Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition-Chapter 2102: Story : The Sounds in the Walls

The apartment should have been silent.

But silence had become something Elena Voss no longer trusted.

She sat on the edge of the bed again, the candle beside her burning lower than the night before. The melted wax had spread across the floor like pale veins. Empty medicine bottles surrounded it, and the scattered papers fluttered slightly in the weak breeze leaking through the cracked window.

The door lay broken on the floor where the creature had destroyed the zombie.

Elena had not moved the corpse.

Or what remained of it.

Dark stains soaked into the wooden boards near the wall. The smell was worse now, thick and sour.

But the room itself wasn’t what troubled her.

It was the walls.

She heard them again.

A faint scratching sound.

At first it had started the night before. A soft movement hidden behind the cracked plaster. Something shifting slowly through the narrow spaces between the apartment walls.

Elena tilted her head.

There it was again.

Scratch.

Crawl.

Tap.

Her bare foot slowly brushed the floor.

Under the bed, the creature stirred.

Two golden eyes opened in the darkness.

“You hear it too,” Elena murmured quietly.

The monster’s ears twitched.

Another scratching sound came from inside the wall behind the bed.

Then a muffled thump.

Something was moving through the building.

Elena stood slowly and walked toward the wall where the word CRAZY was written. Her fingers traced the tally marks carved into the plaster.

Twenty-four.

Her nails hovered over the surface.

The scratching stopped.

The silence that followed felt wrong.

Behind her, the shadow zombies slowly appeared again, their faint shapes forming in the dim light. Their hollow eyes flickered like dying embers.

They were watching the wall.

Waiting.

Elena swallowed.

Then—

A faint whisper came from inside the plaster.

“...help...”

Elena froze.

Her heart began pounding.

“...please...”

The voice was weak.

Human.

For the first time in days, Elena turned away from the floor.

Her eyes widened as she stared directly at the wall.

“Hello?” she whispered.

The shadows behind her trembled violently.

The zombie faces twisted in agitation, their silent screams growing wider.

Under the bed, the creature growled.

Low.

Dangerous.

The voice inside the wall spoke again.

“...anyone... alive?”

Elena stepped closer.

Her hand slowly pressed against the cracked plaster.

It was warm.

Something moved behind it.

The creature beneath the bed suddenly lunged halfway out, its massive claws digging into the wooden floor. Its glowing eyes locked onto the wall with predatory focus.

Elena glanced down.

“What is it?” she asked softly.

The monster’s lips curled back, revealing rows of jagged teeth.

Another voice echoed through the wall.

This one wasn’t weak.

It was wet.

“...hungry...”

Elena’s blood ran cold.

The plaster bulged outward slightly.

Inside the wall, something large shifted violently.

Bones snapped.

The whispering human voice suddenly screamed.

Then the scream cut off.

Silence returned to the apartment.

Slowly...

Very slowly...

A crack spread across the wall.

Dust drifted into the air.

Behind Elena, the shadow zombies began to shake with silent laughter.

Under the bed, the creature bared its teeth.

The wall split open.

A gray, rotting hand burst through the plaster.

Then another.

Then a twisted face forced its way out of the hole, its mouth stretching open in a hungry snarl.

A zombie had crawled through the building’s walls.

But it wasn’t alone.

More scratching sounds echoed from deeper inside the structure.

Many more.

Elena stepped back toward the bed.

The creature beside her crouched low, ready to strike.

Outside the apartment, something heavy slammed against the building’s front entrance.

Another impact followed.

Then another.

Elena looked at the growing hole in the wall.

And then toward the dark hallway beyond her shattered door.

Her quiet voice trembled for the first time.

“...they’re learning.”

Under the bed, the monster growled.

Because tonight...

The walls themselves had become a doorway for the dead.