The Marked Ones - Kaia - Wattpad

Story cover for The Marked Ones by Kaia_Desai

The Marked Ones

Reads 37
Votes 5
Parts 10
Time 1h 55m

Reads 37
Votes 5
Parts 10
Time 1h 55m

Mature

horror onc2025 opennovellacontest2025 zombie

ONC 2025 
prompt - 63 
A Group of humans infected with the zombie virus must protect themselves from zombie hunters while racing to find a cure before it's too late. 

Summary: 
A small group of people has been infected with a newly emerging zombie virus. However, unlike the mindless hordes roaming the streets, they are in the early stages-still conscious, still human, but slowly deteriorating. They have a limited amount of time before they fully turn. Their only hope is to find a cure before it's too late. However, a powerful organization of zombie hunters-a mix of military, vigilantes, and scientists-has deemed all infected as a threat. They believe there is no cure, and that any infection must be exterminated before they turn into full-fledged zombies. Now, the group is on the run, caught between two deadly forces: the hunters who want them dead and the virus that threatens to consume them.All Rights Reserved

horror onc2025 opennovellacontest2025 zombie

Table of contents

10 parts

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THE RISKS by EmJayRey

"You can't tell me there isn't something here worth risking everything for." [New Adult Apocalyptic Romance] Summary: There are some things that you can't outrun. That becomes all the more obvious when the world is ending, when there's nothing left but the feral creatures that were once people, consumed now by a virus that's made them cannibalistic and ravenous. It might just be easier to end it all, but Claire still has one last thing to fight for. Her younger sister. And she intends to keep her safe, no matter the cost. So, with no other options and her sister in tow, Claire ventures out into the dangers of this new, unforgiving world in search of safety, security, and answers to some long burning questions. The first two things -along with some new, unexpected questions- she finds in an unlikely place: a stranger who she's become indebted to. She has a feeling he can help her answer all her questions, if she can allow herself to fully trust him. Trust, she thinks, is a fragile thing. Humanity, a construct. Love, a weakness. But these are the thoughts of a survivor, and she's beginning to wonder if surviving is all she wants. Maybe she wants to live.

Floor 31 by pha0023

The world is ending. The Earth is painted with the blood of humans. Only zombies and monsters roam the lands now. But in the last standing building, 6 teenagers unexpectedly meet each other. Each helping another to survive the dangers of the what the world has become. They bond, they trust but Dream stands out from the others because she is strange and mutant-like. No one could fully trust her, not that it'd matter anyway because Dream trusts no one except herself. So, when they receive a message which sends them to the very top of the hotel. Floor 31. They are forced to fight and kill zombies and monsters just for a chance of safety. But does this 'safety' even exist?

Runic Storm (ONC 2022) by KaraTales

It was supposed to be a quick job, in and out, no problems. Accidentally freeing a high profile prisoner on her way out and subsequently discovering an evil scheme, was not part of the plan. Suddenly, it's her own face that Kaia finds on the front of a wanted poster. Forced to work together, she and the fugitive are on the run until they find a way to figure out the big picture. But that is not her only worry. She needs to deal with the situation fast, or her overprotective twin will find out and come looking for her. And that is an even more frightening prospect than running from a villain who wants to see her dead. - A novel version of the story will be updated under "Runic Domination". If you are a new reader, refer to that version. - ONC 2022 Prompt: 69. I never wanted, or intended to become a bounty hunter, but my little sister had to go and get herself on a poster, WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE, didn't she? Now I've got to get to her first, because everyone else wants her dead.

Future - A Zombie AU by Naiymaxo

It's a story where zombies break out, and the scariest part is when humans get scarier than them! "I do fear zombies, but what I fear the most is the monster inside you." "You are a monster." ~~~~ "Future. Such a simple yet mysterious thing. It stays in our hand, yet we endlessly lament for it. Our every little step accumulates into a huge amount and changes the future, but still we stay ignorant of it. The little thing stays in our palm." ---- This story won't give you tragedy, if that's what is keeping you from reading zombie fiction. [Warnings: Mention of murder, childhood trauma, antisocial disorder] Started on - 16 June, 2025 Ended on - 20 July, 2025 First planned to write on March 3, 2024 [that's why there's no mention of 2025]. Name is future but all happened in past. kkkk.]

