Story 550: The Thunderous Awakening

The storm battered the crumbling cemetery as ZETU approached the heart of the chaos. Rain cascaded from the heavens, turning the earth into thick mud that clung to their boots. Lightning flashed across the darkened sky, illuminating a grotesque scene: zombies clawing their way out of drenched graves, their rotted flesh glistening under the deluge.

Captain Marcus Kane raised a clenched fist, signaling his team to halt. The grotesque figure in the distance—a crawling corpse cloaked in tattered black robes—dragged itself toward a weathered tombstone, its skeletal hand clutching a lantern radiating eerie blue light.

"That thing's our target," Kane growled into his comms, his shotgun steady.

Lila "Huntress" Navarro scanned the scene with her binoculars from her elevated position. "It's not alone. I've got eyes on at least fifty walkers closing in from all directions. That lantern... it's like a beacon."