Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The world lurched violently as the train screeched off its tracks.

Draven braced himself, gripping the cold steel of a nearby railing. Mira was thrown backward, her fingers barely catching onto a seat. Elias and Zara crashed into each other, tumbling against the shifting walls as the entire locomotive seemed to fold in on itself.

The Ghoul Trainmaster let out an inhuman shriek as the train buckled. "You fools! There is no escape from the line!"

The windows shattered, revealing not the wasteland outside, but an abyss—an endless void, swirling with souls screaming in torment. The remains of the track stretched out into the distance, but the train was no longer following it.

It was falling.

Mira's grip on reality threatened to snap as she saw ghastly figures writhing in the abyss, their arms stretching toward the train, their mouths filled with gnashing teeth. "We're going straight to whatever hell this thing crawled out of!" she shouted.

Draven fought against the unnatural gravity pulling them downward. "Not if we get off first."

Elias, bleeding from a cut on his brow, grimaced. "And how do you propose we do that, genius?"

Zara's sharp gaze darted to the front of the train. "We need to reach the engine. If this is a real train—cursed or not—there's a way to uncouple the cars. If we can separate ourselves from the locomotive, we might have a shot."

Draven nodded, already moving. "Then we run."

The train car tilted sharply, sending Mira skidding across the floor. She grabbed onto a shattered frame, her heart pounding as the Ghoul Trainmaster reached for her with clawed hands.

"You belong to the rails now," it rasped.

She yanked the cursed book from her satchel. The pages fluttered violently, whispering in languages that made her skull ache. The Hollow Man's influence still pulsed through it, but it held power.

Mira didn't hesitate. She opened the book and spoke the first incantation her eyes landed on.

A wave of shadow erupted, hurling the Trainmaster back. Its skeletal form cracked against the walls, but it didn't fall. Instead, it began to change, its body shifting into an amalgamation of the lost souls that powered the train.

Elias grabbed Mira's arm, pulling her forward. "Great job, now let's go before it grows another head!"

The group rushed through the next train car, dodging spectral hands reaching from the seats. The engine car was close.

But the train was breaking apart.

The moment they reached the coupling mechanism, Zara wasted no time. She jammed her blade between the rusted locks and twisted.

The final connection snapped.

The engine car plummeted into the abyss, dragging the Ghoul Trainmaster with it.

Their train car jerked, teetering at the edge of nothingness—then suddenly, the rails reappeared beneath them.

They were back on the tracks.

But the train wasn't stopping.