Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition

The dolls had no eyes. Just hollow sockets—dark as unmarked graves.

Deep within the rotting orphanage of Ashlock Glen, wind whispered through shattered windows. The building leaned like it wanted to fall, but something inside held it up. Kept it breathing. Kept it watching.

Esmé Dreadmoor crept through the vine-choked hallway, her twin-blade glinting in the pale moonlight. Behind her, Talia Grimm clutched her sketchbook tightly. She'd drawn this place before they arrived—down to the cracked door marked "Room 9." She had never been here. Not in this life.

Inside the room sat the Dollmaker.

A figure stitched from shadows and silence, crouched at a workbench, sewing tiny limbs. Dolls lined the walls, perched on shelves and nailed to doors. Each wore the same expression—blank, staring, open-mouthed. And every one of them was watching.

The Dollmaker turned, face blank porcelain, lips cracked and smiling. "Guests. The Glen hasn't had living visitors in such a long time."

"Why are you binding souls to these things?" Esmé growled, stepping forward.

"They wanted to be remembered," the Dollmaker whispered. "And they offered themselves. Little things have always wanted big stories."

Talia pointed to a doll lying on the floor. It looked like her.

"That one screamed for hours," the Dollmaker continued, brushing dust from its hair. "It wanted to warn someone. About the Crimson Spiral. But it's hard to speak without a tongue."

Esmé struck.

Her blade cut through the bench—but the Dollmaker was already gone, replaced by a sudden wind and dozens of dolls falling to the ground, crawling. Their limbs cracked as they moved like spiders. Some wept. Others laughed in tiny voices.

Talia screamed as one latched onto her ankle. Its mouth stretched impossibly wide, whispering, "You're one of us... soon."

Esmé slashed it clean in two.

Suddenly, the dolls stopped. They turned their hollow sockets to a single point in the room—the closet. Something inside knocked. Then moaned.

Esmé opened the door.

Inside sat a small boy. Human... once. His eyes were missing. In their place: spinning glass discs, etched with swirling symbols. His voice was barely a whisper.

"I can see beyond, but not here. I'm the Dollmaker's first. He gave me eyes... that see too much."

He reached for Talia's hand. "Draw the sigil. The one from your dream."

Talia hesitated... then began sketching.

The moment the spiral hit the page, every doll screamed.

The walls cracked.

The Dollmaker howled from the ceiling, now crawling like a centipede across the beams. "You've undone the binding!"

Esmé hurled her blade, striking him between the eyes. His body shattered like a dropped puppet.

The boy vanished.

So did the dolls.

Only dust remained.

Talia's drawing fluttered to the ground: a burning orphanage, eyes watching from every shadow... and a message at the bottom:

"Not all dolls stay dead."