St. Peter's Square – 12:18 A.M.
The square was no longer a place of mourning.
It had become a graveyard of the restless.
Bodies that had collapsed just moments ago shuddered, twitched, and then moved. Their breaths were ragged, their skin gray and sickly. Some rose to their feet in jerky, unnatural motions, while others let out guttural gasps as their bodies convulsed on the stone pavement.
Nate took an instinctive step back. "Tell me I'm not seeing this."
Leah unholstered her gun, her hands steady even as her pulse raced. "You are."
Lucien's face was grim. "The Order has done it. They have rewritten the prophecy."
At the center of it all, Brother Elias stood, arms outstretched, his face lifted to the sky.
"The Fourth Seal has been broken!" Elias's voice echoed through the square, almost unnatural in its depth. "And now, Death shall not take… but return!"
One of the infected figures let out a garbled moan. A young woman, her face streaked with dried blood, lunged at a nearby paramedic. Her fingers dug into his flesh before he could even scream.
The others followed.
Like puppets pulled by invisible strings, the dead attacked the living.
The screams that followed shattered the night.
---
"MOVE!"
Nate grabbed Leah's wrist and ran.
Lucien followed close behind, his crucifix clutched in one hand, the other gripping a small vial of holy water. "We have to get out of the open!"
They sprinted through the chaotic streets, dodging overturned carts and trampling through the remnants of a fallen food stand.
A man in a priest's robe was dragged to the ground beside them, his desperate cries cut short as the infected swarmed him.
Leah gritted her teeth, shoving Nate forward. "Faster!"
Ahead of them, a narrow alleyway led away from the square.
They dove into it just as one of the infected lunged at them, its blackened eyes wild with hunger.
Lucien turned at the last moment, hurling the vial of holy water. The glass shattered against the creature's skin—its flesh sizzled as if burned by acid.
The thing screeched and fell, convulsing violently.
Lucien didn't stop to watch. "It only slows them. Keep running!"
---
An Abandoned Chapel – 12:45 A.M.
The door slammed shut behind them.
Leah locked it, her chest rising and falling with sharp breaths. "Okay… what the hell was that?"
Lucien's hands trembled as he leaned against an old wooden pew. "Not just an outbreak," he whispered. "This isn't a plague anymore."
Nate's voice was quiet. "It's a resurrection."
Lucien nodded. "And it's only the beginning."
Outside, the night was alive with screams.
The dead were rising.
And nothing could stop them.