Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The lantern glowed again at dusk.

High above the hollow town of Ferndale, the bell of the ruined chapel rang thrice—though no hand touched it. Fog spilled from the woods, thick as oil. The living had long since fled. Only the marked remained.

Gideon Moth, shovel slung over his shoulder and revolver rusted at the grip, knelt before a broken headstone. He didn't bury anyone anymore. He just waited. "They say he comes for debt," he muttered. "But what did I borrow?"

The Lantern Man had been seen in the town square the night before—hovering, face stitched and void, the flame in his lantern pulsing like a heartbeat. Three townsfolk vanished that night. Their bodies weren't found. Just... footprints, walking backwards into the graveyard.

Now, Gideon stood in the mist, surrounded by silent mausoleums. His breath was visible. The air thickened. And then—the chime. A low, bone-deep toll that echoed far too long.

He turned.

The Lantern Man floated out of the shadows.

"Gravedigger," he hissed, voice sewn together with thread and time. "A soul for a soul."

"I've given enough," Gideon said, raising his weapon.

"You delayed your debt. You dug too deep. You listened."

The fog thickened around them. From the graves, thin arms reached skyward—corpse-thin, yet twitching with unnatural speed. The dead were not rising. They were being pulled.

Gideon fired. Once. Twice. The bullets passed through the Lantern Man like smoke through trees. The figure drifted closer, lantern swaying gently.

"You found the Bone Key. And with it... you opened the gate."

"I locked it again!" Gideon shouted, stepping back into a ring of salt.

But the Lantern Man laughed—a dry, grating sound. "You can't unring a bell, Gravedigger."

The ground cracked. A corpse erupted beneath him—not human. All spine, no face. Its bones were etched in language older than time. It whispered in blood.

Gideon collapsed, eyes bleeding. Visions flooded his mind. The Spiral. The Gate. The Last Toll.

Suddenly—blue fire.

Solomon Wraith stepped from the fog, Talia Grimm beside him, eyes wide and glowing faintly. She held out a new drawing. It showed Gideon, kneeling, the Lantern Man behind him... and a single word scrawled beneath:

"Forgiven."

The Lantern Man paused.

He turned to Talia. "A prophet. A gate-child. Interesting."

Solomon stepped forward, voice steady. "The toll can be paid."

The Lantern Man tilted his head. "Not in coin."

"No," Solomon said, pulling a dagger. "In memory."

And with that, he pressed the blade to his palm, dripping blood onto the earth. Talia's eyes flared. The sigil of the Crimson Spiral burned faintly beneath their feet—and faded.

The Lantern Man whispered one final time: "One soul... delayed."

He vanished.

The fog withdrew.

Gideon gasped, alive. Shaken. Changed.

In the silence, only the echo of tolls remained—somewhere far, far away.