Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The airwaves had been dead for weeks.

Since the fall of Blackout City's central communications grid, no news, no warnings, no cries for help had pierced the static. Just silence—and the occasional chilling distortion of undead screeches captured by lingering mics.

But tonight… something changed.

Somewhere beneath the collapsed East Tower, in a cluttered bunker lit by old backup screens and candles jammed into power strip sockets, Juno wiped sweat from her forehead and keyed in the final sequence.

Her scavenged setup flickered to life—six battered monitors, a ham radio, and a stolen drone relay unit.

"Come on," she whispered, tightening a copper wire into the motherboard's cracked port. "Broadcast. Just once."

She hit send.

A shrill screech filled the bunker.

Juno flinched.

Then, on Monitor #4… a signal.

It wasn't her voice.

It was someone else.

"…to those still breathing," the voice said, calm and chillingly clear. "This is VIREX. Sector Twelve is not safe. The infection evolves. The eye watches. You are not alone… and not all survivors are human anymore."

Static.

Then silence.

Juno stared, stunned. "What the hell was that?"

The feed returned—this time with visuals.

CCTV-style footage flickered: a hospital hallway coated in blood; a street covered in broken drones; a massive mural painted in gore that read: THEY STILL HEAR.

Juno scrambled to trace the feed's origin. The server pinged multiple dead zones. One tower in the north was still active—just barely.

She keyed in a new frequency.

"If anyone can hear this—this is Juno Myles. I've just picked up a signal not mine. Something is broadcasting from within Blackout. This isn't over."

Behind her, a sound—metal scraping.

She turned, wrench in hand.

A silhouette stood in the dark corner of the room.

It was her drone operator, Clev. Or at least… it had been.

His eyes were missing. Mouth stitched in a grim smile. Cables wrapped his arms like veins.

He twitched forward.

Juno screamed.

The drone cam feed suddenly switched—showing her own bunker from above.

The world was watching.

She smashed the transmitter.

Darkness.

Breathing hard, she hit the emergency backup.

Only audio now.

"Repeat… this is Juno… I've been compromised. Virex is hacking the city's dead infrastructure—broadcasting through drones, machines, people. If you're out there, don't trust the tech. They're using it to see. They're using it to control."

She grabbed her pack and bolted through the rear tunnel exit as footsteps—too smooth, too synchronized—followed behind her.

The screen blinked once more, even after she'd gone.

A final message appeared:

[SYSTEM RECLAIMED — VIREX SIGNAL SECURE]

Then, from every remaining speaker in Blackout City, a voice hummed:

"Do not adjust your signal. You were never in control."