the night was young. the air was still. and someone rung the bell.

frederico vergara looked up to bell tower. it should be empty. it was empty, when he checked less than thirty minutes ago.

so why was the bell ringing now?

he pumped his shotgun. their church was a refuge for the people. and unlike other nearby churches that had been overrun by the dead, they’ve yet to encounter a horde that was more than five-zombies strong.

ringing the church’s bell would be like ringing the dinner bell for the zombies.

frederico took to the stairs. how could he have missed anyone? there was only one way up and down the bell tower, and he was using that way. and unless someone was hiding under an invisibility cloak, there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed the bell-ringer go up.

when he reached the top, he saw a short-haired girl cleaning her knives.

“did you do this? did you ring the bell?”

“it’s to save your life.” the girl said, not even bothering to put down the knife she was wiping clean.

“what do you mean ‘save my life’?” the girl looked at frederico. shrugged, and motioned down to where the bulk of the dead now were.

it was chaos. the dead were everywhere. and most of them were pouring out from inside the church, not coming in from outside.

the girl threw her knife towards frederico’s direction. it wheezed past his face, and connected with a squish a few inches behind him.

“it’s time to leave,” the girl said, and she was moving.

frederico looked down again, towards the entrance of the bell tower. it was going to be a long night.