old town in the middle of nowhere, maybe she wouldn't be where she was now; A captive to a gang leader.

The wasteland honestly had more gangs of crooks than it did do-gooders, and she rarely traveled alone, so she'd always felt relatively safe despite the harsh environment of the world now.

Her luck being what it is, of course the one time she happened to traverse the wasteland alone in search of some easy money, she found herself being knocked unconscious in an alleyway behind the bar, and all was history since.

There was no way to even know how long it had been since then. Weeks, at least, maybe even a month? She'd lost track a long time ago with how often she was depraved of the sun's glow.

This cell had become her new home, and it was often that the leader of the gang would come down to visit her, and the occurrences were never pleasant.

She'd never even bothered begging for her life or to be let free, she knew nothing she could possibly say would matter.

Believe it or not, when she'd first been taken there and she'd awoken in her cell for the first time, he'd shown her a small mercy. The gang leader had let her walk freely beside him with no restraints, either testing her or maybe genuinely trying to be nice to her, until she betrayed his trust that is. They'd been seated in what appeared to be a decently nice dining hall, obviously still for wasteland standards, and they'd been completely alone. Food had been prepared for her before they'd even entered, and the two had simply sat in awkward silence as she attempted to digest the gravity of her current situation.

In her panic, once he'd said he needed to use the restroom, she decided to try and make a run for it despite having no idea where she currently was or where an even possible exit was.

Making a mad dash through the halls, adrenaline coursing through her veins, she almost bursted into happy tears once she'd found what appeared to be a maid or butler of some sort.

Without thinking, she'd explained her situation as quickly as possible, only to stop dead in the middle of her sentence as she'd heard the familiar sound of booted feet approaching her from behind.

What had struck her the most was the fact that the maid eye's held no guilt or sorrow for what they knew was to come for her, simply gazing on at her blankly without a word, probably trying to save their own hide from their bosses wrath.