Things were starting to get dicey for us around here. Doc and Gumball had dropped off the Loot we grabbed in the Medical Lab, they also brought us back a resupply of ammo. Very welcome all around. Restocked and rested we pushed further into the station.

As we passed by the Medical Lab we looked through the window in the door. There were a couple of zombies in there, and a bunch of dead bodies. That crew had clearly not made it out. To be honest, not our problem and we felt no guilt about it either. They started the fight, they woke up the zombies, we just covered ourselves and left them to it.

A brightly lit, abandoned space station corridor stretches into the distance, its metallic walls and ceiling illuminated by harsh fluorescent panels. The floor is littered with desiccated human remains—arms, legs, torsos, and skulls—scattered chaotically throughout the passage. Dark, dried blood stains streak and splatter across the walls and floor, creating a gruesome and unsettling scene. Exposed wiring and damaged panels line the corridor, reinforcing the sense of decay and abandonment.

The corridors we were heading down showed signs of the violence that had overtaken the station. Ancient, dried blood was sprayed across the walls. Half chewed corpses lay strewn across consoles or just desiccated on the corridor floor. There were limbs everywhere. You couldn’t tell how many people had died in any one area, because the body parts always added up to a fraction. None of us had ever seen anything like it. A relentless path of death and dismemberment that was even starting to affect Sarge.

The Hordes Arrive

As we pushed further into the station, we started to come across more zombies. Then we started to come across hordes of them. It started off as just the odd one, then they started appearing in groups of five or six. They aren’t difficult to put down, but they just wouldn’t stop coming.

I’ve seen Hastian’s victims before, but never like this, never so many in a single place, and with so few of us to hold them back. It wasn’t a problem when they first appeared. We just put them down quietly with a knife or an axe, but as more of them turned up we had to start shooting. That seems to have been what really drew them in. The more gunfire, the more the zombies turned up. I’d call it a vicious circle but it wasn’t a circle. It also wasn’t vicious, it was just shit.

A group of exhausted scavengers in tactical gear retreat down a narrow, dimly lit space station corridor while firing their weapons at an advancing horde of zombies. The flickering fluorescent lights overhead cast a cold glow on the metallic walls and scattered debris. The scavengers appear tense and worn, bracing themselves as the zombies, with aggressive expressions and outstretched arms, close in from the far end of the hallway.

We were completely swarmed at this point. It really was like one of those movcasts where the people are surrounded and retreating back to their ship. Full on horror crap. The plus side was that we were maintaining our discipline and moving with order and purpose. The bad news was that we were starting to get low on the ammunition front. Some of our weapons were fine, Phantom’s axes obviously, but others, not looking good. The integrated pistol on Sarge’s combat armour was getting low.

Drive Them Back

Despite our best efforts we had been shunted down numerous corridors and through rooms that we didn’t intend to go down. There had just been too many of the plague victims to avoid it. We weren’t desperate yet, but I needed to get the Void Dragons back on track, and ideally to a place where we could resupply.

A lucky break came our way, we turned into a corridor with enough random garbage in it that we could make a defensive stand for a moment. Only a minute or two at most, but that was all I needed.

The crew took up positions around the debris and started holding the zombies back. While they did that, I pulled up the station map that we had downloaded on arrival. It wasn’t complete, but it did have enough of the station that we were still in a known area. I could trace our route back to the Medical Lab and therefore to The Stone Shark, but that wasn’t viable. Too many zombies, too many random turns taken. There was a straighter path though. I could see it. All we needed to do was take a left at the end of this corridor, and it was nearly a straight run through to the ship.

A close-up image of a holographic map projected from a wrist-mounted device worn on a gloved hand. The glowing blue map shows corridors and rooms of a space station, with a red dot marking the current location and a red X marking the target. A red path connects the two, making two turns along the way. The table surface displays the label “STONE SHARK LOCATION” in light blue text. The background is dark and blurred, emphasizing the glowing hologram and wrist device.

Time to Go

Decision made, I put the map away and looked around. The rest of the crew had somehow stopped the zombies. There was a lull in the action. It wasn’t quiet, we could still hear the moans and shambling of feet, but nothing was in sight. I laid out the plan. End of the corridor, turn left, then keep going straight and we’d reach a clear area where we could take stock. As a bonus feature, at the end of this corridor should be a door we could seal to prevent this pack of zombies from following us.

I had barely finished explaining it when the next wave of zombies rounded the corridor like some hologame nonsense. We levelled our weapons and opened fire while retreating down the corridor.

I just hoped the end level boss didn’t turn up.

Stargrave is published by Osprey Games and was created by Joseph A. McCullough

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