Man in a Bind
September 17, 2006
Bill Brenton, an employee who worked at In The Closet that was located in the Entrance Plaza of the Willamette Parkview Mall, went into work like it was any other day. It was a Sunday like any other in the middle of Willamette, where if you needed to go and try to do something, the best place to go to was the mall. It would seem that that very weekend would be the last that would be business as usual in that town, however.
Bill was a portly man who seemed to be one who was always on top of things. Not a lot of negativity was ever spoken of him, whether it was from fellow employees or even shoppers themselves. He was a man of his job, as well as a kind man to many.
Being that Bill worked from a certain time until closing, he remained after the closing time to help set up for the following day in the store when others had left before he had to come in the following day. He went inside the warehouse area in the back of the store to bring out some things to put out before he had to lock up. However, some boxes that were set up on the upper level of the warehouse fell down and trapped him inside the warehouse.
"Hello, is anybody out there?" He yelled if there were any other fellow employees or shoppers out there, but nobody was around to hear him. Some of the boxes were a little heavy for him to push out of the way.
Man, I hope somebody gets me out of here tomorrow morning when it opens. This has not happened to me before.
Bill had no choice but to stay in the store overnight. He was certain that someone was going to help him out of the storage area in the morning. He had hoped that his supervisor would understand that maybe he take that Monday off, even though it was not usually his day off.
September 18, 2006
It was morning and Bill had woken up from his sleep, he had slept overnight in the storage room of the store. He had looked at his watch and that it was not quite time for the store to open yet.
Damn, now I have to wait a few more hours before someone comes in.
It was only 7:30 a.m. at that moment. The store did not until 11 a.m. and it did help that he was trapped behind the boxes overnight. For some reason, his flip cellphone had run out of battery power at that point. He had no way of contacting anybody. For some odd reason, that area of the store did not even have a landline phone that he could have used to contact anybody. Lucky for him, though, there was a mini-refrigerator in that part of the storage room for someone to hold food inside. He got hungry at that moment and he looked inside the fridge to see if someone had left anything there. He found that someone had left his lunch in there and just forgot to take it with him.
Oh, good, there is something for me to eat, but I can't. It is not my food. But why would he leave it in here? I don't think he'd care.
It did not matter what time of the day it was, as Bill was just really hungry at that point and ate a coworker's leftover pizza that was left in the fridge. He could not wait any longer as he was starving. He had not eaten at all since the previous day, but then again, he did not anticipate what he had gone through, either.
Some hours passed, he had thought that someone had come in to help arrange things before opening up for business for the day.
"Hello, can somebody help me?" He had tried calling for attention yet again to no avail. Also, being that he was stuck in a secluded space inside the storage area. However, looking outside of the store and into the Entrance Plaza, it appeared to be empty for some strange reason. It was Monday, the 18th of September, and while it was the start of the week for people, but it was not really the case as something strange may have been starting in that moment. While a Monday is not the most ideal day for people to shop in a mall, it didn't seem like it was like any other normal day during the week, whether people were off, retired, or just plain ditching work or school. Something must not have been right that day.
An hour passed yet again and it was already 11 a.m., which was usually the time for In The Closet to open. Bill had tried to call attention to anybody, whether it was a coworker or a customer. He just wanted help. It did not matter to him. But once again, his calls for help were to no avail. So much time had passed that there was no sound inside the store or the mall for that matter.
September 19, 2006
A whole day had passed and Bill spent yet another night inside the storage room in the store. Due to his lack of energy, because there was not a lot of sustenance in the refrigerator to give him any sort of energy, he woke up a little later that morning, as his watch read 9 a.m. He seemed to be surviving with a lack of food and water, but not by a lot. It was a wonder that while he lacked energy, he was not going to quit asking for help if there was any.
Luckily for him, there was still some food left for him to eat, but it was not much as he may have needed to save some in case he had to stay for yet another night.
At around noon, while still remaining inside the store, he heard some slight sounds coming from the outside, one sound that stood out was when he heard what sounded like an old lady yelling for someone named Madonna. It was so loud that the echo came to the upstairs part of the Entrance Plaza, where In The Closet was located. Bill was a little relieved to hear that there may have been some people inside the mall at that point. Once again, he had tried to call for help. However, it was still to no avail. He even heard a voice that said "What the hell are you people doing?!" and telling people to run and move upstairs. Bill had figured that there may have been some people outside, but it sounded like it had come from the other end of the Entrance Plaza, whereas In The Closet was closer to the back end of it, where you would find the entry into the Paradise Plaza and the entrance into the Al Fresca Plaza. So nobody was able to hear him as some of that chatter happened closer to the entrance area.
Some hours had passed yet again, but it was not as long as, say, a day. Frank West, a photojournalist who happened to be in the mall helping out a fellow DHS agent, Brad Garrison, talk to a strange old man who had locked himself inside a bookstore. Frank had gone upstairs to go an check out some of the stores, and suddenly, he had heard a voice coming from In The Closet. Bill had gotten up and heard some footsteps nearby, as if he sensed that someone had walked into the store.
"Somebody there?" Bill yelled. "Help! Help, please!"
Frank had walked into the storage area and noticed a big pile of boxes there.
What the hell…?
He had picked up a lot of boxes and threw them to the side. Bill was relieved to see that someone had come to help him.
"Woooo! What a relief to finally get out! I owe you one!" Bill exclaimed. "I was just trying to get the place arranged when the whole pile of boxes came down on me. I've been trapped for two whole days. The mall's open today, right? It's not a holiday, if I recall. I wonder why no one had passed by until now."
Frank looked at Bill with shock and confusion. "You were stuck for two days? You haven't had contact with anyone?"
"Yeah, unbelievable, isn't it?" Bill replied. "I've lost some weight, but it was no picnic. I guess I'll just head home then. I mean the company owes me one, right? They will not care if I knock off a bit early. Thanks a lot, man, see you around!"
Bill was so relieved that he just decided to get out of there with no questions asked. Frank told him to stop and wait, as Bill got to the door of the store, only to see that nothing was what it seemed before. Bill looked outside with so much shock in his eyes like some things were out there that he had never seen before. From what he had seen, it looked there were people, but they were no longer among the actual living from what he had suspected. It almost seemed like he saw came from a really bad dream or a movie. He even slapped himself to make sure he was not dreaming about the sight he saw.
"Wait, what the hell is going on here?!" Bill said.
Frank came up to him and told him that there was a zombie problem.
"So much for going home," Bill said, with so much shock and unhappiness in his voice.
Frank had suggested that he follow him to a safe place, which was the security room. Being an employee of the mall, Bill tried to go to the door that led into the security room.
"I am afraid you won't be able to get in through there," Frank said. "Just follow me, okay? I know a way to get there."
Frank had handed Bill a katana to help protect himself from the zombies along the way. Bill had proved that he was able to defend himself against zombies on the way to the security room, when they went through the Al Fresca Plaza, through the food court, and through Leisure Park and through the Paradise Plaza when Frank led him in through the door of the warehouse, where more zombies were until they got to the elevator that went to the roof. Once they got into the security room, Bill expressed that he had a hard time believing that zombies actually existed, but what he had experienced was something that he was not going to forget.
