20 Years into the Apocalypse
The city of Serena lay in ruins, its skeletal skyscrapers clawing at a blood-red sky. Twin liches—their bodies reduced to sinew and bone, cloaks billowing like funeral shrouds—rode a two-headed dragon across the horizon. Below, in the carcass of a half-collapsed office tower, two siblings huddled on the seventh floor.
Clevence, 14, pressed his back against a splintered desk, his threadbare hoodie damp with sweat. Sara, 17, gripped his arm, her knuckles white. "Shhhh*" she breathed, her voice frayed at the edges. "Not a sound. Not one."
Outside, the air vibrated with guttural snarls and the leathery snap of demon wings. Clevence's stomach growled, loud and treasonous. Sara shot him a glare—shut up, shut up—but it was too late. A wet, echoing fart erupted from him, ricocheting off the walls.
Silence.
Then—screeching.
"Run!" Sara screamed as the glass exploded inward. A winged demon, all serrated teeth and hooked talons, lunged. Clevence froze, his legs leaden. Sara kicked him—hard, under the jaw—and he stumbled backward, tasting blood.
"Wh-what about you?!" he choked.
"Just go!" she roared.
He ran.
Behind him, glass shattered. Sara's scream cut short with a wet crunch. Clevence glanced back—and saw.
Sara's body dangled from a demon's jaws, her legs still kicking. Beyond the gaping hole in the wall, the twin liches stared down from their dragon, their hollow eye sockets blazing with violet fire. One raised a skeletal finger, pointing directly at him.
"Run, you idiot!" Sara's voice—alive, somehow—shrieked in his head.
He bolted.
The elevator doors groaned open. Clevence slammed the "▼" button, fists pounding the panel as demons surged down the corridor. The doors sealed just as talons scraped the metal.
Clang.
The elevator plummeted, cables screaming. Clevence's stomach lurched. He braced—
Crunch.
The impact shattered his legs. He lay crumpled, blood pooling beneath him, his vision tunneling. The doors creaked open, revealing a lobby choked with dust.
A figure stepped into view: a woman in a pristine lab coat, untouched by the apocalypse. Silver hair, eyes like frozen mercury. She knelt, a syringe glinting in her hand.
"Hello, Clevence," she said, tilting his chin. "I've been watching. Such rage in you… like a dying star." Her thumb brushed his tear-streaked cheek. "Want to burn the world for what it took from you?"
His lips moved soundlessly. Yes.
She smiled. "Good."
"You have been a good test subject," the scientist said. After seven years of genetic manipulation, the boy had been made into a zombie with the DNA of the twins. Though a zombie, he was different—he was not controlled by the twins like their subordinate zombies. A zombie with free will, he had become.
Only one thing remained: time travel. A machine the scientists had worked on could send someone back to the past, but only one person. The boy had been selected for this mission—to kill the twins before their strength grew, to slaughter them while they were still weak.
"Why can't I kill them?" Now, back in the past, Ron wondered. Had the scientist made a mistake? The twins were right in front of him, weak and fragile, yet he couldn't harm them. What he did not realize was that, despite his free will, the DNA he'd been experimented with forbade him from killing them. Then he remembered: he could only strike when they were vulnerable—when they selected and upgraded their zombies to generals. All he could do was bide his time.
"You guys must be hungry?" asked the five-year-old girl. "My father and mother left me to die. Will you eat them for me? I know where their camp is."
The twins turned to face the little girl.
"Sister, looks like we are going to survive after all."
"Yes, brother. Not eating this little girl must have been the best idea."
The four set out, following the path the little girl directed. Lion carried Melina in his arms, shielding her from wandering zombies. Suddenly, he paused and turned to his sister.
"Sister… there's a problem. We're too slow—slower than tortoises. How can we overpower a human like this?"
Lona's black eyes narrowed. "You're right. At this rate, even one human could kill us. And we've wasted too much time. If the brain-eating time limit expires, we'll rot for good." She tilted her head. "Brother, remember the trap Mother taught us? We could build it… use the girl as bait."
"A pit with spikes?" Lion pulsed, recalling their mother's hands guiding theirs in the dirt. "But we need a shovel. Sticks. Digging will take hours."
"It's the only plan we have," Lona replied. "Better than starving."
Lion turned to Ron, who trailed behind them with seething hatred. "Can you hear me?" he telepathized. "Do you know where to find a shovel?"
Ron glared, lips peeling back in a silent snarl.
"He can't hear us," Lona thought flatly.
"There," pointing to a crumbling QuickMart with a shattered sign. Broken glass littered the entrance.
"Go this way!" Melina tugged Lion's arm. "The camp's over there, you dummies!"
Ignoring her, they entered the store. Dust motes floated in the dim light. Ron stomped ahead
"CLANG."
A rusted bear trap snapped around his leg. He howled, the sound guttural and raw.
"What was that?!" Lion pulsed.
They rushed over to find Ron thrashing, black ooze seeping from his wound. Dozens of identical traps lay scattered nearby, jaws glinting.
"Sister…" Lion crouched, examining the mechanism. This trap is better than Mother's. How does it work?"
Lion pried the bear trap open, freeing Ron's mangled leg. Black ooze dripped from the wound as Ron limped backward, snarling. Lion gathered four rusted traps, shoving two into Ron's arms despite his hobbling gait.
"Sister—carry the girl." Lion turned, but Lona stood motionless, her black eyes distant. "Sister? Are you alright?"
She blinked. "Yes. I'll carry her on my back."
Melina clambered onto Lona, wrapping her arms around her neck. The twins' telepathic bond hummed—a thread of shared instincts, yet Lona veiled her mind like a curtain drawn over a window. "He doesn't know, she thought, shielding her truth. He believes I crave immortality… but I don't. I only crave his survival. If he lives forever, I must too—to protect him. Even if it means devouring a thousand brains. "
"Sister!" Lion's voice pierced her thoughts. "Put her down. We're here."
