When Caine's teal green eyes locked onto the milky white and bright red hues of the armored zombie, he instantly realized it was different from the mindless ones they had encountered before. Instead of charging at them, the zombie retreated into the shadows, the faint red glow of its eyes fading as it disappeared.
Sergeant Granger kept his carbine rifle trained on the creature the entire time, waiting for its approach. "I've never seen a zombie run away before... I don't like this," he muttered, cold sweat dripping from his brow onto the asphalt. His sharp, trained eyes scanned the area incessantly, searching for any sign of movement.
Minutes passed in tense silence, and the group began to relax. Granger finally signaled for them to move forward, leading the way through the shattered glass doors of the Walmart.
As Caine stepped inside, his attention was immediately drawn to the streaks of blackened blood along the broken glass edges, trailing toward a security room. Moving cautiously to the side of the door, he froze upon hearing faint scratching and a gurgling noise from within.
KATCHA
The door creaked open with a loud click, revealing a zombified security officer on the other side. The creature immediately lunged toward the sound, slamming the door shut on its end as it scratched and clawed at the barrier.
Sergeant Granger positioned himself on the opposite side of the door and motioned to Caine, signaling that they would breach the door on the count of three.
BANG!
Granger kicked the door forcefully with his boot, causing it to crash into the zombie on the other side as it swung open. The staggered undead security officer stumbled into view of the survivors.
The zombified officer, missing the lower half of his jaw, had his tongue dangling freely, dripping fresh black blood onto his uniform and the floor below.
As Sergeant Granger lifted his rifle to fire at the zombie, it struck first, its grotesque, blood-soaked tongue lashing through the open doorway. In an instant, the appendage pierced the neck of one of the unfortunate survivors, catching everyone off guard.
THUMP!
The nightmarish tongue pulsed grotesquely, transferring something vile from the zombified guard to the survivor in mere moments. With a violent yank, the zombie retracted its tongue, leaving a gaping wound and a trail of blood as the woman crumpled to the floor, her face frozen in shock.
BANG
BANG
BANG
Sergeant Granger unleashed a precise burst of three shots from his carbine, targeting the zombie as it prepared to strike again. The bullets tore through its neck, face, and forehead, splattering the wall behind it with dark, viscous blood.
"Erica… Stay with us!"
A male survivor dropped to his knees beside the fallen girl, desperately pressing his hands to her neck to stem the bleeding. But his frantic attempts were in vain. Within moments, her life slipped away, the light fading from her eyes as blood pooled beneath her.
The room fell into an uneasy silence, broken only by the steady drip of blood. No one dared to move or breathe.
Caine's mutated nanites stirred restlessly beneath his skin, drawn to the scent of fresh blood and urging him to indulge in just one bite. But with a sharp bite to his own tongue, he fought the primal urge and turned his gaze toward the Walmart, forcing himself to look away from her lifeless body.
Sergeant Granger's voice pierced the oppressive silence. "We move. Now. We can't stay here." He didn't glance back at Erica's body, and neither did anyone else. There was no time for that anymore.
Caine joined the others as they pressed deeper into the store, soldiers taking the lead while the trainees followed closely behind, clutching the crude weapons they'd been issued. The air inside was thick and stale, saturated with the acrid stench of rot and copper.
"Eyes open," Granger commanded, his carbine raised. "Watch the corners."
A flashlight beam swept cautiously over toppled shelves and scattered groceries. Somewhere deeper in the store, a can rolled across the floor with a loud clatter, followed by a low, dragging groan.
Movement.
A figure lurched out from behind a half-collapsed shelf, its skin gray and peeling, jaw hanging askew.
CRACK!
Granger's carbine barked once, the shot striking the creature in the head. It collapsed with a wet thud. Another figure emerged from the shadows, faster this time, lips peeled back in a feral snarl. Murphy, a trainee, stepped forward, gripping a steel pipe with white-knuckled hands.
"Wait—!"
Before anyone could intervene, Murphy swung hard. The blow shattered the zombie's collarbone, sending it sprawling. With a grim determination, he finished it off with a brutal stomp to the skull, black ichor and bone splattering across his boot.
The group stared, wide-eyed, as Murphy stepped back, chest heaving. Granger gave a brief nod of approval. "Good. Quiet kills. No shouting unless absolutely necessary."
They moved on, aisle by aisle, soldiers securing the front and rear while trainees dealt with anything that got too close. The grim rhythm became almost second nature. A zombie lunged from behind a display, and one trainee met it with a crowbar to the face. Another crawled out from beneath a fallen shelf, its movements jerky and unnatural as it tried to grab onto the trainee who had yet to recover from his swing.
