We thought that after barricading ourselves inside the bunker, after holding off waves of the infected with homemade flamethrowers and rusted machetes, we had found safety.
We were wrong.
The first mutant bug appeared three days after the last known zombie was decapitated and burned. It crawled out of one of the corpses like it had been gestating in there. And it wasn’t alone.
By the end of that week, our “safe zone” was nothing but Hive 13 — the thirteenth attempt to survive. Most didn’t make it. I did. But only because I followed the rules.
If you’re reading this, burn the paper when you're done. And for your own sake, follow every single rule below.
Rules for Surviving Hive 13
1. Never kill a mutant bug inside the base.
When squashed, they release spores that enter your eyes and nest in your brain. You’ll still look like yourself for 72 hours. After that… your skin splits open like wet tissue and something else crawls out.
2. If you hear buzzing from the vents, lock yourself in the freezer room and don't make a sound.
It’s not a bee. It’s a scout. If it hears you breathing, it marks you by vomiting bile on your door. Then comes the Queen.
3. Don’t trust anything that looks like a friend who died.
They’ve started using the bodies now. They wear them like puppets. You’ll notice the teeth are always wrong — too many, or facing inward.
4. No mirrors after sunset.
They don’t have reflections. You’ll see that. But worse — if you look too long, you’ll see yourself smiling when you shouldn’t be.
5. The red lights mean the hive is beneath you. The green lights mean it’s above. If both are blinking, pray.
They’ve tunneled into the walls. Into the ceilings. Into us.
6. When you hear the clicking, you have exactly 19 seconds to cut your nails.
It’s a pheromonal signal. The bugs read traces of keratin to identify hosts. If your nails are too long, they assume you’ve already been harvested. They don’t like waste.
7. Never sleep alone.
If they catch you isolated, they burrow through the ear canal. You’ll wake up standing, humming a song that doesn’t exist.
8. Do NOT feed the things in the feeding room after midnight.
We still don’t know what they are. But they grow. And the meat isn’t always from outside.
9. If you find a cocoon in your bed, don’t scream.
Screaming triggers the eggs inside to hatch instantly. Instead, climb in, close your eyes, and wait for the morning shift. They’ll know what to do.
10. Once a week, one of us has to be chosen.
We send them to the tunnel with a blade, a light, and the map. No one ever comes back. The horde slows down when it gets a sacrifice. It’s brutal, but it works.
I was chosen once.
I came back.
But I left something down there. And lately, I can feel it... crawling up my spine.
Burn this now. Then cut your nails.
And don’t look in the mirror.
Not after sunset.
Never after sunset.
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