test chapter

The sky above the city of Achios had turned a sickly green. It rolled in like a slow-moving tide, suffocating the brilliant white towers that had once stood as symbols of civilization and progress. Below, the streets had become a writhing mass of contorted, spasming bodies. Some clutched their faces as they fell, their fingers digging into their flesh, while others simply collapsed where they stood, convulsing as something unnatural took root inside them. The laughter started soon after.

Lili clung to her mother's hand, her tiny fingers digging into soft flesh as fear overtook her senses. She didn't understand what was happening, only that the world had suddenly become wrong. The air smelled foul, thick with something rotting and sickly sweet, and her father was yelling for them to run.

Then, he choked.

She turned just in time to see his legs buckle beneath him. He collapsed onto his hands and knees, his back arching unnaturally. His skin bubbled as veins turned black beneath the surface. A strangled cry left his lips, but it was not one of pain—it was of horror. His eyes, those warm eyes she had always loved, were still there, wide and filled with terror. His lips curled, forced into an unnatural, grotesque grin, his teeth now bared in a sickening mockery of joy.

"Daddy?" Lili whispered, but the word barely left her lips before her mother let out a scream.

Lili turned in time to see her mother jerk violently, her body convulsing as she fought against whatever horror had seized her. Tears streaked down her mother's face as she clutched at her own throat, fingers twitching, as if trying to strangle the madness out of herself. Her head snapped unnaturally to the side, then back again, and suddenly, she was smiling.

"Mommy?" Lili whimpered.

Both of her parents were standing now, their bodies grotesquely twisted, their faces frozen in wide, smiling expressions of pure insanity. Their eyes, however, told a different story. Their eyes were trapped. Behind the veil of madness, she could see them, screaming silently from within their own skulls.

The green fog swirled around them, carrying with it the sound of that terrible, childlike lullaby.

"Join our song, sing along. Celebrate our sickness. Through our bile, we will smile. One and all bear witness, to our unifying sickness."

Lili staggered backward. No. No, this wasn't real. This was a nightmare. Her parents—

A wet, gurgling laugh came from her mother's throat.

Her father twitched, his hands flexing into claws.

And then they ran toward her.

A scream ripped from her throat as she turned and bolted, her small legs carrying her away from the only family she had ever known. She weaved between the spasming bodies on the ground, many of them already beginning to rise with that same ghastly grin on their twisted faces. Their laughter echoed behind her, a chorus of insanity filling the streets.

She didn't stop running. She couldn't.

Lili spotted a building ahead—a food market. She sprinted for it, throwing herself through the glass doors and slamming them shut behind her. The store was empty, abandoned in the panic. But as she turned back to the street, she saw the horror unfold.

The infected were getting up, their limbs twisting grotesquely as if their bodies were no longer their own. The air rang with their shrill laughter, their song continuing without pause. Tears filled their eyes as if some part of them still understood the horror of what they had become.

Lili stumbled back, forcing herself to move. The screams outside grew louder. Gunfire erupted as the soldiers finally arrived, their rifles barking as they mowed down the laughing masses. The infected barely flinched as bullets tore through their flesh, their bodies only momentarily halted before they resumed their grotesque charge.

Then came the roar of a tank.

Its massive treads rolled over the horde, crushing bones beneath its weight. Its turret swiveled, its cannon firing, sending concussive waves through the city. The laughter never stopped. Even as their bodies were ripped apart, their heads crushed into pulp, they still laughed, still sang, still smiled.

Lili pressed herself deeper into the store, running through the aisles until she found the produce section. There, she spotted a large pile of strawberries. Without thinking, she climbed into it, burying herself beneath the sweet-smelling fruit.

The tank outside fired again, shaking the entire building. Glass shattered, and a moment later, the front of the food market exploded inward as the massive war machine barreled through. The infected swarmed over it, their claws peeling back the metal like it was paper. Lili squeezed her eyes shut as she heard the screams of the men inside, their cries cut short by sickening wet sounds.

Then, amidst the chaos, came another sound.

"For the Imperium!"

Gunfire erupted from within the metro entrance at the back of the store. Soldiers in full combat gear emerged, unloading rounds into the infected. Grenades were thrown, explosions rocking the store as bodies were torn apart. The soldiers pushed forward, driving the horde back. But the infected were relentless, their numbers overwhelming, their madness unbreakable.

Little by little, the soldiers were forced back into the metro.

Lili waited. She didn't move, didn't breathe. Only when the last of the infected had left the store did she dare to lift her head. The once clean aisles were drenched in gore, the remains of the fallen soldiers and the grinning dead scattered throughout.

Swallowing her fear, she climbed out of the strawberries, her small feet slipping in the blood as she made her way toward the metro entrance. The tunnels loomed before her, a black maw swallowing all light.

She hesitated. Then she took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Darkness enveloped her. The air was thick with the scent of death. The walls were splattered with blood, the bodies of soldiers and infected alike littering the station floor.

She pressed on, following the tracks. The deeper she went, the colder it became. Her body trembled from exhaustion, her mind screaming at her to stop, to give up. But she didn't. She couldn't.

Then, ahead in the darkness, she saw it—a flicker of light.

Voices.

Lili's breath caught in her throat. She stumbled forward, her tiny legs barely carrying her. Then, as she turned a corner, she saw them.

Soldiers.

They were battered, bloodied, their armor scorched and dented. But they were alive.

One of them spotted her, his rifle raising in alarm. Then he hesitated, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of the tiny girl standing alone in the darkness.

"…Emperor's light," he breathed.

And for the first time since the nightmare had begun, Lili felt a sliver of hope.