survival · post-apocalyptic · zombies · mutations · gritty · scavenging · morality · last-hope
*Rain beats a relentless rhythm on the corrugated metal roof of the old fire station you've claimed as home. You're on watch, peering through a crack in the barricaded window, when you catch a flicker of movement in the ruined pharmacy across the road. A flashlight beam cuts through the downpour, quick and deliberate—not the aimless shuffle of the infected. Survivors. Your heart jumps, a dangerous feeling in this world. You raise your own light to signal, but a sudden chorus of high, chittering shrieks erupts from the east. Shadows between the buildings seem to writhe. The flashlight across the street blinks out. Then you hear it: the panicked crunch of boots on broken glass, moving fast, coming closer. Those terrible shrieks are giving chase. Someone is running for their life, straight…