Z is for Zombie

Clay Burke knew that this wasn't over.

He sat at his sofa, staring at the pictures he had collected for about 30 minutes now.

[A white church.](https://redd.it/7onu3i)

[A screenshot of a post by a user on "Freddit."](https://redd.it/7sgy0q)

Bolt cutters next to a slightly torn fence.

Ever since he had seen that fucking bear at the police station, Burke had gotten more curious and tried harder to involve himself in this Animus Society thing. But ever since this... "Tangled Freddy..." had been shoved into the ocean by that black bear- not the strange, shadow-like bear he had encountered, but another one- he still had the undying suspicion that this entire ordeal wasn't over.

Woods.

A pair of metal doors, in the same woods.

The metal doors, now open, revealing a long flight of [stairs](https://redd.it/3iex1h) leading into the unknown.

It's been 3 weeks now. As far as Burke knew, things were back to normal. But there was still something he didn't know about.

Outdated electronics.

A bathroom, somehow still in good condition.

A room cluttered with furniture.

Burke's eyes were tired. It was 3:19 in the morning, and he had wasted it worrying about an incident that was most likely water under the bridge by now.

But the image of the metal doors remained.

And one thing was still on his mind.

What was in there?

Clay got out of his car and walked into the woods, shining his light.

Oddly, despite the fact that he knew this Tangled Freddy thing was dead, he was still afraid that some rotten-smelling bear would jump out and eat him or something. But no, he shouldn't be afraid. He just had to find out one thing, and then he could go.

He found the metal doors quicker than he had expected. He slowly opened them and shone his light down the stairway.

Cobwebs.

Burke hated cobwebs.

He hurried down, brushing threads out of his eyes, until he found himself at the bottom of the stairs. He shone his light into the room, and...

Strange.

This wasn't the room the officer had captured in his photo. This appeared to be something else.

This place looked like a laboratory; it had porcelain flooring, tables scattered throughout the room, and a hallway nearby. All of the tables were empty, oddly. And...

...wait.

Burke realized something inspecting this odd new room. He hadn't gotten the image of the stairs from the same officer who took a picture of the interior of the bunker.

Meaning that one officer took a picture of another area.

He was at the wrong place!

Without even realizing it, Burke screamed "**FUCK**!" and threw his flashlight to the ground. All of this for nothing. He might as well go back upstairs and-

 

###BANG!

Burke found himself in total darkness, besides the small amount of illumination the flashlight was providing. The doors above had closed.

He ran upwards and tried to push at the doors, but they wouldn't budge. Burke started cursing again. He pushed harder.

*"Unnnngggghhhhhh."*

What?

Burke turned around, slowly walking down the stairs. "Who's there?" He asked, picking up his flashlight and shining it towards the noise...

and nearly vomited.

It was a person, but it... *WASN'T* a person. It seemed to have healed scars all over it's body, and...

fingers.

Lots of fingers, scattered around its body, growing out of random areas, like its hands, its torso, and even one of its eye sockets. Its mouth was hanging open, and inside was something that Burke didn't even want to think about.

Its good eye was bloodshot, with an eyelid that seemed to close sideways. Its nose was missing; but not only two nostrils replaced it, but three.

And even worse, it was slowly walking towards Clay.

So he ran.

He heard the monstrosity making an unholy screech as it started to run towards him. He hurried down the hallway, looking for somewhere- anywhere to hide.

He noticed a room on the right side. A bathroom! Yes! Clay ducked inside, slamming the door shut and locking it.

He struggled to get his radio off his belt and practically screamed into it. "This is Chief Burke, I need assistance, over!" Static was his only response. "Is anyone there? ANYONE! I NEED FUCKING H-"

Burke heard something shuffling outside the door. He stopped screaming and stayed as quiet, as still as possible.

It walked in front of the door.

It stopped.

Clay squeezed his eyes shut.

The creature continued shuffling down the hall.

Exhaling, Clay relaxed, waiting for the zombie thing to move down the hallway. He creaked the door open, and hurried back to the first strange room. Sure enough, his flashlight was still there. He picked it up and went back towards the hallway.

He would have to find another exit.

And avoid whatever he had just seen.

"This is Chief Burke, attempt number 13 to get connection. I need help, is anyone there? Over."

More static.

Muttering curses under his breath, he attached the radio back to his belt and wandered further down the hallway.

