I was hired to hack a security system. They didn’t tell me it was in another reality. Or that it was full of damn zombies.

Bright fluorescents blinded me as they yanked the bag off my head, suddenly lighting up my world that had been dark for hours now. I was sat at a long conference table, the agents who had just taken the bag were withdrawing back to the wall behind me. At the other end of the long, heavy wooden table was an older man.

“Sorry about the shady spy stuff. Can’t have anyone knowing where we operate, y’know.” the older man chuckled. “Can I get you anything to drink? Coffee, tea, water?”

My thoughts were racing. Everything about the past day wasn’t making any damn sense. I was in my cell just a while ago, minding my own damn business, doing some reading, then suddenly the guards come in, throw a sack over my head, and we’re on our way. Then this bastard is the one to greet me…

“Where the hell am I, man?” I asked, unsure of what was going on.

“Ah, sorry, introductions.” He said, waving a hand. “Name’s Ronald, I’m… well, I’m kind of the guy in charge here. And you’re Vincent! I’ve read your file, great thief, whistleblower for some really messed up stuff the Avarice corporation was doing, probably still is, but that’s for another time. You’ve got a life sentence for trying to help people, am I right?”

I blinked at him.

“See, I think you shouldn’t be punished for trying to help. Unfortunately though I can only pull so many strings before the government is knocking at my door, so, I need to have some help. You’re going to help me, Vincent.” He continued. “You ever wondered if we’re alone in this world?”

“I’ve hoped.” I mumbled back. Feels like there’s going to be a hidden camera reveal any second, some dumbass comedian coming out to tell me I’ve been pranked. No such luck.

“Well, we’re not. The only thing is that it’s not really this world, but another one almost exactly like it. Thousands of them, actually. Each one living out their own existence, unbothered by what’s going on in ours.” He said, motioning to someone outside the door behind him. A woman comes in holding a tray with two coffees, one of which she sets in front of me, the other in front of him. He nods in thanks before continuing, “Now, one of these worlds managed to make a huge breakthrough. Unfortunately, they were beset by some… apocalyptic situations. Now, the breakthrough they’ve made is useless to them, but could end up changing everything if we get hold of it. Are you following me so far?”

“So… what is it that they found out?” I asked.

“Classified. We need your help to retrieve it though.” He said, staring at me as he sipped his coffee.

“If I don’t know what it is how the hell am I supposed to retrieve it?” I almost laughed here. Must have died in my sleep back in the prison. Maybe Avarice finally sent someone to make sure I stop talking about them forever. Jesus…. If this is heaven it’s an absolute joke.

“Oh we’ll give you all the information you need to find it, of course. We’ll also be sending a team with you in order to get it. Highly trained personnel of our own, of course.” He replied. “Do you think we expect you to do this for free? We’re willing to offer you quite a bit.”

“I’m listening.” Might as well play along. He’s going to offer me a pardon, freedom, typical movie cliches, but he and I both know that as soon as I’m out, Avarice is putting a bullet in my head.

“You get to die.” He said now, making me almost spit out the sip of coffee I was going for. He laughed in response, raising a hand, “In the public eye, at least. We’ll have you ‘killed’ while in prison and get you a new identity. We’re also willing to cover any living expenses you may incur and give a monthly stipend for your services for the rest of your life, so long as you let us keep an eye on you to ensure you’re not… oversharing with anyone.”

I took a moment, considering what he was saying. It wasn’t like they were going to let me out anytime soon, and even if they did, it’s not like Avarice was going to just let me live my life in peace after all was said and done.

A deep sigh was all I could manage, “Fine. When do we leave?”

“Two hours. Do you want to eat first? We can get you anything you want.” He replied, smiling and drumming on the table for a moment before getting up. “Can you guys let him loose? There’s no reason to keep him locked up.”

“Long as the food’s free, I guess…” I sighed. About thirty minutes later someone came walking in with a tray, a huge double cheeseburger with pepperjack and onion rings loaded on it and an order of fries, accompanied by a caramel milkshake sitting on it. Considering I didn’t know what’s about to happen, I’m going to take what I can get.

The rest of the time passed quickly, but I finished my food and started to nervously pace before they came to collect me, providing new clothes and a backpack of some basic supplies I requested. Before I knew it, I was being marched through the dim lights of this facility, finally stopping in front of what appeared to be an empty doorway. Five others were waiting, guns slung over their shoulders and combat gear on.

“Hey, shouldn’t I get one of those too?” I asked the guide who had brought me here. He only nodded, handing me a pistol. I looked at it, ejecting the magazine to make sure it was full before replacing it once more. “That’s it? They’ve got fuckin’ assault rifles, dude.”