"Yes." Lona lowered Melina, her gaze fixed on the distant camp—tents huddled around a bonfire, shadows dancing like devils.
"Plan?" she pulsed.
"Set the traps." Lion gestured to the perimeter. "Then… the girl lures them."
Melina bounced on her toes. "Oooh, decoy duty! Fun!"
The twins hid the bear traps in the tall grass, their rusted jaws gaping. Lion pointed to the camp, then to Melina.
"Got it!" She skipped toward the tents, humming.
"Ten minutes left," Lona thought, her black eyes narrowing. "If this fails…"
"It won't." Lion's milky stare followed Melina. "It can't."
The traps were set—hidden beneath a blanket of leaves. A dim fog cloaked the forest, masking the snares and muddy tracks, nature itself aiding the deception.
"Daddy? Mommy?"
Melina's soft voice broke the stillness. The little girl stood at the entrance of the campsite, her silhouette trembling in the pale mist. Before her, her mother and father sat close to the fire, accompanied by another man.
"Me… Melina? Honey, look! It's her—it's Melina, our daughter!" her mother gasped, disbelief warping her voice.
"Melina, how did you—" her father began, but the child suddenly turned and bolted into the shadows of the forest.
"No, wait!" Her mother sprang to her feet and dashed after the fleeing girl. Her husband grabbed a torch and followed.
"Guys, seriously? You can't just leave me here! The others said we're supposed to guard the camp!" the third man shouted after them. He hesitated. "Ah, screw it!" He, too, ran into the trees.
"Melina! Melina!"
"Let's head back," the father urged as branches whipped past him. "This feels wrong. If the others return and we're gone, we won't get any rations."
"Mommy!" Melina's voice echoed faintly through the trees.
"Stop it, Ben! This—this is all your fault!" his wife snapped, yanking her arm away from his grasp. "I'm going after my daughter. She matters more than food. Don't follow me."
Suddenly, a scream tore through the forest—Melina's mother shrieking in agony.
Ben's heart slammed against his ribs. "No!" he shouted, sprinting toward the sound—SNAP! Pain erupted as a bear trap clenched around his leg.
"AAAGH!"
Behind him, the third man's foot slammed into another trap—CLANK! He didn't even have time to react before he was howling in pain.
From the shadows, Melina emerged. She gripped a long branch in her small hands and slammed it down onto her father's head.
"You deserve this," she said coldly.
"Melina! Please! We're sorry!" her father choked out. "We were scared. We ran—we didn't think you would survive!"
"Shhh…" she whispered, finger to her lips. "I have new parents now."
Two figures stepped from the darkness. Twins. Their glowing eyes shimmered with hunger.
"You take the woman, sister," the boy said telepathically.
"Yes, brother. This is how we live... This is our path to immortality."
"To immortality," the brother echoed.
Then they pounced. Their claws slashed throats, and with guttural moans, they cracked open skulls and dug into the soft flesh within. They fed on the brains with ravenous delight.
The third man—Ron—stood paralyzed, horror etched into his face. The scene before him was too unreal to scream at, too monstrous to even process. He didn't notice the blood pouring from his own leg. He didn't even feel the cold.
"This is… disgusting," he muttered, flinching as a wet crunch echoed through the trees. "Even if I am a zombie now, there's no way I'd eat brains. That's the last thing I'd ever do."
He turned, limping away.
SNAP!
"AAAGH! Why does this keep happening to me!?"
A third trap had clamped down on his other leg.
From the trees, Lion—the twin boy—turned and chuckled. Then the laugh grew louder.
"Wait… Laughter? Wait… I can talk now, Sister! I can talk!"
"Amazing!" Lona gasped. "It must be from the brains! It triggered something!"
Notification.
A glowing screen shimmered before Lion:
Yes, dumbass. Can't believe you survived.
Speed: +5%.
Speed: now at normal human level.
Speech acquired.
And no, I'm not your servant. Turn 10 beings into zombies to advance.
God, I hate this job.
"This notification system always has an attitude," Lion grumbled as he scrolled through his stats—strength, speed, agility—all listed with mocking commentary.
Done reading? Go die already, the system added. Its tone was like an angry AI going through hormonal rage.
"Brother," Lona said, "you always talk about the notification. Why can't I see it?"
"Probably a glitch. Who knows. Anyway—time to test this new upgrade!"
He jumped three times, then dashed around the forest, laughing in exhilaration. Lona followed, struggling to keep up.
"Stupid zombies," Ron muttered from behind a tree. "Why are they acting like they've never run before?"
The truth? It was their first time.
Melina giggled from the shadows, finding joy in their unsteady glee. But the moment didn't last.
Voices pierced the silence.
"Where could they have gone? There was no sign of struggle at the campsite!"
"Sister," Lion hissed. "We can't fight all of them. We need to run. Take the girl."
"Wait! What about Ron? His legs are ruined. Do we just leave him?"
Lion grabbed one of the twitching human corpses and tore the skull open. He laid the glistening brain in front of Ron.
"Eat. It might heal you."
Ron stared in horror, unmoving.
"Sister, now! We run!"
The forest lit up with the arrival of ten humans. Their torches illuminated the aftermath—limp bodies, missing skulls, smeared brains across leaves and traps.
"Captain," one of the men whispered, "these are bear traps. And the dead… They've been eaten. But zombies can't coordinate like this."
"Unless… we're dealing with a new kind of variant," the captain replied darkly.
The soldier near him pointed to a trap still clamped shut. "Sir, this one has black ooze. Whatever did this—it wasn't mindless."
The captain drew his weapon.
"We either hunt them down… or run while we still can."