After the World Has Fallen~ John Egan x Reader

The New Life

The camp was larger than expected. Even though it was surrounded with barbed wire fencing, one wouldn't be able to feel claustrophobic even if they tried. Y/N had gotten a tour from the Buck's after she had arrived. She learned that they get fed the same dish every day; potatoes and turnips but were fortunate to live in sustainable circumstances.

It was winter now. The air was crisp with winds blowing sideways making the snow hit their eyes with excessive force. Y/N had her scarf wrapped tightly around her head and neck, making a makeshift hat as she never had one with her. Even with her flight nurse jacket and thickly lined pants and boots, the chill still froze her to her core. Her hands were pulled into her sleeves while they shook from a premature frostbite. She regretted leaving her mitts in her cabin.

Bucky was standing beside her with his arms wrapped tightly around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him for warmth while they waited for Buck to get their water. Their eyes were watering from the winds, and their eyelashes had frosted over.

Buck grabs their cans off of the counter, walking towards the pair.

"Need a hand?", Bucky asks him, talking his arms away from the girl so he could help.

Y/N whines silently, instantly missing the warmth her friend had brought her.

"I wouldn't say no", Buck replies, handing him a bucket and walking next to the other two as they make their way back to their cabin. "Any word on the mail?"

"Nope."

"Another hold up?"

Bucky sighs. "War", he pauses. "Red Cross is having trouble getting mail into the camp."

They stopped in front of another man who was coaxing a cat out from under a cabin. Once he got a hold on the animal, he held it in his arms and turned to the three.

"Spare some water?", he asks.

Dinner

The men from the trio's cabin all had a bowl of soup. They sat around a table, scarfing down the dinner that had been made, all starving from the events of the day. Y/N, however, knew what was in the soup which made her lose her appetite almost immediately. She was laying down on her bed, staring at the bottom of top bunk above hers while the sound of spoons against bowls faded out into nothing but a background buzz.

"What did you say was in this soup?", Benny asks.

"He didn't", someone answers him.

"Rabbit?"

"Yeah, sure. There's been lots of stray rabbits running around under our combine."

Y/N exhales quietly at his response turning to her side so her back was facing the group with her face to the wall. As soon as she did, Benny, the man wondering what was in the soup, realizes what it was. He gags and quickly runs to the other side of the cabin.

"Use a bucket", Bucky calls out.

He vomits into the pale directly after falling to his knees in the corner, hurling into a metal pale.

"Keep it down if you can Benny. Its protein", one of his friends tries to console him.

"The only kind were gonna get until those Red Cross parcels show up", someone else adds on.