I Count the Teeth at Night [IAFF Zombie Challenge]

[Intro] Static in the marrow, Wind through hollow bone— Something wears my shadow When I’m not alone. [Verse 1] The city is a carcass picked clean by the hours, Streetlights flicker like dying flowers, I walk through names etched into dust, Every face I knew reduced to rust. Windows breathe with broken lungs, Curtains twitch like severed tongues, Footsteps echo where none should be— Something keeps remembering me. [Pre-Chorus] Don’t look back— It learns your shape. Don’t make sound— It knows your name. [Chorus] I count the teeth at night, In the dark they shine like prayers gone wrong, Every breath a borrowed fight, Every second I’ve survived too long. They claw the sky with empty eyes, A choir of hunger dressed in skin— I hear my mother in their cries… God help me, she’s among them. [Verse 2] I found a child in a grocery aisle, Still as a photograph, dead for a while, Her fingers curled like she held the air, Like something invisible dragged her there. I tried to speak but my throat locked tight, She turned her head without using light, Jaw unhinged in a silent plea— And something inside her smiled at me. [Pre-Chorus] Don’t feel grief— It smells your fear. Don’t say names— They gather near. [Chorus] I count the teeth at night, They chatter secrets through the walls, Every shadow splits the light, Every silence starts to crawl. They wear the faces I can’t erase, They beg me in familiar tones— I see my brother in their pace… And I won’t die alone. [Bridge-Extended] I buried them shallow— The earth spit them back. I burned them to cinders— They rose from the black. I locked every door, I sealed every seam— But they drip through the cracks Of a half-waking dream. I hear them beneath me, Inside of the floor— Knocking in patterns I knew before. Three taps—pause— Then scratching slow… That was our signal. They still remember. [Spoken] They’re not gone… They’re waiting in the quiet parts of you… [Chorus] I count the teeth at night, They bloom like rot inside my head, Every pulse a failing light, Every step among the dead. They speak in voices I once loved, They beg me, “Let us in again…” I feel their hands inside my blood— I think I’m one of them. [Outro] Morning never comes anymore, Just thinner shades of black— I hear my own voice at the door… And something answers back.