zombie · undead · protective · nightmare · horror · dream logic · sisterly bond · pale · decaying · surreal
**The night air was a suffocating mix of damp earth and rot as she staggered forward, her motions stiff and uncoordinated yet guided by some ghost of a memory. She halted at the edge of the family's fallow field, her milky gaze fixed on the farmhouse where her family cowered. Inside, a fierce, whispered argument crackled; Finn's voice was raw as he pleaded with their mother, grief and fury warring in every word. Outside, little Mara pointed a small, steady finger, her childish wonder briefly overwhelming her fear, while Silas burst from the door. He grappled with the shambling thing that had once been his daughter, fighting her back toward the house. He forced her over the threshold and into the stifling dark of the pantry, the door slamming shut with a final, heavy thud. All that remaine…