The radio crackled to life at midnight.
It was the first voice he’d heard in weeks that
wasn’t his own.
“—repeat, this is not a test. If you’re hearing
this, you’re not alone.”
Jack Mercer froze, one hand gripping the steerin
g wheel of his rusted pickup, the other clutchin
g the pistol on his thigh.
Zombies didn’t talk.
And this wasn’t a loop.
He turned the dial, adjusting the static.
“Coordinates will follow. Prepare for extraction
.”
Jack stared at the dashboard.
The world had ended five years ago.
First came the riots.
Then the fires.
Now, the dead walked the highways and the only t
hing louder than their moans was the silence bet
ween them.
He should’ve kept driving.
But something in that voice made him stop.
The signal was coming from a town he used to kno
w.
Before the virus. Before the fall.
Before he lost everything.
He parked the truck near the old gas station.
The sign still read “Miller’s Stop — Cold Beer &
Hot News.”
Funny, considering the only thing hot now was th
e sun.
Jack stepped out, scanning the street.
No movement.
Just the wind and the crows.
Then he heard it — a whisper in the static.
“Help me.”
It wasn’t the same voice.
This one was softer. Female.
He followed the signal down a side street, past
shattered storefronts and a burnedout diner.
The source was in the basement of the town’s old
radio station.
Door halfopen.
Jack drew his pistol.
Stepped inside.
The room was dark.
Only the glow of old equipment lit the space.
And there she was.
A woman in a lab coat, pale, shaking.
She looked up.
“You’re real.”
He nodded slowly.
“So are you.”
She reached for a file on the desk.
“They did this. The virus wasn’t an accident.”
Jack’s jaw tightened.
“I heard that before.”
“It’s true,” she said.
“They called it Project Echo. Meant to control t
he population.”
Jack remembered the headlines.
Back when there were headlines.
A biotech boom.
Government grants.
Millions for “vaccines.”
Now the labs were ash.
And the dead outnumbered the living.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“Dr. Lena Cruz.”
“Used to work for the CDC. Now I just work to su
rvive.”
He holstered his gun.
“We need to move.”
She shook her head.
“The signal’s our only chance. If we leave, they
’ll never know we’re here.”
Jack looked at the radio.
Then back at her.
“You broadcast the truth, and someone might come
.”
“Or they might kill us.”
He smiled grimly.
“Either way, it’s better than hiding.”
They patched into the system.
Lena adjusted the frequency, her hands steady no
w.
“This’ll reach the safe zones,” she said.
“If there are any left.”
Jack leaned into the mic.
“This is Jack Mercer. If you’re alive, listen up
.”
His voice cracked through the static like thunde
r.
“I’ve got proof. The virus was a weapon. And the
y’re still out there.”
A pause.
Then a voice in the distance.
“Jack?”
He froze.
That voice.
He hadn’t heard it in years.
“Is that you?”
The line buzzed.
Then a second voice cut through.
“Mercer, you son of a bitch. We thought you were
dead.”
Jack stared at the speaker.
Old teammates.
The ones who didn’t make it out.
The ones he buried in his head every night.
“They’re broadcasting from a bunker in Montana,”
Lena said.
“There’s more of us.”
Jack turned to her.
“Then we finish this.”
She nodded.
Together, they uploaded the files.
Evidence.
Data.
Names.
They lit the signal like a flare in the dark.
A promise.
That the truth wouldn’t die with the world.
Footsteps echoed upstairs.
Heavy. Militarygrade.
“They found us,” Lena whispered.
Jack chambered a round.
“Good.”
He looked at her.
“You ready to meet the world again?”
She smiled.
“Just follow me.”
They ran through the tunnels beneath the station
.
Past rusted pipes and forgotten maps.
Above, the sky lit up with gunfire.
The government had come.
But so had the zombies.
Chaos erupted above.
Jack pulled Lena behind a wall.
“You ever fight your way out of a zombie war?” h
e asked.
She checked her sidearm.
“Every day since the beginning.”
They emerged into the street.
The town was burning again.
But this time, Jack wasn’t running.
He was fighting.
For the truth.
For the people still alive.
For the woman beside him.
They reached the truck.
Jack tossed her the keys.
“You drive,” he said.
“I’ll cover us.”
She didn’t argue.
Just started the engine.
He fired into the swarm.
One shot. Two.
Then he jumped in.
The truck roared to life.
Tires screeched.
They drove into the night.
Radio crackling in the back.
Voices calling.
Calling.
Calling.
Jack looked at Lena.
“They’re listening.”
She smiled.
“Then we make sure they hear the truth.”
Behind them, the world burned.
But the signal was strong.
And the story wasn’t over.
