Story 596: The Black Rot

The air was thick with decay. A church, long abandoned, stood under a moonlit sky, its crooked spire reaching toward the heavens like a twisted claw. The ZETU squad moved cautiously, their boots crunching over blackened bones littering the graveyard.

“This place reeks of death,” Derek "Shield" Coleman muttered, his riot shield raised.

“Not just death,” Lila "Huntress" Navarro corrected, kneeling beside a half-buried skull. “This is something… worse.”

A low growl rumbled from the shadows.

Marcus Kane, their captain, motioned for silence. “Stay close. Weapons ready.”

Then, the ground moved.

From the open graves, figures twitched. Rotting corpses stirred, their flesh blackened, veins pulsing with inky darkness. Their eyes glowed white, lifeless but aware.

“Shit,” Riley "Quick Shot" Bennett whispered, raising her rifle. “They’re infected with something.”