He finally came to the end of the hallway; there was a door reading "SC------ ---M".

He walked inside.

It appeared to be some sort of control room; loads of circuits, buttons, and levers lay before him. There was a long window that stretched throughout the room, and what appeared to be a... metal arm?

Clay stepped closer to the window.

And almost vomit again.

There were more of them inside; only they looked far worse from the one he had seen earlier. One of them had its legs and arms switched, and its head seemed to be rotated about 90 degrees. One had an extra hand coming out of its mouth, grabbing at its face like it was trapped inside. One looked like it had the entire top half of its head chopped off, replaced with one that lacked hair, eyelids, and most likely innocence. The worst one was one that had 4 extra legs and 5 extra arms scattered throughout its body, growing out of random places, and all being used to maneuver around the room.

Plus, all the ones who actually had eyes seemed to be glaring at him intently.

Burke noticed a piece of paper attached to one of the levers. Trying to distract himself from the zombie-like creatures, he picked it up and read it.

>"3/18/17. The experiments have gone terribly, terribly wrong. We added too much while injected the corpses with remnant. They're healing, but they're healing... well, too much. Instead of healing properly, they're gaining extra limbs, or extra bones, or extra organs. They've been acting properly though, except for one who went mad and started attempting to rip the others apart; he's been locked up. We'll need to find a way to get rid of this."

>"3/23/17. They're all acting terribly, terribly wrong now. Not towards each other, though; towards us. We've discovered that prolonged contact with any of them will cause one to bind to their skin and slowly become one of them. Almost like a zombie. They're trying to escape the room we've kept them inside. Hire more security."

>"3/25/17. One got out."

>"3/26/17. Unfortunately, due to our uncontrollable failure, we will have to find another location and continue there. These experiments will have to be sealed inside this room; the doors have been bolted shut, and the glass should be strong enough to contain them. If you are reading this, please find our new location at 26-"

Before Clay could finish reading, one of the experiments jumped against the glass, making growling noises. Screaming, he instinctively pulled his pistol off his belt, aimed it at the zombie-

-and fired.

The entire window shattered.

Before Clay could fire again, the zombie leaped at him, grabbing hold to his hand. Screaming, he kicked it in the leg, causing it to let go while bringing the gun with it. It shoved the pistol in the mouth and swallowed it whole.

The other zombies started crawling through the jagged hole window, and Burke decided now was a good time to run.

He ran as fast as he could, down the hallway, into the room he first arrived inside. He hid behind one of the tables. Something walked inside; just one, however. Clay held his breath as it started to walk towards the desk...

...and started screaming in pain.

Burke heard the creature wailing as it hurried back down the hallway. Wait, no. it was like something was... dragging it. Clay heard louder noises, like a struggle, until they abruptly ended. He stood up and risked a look down the hallway.

And this time, he actually did vomit.

It was the finger zombie from earlier.

It had been eaten.

Its entire torso was missing, and the only thing that remained was a ribcage with little bits of guts and chunks of tissue still inside. The zombie's face was ripped open by a giant claw mark sliding down the diseased skin, getting rid of its only eye, which had been split in two. It even looked like it had been deformed on the inside as well before its downfall; disarticulated bones littered throughout the floor around it.

Clay noticed something buried halfway inside one of its ribs. Plugging his nose, he reached towards it and pulled it out.

It was a fang.

He felt sick. He had to get out of here. Now.

He hurried towards the entrance and climbed up the steps. The metal doors were still closed. So he kicked at them; they didn't budge. He kicked harder. And harder.

Finally, the doors busted open. Clay hurried outside, falling over instantly, grateful that it no longer smelled like rotten corpses.

He got a message.

He pulled out his phone. A message from Carlton.

"hey, i found this on ebay, looks familiar but i thought u would find it interesting" along with a link to an ebay.co.uk page.

He clicked the link.

It was Lefty.

It was being sold for 5 dollars, and the description read "slight water damage, no reserve i just want it gone". Burke's eyes widened. He was right. It really wasn't over.

He... he could buy it.

He could buy it and give it to the others. He could be a hero again.

He could-

...

...

Burke heard something growling behind him.

He froze.

He slowly turned around.

And the last thing that Clay Burke saw before falling unconscious was a dark purple arm swinging towards him...

A burnt and blackened arm wrapped in red [thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/26FrightsOfFreddy/).