Shorts stories & Creepypastas

We shouldn't have opened this sarcophagus

(This is a start for a futur novel, based on the sarcophagus found under Notre-Dame of Paris)

I don't know who will hear this message, or even if at this time, anyone is still on the internet, but I have to try...

You have all heard about the fire that partially destroyed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The whole world remembers it. It was a real catastrophe. What was less widespread, is what we found during the repairs. A sarcophagus, buried under the cathedral. A sarcophagus sealed with lead!

Some newspapers quickly talked about it, but they were quite few in the end... and people quickly forgot about this discovery. There was still enough information for us to have a few theories... the most skeptical thought of an important person, a prince, a doctor, or even a cardinal who would have contracted a disease like the plague. Why an important person? We don't bury just anyone under a cathedral. The three layers of lead surrounding the coffin would then be to prevent the disease from leaving the box.

The others, the most believers and superstitious, had made the connection with certain beliefs. It seems that lead could seal an entity like a demon or the devil himself. My scientific colleagues and I had a good laugh when we heard that.

I am part of the Forensic Institute of Toulouse and this sarcophagus was entrusted to us. Our mission was to open it to study the body inside, to learn who it was and how they died.

Of course, the first theory could turn out to be correct, so all of this was going to be done with the utmost caution, in a secure and isolated laboratory, with full suits for us.

What could possibly go wrong?

Everything.

Neither of the two theories was correct. What was in there... that... thing... was still alive. As soon as the light entered the sarcophagus, the thing woke up and lunged at my two closest colleagues. I don't think I need to describe our panic... security agents made us leave and started shooting at it... you know about zombies, right? You've seen plenty of them in movies or books. Shoot in the head, it's effective, they say. But we're not in The Walking Dead or Night of the Living Dead... this is reality. The thing was riddled with bullets but didn't avail. Two guards were killed, before this... this kind of zombie came to knock on the examination room's armored glass. And when I say he was knocking, I mean it only took him two punches to crack the glass!

We all fled. You think zombies don't run? Think again. They run. And quite fast. And by the way, I'm using the name zombie but we don't even know what it really is. This term is what best corresponds to it based on its appearance and... as you can imagine, those it attacked eventually got up too. They even seem to follow him, like a leader, but they seem... intelligent without being able to speak. They seem to communicate with each other and even devise strategies! With that, all my colleagues were caught, one after the other... he has enlarged his army of monsters.

I don't even know if I am the only one still alive! I have barricaded myself in an office, I put furniture behind the door and here I am recording all this... my hands are shaking, I didn't feel capable of writing... I don't know if I will have the time to do it myself, so I programmed the message to post itself on as many websites and social networks as possible. They are not far... and I know that my barricade will not hold for more than a few seconds... all I can tell you is to flee. Leave, avoid these monsters, we can't kill them! It was locked up there for a good reason. We should never have opened it. Now, we are lost...