Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The wind carried the scent of death. Thick, cloying—something ancient stirring beneath the earth.

Mira clenched her jaw. The memory of the train still lingered, a cold echo in her bones. Something had been taken from her. She just didn't know what.

Draven scanned the horizon. Beyond the ruined city, a fortress of bone loomed in the distance. Skulls impaled on rusted spikes. The sigil of The Rotting King burned into the stone.

"We shouldn't be here," Elias muttered.

Zara adjusted her grip on her machete. "Yeah? Where else do we go?"

No answer. Because there was nowhere else.

The earth trembled. A guttural voice rumbled from beneath.

"You tread on cursed ground."

The survivors froze.

From the cracked pavement, they rose.

Corpses—but not just zombies. These were knights of a forgotten age, their armor rusted, their flesh blackened. Eyes burning with green fire.

Draven took a step back. "This isn't normal."

Mira's grip tightened on the cursed book. The sigils inside glowed, reacting to the presence of something… powerful.

A shape emerged from the fog. A throne, carried by the dead.

And atop it—a king in rotting flesh. His crown was fused to his skull, his cloak stitched from human skin. The Rotting King.

Elias swore under his breath. "I thought he was just a legend."

The King lifted a skeletal hand. The dead knights stilled, awaiting command.

"Mira Caldwell."

Mira's blood ran cold.

"You have what belongs to me."

The cursed book. The knowledge bound within it.

Draven stepped forward. "We're not giving you anything."

The Rotting King laughed, a sound like grinding bones.

"You have no choice."

The knights charged.

The air exploded with rot and blood.

Mira felt something pulse inside her—the book whispered a name.

A name of power.

She screamed it aloud.

The sky split apart.

And something older than death answered.