“Let us handle the shooting.” One of the guys said. He looked rough, a huge scar running down his forehead, through his eye and onto his left cheek. “You just make sure we can get what we need.”

“Still barely even know what the hell we need…” I grumbled. Suddenly a loud, mechanical whirring began though, and the doorway in front of us was no longer empty. There was a faint purple light coming from it, with darkness beyond.

“Jump is open. Let’s head in. You-” Another of the soldiers was speaking, now pointing to me. He had a huge bushy beard and sunglasses over his eyes, but I could still feel him staring me down. “Stay in the middle of us at all times.”

I nod, moving further towards the center of the group. Beard and Scarface moved in front of me, stepping through the doorway with a slight buzzing sound as they passed through the dim purple light. The other three lined up behind me, motioning me forward. Before I went through, the guide who brought me handed me an earpiece, motioning for me to put it in.

“Uh, can you hear me?” I say, settling the piece into my ear. All five of the others grunt acknowledgement.

“Now come through.” I hear Beard say in my ear. Deep breaths, moving through the doorway feels like I’m stepping through a field of static as it engulfs me. My breath catches for a moment, unsure of what I might be getting into, then suddenly I’m clear again. Beard and Scar are waiting there, the dark hallway engulfing them. As they each turn on a flashlight, I can see that this resembles the building we just came out of. The others follow behind me after a moment, stepping forward into the darkness and turning on their own lights. I fumble around in my bag, finally grabbing onto a small, tactical beam of my own to light my way.

We walked through the hallway briefly, darkness almost suffocating on every side. Beard finally raised a hand, motioning for everyone to stop where they were at the moment. We must have been near an exit, because sounds began to make their way towards us, and after a moment, the smell hit along with it.

It was like the worst rot imaginable, everywhere all at once as it filled my nostrils and made my eyes water. I’ve gotten whiffs of some nasty shit in my lifetime but this… god it was like someone took a deep freezer of meat and put it out in the Florida sun for a week unplugged. It was almost painful to smell, and it was unavoidable. I searched deep in my bag, looking for anything I could rip up and stuff up my nostrils. Nothing I had asked for in prep was going to cover this though. God, what the fuck was it that could smell this bad from inside a building? Was it in here? Outside? Was that what we were supposed to be worried about while we’re over here?

“Damn Simms, your mom open her legs again?” One of the soldiers quipped at another, causing the rest to snort with laughter. Simmons, a younger guy with greying stubble, rolled his eyes in the dim light.

“Your mom ever shut hers, Pierce?” Simmons shot back, making the others nearly lose it. I… couldn’t find the humor considering how overpowering the smell was.

“Alright, alright,” Scar said, raising a hand. He put his pack on the ground, pulling out a map. We were in a small city, not sure what state, but the point Scar marked was right in the middle, surrounded by small outlines of other buildings. He traced a line down the street, turning right three blocks down, and continuing on for about five blocks before marking another building with a massive X. “We’ve gotta make it eight blocks total before we hit our target area. It’s not likely to be a simple walk, so be ready to take care of any threats along the way. Now, I know all of you can smell that out there. That’s what we need to be on our guard against.”

”The hell is out there?” I asked, looking each of them in the eyes in turn. “At least tell me they gave all of you more information on what we were getting into.”

”Fuckin’ zombies, man.” Simmons muttered.

”Seriously? Zombies? Some George Romero bullshit is what’s waiting out there for us?” I asked. When Ronald told me there was danger to the mission I expected like… I don’t know, enemy soldiers or just booby-trapped buildings or something. Jesus…

”The goddamn walkin’ dead, brother.” Pierce mumbled back.

“Look, it sounds insane but all the zombie rules apply here- don’t get bit, don’t get scratched, aim for the head, and whatever you do- don’t. Get. Bit. Moment I see one of you take a chomp off one of these bastards, I’m putting a bullet in your head. Consider it mercy.” Beard said, deadly serious as he went over the threat awaiting us.

”So what do we do once we reach the target building?” Pierce asked the commander.

”Mr. Mills here,” Scar pointed at me now, “Is going to get into the computer system for us. Place is still running on backup gens, so we’ll have to force our way in through the system. Normally I would say we could just blow our way through with enough explosives but… well, they have failsafes on the lab area that would destroy what we’re after if someone gets too close.”

