The Warmth Chronicles
A Crispy Zombie Series
When the meteors fell over Crescent City, they brought more than light.
Photo by Maryellen Brady
Nurse Ignacia Torres died in a hospital basement during the first wave. She burned from within by a thermal agent.
The "Burned Ones" hunt the living, their skin crackling like bacon grease fires. They collapse into pools of molten goop when destroyed.
Ignacia survived. Living within a shell of heat and fractured skin. She faces an impossible choice every single day.
Surrender to the warmth consuming her humanity, or fight to control the very thing that killed her. Every moment requires an act of will. Every breath is a battle against becoming the monster everyone fears.
She chooses to fight.
Now glowing with internal fire, able to sense heat signatures and manipulate thermal energy, Ignacia became "The Nurse".
A guardian burning in the remnants of who she used to be. Alongside crisis manager Nikki Ashmore, DJ Alyssa, computer engineer Mina, and other survivors, they are learning to weaponize music against the warmth.
Their mission ~ find others still fighting conversion.
Teach them control.
Protect the living.
Where we left off…
Mt. ST. Helens ~ “My little girl,” The words came out before anything else. Before his own name, his condition, his obvious pain. “Somewhere back on the road. Please. She’s six years old. She was next to me and then…” His voice broke. “The ones moving toward the mountain, she got scared, she ran and I couldn’t—I can’t go back far enough, every step away from it costs me and she’s out there alone now…”
Ahlberg ~ “This is Ahlberg….under attack…not Burners…”
Amboy ~ The distress signal crackled through Sweet Salvation's radio at dawn. A desperate looping message, “Survivors in Amboy Township. Need assistance. Have wounded. Coordinates attached. Please respond. Please respond.”
Crispy Zombie Road Trip
The Sweet Salvation Crew found Patricia Reeves outside of Longview as she stumbled through the ruins of a residential area. Her heat signature flickered. Bright, then dim, then flare bright again. She looked like a candle fighting wind on the heat scope.
The Burner
Bradley watched the Sweet Salvation leave the emcampment with Conner. The music stopped at the gate. A few of his people waved from the fence line.
Told You So
I've been walking since the meteor shower ended. Four days now, maybe five? I stopped trusting my watch around the Henderson's farm when the crystal cracked for no reason.
Crispy Zombie Road Trip
A distress call came through on the emergency channel at 3 AM. It crackled with static. Desperate voices begging for help. Three survivors trapped in the River's Bend Mall. Surrounded by Burned Ones. They were running out of time.
Crispy Zombie Road Trip
The Sweet Salvation rolled into Sumner on a Tuesday afternoon. Daniel drove with both hands steady on the wheel, humming along to Le Freak while Alyssa adjusted the frequency modulation from the passenger seat. In the back, Mina's equipment hummed, analyzing thermal patterns. Nikki studied maps. Melissa organized medical supplies with the focused intens…
Alyssa spun in her DJ chair. “We need something with power capacity for the sound system. Plus storage. A vehicle that screams ‘we’re here to help’ and not ‘we’re here to steal your supplies.’”
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First rule of the apocalypse: Stay alive.
Second rule: Staying alive is better with a soundtrack.
Third rule: The warmth cannot survive the funk.
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Ignacia finds a burned one crying….
Daniel's origin story
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In the darkness, Sulien heard something he would never forget. Ignacia’s voice. Calm and clear despite the chaos erupting around them.
Ignacia saves more humans and becomes known as, The Nurse
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Of all the places to die, it had to be the fucking mall.
Nikki Ashmore origin story.
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One of you is infected, the voice said through the emergency speakers. Find them before they turn or you all die.
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Ash, fire, crispy zombies, and me trying to make it through a literal graveyard shift at the hospital with my humanity in tact.
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