Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

We were six floors above the world—above the groans, the blood trails, the burning silence.

The fire escape creaked under us like a nervous heartbeat. Rust flaked off like dried scabs.

She leaned against the metal railing, smoking a cigarette she swore she didn't have, hair tied back with a fraying bootlace. Her shirt was half-unbuttoned, half-drenched in someone else's blood.

"You ever think about it?" she asked.

"Think about what?"

"Dying up here. Or living. Naked."

It had been a long day.

A botched supply run.

Carter lost a finger.

We lost Naomi entirely. The latest chapters are uploaded first on M|V|LE3MPYR.

The safehouse was compromised, the ground floor swarmed.

But up here, the sky was burning red and gold.

And her breath came in curls of smoke and suggestion.

"You're staring," she said without looking at me.

"I'm thinking."

"Thinking's dangerous."

"So is wanting something."

She flicked ash over the edge and smiled like a knife unsheathing.

"Then stop thinking."

We kissed like we were stealing oxygen.

Hands in hair. Nails in skin. Breath between teeth.

The city burned below us, but we were fire up here—

Heat against cold steel, lips tasting ash and adrenaline.

Her laugh echoed across rooftops.

She climbed into my lap like it was a throne made of rust and bad decisions.

"Are you afraid?" she whispered against my throat.

"Of what?"

"That this is real."

I didn't answer. I kissed her harder instead.

The railing groaned.

So did I.

There was blood on her jaw—dried, flaking, someone else's.

I wiped it off with my sleeve.

She caught my hand and bit the knuckle, just enough to sting.

"No infections," she teased. "Not yet."

The night got colder, and our sweat steamed.

We stripped armor but kept knives on. Trust was never total, not even with tongues down throats.

She whispered old lovers' names between mine.

I didn't care.

She was here.

I was hard.

And the world was ending.

We lay tangled afterward, the sky purple with ashfall.

Below us, moans grew louder. Something had heard us.

"Was it worth it?" I asked, my cheek against her thigh.

She lit another cigarette from a match struck off her boot sole.

"Does it matter?" she said. "We're still alive. That's all foreplay is now."

The horde gathered below like spectators.

One of them still wore a tuxedo.

She saw it and laughed so hard she nearly fell off the escape.

"Looks like I wasn't the only one with a hot date tonight."

We dressed slowly.

Armor back on.

Weapons checked.

Eyes soft again—just for a moment.

Then gone.

She kissed me one last time, quick and quiet.

"Let's find another rooftop."