Story 597: The Chained Ones

The sky above the ruined cathedral was a sickly shade of gray, thick with an unnatural fog. The ZETU team stood before the ancient stone structure, their weapons raised.

“These readings are off the charts,” Ethan "Brain" O’Connor muttered, his tablet flickering. “There’s something in there… something huge.”

Marcus Kane nodded. “We breach on my count.”

As they stepped closer, they saw them.

Hundreds of mummified corpses, their withered flesh stretched taut over bones, were bound to the pillars of the cathedral. Chains and thorned vines wrapped around their bodies, locking them in place like prisoners of time itself. Their empty eye sockets stared outward, and yet… they felt alive.

Jenna "Blaze" Hart shuddered. “What the hell is this?”

Riley "Quick Shot" Bennett knelt, examining the rusted chains. “These aren’t just for show,” she said. “Someone—or something—tried to keep them contained.”

Then one of the corpses moved.

A slow, unnatural twitch.