Caine darted forward, seizing the zombie by its extended arm and yanking it toward his other hand, which wielded a spiked bat. With a brutal swing, the bat smashed into the zombie's skull, shattering it on impact. The force of the blow tore the creature's arm from its body, sending the mangled corpse hurtling into a nearby shelf, which collapsed instantly under the weight.
The soldiers exchanged uneasy glances.
"Guy hits like a truck..." Ruiz muttered under his breath.
Caine said nothing. He straightened, wiped the gore from his arm, and resumed moving. The nanites buzzed beneath his skin like a live wire, urging him to consume, to evolve, but he suppressed the invasive thoughts, his jaw clenching tightly.
The group reached the store's rear, where the pharmacy was located. Overturned shelves littered the area, and the pungent mix of antiseptic and decay hung in the air.
"Ruiz, take two and grab any meds still sealed," Granger commanded. "Antibiotics, painkillers, bandages, if it looks uncontaminated, bring it."
The trainees moved quickly, filling backpacks and shopping baskets with supplies. Caine joined them, working with silent efficiency.
"Caine!" Granger called out. "Head to hardware and grab some tools. We'll need them to reinforce the trucks when we're back."
Caine nodded and moved towards the nearby aisles, the others trailing behind as they gathered hammers, knives, duct tape, and crowbars. Each sound they made reverberated through the vast, empty store like an ominous alarm.
They had what they came for. Now was the time to leave.
"Let's move," Granger ordered, his tone firm. "Double time. We've already made too much noise."
But as his words hung in the air, a deep, metallic scraping noise echoed through the store.
The sound halted everyone in their tracks.
It emanated from the shadowy aisles ahead, the unmistakable drag of something heavy across the concrete floor, followed by a guttural, inhuman growl that resonated ominously through the shelves.
The trainees instinctively tightened their grip on their melee weapons, raising them defensively. The soldiers turned their rifles toward the source of the noise, their eyes narrowing with focus.
Granger lowered his voice to a whisper. "Positions. Stay close."
The metallic scraping ceased.
For a moment, the only sound within the Walmart was the shallow, anxious breathing of the survivors. Flashlight beams danced across aisles littered with overturned merchandise, twisted shopping carts, shards of glass, and the remnants of ordinary life now consumed by shadows. Dust motes hung suspended in the stagnant air, glowing faintly like drifting embers.
Then came a new noise.
CLANG.
It echoed from the front entrance, resonant and deliberate, like metal striking metal.
Granger's gaze sharpened. "That came from the main doors."
Ruiz approached quickly, weapon at the ready. "Sir, weren't they left open?"
"They were," Granger answered grimly. "Murphy, investigate that noise. Everyone else, cover him."
Murphy hesitated, swallowed hard, and then obeyed. He gripped his dented steel pipe tightly and crept toward the entrance, each step a muffled scuff that seemed deafening in the oppressive silence. He directed his flashlight forward.
Its beam illuminated steel.
The main doors were no longer ajar. Instead, a tangled shelving unit had been dragged across them, its metal frame wedged firmly between the handles. Bent grocery carts, twisted rebar, and even fragments of a clothing rack had been haphazardly piled against the doors, forming a crude but effective barricade.
Murphy's flashlight wavered in his unsteady hands. "Sir… someone, or something, sealed us in."
Granger muttered a curse under his breath. "There's no way the wind did that. Ruiz, secure the rear exits, now!"
As Ruiz and two others sprinted toward the back, the remaining survivors formed a defensive perimeter. The trainees gripped their improvised weapons more tightly, their movements growing stiffer as fear began to seep into their resolve.
Caine remained motionless, teal eyes narrowing with icy focus.
The faint thud… scrape… thud of heavy footsteps reverberated through the walls. These were not the erratic, chaotic movements of the undead. These steps were measured, intentional.
Caine's eyes flicked toward the dimly glowing red emergency exit signs at the store's edges. A soft hiss emerged from one, a hydraulic mechanism being tampered with.
Click.
The sound was distinct and ominous. The emergency latch had been released.
Granger's head whipped toward the noise. "What the hell—?!"
BEEEEP!
The alarm erupted, its shrill blare cutting through the cavernous store. Crimson emergency lights flared to life, casting the aisles in a blood-red glow.
Then came the groaning.
Dozens of guttural, inhuman voices rose from the shadows beyond the now-open emergency doors. Silhouettes staggered forward, illuminated by the flickering orange light of the fires raging in the parking lot. One… two… five… ten… an unrelenting horde began pushing inward.
"Positions!" Granger shouted. "Form a defensive line! Protect the trainees!"
The soldiers quickly raised their carbines, the darkness erupting with bursts of light as muzzle flashes cut through the gloom.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Zombies dropped in clusters, but still, they surged forward, pouring through the expanding breach.
