The crimson sky had forgotten it's beautiful blue colour ever since the world descended into chaos and ruin many years ago. It stretched endlessly above the ruined Virex city; once it's tall building and tower stood tall and proud but hollow and ruined. The wind moved through the sky carrying ash, dust and the faint yet not mistakable smell of rotting flesh.
Karl ran as fast as he could without looking back his boots slammed hard against the fractured asphalt road the sound sharp and desperate in the suffocating silence. Each step sent jolts of agony throughout his battered body. His lungs burned with each breath, dry and ragged as if the world no longer welcomed the living.
Behind him they followed with groans and growls, the infected. They staged their battered body some missing one leg, some missing an eye, some missing an arm and a leg. They walked and crawled through the street of what used to be an entertainment district, drifting between abandoned vehicles, collapsed storefronts and bleached bones of those who had fallen before. Their unsatiable hunger for human flesh is what drove the zombies to chase after every human they stumbled upon.
Karl's foot got caught in a jagged crack in the road and he stumbled, he barely caught himself against the rusted shell of an old abandoned car, its interior dark and stained and he didn't dare look inside as he knew what he would see.
His right leg threatening to give out completely as his jeans were soaked in blood hours ago the wound deep and untreated and yet still bleeding. He didn't have much time left, ahead of him on the remains of the skeletal overpass stood three figures, waiting.
Relief surged through his heart as he was elated that they actually stayed and waited for him. Daren stood at the front, tall and broad shouldered his steel pipe resting against his shoulder. Mira stood beside him her long brown hair flowing freely in the wind as her faded red scarf was wrapped around her mouth. Joss lingered behind them, thin and nervously clutching his worn bad as if his life depended on it.
"Kael!", shouted Mora, her voice muffled by her scarf. "Hurry!"
He pushed himself ignoring the pain wrecking his whole body, yet behind him the growls got closer. The sound of dragging feet echoed through the hollow streets of Virex City, rising between broken building and empty intersections.
He reached the overpass his lungs screaming and his battered body ready to give up on him at any moment. Then Daren walked over and held his arm and for a moment Kael felt safe but when Daren didn't move he looked confused and started to worry.
"What's going on?", asked Kael as he looked at Daren confused but Daren didn't meet his eyes.
"I'm sorry.", he said. The words felt hollow, distant and meaningless. Mira turned her head away and Joss stared at the ground and it was at that moment that Kael realized what was happening.
His heart felt heavy and crushing, he grew up with the three and they were all inseparable hit at this moment he realised how vile a human heart can be.
"No… you don't have to do this.", said Kael with the little hope left in his heart. The growls got even closer and Daren's grip tightened.
"If we all run.", Daren said quietly, "we all die."
Kael stared at him, the person he trusted with his life, the person he had risked his life for countless times.
"This isn't survival,", Kael said weakly, "This is murder! You will live with the guilt of knowing you killed someone."
Daren didn't reply as he shoved him hard making Kael groan in pain as his body slammed hard against the asphalt. He reached out to them but they had already began running away.
Kael dragged his battered body and stood up ready to fight until his last breath. He turned and faced the incoming zombie tide. His hand reached out for the knife in his waist, it's handle worn smooth front the years of use.
He had carried it through hunger, through cold, through loss, and through survival. His hand tightened around it while his heart pounded weakly in his chest, he wasn't going to die without a fight.
His legs shook violently barely able to hold his weight but he refused to fall, he stood there waiting for them.
The zombies approached, their grey decaying flesh torn and their empty eyes hungryily gazing at him. Kael breathed slowly even through the pain that filled every inch of his body but he stood anyway.
"If I die,", he whispered hoarsely, "I die standing."
The first zombie lunged at him, he moved in instinct and drove the knife upward into its skull making the blade sink deeper. Blackened blood spilled over his hand as he ripped the knife free. Another came, he slashed. Another. He stabbed.
He fought like an animal cornered at the end of the world, his blade piercing though throats, eyes, skulls yet his arms screamed in agony.
His vision blurred yet he didn't stop. A rotting hand grabbed his shoulder, another his arm, a third sank its teeth into his side. Kael screamed and pain exploded through his whole body.
He stabbed wildly but there were too many of them. A zombie lunged foward and drove iya jagged fingers into his chest, the flesh tore open blood spilled freely down his body as the creature mumched on the flesh it just tore from his chest.
Another clawed his back while another tore into his arm and his knife slipped from his hand. His strength faded as his body collapsed to his knees, blood covering him completly.
Warmth. Endless warthm.
The zombies surrounded him, reaching, hungry, ready to consume him. He felt the world around him move slowly as he fell into his back facing the endless crimson sky.
'I guess this is the end.', he though to himself as he resigned to his fate. His black hair was sticky with blood.
Then a loud growl, it wasn't like others, it was deeper, older. It regenerates through the empty streets of Virex City like the roar of something that had ruled long before humanity existed.
The ground itself seemed to tremble, as the infected froze. Every single one of them. Kael looked confused as his vision was blurred by his blood. And then suddenly, they fled. They scattered in every direction as if running for their own lives. Terrified. It was the first time Kael saw such a scene in his entire life.
Silence then returned, Karl's vision flickered weakly. A lone figure dragged itself into view, it moved slowly, almost painfully. It's body was battered and broken as if it escaped a huge fight.
Everything about the figure screamed human as it moved closer and then Kael saw it, the light grey skin. It was exactly as the books said, unlike normal zombies it's skin was light grey. The legendary zombie emperor.
It reached out with its clawed hand and grabbed his Jody with its cold hands and then dragged him away. It was at this moment that Kael lost consciousness.
It dragged him through the empty streets and walked inside one of the old building and moved up, higher. Step by step until they reached the top. The zombie emperor then laid him down and looked down at him in disdain as if it was doing what it did because it didn't have a choice.
Then it raised its hand and pierced into its chest with its claws, the sound was wet, cracking. It tore its chest open and something shined inside its chest, a crystal. Large. Beautiful.
The crystal was glowing with pale unnatural light as the zombie emperor reached out for it and pulled it free, it's body trembling violently. It was dying; with its last strength it pressed the crystal jnto Kael's exposed heart. The moment the crystal touched his blood it slowly began mergeing with his heart.
Kael's body trembled violently as his heart stopped beating and then a beat followed by another, stronger than before. Power spread through him like liquid night as his wound began closing and his flesh reformed, bones restored.
His black hair began to change, white spread from his hair's roots outward until his whole hair was white. His breathing stabilised and his whole body healed. The zombie emperor watched with a hint of amusement as its purpose was filled. Slowly its body began to crack, then it faded into nothingness.