Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The Synapse Engine was gone—but its echo lingered.

The tunnels below Blackout City weren't just emergency exits. They were ancient arteries, predating VIREX, carved during the pre-outbreak age for evacuation or, perhaps, containment. And now, they were the only way out.

Juno gripped her side, blood seeping from the injection site. The serum had rewritten her synapses, stabilized her genome—but it came at a cost. Her mind was growing too fast. She was remembering things that hadn't happened yet.

Shade helped her stay upright, flashlight flickering as they passed another sealed checkpoint—Sector V etched in rust.

Behind them, H-13 manually shut every blast door.

"We're not just escaping," he said. "We're sealing this chapter behind us."

Juno nodded. "No more archives. No more vaults. Just… out."

But escape wasn't that simple.

The next tunnel was long, curved unnaturally, and dipped at impossible angles. It felt like it had been carved by something alive. The air grew damp. The walls pulsed faintly.

Shade swept his beam over the ground—and froze.

Scratches. Not made by claws, but fingers. Drag marks. Hundreds. Some fresh.

"We're not alone," he muttered.

Then they heard it—not growls, not screams—singing.

A child's voice. Soft, tuneless, echoing through the darkness:

"Round and round the silence goes…

Where it stops… nobody knows…"

They spun around. No movement. But something watched.

Juno's eyes glowed faintly as her mind filtered noise from memory.

"They're not real," she whispered. "They're echoes left behind by minds that never made it out."

"The tunnel eats thoughts?" Shade asked.

"Worse," said H-13. "It keeps the lost ones walking in circles forever."

They pressed forward.

Their lights began to flicker with static.

And ahead—a mirror.

Embedded in the tunnel wall.

Juno stepped toward it and saw herself—older. Tired. Alone.

She blinked. The reflection didn't.

It smiled and whispered: "You never left."

"Don't look," Juno warned. "The tunnel reads your fears. Reflects the future you're afraid to face."

Too late.

Shade stared into the glass. And suddenly, he was gone.

Vanished.

Juno turned—but he wasn't behind her. Only dust.

"TRAP," H-13 shouted. "Mirror gate."

He pulled out a pulse flare and smashed it against the glass.

CRACK.

The mirror fractured—and Shade stumbled out, gasping, his eyes wide.

"I was trapped for… days. Weeks? Alone. I… I aged in there."

Juno grabbed him. "You're here. It's over. The mirror's broken."

They moved faster now.

The tunnel grew narrower, colder.

And then—a light.

A ladder.

Above it: a hatch.

Juno climbed first, throwing it open.

She emerged into foggy daylight, the sound of distant ocean waves crashing.

A cliffside.

Freedom.

They all pulled themselves out and collapsed onto the cold earth.

But just as Juno caught her breath—

She turned.

And saw one more figure standing silently in the tunnel.

Herself.

But not quite.

Dressed in what she'd worn before the serum.

Expression blank.

Watching.

The hatch slammed shut.

And locked.