Caine's jaw tightened as the nanites within him screamed, consume, evolve, devour. He fought the urge, gripping his spiked bat tightly and stepping forward.
A soldier's voice rang out, "They're coming through the garden center too!"
"They're herding us!" Granger shouted in disbelief. "How the hell—"
And then he saw it.
Amid the sea of undead, shrouded by red lights and drifting smoke, stood the armored zombie. Its entire body was encased in pale, chitinous bone, rib-like plates shielded its torso, while jagged, organic armor sheathed its arms. Its elongated skull bore horn-like ridges protruding from the crown.
Its eyes burned with a deep, malevolent crimson.
The creature moved with a calculated, predatory purpose. Its heavy steps clanged against the metal shelves it had repurposed to trap the group. Caine's stomach churned with the chilling realization; this was no mindless attack. This was a strategy.
Granger raised his rifle. "Target that one! NOW!"
Gunfire erupted, filling the cavernous space with deafening noise. Bullets struck the creature's chitin armor, sparking on impact instead of tearing into flesh. The zombie staggered briefly, then straightened, turning its head toward the gunfire with deliberate, menacing intent.
It reached out, seizing the frame of the emergency exit, and, with horrifying strength, ripped the door from its hinges.
The soldiers froze in shock. "Jesus Christ—"
The armored zombie hurled the steel door aside like a discarded toy, the crash reverberating through the aisles. It let out a thunderous, bone-rattling roar that shook dust from the ceiling. The horde surged forward in response, their aggression renewed, smashing against the barricades and pouring into the aisles.
"Fall back!" Granger commanded, firing precise bursts. "To the loading bay... MOVE!"
Trainees scrambled to follow, swinging makeshift weapons as the nearest undead closed in.
The world descended into utter chaos.
Gunfire echoed through the aisles, the acrid stench of gunpowder mingling with the putrid smell of decay and blood. Each muzzle flash illuminated grotesque faces, broken teeth, and clawing hands emerging from the thick smoke. The air was alive with screams, some unmistakably human, others horrifyingly inhuman.
Caine swung his spiked bat in a vicious arc, crushing a zombie's skull, the fragments scattering like shards of glass. When another lunged from his blind side, he seized it by the throat, slamming it into a metal shelf with such force that the steel buckled under the impact.
"KEEP FORMATION!" bellowed Granger, firing controlled bursts into the oncoming horde. "Don't break the line!"
But the line was already crumbling.
Zombies swarmed in from both sides, flooding the garden center and electronics sections. Each gunshot provided only fleeting moments of reprieve. Ruiz, one of the soldiers, dropped to a knee to reload, but a zombie vaulted over a toppled shelf, sinking its teeth into his neck before he could react. Blood sprayed in a gruesome arc across the floor.
"RUUUUIZ!" Murphy screamed, surging forward with his pipe and bludgeoning the zombie repeatedly until it lay still. His chest heaved with ragged breaths, tears streaking his grime-covered face.
"LEAVE HIM!" Granger barked, his voice cutting through the chaos. "He's gone! MOVE!"
They retreated toward the loading bay, the red glow of emergency lights transforming the scene into a nightmarish landscape. Gunfire grew sporadic, bursts shorter and more desperate, blending with the rising crescendo of screams.
Caine's nanites roared within him, his veins glowing with an intense teal light that surged beneath his skin like molten currents. The relentless hunger gnawed at his consciousness.
Assimilate. Consume. Evolve.
Grinding his teeth until his jaw throbbed, he hurled another zombie against the wall, caving in its skull with his bare hands. His knuckles split open, but the nanites stitched the torn skin back together in an instant, sealing the wound before a single drop of blood could escape.
"Caine!" Granger bellowed, yanking a trainee out of harm's way as the boy struggled to lift his crowbar. "Cover the left flank!"
Spinning around, Caine spotted three zombies dragging a female trainee to the ground. Her terrified screams pierced through the chaos. Without hesitation, he charged, his bat slicing through the air in a brutal, precise arc, once, twice, three times, until the zombies were nothing more than lifeless, twitching heaps on the blood-soaked floor. The girl's arm was shredded from shoulder to elbow, crimson streaming down her side.
She stared at him, her eyes wide with fear. "Am I… am I going to turn?"
Caine remained silent. He didn't have an answer. He couldn't.
Behind the survivors, the armored zombie advanced.
It scaled the barricade of shattered shelves and mangled bodies with an eerie, unnatural agility. Each of its steps sent tremors through the floor. Its glowing red eyes remained fixed on the group, unflinching and calculating. Then, with a deliberate motion, it raised its hand and pointed.
The horde obeyed, charging forward in a relentless wave.