A retrieval squad descends into a poisoned hill listening post to recover an encrypted garrison core. Inside the fungal tunnels, the enemy seeds the dead and makes corpses move, fire, and pursue. Spores choke the filters, threads cling to suit seams, and every narrow corridor becomes harder to trust.

When Lask’s dead body starts following the squad with an active rifle, the mission stops being a clean recovery.

This is “The Dead Still Held Rifles” by Sascha Schmidt.