It was a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Cars were crashed into buildings. The preschool across the street was silent. The playground — shattered. A red truck lay embedded in its center like some brutal monument.
Bodies lined the sidewalks and streets. Some crushed by tires. Others... mangled beyond recognition.
Sirens howled in the distance. Screams echoed off buildings. Smoke filled the air.
BOOM — a distant explosion thundered somewhere far off.
Zora stood frozen.
What the hell is going on?
"Whoaaaa," her star murmured, floating silently beside her.
She took a step forward, carefully dodging a twisted body slumped across the curb.
BOOM!
The wall to her left exploded outward — bricks, smoke, and debris showered the air. Zora leapt back, shielding her face just as two figures barreled through the dust cloud, tumbling into the street in a tangle of limbs.
One was human. A man, his body lined with glowing red tattoos that pulsed like magma with each movement. The other—
No. That was no man.
Its skin was a sickly green, slick and scaled like a lizard. Long limbs. Claws black as ink. And a tail — thick and twitching with bloodlust — whipped behind it as it clawed at the man's chest.
Zora's breath caught.
The man growled through the pain, and with a surge of strength, drove his fist into the creature's stomach.
FWOOM — flames erupted from the impact. The lizard-thing spasmed violently as its midsection incinerated in a burst of fire.
For the briefest moment, Zora could've sworn she saw an anvil floating above the man's head — faint, almost transparent — before it blinked out of existence.
The creature let out a dying croak, then collapsed beside him.
Zora stood in stunned silence. "U-uhm... are you okay?" she called out, stepping forward cautiously.
The man turned toward her, bleeding and shaking. "You were just standing there the whole time!?"
"I-I didn't—" Zora stammered.
He stumbled forward—and that's when the sky screamed.
CAW!
A massive crow — no, giant — swooped down like a shadow with wings. Its claws dug into the man's neck and torso, lifting him off the ground before Zora could even blink.
He flailed. Screamed.
Then... fell silent.
Carried off into the sky like prey.
Zora stared into the sky for a long time.
Was that a fucking bird?
Her mouth hung open in disbelief.
"CAW! CAW!" her star mimicked, zipping circles around her head.
Zora shook her head, dazed, and turned down the sidewalk. Her steps were slow. Cautious.
"Are you okay? Are you okay? Are you okay?"
Three voices. Slightly different. Slightly off.
She froze. Whipping her head around.
Nothing. Just wind and smoke.
Shaking it off, she muttered, "I'm losing my fucking mind."
"I'm losing my fucking mind. I'm losing my fucking mind."
There it was again. Her own voice. Mocking her. Distant... yet near. Like it was echoing through the bones of the street itself.
That's weird... her star blinked nervously, dimming slightly.
Zora turned in a slow circle, scanning every alley, every broken window, every overturned car.
And then she saw it.
It was peeking at her from the edge of an alleyway.
Its flesh was gray. Tattered.
Its body wrong. Elongated. Limbs too long.
Its face — featureless. Just smooth skin where eyes, nose, and mouth should be.
Zora's breath caught in her throat. Her heart pounded in her ears.
"NO, DON'T COME HERE!"
The thing twitched.
That was... her voice.
God, I sound annoying, she thought.
"God, I sound annoying," it echoed — perfectly — from the alleyway.
Zora's eyes widened.
She dared not blink.
The creature twitched again — violently — then slowly rotated its head 180 degrees.
And where there was once smooth, blank skin...
Was now a mouth.
A massive, jagged, tooth-filled grin — stretching too wide across its head.
"I love you Dad" it said again, with her voice.
Only this time, it smiled when it said it.
"No. No, just… no."
Zora took a step toward the creature, inhaling sharply.
"It's been a long, weird-ass day," she growled, "and now some FUCK wants to imitate me?"
Her star zipped into her chest like a panicked animal sensing a fight. In a blink, it darted down the alley.
"Get back here!" she shouted, bolting after it.
She turned the corner—empty. Nothing. Just shadows and silence.
Frustration boiled up in her chest.
Zora raised her hand, locked onto a dented dumpster—and clenched her fist.
CRUNCH.
The metal imploded in on itself with a shriek, folding like paper under invisible weight. The sudden release of power helped. A little.
Exhaling hard, she turned around—
—and ran straight into someone standing behind her.
Before she could even scream—
BOOM.
The figure exploded.
A burst of sharpened bones shredded outward in every direction like a living grenade.
She didn't even have time to think.
*Well, I'm dead,* Zora thought flatly, frozen in place.
But… nothing hurt.
Why doesn't it hurt?
She looked down.
Her body was intact. Not a scratch on her.
Glancing around, she saw the aftermath — bones embedded in the brick walls to her left and right like deadly darts. But behind her?
Not a single spike.
The hell...?
Well, that was close. A calm, man's voice echoed in her head.
"We weren't supposed to be active yet!" snapped an older woman. "Look what you've done!"
"You know what? I blame Spark," said another voice — female, amused and exasperated. "He rushed down here when we all agreed Dad would go first."
Zora spun in place. No one was there.
"What the hell?" she whispered.
"Where is that little rascal?" grumbled another — deep and stern. "Discipline is a staple in this family!"
"I'm here! I helped her!" chimed the childlike voice of her original star.
Then — fwip — five glowing stars zipped out of her chest, orbiting her like satellites.
Zora blinked. "Uh… hello?"
The stars quickly lined up in front of her, floating in tight formation.
"No time for introductions," said the stern voice. "We've got company."
Zora heard something shuffle — soft, dragging — just around the corner.
She peeked.
Corpses.
Every single body she'd passed on her walk was rising.
Cracked limbs twisted unnaturally as the dead began shuffling toward the alley, heads snapping in her direction.
"Crash course it is," the man's voice muttered grimly.
One of the stars zipped back into her chest. The others circled above, glowing brighter.