... by Sniper_Jade

Down Under by AmyMarieZ

|WATTYS 2022 WINNER - HORROR| Shawn, a convicted criminal, never thought she'd see the sun again, let alone call another star system her home. When she's offered an out from her prison sentence, she embarks on a dangerous interstellar expedition along with 18 of Earth's most intelligent criminals. Their task is to set up a base on a supposedly habitable planet and prepare it for colonization. Although the planet has liquid water and a breathable atmosphere, it is believed to host only microbial life. However, upon arriving, Shawn and the rest of the colonists learn that assumption was grossly incorrect. In a brutal attack from rampaging wildlife, everyone but Shawn and four other colonists are killed. The five survivors retreat to the cavernous network beneath the ground seeking safety, but they soon come to a terrible discovery. These caves aren't ordinary caves, and they are no safer down under than they were on the surface. [][][] This was originally my entry for the 2021 Open Novella Contest, and it received an honorable mention! It has now been expanded into a full length novel. I used prompt number 53: "When wildlife starts rampaging, all the humans are forced underground. However, they come to a terrible discovery that being underground is no safer than being on the surface."

The slow end by lilly2701

I didn't think it could get any worse after losing my entire family, being bitten by a zombie and having to search for a cure that probably doesn't even exist. Until we decide to travel with a group of people who hunt and torture zombies for fun... A group of humans infected with the zombie virus must protect themselves from the zombie hunters while racing to find a cure before it's too late.

Stay Human: The Final Countdown || ONC 2025 by luna_rion

||ONC 2025 Short List || The 2000s. The zombie apocalypse has pushed humanity to the brink of extinction. There is no vaccine, hope is fading, and the only way to survive is to kill. But what if you're on the wrong side? What if, instead of fighting the infected, you've become one of them? Amanda Reed refuses to go down without a fight. Trapped in a subway car with a group of strangers, she quickly realizes they all share one terrifying trait-they're infected, yet still human. Surviving, finding a cure, and hiding from the uninfected, who won't stop to ask questions before pulling the trigger... A daunting task for a former journalism student. Is there an escape when all hope seems lost? The countdown has begun. Prompt: 63. A group of humans infected with the zombie virus must protect themselves from zombie hunters while racing to find a cure before it's too late.

Hive Island - The Awakening | Open Novella Contest 2020 by TechieInAK

A secluded tropical island. An unexpected letter from an expert zombie researcher. A decade after the last zombie sighting, it's all the reason Oliver needs to buy a one-way ticket to the island. The threat he uncovers is unlike anything he has ever experienced before. Only one question matters: will he survive long enough to warn the rest of the world about what's coming? ---------------------- Soon also on Royal Road! (July/Aug 2022) Entered into the Open Novella Contest 2020 Horror and Paranormal Prompt #41

SPOREFALL | ONC 2025 by AwgawinFiresnap

Three months ago, a thick, white powder covered the Earth overnight. Not snow, but spores, hundreds of spores, all from an unknown source. Those that came into contact with the substance became spore-touched: violent, uncaring, every one able to turn into plants hundreds of feet tall and rip apart the world itself. Three months ago, Mya lost her humanity, and with it, everything she knew. Not all at once, but every day is another memory gone, all washed over by new instincts, identities, and wants. In a city slowly being torn apart by the massive vegetation of her new kind, her options either to join their collective, or escape with what remains of herself, her days are spent surviving, and hiding amongst Humans. Humans that will burn her alive the second she's caught. The only thing she has is a water bottle and the goals of her former self, but the likelihood of achieving them in a post-apocalyptic world is bleak enough, and that's if she can still remember them by the end of the week. So when another spore-touched offers to take her to a supposed safe haven, all with the hope that they both can be turned back, she takes it. Not because this new companion seems like the most trustworthy person, not because they can promise to stop her from becoming a monster- She takes it because there's nothing else to choose. ONC Entry for 2025. Prompts used: 68., 103., and perhaps a little of 134.

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Slide 1 of 10

THE RISKS cover

Runic Storm (ONC 2022) cover

Future - A Zombie AU cover

Down Under cover

The slow end cover

Stay Human: The Final Countdown || ONC 2025 cover

Hive Island - The Awakening | Open Novella Contest 2020 cover

SPOREFALL | ONC 2025 cover

THE RISKS

"You can't tell me there isn't something here worth risking everything for." [New Adult Apocalyptic Romance] Summary: There are some things that you can't outrun. That becomes all the more obvious when the world is ending, when there's nothing left but the feral creatures that were once people, consumed now by a virus that's made them cannibalistic and ravenous. It might just be easier to end it all, but Claire still has one last thing to fight for. Her younger sister. And she intends to keep her safe, no matter the cost. So, with no other options and her sister in tow, Claire ventures out into the dangers of this new, unforgiving world in search of safety, security, and answers to some long burning questions. The first two things -along with some new, unexpected questions- she finds in an unlikely place: a stranger who she's become indebted to. She has a feeling he can help her answer all her questions, if she can allow herself to fully trust him. Trust, she thinks, is a fragile thing. Humanity, a construct. Love, a weakness. But these are the thoughts of a survivor, and she's beginning to wonder if surviving is all she wants. Maybe she wants to live.