“We’ll make sure you’re not eaten while you get us in there. Once we’re in though, we grab the target, duck out of the building, and head here-“ Beard points to another X on the map, not far from the target destination, “They’ll have an extraction portal set up for us to jump right through. Let’s make it out of this one alive and get home, understood?”

”Sir!” The others confirmed. I gave my own affirmation, slinging the pack back over my shoulder, hefting the gun in one hand and the flashlight in my other. We continued down the hallway, the sounds from outside growing louder now. Groans, moans, and the occasional scream split the air, telling me that nothing good was waiting for us out there.

Beard opened the door, giving a signal for everyone to move, and we all filed out one by one, unsure of what would be waiting for us out there. The first thing I noticed was the light. It was dark out, not a star in sight, and only the occasional street light was still running to show the way. The sky above had an odd tint to it though, almost scarlet like it was smeared with blood. Ominous clouds moved across occasionally, dark and looking like they were going to burst with crimson rain at the slightest provocation.

“Stay frosty,” Scar mentioned as we turned, walking down the street. Buildings towered over us on each side, probably ten floors at their tallest, and on occasion a scream of pain and terror would break through the still night air. Somewhere in the distance a fire was glowing, sending up smoke with a smell that would occasionally cut through the stench of rot that filled my nostrils.

We moved in silence, the smell doing everything it could to choke us. Even when I wanted to open my mouth and say something, the stench forced its way in, settling on my tongue, making me gag within seconds. Before long, we had gone one block, with the rest of the way seeming like miles and miles before us.

”Hello?” A voice came from an alleyway nearby as we passed. “Help me, please.”

”Don’t even think about it.” Beard whispered to the rest of us. We all froze, looking at the alleyway as something moved deep in the darkness. A trash can fell over, louder than thunder as it clattered to the pavement nearby. A small figure walked out, shadows obscuring their entire body as they neared us. ”Don’t trust it.”

”It could be someone living, though.” The fifth soldier mentioned. He didn’t look nearly as battle-hardened as the others, and took a slight step towards the alleyway even as Beard was motioning for him to get the hell back. “We have to help them, right?”

”Step. Back.” Scar muttered as he tried moving forward again. The shadowy figure coming towards us couldn’t be older than a child. Maybe four and a half feet tall, thin and frail looking. As it stepped closer out of the alley the shadows around it began to dissipate, moving towards the young soldier.

I almost threw up right then and there on the street. It was… it was definitely a kid. Or at least, it was at one time. Now though it was something not quite dead, but not necessarily alive either. The skin was mottled, a sickly, pale white with the same odd sheen as a dead body. That itself wouldn’t have been so bad, but the real horror was the lower jaw and upper body. It’s mouth was hanging wide open, but the lower jaw was split open at the chin, teeth inverting inward like pincers as the maw extended further down, opening into the thing’s neck. Whatever bone it had in there now looked like jagged teeth. It stepped forward, taking the young soldier by surprise and falling on him, jagged teeth from the mouth down to his chest cavity suddenly emerging to tear into his skin.

”So hungry…” It moaned while taking a huge chunk out of the soldier. The rest of us froze in fear as it reared back, getting ready to take another huge bite as massive pincers emerged from the split as it opened up its chest, rib bones extending out to stab into the soldier’s body. Before it was able to, there was a soft pop as Beard emptied a round into the thing’s forehead, leaving behind a crimson dot as it fell over, hopefully dead for real this time.

“Fucking hell…” Scar muttered, moving towards the young soldier still writhing on the ground. His neck was torn by one of the big pincers, so he couldn’t force air through his windpipe for a scream. Just labored wheezing, desperate to try and live. Scar gave him one brief look before popping a round into his head, ending his misery. “Sorry, kid.”

Screams rose up all around in response to the sounds of our skirmish, more of these things sensing a meal moving around in their turf. Within seconds, we could hear the sounds of rough footsteps, ragged breathing, and the occasional gurgling scream running towards us for their next meal
.
”There’s a grocery store we can cut through right over there. Go, go!” Beard shouted, moving us all towards a supermarket on the corner, maybe a block ahead of where we needed to turn. Guess it was luck that the doors were unlocked… I stopped thinking we were lucky once we got inside.

I don’t know how long this place had been going to hell for, but it was long enough for everything left in this supermarket to become a health hazard. Dry goods and most of the stuff on the general shelves were okay, but the smell of rotting meat and produce was heavy in the air. Even worse, we couldn’t go more than a few feet without an insane amount of flies buzzing all around, making it hard to breathe in the already thick stench of the rot. I zipped my jacket up all the way, sticking the collar over my face. The air was hot and heavier this way, but it was better than taking a ton of flies directly into my lungs as we walked.

