Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The dawn after the Hive's fall came gray and fragile.

Smoke still curled above the shattered Core Spire, but the city had gone still. Quiet—not with death, but with something unfamiliar: possibility.

Survivors began to emerge from bunkers, sealed tunnels, makeshift sanctuaries. Some limped. Others wept. A few simply stared, blinking against sunlight they hadn't seen in months.

Juno was gone.

But her pulse had rippled through every corner of the land.

Axen, Shade, and H-13 stood on the northern rise of Valemire, overlooking the old evac bridge that once connected the city to the outside world. It had been the main artery for transport, communication—and later, infection.

Now it was the final obstacle.

"It's the last piece," Axen said, staring across the span. "Beyond that bridge is clean zone. Reclamation teams. Maybe even the last civilized sectors."

Shade nodded. "It's time we brought the story with us."

They began crossing.

The bridge groaned under their weight, a rusted beast of bent rebar and sagging concrete. Below, a black river sluggishly churned—still thick with old runoff and infected ash.

Halfway across, the wind picked up.

Then came the first crack.

A jagged sound that shot through the air like bone splitting.

Axen turned just in time to see the support beams buckle.

"RUN!"

They sprinted, boots slamming against loosened panels as chunks of metal began to sheer away. The far end of the bridge—just meters ahead—tilted upward like a death trap.

H-13's voice rang out: "Structural integrity failure. Collapse imminent in ten seconds."

A massive creak shook the entire bridge. One of the cables snapped, whipping across the air and slicing through an old security camera like paper.

Shade threw his arm around Axen, yanking him forward. "GO!"

But then the ground fell out from under them.

The last 30 meters of bridge collapsed—a roaring slide of debris and shrieking metal. Axen and Shade tumbled, grasping for the edge.

H-13 leapt forward, its synthetic arms locking onto a ledge.

Axen caught the bot's arm.

Shade caught Axen's foot.

"Hold on!" Axen shouted, straining.

Below them, the river of black water surged with broken stone and rusted vehicles. Death waited with patient hunger.

"Don't you dare," Axen growled, refusing to let go.

Shade looked up at him. Smiled. Calm. "It's okay."

"NO."

"You know Juno wouldn't want us both gone."

With his free hand, Shade reached into his jacket, pulling free a sealed drive—the last data from Juno's serum pulse.

"Take it. Finish this. Tell them."

He let go.

Fell with grace.

And was gone.

Axen screamed.

But he climbed.

Pulled himself up with H-13's help and collapsed on the other side, clutching the drive like a sacred relic.

Behind him, the bridge crumbled into ruin.

There was no going back.

Only forward.

Into a world waiting to remember what had been lost… and who had paid to save it.