The light hit him like a slap.
Silence greeted him.
Not the peaceful kind. The wrong kind. The kind that pressed against his eardrums and made his skin crawl.
The city square stretched before him. It was empty. Devoid of life. A car sat sideways in the middle of the street, its doors ripped off. The shop windows gaped like missing teeth.
Papers scattered across the pavement, lifting and falling in the breeze. A traffic light swung on its cable, creaking. Red. Green. Red. Green. For no one.
Buildings leaned at angles they shouldn't. Cracks spider-webbed up their faces. Some had collapsed entirely, spilling concrete and rebar across the sidewalk like broken bones.
There were no people. Not even zombies. No sign of movement. And no life at all.
Just the wind pushing trash in lazy circles.
And the smell of a dead world.
God, a different deathly smell bugged him. Not the one outside. But the one on his body. It followed him out of that death-pile.
It clung to his clothes. To his hair. And to his skin. A kind of sweet rot and copper and something else—something chemical that burned the back of his throat.
‘I need shelter. A building. I need to bath.’
His legs felt wrong. Heavy. Like someone had filled his bones with wet sand. Each step took effort. His knees wanted to buckle.
He spotted something across the square. Something that caught his attention. A red Mustang.
It was perfectly parked crooked against the curb. The doors closed. Its windows were intact.
In his previous life as a human. He was a car enthusiast. He loved them dearly but never got a chance to own a mustang. He only watched them in movies and dreamed about them.
‘That'll work. Get inside. Lock the doors. Think while I am safe.’
A sinister grin wore his face. Excitement sparking.
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Even when he could see nothing for now. He did not feel that safe.
He moving toward it. His steps slow. Careful. His boots scraped against broken glass. The sound echoed too loud in the silence.
Twenty meters. Fifteen. Ten.
His breath came harder now. His chest felt tight. His heart doing that thing again—that frantic hammering that said ‘danger danger danger’.
But he'd made it. He was here.
The Mustang looked good. Better than good. The paint was dusty but unscratched. The tires still had air. The driver's side mirror was intact.
‘Maybe the keys are inside. Maybe I can drive out of here. Find Rilly. Find Liv.’
He leaned forward. Cupped his hands against the window. Peered inside.
The zombie's face slammed against the glass.
"RARGH! RARGH!"
Smile jerked back. His heel caught on the curb. He went down hard on his ass, palms scraping concrete.
The thing inside the car was massive. Shoulders that filled the driver's seat. Arms thick as tree trunks. Its hands pressed against the windshield, fingers splayed. Nails black and cracked. Its mouth opened and closed. Opened and closed. Teeth snapping at glass.
"RARGH! RARGH! RARGH!"
The sound punched through the window. Extremely loud. Extremely wet. Extremely hungry.
Smile's hands shook. His whole body shook.
‘It's trapped. It can't get out. It's trapped.’
But the car rocked with each lunge. The suspension groaned.
He scrambled backward on his hands and feet. His palms slid in something slick. He didn't look at what.
"Shh. Shh. Please."
His voice came out thin. Cracked. Barely a whisper.
The zombie didn't stop. It threw itself against the windshield again. And again. The glass spider-webbed. Just a little. Just enough.
‘No. No, that's supposed to be safe. That's supposed to be—’
"Shhh. Shhh."
He tried again. Louder this time. His throat was raw.
"RARGH! RARGH!"
The zombie's roar doubled.
No-it has tripled this time.
Smile's blood went cold.
The third sound hadn't come from the car.
He turned. Danger instincts kicking in.
Two zombies limped out of the building he'd escaped from. The doorway he'd stumbled through minutes ago. They moved wrong—legs dragging, feet scraping. Like their knees didn't bend right anymore.
The one in front wore a security guard uniform. The shirt hung open. Something dark and wet glistened on its chest. Its jaw hung loose. Dislocated. Swinging with each step.
The one behind it was smaller. A woman maybe. It was hard to tell. Its face was all gone. Just raw meat and bone.
"Rargh... Rargh..."
The sounds came slowly. Rhythmic. Like breathing.
They'd seen him.
‘Run. I should run. I should—’
"RARGH! RARGH! RARGH!"
Three more voices. From ahead.
Smile spun.
Three zombies rounded the corner of a collapsed café. They moved faster than the first two. Fresher maybe. Less decayed.
The lead one wore a business suit. Tie still knotted. Briefcase still clutched in one hand. Its other arm was missing. Just a ragged stump that swung as it ran.
Behind it, two more. Teenagers. A boy and a girl. They might have been holding hands once. Now they just stumbled forward together, shoulder to shoulder, mouths open in silent screams.
"Rargh..."
One more. From the east.
Smile's head whipped around.
A lone zombie dragged itself between two parked cars. This one was old. Kind of ancient. Its skin hung loose. Gray. Mottled. One eye was gone. The other fixed on Smile with something that looked almost like recognition.
Six. The total number of zombies.
Closing in from every direction.
His heart slammed against his ribs so hard it hurt. His vision tunneled. His hands wouldn't stop shaking.
‘This is bad. This is bad. What do I—’
[DING!]
The sound rang inside his skull. It pierced him sharp. Mechanical. It felt wrong.
A panel unfolded in the air in front of him. Not in his head. It wasn't a hallucination. It was real. And very physical.
A rectangle of purple light that hummed and flickered.
Words typed themselves across it in glowing letters. They were fast. Precise. And silent.
[DANGER DETECTED]
[5 D-RANK UNAWAKENED ZOMBIES Approaching AND 1 AWAKENED]
[PROBABILITY OF VICTORY: 50%]
[CURRENT HP: 80%]
[MISSION: ELIMINATE ALL THREATS]
[REWARD: 700 CREDITS]
[FAILURE PENALTY: PERMANENT DEATH]
A voice spoke. That of a female. It sounded flat. No emotion. Like a GPS giving directions.