“We need to go through the back. There should be a loading dock that will let us out onto the next street.” Pierce said, scanning the store with his flashlight. Empty registers still had items on them, abandoned midway through checkout. Only the occasional light was on, casting a dim glow over every fifth aisle or so as they flickered. I don’t know what happened here, but the scene that was left only told us that it was gruesome. Puddles of blood lined the small aisle in front of the registers, smeared as whatever had left them behind must have gotten up to leave after being turned.

Our footsteps echoed as we walked, the occasional squeak on the floor nearly making me jump out of my damn skin. After everything that I had just seen, I was ready to make my way back to the damn door we came through and spend the rest of my days in a cell. Fuck this.

“Shh.” Beard raised a hand, motioning for all of us to stop right then and there. I could hear something moving now despite our stillness, something else over the steady buzz of flies in the air. We moved our flashlights around, the bugs only making intense shadows across every aisle and wall in sight as we tried to tell if we were alone. There was something scraping along, sliding on the ground with the occasional squeak as it went over puddles of blood on the floor.

“The fuck is that?” Simmons whispered as we all shone our flashlights around, trying to tell what the hell was coming towards us. In moments I had the answer. Coming from an aisle only a few feet to my right, something was crawling along the ground. Pale alabaster skin shining in the flashlight beam, red smeared on it from passing through puddles of blood… it wasn’t just one of the things, but many fused together. It was like they got pushed in too close together and instead of just crushing each other started to meld on a cellular level, dead flesh absorbing more and more of their peers.

Three heads looked at me, lifeless, gray eyes staring straight through my soul in the flashlight beam. Each one suddenly opened their mouth, split lower jaw a wide maw with sharp teeth clamoring out as if. they were each alive looking for something new to devour, and let out a horrible scream. I… I don’t know if their windpipes were fused as well, but it was so discordant that it sounded like someone blowing on a bagpipe without any sense of knowing how to play. It chilled me down to my core as it started crawling faster, masses of legs and arms fused at joints where they shouldn’t be rushing towards us in a mad frenzy.

“Run!” Beard shouted, taking off towards the back of the store as we all rushed to follow. The mass of bodies let out another discordant scream as it gave chase, desperate to catch fresh prey. As we passed the meat coolers, full of flies, maggots, and rotten cuts of beef or pork or whatever they had been, this thing burst through the aisles behind, gaining on us like a bat out of hell. I don’t know how it was so fast when it looked like a mangled mass of limbs, but it was getting closer. Too close.

”In here!” Pierce shouted, motioning towards one of the swinging doors to the stock room. We rushed through, Pierce holding the door open until everyone got in. As he let it swing back closed, it hit the abomination, causing it to let out a grunt of pain from every mouth. Before Pierce could follow behind us though, it pushed through, rearing back for only a moment as the door opened before shooting out a long, spiked tongue that wrapped around his foot.

”Pierce!” Simmons shouted, starting to go back for him before Scar grabbed his shoulder, turning him back. There was an emergency exit door ahead, out salvation to get out of this hellish place. We had to move though. Before any of us could do anything, Pierce looked back, nearly emptying his clip into the creature that still had a grasp on him. More long tongues shot out from the other mouths on it, wrapping around his body as their spikes stuck into his flesh. Before it was able to reel him in, he grabbed the pistol on his hip, putting the barrel to his head and pulling the trigger. His body went limp as the thing staggered forward, throwing itself on top of him and starting to devour his remains.

“Come on, out here!” Beard shouted, opening the emergency door for the rest of us. As soon as we were through he shut it back, grabbing a nearby dumpster and pulling it over the doorway, keeping that thing inside where it couldn’t come after us.

”Thought you said it was just fucking zombies?!” I shouted at him, falling back against the store wall. We were in a back alley, wider than the others, right next to a small loading dock where trucks could pull in. “That’s not a fuckin’ zombie, man!”

”I don’t know what the hell that was, I’m going off the briefing they gave me…” He responded, almost out of breath. “Doesn’t matter though. We’re here now, we can give Ronald an ass kicking when we get back. But we HAVE to make it back, first.”

The three of us left could only grumble in agreement. Scar and Simmons looked pissed, and I can’t say I blame them. When it comes down to it though, we only have one way out of here.

“Fine. Let’s keep moving.” Scar mumbled.

We kept going, moving as quickly as possible through the alley and onto the street now, traversing the last few blocks toward the building that was our target. With any luck, we could get in and get out. Luck wasn’t going to be on our side though.