Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition
Chapter 943 - 943: Story 943: Whispers in the Fog

The air was thick with decay as the group trudged through the abandoned rail yard, where twisted metal and shattered train cars littered the tracks. A dense fog rolled in, swallowing the world around them, muffling their footsteps. Mira clutched the Cursed Book tighter against her chest, feeling its pages shift as if breathing.

"We're being watched," Zara muttered, gripping her daggers.

Draven exhaled, shotgun at the ready. "We're always being watched."

A faint, metallic whistle echoed in the distance, low and haunting. It sent a shudder through Mira's spine. They weren't alone.

Elias knelt by an overturned train cart, running his fingers through the dirt. "Tracks lead inside." He nodded toward the derailed train, its doors hanging open like a gaping maw. "Whoever—or whatever—was here went in."

A hiss of wind slithered past them, carrying whispers. Not words, just…sounds. Breaths. Murmurs. Half-formed thoughts.

Zara stepped back. "That's not wind."

Something moved in the fog. A shape—tall, thin, shifting like smoke.

Then, a second.

A third.

Dozens.

Mira gasped. "Shades."

The spectral figures twisted toward them, faces distorted as if screaming in silence. Their eyes were hollow voids, bodies flickering between corporeal and mist.

"Move!" Draven barked.

The group darted toward the train as the Shades surged forward, whispering their wordless horrors. The temperature dropped—a searing cold that burned.

They scrambled inside. Elias slammed the rusted door shut, pressing his weight against it. The walls shuddered as the Shades clawed at the metal, their whispers growing more frantic.

Mira shivered. "They're trying to get inside."

"Let them try," Elias growled, cocking his revolver.

But the train lurched forward on its own, wheels screeching against the rusted tracks.

"Tell me that was one of you," Zara said.

No one answered.

The lights flickered, casting long shadows through the train's decayed interior. The seats were covered in rotting fabric, some still occupied by long-dead passengers—skeletal remains fused into the metal.

Then, the intercom crackled to life.

A voice, distorted, layered, speaking in a tone both mocking and hollow:

"Next stop… nowhere."

A sharp laugh echoed through the speakers.

Mira gritted her teeth. "It's him."

Draven checked his shotgun. "Who?"

"The Hollow Man."

The train suddenly jerked sideways, throwing them to the floor. The windows melted into darkness, shifting into visions of a place beyond reality—a landscape of screaming faces, crawling tendrils, and unholy things with too many eyes.

The Hollow Man was here.

And he was hungry.