The moon, a spectral witness to the unfolding tragedy, cast an otherworldly glow over the city's decay. Jackson, a former cop haunted by the shadows of his past, stirred in an eerie dreamscape. His spectral eyes flickered open, revealing a world suspended between the tangible and the intangible.
Beside him lay his lifeless body, a chilling testament to the chaos that enveloped their once-thriving metropolis. Memories, elusive and fragmentary, danced on the fringes of his consciousness, teasing him with glimpses of a reality he struggled to grasp.
"I was a cop… before all of this," Jackson muttered to himself, his voice a somber echo in the ethereal stillness.
The spectral remnants of the police station surrounded him, the ghostly echoes of sirens and distant gunfire haunting the air. Drifting through the ethereal corridors, he sought answers to questions that lingered like cryptic whispers in the wind.
In the recesses of his fragmented recollections, he vividly recalled Jean—his girlfriend. Their conversation echoed in his mind, a poignant exchange that unfolded before the world crumbled into chaos.
"Jackson, please, come with me," Jean pleaded, her eyes a reflection of fear and love.
"No, Jean, I have to hold them off. You go, find our friends in the shelter. Survive," Jackson insisted, his voice firm, though his eyes betrayed the pain of parting.
Tears welled in Jean's eyes as she clutched his hand. "We can face this together."
"Okay, Jean, we will go together," Jackson said. "You go out the door first and cover from the front. I will see the back."
Once Jean stepped out of the main door, Jackson closed it in front of her and told her, "You have to live, Jean. Live for both of us."
In the tense silence that followed after he closed the door, he intended to leave with her, but the weight of his sacrifice bound him to the encroaching horde outside.
Jean stared at the closed door, realization dawning upon her. She started to cry and scream, but she held herself together because there was no choice now. The only path forward was the one he had set for her.
As Jean reluctantly turned away, Jackson's spectral form floated next to his lifeless body. Memories, now clearer, etched a narrative of love, sacrifice, and deception born from desperate determination. The ethereal dance of recollections set the stage for a journey that transcended the boundaries between life and death.
As he contemplated his ethereal predicament, a subtle tremor rippled through his lifeless form. His body twitched, and with an otherworldly jerk, it began to move. Limbs, once still, now engaged in a grotesque dance of undaed.
A chill cascaded down Jackson's spectral spine as he witnessed his zombified body stir to life.