Disclaimer: All characters, and etc. pertaining to the XBox 360 game Dead Rising are property of Capcom. Also, the main character's last name was taken from one of my favorite authors; S.D. Perry. Please enjoy!

Chapter 1

Who designs a shopping mall in the middle of nowhere? These words rang in Kasey's head as she continued to drive down the deserted road. I guess if you want people to live in an area, you gotta give them something to do. She shouldn't complain actually, this was her first building that she got to design and supervise on her own. A pretty tough job for a beginning architect, but Kasey was more than happy to take it.

Until I discovered that I would have to travel to frickin' middle-of-nowhere, Wyoming.

She got to watch civilization practically deteriorate as she got closer to the building site. Her home city, busy with people, slowly became towns, then villages, then nothing at all as she followed a complicated arrangement of strange roads through Colorado leading to her destination. At least a little reprieve was on the way, she would reach a town called Willamette within a few miles, where she could stop for gas and get some lunch. A checkpoint, if nothing else.

Then she heard it, that dreadful sound that no traveler wants to hear; the sound of a dying engine. "Wonderful." She said as the car rolled to a stop at the side of the road. She ran her fingers through her short brown hair and opened the driver door, feeling a blast of heat from the afternoon sun. Black smoke started to rise out of the hood of the car. "Shit!" She popped the trunk and got a small emergency extinguisher. She ran to the front of the car and lifted the hood and found a small but evident fire starting. She quickly put it out and leaned on the bumper. Not much to do now but try to push it to Willamette. This is exactly why I should've gotten a cell phone.

An hour or two later, Kasey pushed the broken piece of junk through the garage door of the only auto shop in town. The most stereotypical looking hick was there to greet her.

"Whoooooo wheeee! Looks like you messed this up purdy good! We'll have ter take 'er in to see what's exactly wrong. You don't mind waitin' though, wouldja? Not like you gotta choice there anyway miss…"

"Perry. Kasey Perry." How very James-Bondish of me.

"Well there Miss Perry, you go get yurself some lunch, come back, and we'll see just how bad it really is. There's a luvly lil' restaurant just a lil' ways-"

"I'll find something myself, thanks."

With that Kasey left the smelly garage and started to walk down the road. Looks like they had a mall at least, and…that was it. Go figure, another mall in a desolate location. She looked around for somewhere to eat. There were a lot of little family restaurants, but Kasey decided to go with a modern-looking place. The food wasn't half bad, but these people were, to a city person, way too friendly; the type of people that talk to you while you eat and consider you family for that measly half hour that you spend dining together. At least it was kind of nice to be surrounded by caring people instead of cold-hearted, antisocial business people who wouldn't give a rat's-ass even if they ran you over.

It looked like the younger generation was starting to take over though. Kasey saw some punk and either his brother or his feeble-looking friend Aaron cussing away at each other with some bimbo twin sisters at a table in the corner. Couldn't expect much less. Anxious to get out of there, Kasey went back to the auto shop.

She found three large guys and a few newer-looking employees all looking at her car in wonder. How many hicks does it take to fix a car? She went up to the one she had spoken to before, and she could tell by the look on his face that things were not going well.

"Why hello there Miss Perry, it seems that we've been havin' some problems with yur car…"

"Yeh, I could tell."

"Well, we called some people from the next town over, for their opinion of course…"

Sure, their "opinion."

"An' see, well, there's a special part that we have to order because we don't stock it here in the garage an' it could take a few days."

The word "days" sparked Kasey's hidden anger beyond control,

"A few DAYS?! Are you kidding me? Can't you just tow it to the next town over and I can get it fixed there? I don't have a few days to waste!"

"I'm sorry miss, but we only own one tow truck and we can't allow it ter go as far as the next town, besides, that car is toasted, it ain't goin' anywhere."

After hearing that, Kasey pushed the other mechanics aside and flipped the hood up furiously to look at it herself. With further inspection, she had to agree with them, it was pretty damn "toasted."

"Well, can I at least have this all in writing so I know I'm not getting scammed?"

The mechanic's face brightened a little.

"Sure can! Ronald! Go get that young kid that works the computer an' have 'em give this young lady a receipt!"

Jesus.

Kasey found a small hotel she could stay in until she could get on the road again. Okay, I was supposed to stay at the hotel in Wyoming a day or so anyway before the building began. It'll just be a tight schedule until then. She found that the town actually pulled in a few tourists now and then, since two Japanese men were confusing the crap out of the woman at the register. So maybe it's not so desolate. I actually saw a good amount of people walking around outside.

She tried her best to fix the antennae on the old TV in her room, but without much prevail. She got the local news channel and some public access channel to work, but decided to get her daily exercise instead by checking out the pool.

The rest of the day she spent waiting for the phone to ring in her room in case the mechanic miraculously came up with another solution. Fat chance of that, but what else am I supposed to do? If nothing happens tomorrow, I'll go check out that mall, I guess. The thought that the mechanic wasn't going to call was assuring enough to allow her to sleep.