Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The walls were too close.

The air was too still.

And the sound of her heartbeat thundered louder than the infected above them.

Tess pressed her back against the cold metal of the storage unit, her breath catching as the groans echoed from outside.

Seven of them. Maybe more.

Just one thin roll-up door between her and the shredded faces of the turned.

Across from her, Milo crouched in the dark, clutching a crowbar and a pistol with one bullet left. His shirt was soaked in sweat. The veins on his neck glowed faintly—the Phoenix-9 still burning under his skin.

They hadn't meant to hide here.

The supply run went wrong fast—an alarm tripped, a swarm unleashed, and no exits left but the back alley full of trash and rusting shipping containers.

Unit 104-B was open.

Barely.

They dove in and slammed it shut.

Now they waited.

Milo whispered, "How long before they move on?"

Tess shook her head. "Could be minutes. Could be hours."

"What if they don't?"

She didn't answer. Just looked at his hands—shaking, glowing, gripped white-knuckle around the crowbar.

And then, she noticed it.

His heartbeat.

She could hear it.

Not feel it—hear it.

It thumped like a war drum.

He felt her stare. "It's louder now, isn't it?"

She nodded slowly.

"Since Phoenix," he said. "Since the mutation. I think it wants out."

"What does?"

He swallowed. "Whatever they made me into."

Outside, footsteps dragged.

A low growl.

Something brushed against the door.

Tess instinctively reached out, grabbed Milo's arm, pulling him closer.

They froze.

Everything went still.

Even the air.

Even their thoughts.

Until—bang.

A hand slammed the metal door. A snarl. Then another slam.

Milo raised the gun. Tess touched his wrist.

"No," she mouthed.

"Wait."

Another slam.

Then silence.

Then—

Nothing.

Just the sound of their heartbeats.

Hers—wild.

His—burning.

An hour passed.

Two.

Tess finally slumped against the wall. "I can't tell what's worse—waiting, or wondering if you'll become one of them."

"I already am," Milo said softly.

She looked at him.

"No," she said. "You're not."

"You heard it, Tess. My heartbeat isn't normal. It's louder than ever. I'm glowing."

"So what?"

"It means I'm changing."

"And you think that makes you less human?"

He didn't answer.

She crawled over to him, pressed her forehead to his. "I've killed people who turned. Watched friends lose their minds. But you're still here. Still you."

She placed his hand on her chest.

"Feel that?"

Her heartbeat.

Quick. Strong.

"You're not the only one still burning."

When the sun finally rose and the infected moved on, they opened the door to silence.

The alley was empty.

But inside, for the first time in a long time, something was louder than the dead.

Hope.

Even in hiding, even in hell—

a heartbeat means you're still fighting.

And sometimes…

that's everything.