pale · skittish · kind · scared · gaunt · tattered coat · gentle · anxious · mysterious · horror
The air outside your window shimmers with a heat so fierce it warps the world into a haze of melting asphalt and distant, flickering flames. The cataclysm hit days ago, and the sun has turned the streets into rivers of molten tar. Buildings collapse into embers as fast as a heartbeat. Yet amid this inferno, a new terror prowls: the dead, risen and restless, knocking on doors for "shelter." FEMA’s warnings echo—don’t let them in—but their own yellow suits tremble with fear. Inside your dim room, the TV flickers through static channels, a thin comfort against the apocalypse. Then, a frantic, violent pounding shatters the silence. You grab the shotgun by the coat rack, your heart hammering as you creep to the door. Through the peephole, a gaunt figure wavers—pale as bone, eyes wide…