"Alec, have you gotten to an Evac Centre yet?" My mum asked over the phone.

"I'm on my way there now. I'm just grabbing a few things first." I replied, frantically searching for my hoodie.

"Are you looking for the black hoodie with the golden wings on the back, because when I was round-"

"It's okay, I've got it." I exclaimed as I grabbed the black hoodie from under my bed before putting on my white converse. "I'll call you when I get to the mall. Love you." I hung up before she could reply and headed out of my apartment and began my walk to the mall.

It seemed the number of people increased the closer that I got to the mall. Families, couples, business men, women and groups of friends were all heading in the same direction. They didn't seem to care about the oncoming infection. They were laughing, talking happily and smiling as they headed inside the mall. When I got into the mall I noticed a few people were wearing hazmat suits and were separating people into two groups. What was horrifying was the fact that they were separating some children from their parents and putting them into a green tent with some other people. Reaching into my pockets, I pulled out my phone and sent a text to my mum, telling her I was alright. I looked around. There must have been at least six hundred people in here, all packed together, not too tightly, but tight enough that some were occasionally bumping into others. I could see some workers from some of the bakeries and restaurants handing out free sandwiches and drinks as the smell of fresh bread and chips filled the mall. The chatter of the masses had a sort of soothing feel to it and the sound of someone laughing a bit too loudly was comforting. It made the mall feel safe and humane.

I began to daydream but was instantly snapped out of it by the sound of screaming and hundreds of feet beginning to run. I froze, my feet felt as if they were stuck to the floor. Just behind the moving mass of people, I glanced at what seemed to be a decomposing body running at me and that instantly released my feet from the ground as I moved as one with the herd of people. I looked around as I ran; trying to find somewhere to hide because there was only one entrance that I knew of and we were running away from it. It was too risky to try and find another entrance or stay with everyone else, who would eventually be driven to a dead end or be trampled to death by each other. To my right was a shop with shutters open just enough for me to squeeze under them. And that's exactly what I did. I sprinted away from the group and dive rolled over to the shutters and slid myself under them. I ran to the back of the shop and hid behind the counter, listening to what was happening outside. The thundering of feet and the screams of the people died down a bit but it was soon followed by the pounding stomps and groans of zombies. I held in my breath as I heard what sounded like someone being eaten alive or at least chewed to death. I could hear the screams of some people who fell short of having at least some chance of survival. My vision blurred and my stomach churned as the sounds made my mind visualize the images. I managed to stop myself from being sick but I wasn't able to stop the dizziness and the fading of my vision as I passed out.

~1~

I awoke to the overpowering stench of rotting meat and blood and panicked as I tried to realise where I was. I soon remembered passing out in the shop and I calmed down a bit. But I soon fell back into my panicked state as I heard something in the shop. I tried to steady my breathing and focus on the sounds. There was the sound of footsteps and, occasionally, some low growls as it seemed to stalk around the shop. I froze. The footsteps were getting closer to where I was hiding. It stopped, as did my breathing. Then suddenly there was a loud thud from outside the shop causing me to jump and the thing to jump back outside. I sat there, silent for a couple of seconds before breathing again. I slowly peered over the counter I was behind and looked around. There was nothing to cause concern or panic. I cautiously stood up and put my hands in my pockets and searched for my phone; I just had to phone my mum, to make sure she was okay. But it wasn't there. I sighed. 'Must've have fell out of my pocket as I was running.' I thought as I sighed again. I ran my hands through my now messy brown hair and smiled to myself, fondly remembering my mum saying it was an "emo haircut" when I came back from the hairdressers.

After thinking for a while about what to do in a situation like this, I decided that getting out of the mall was the best idea. I quietly rummaged around the shop, trying to catch sight of anything I could use as a weapon against the monsters that lurked just behind the shutters. There was nothing that looked like it could deal a great amount of damage, so I settled for a large plank of wood.

I stood there for a while, hypnotized by the gap in the shutters. It seemed like a great idea at the time, to go rushing out there and fight my way to safety. I guess there are no great ideas in a situation like this. I slumped down against a wall and sighed, which I seemed to be doing a lot lately. Maybe I'd better just stay in here for a while longer.

Author's Note

Hello,

Hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Let me know if there's something you didn't like and i'll do my best to correct it. I also want to say a big thank you to my friends who double checked this for me.