The lighting in the TV and Entertainment store was dim, most of it coming from the televisions. So far, the news was bad. Really bad.

Vera turned to CJ. "Has it been like this all morning?" She asked in a hushed whisper. He nodded.

"Started late last night, got worse every hour."

She bit her lip, she thought her experience had been pretty bad, but as she saw the amount of dead bodies, she knew she'd had it easy.

"Nobody knows what's going on. There's lots of blood and bodies."

"Alright. Let's go, guys." CJ's voice was loud by her ear and she jumped. He was moving them over to the couches.

"Come on, get your own little TV."

There were 2 couches and a multitude of armchairs. Vera made her way to an armchair in the middle and eased herself down. Now that she wasn't running on adrenaline, her entire body ached.

"Excuse me." A russian accented voice called out. "Please. Is there a restroom?" Luda asked, a hand on her stomach.

"No. You're staying here." CJ told her.

"Then tell us which spot in here you'd like us to take a piss." Andre retorted. CJ rolled his eyes and pointed towards the restroom.

"Alright. It's around the corner, that way."

As he went to turn around, he saw Andre follow after his wife.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, where d'ya think you're going?"

"She's not going anywhere alone." Andre stated.

"'She's not going anywhere…'" CJ repeated. "This is a fucking nursery school. Terry, go with them."

CJ took a seat next to Vera, eyes on the TV in front of him. Ana was pressing paper towels to Kenneth wounds, trying to staunch the blood flow.

She briefly glanced at Vera.

"Hey Vera?" The woman in question looked over.

"Once I've fixed this, I'll come and take a look at you, okay?" She promised.

Vera smiled and gave a shrug. "Thanks Ana."

"How do you kill these thin-?" The TV reporter asked. The man on screen, Sheriff Cahill, interrupted him.

"Just shoot 'em in the head. They seem to go down permanently when you shoot 'em in the head."

Vera memory flitted back to the knife she pulled out of Debbie's face. The blow had been accidental. A result of her vision being blurry, she'd aimed for the shoulder and gone completely off course, the knife ending up under her eyes, buried almost hilt deep in her cheek. But it had worked.

'Thank God.' She thought, not wanting to think about the results, had she actually hit the shoulder instead.

"Twitcher." Bart repeated. Vera looked up, having been lost in her thoughts. On the TV screen was a woman, lying on the ground and twitching. Just like the security guard downstairs.

"Now that is one cool motherfucker." CJ ignored Bart, catching Vera shaking her head from his peripheral vision.

"Bleeding's not gonna stop on its own." Ana piped up making them look at her. "I need to stitch his arm."

CJ looked over and then back to the TV.

"What are you, a fucking doctor?"

"No." came the reply. "I'm a fucking nurse."

Vera laughed which seemed to irritate CJ more. He unclipped his keys from his utility belt and threw them to Bart.

"First aid kit's in the security office." he said, leaning forward to pay more attention to the TV.

Ana stood and followed Bart out of the store.

"Huh? What'd I tell you boys?" CJ exclaimed, turning to look at Bart before realising he was gone. He then looked at Kenneth and Michael instead pointing at the tv.

"America always sorts its shit out." He seemed to truly believe that, Vera however, couldn't ignore the feeling that this wasn't going to be over any time soon.

A soldier on the TV began talking about Fort Pastor and how it was safe for everyone.

"My brothers there." Kenneth mentioned. "He's waiting for me." Vera figured that's why he'd been so desperate to get there. She hoped, for his sake, that his brother was okay.

How'd you crash your car?" Vera looked at Kenneth who was watching her.

"Wait, you crashed your fuckin' car?" CJ asked. She nodded.

"I was coming to the mall, Ana was in her car, there was some kind of struggle, I think someone was trying to take the car." Vera explained. "She lost control, took both of us over the barrier and down the hill."

CJ was frowning at her. "You hurt?"

"A little. Some cuts, bruises. The gash on my head? I got that from home."

"What the hell happened to you out there?"

Vera told them everything, from waking up to being attacked and escaping.

"Holy shit." She nodded, agreeing with the sentiment.

Ana walked back in, joined by Luda and Andre and their "guards."

Andre sat on the couch, helping Luda onto so she was lying with her upper body resting against him.

"Anything I can do to help?" Michael quietly asked Ana while she prepared the suture for Kenneth. She nodded over to Vera.

"Do you think you can check Vera's side for me?" he nodded and Vera stood to go over to him.

"Hey, I got it." CJ bit out, glaring at Michael. Michael just nodded, not wanting to anger the man anymore, and handed over the steristrips as well as some alcohol wipes and a pair of tweezers.

CJ pulled her closer and sat on the edge of his seat. She winced as she pulled the right side of her tank top up to just under her bra.

"Alright sweetheart, grab onto my shoulder and just squeeze when it hurts." He told her, using the tweezers to pull the largest shard of glass out. It wasn't too long or deep and the damage was minimum, but it hurt like a bitch.

Vera hissed through her teeth, squeezing CJ's shoulder like he'd told her to. He pulled out a few more small pieces embedded in her skin and used the alcohol wipes to sterilize them, placing some band aids over to help stop the bleeding.

He glanced over the bruises on her stomach and then started cleaning the little cuts on her arms and hands, even a few on her legs.

The only wound left was the one on her forehead. He cleaned it as gently as possible and then patted it dry. The steristrips were easy to put on and once finished she sat back down and smiled at him.

"Thanks CJ." he nodded and held out a packet of peanuts he'd been snacking on. Taking a few, she hadn't realised how hungry she was.

"So what's the plan?" Michael asked, coming closer and squatting down in front of CJ.

CJ didn't even spare him a glance. "The plan is you drink a nice, tall glass of shut-the-fuck-up." he snarked.

Ana waved Vera over, just to check her injuries as a precaution.

"OK, that's one idea." Michael replied slowly."What about locking this place down? Sooner or later, they're gonna get in here."

A chill ran down Vera's spine.

"That's good. Like I hadn't thought of that." CJ muttered sarcastically.

"Hey, no doubt. You probably already thought about putting a sign up on the roof because, I mean there's still planes in the air. Might be good to let them know we're alive."

It seemed that this hadn't occurred to CJ. He nodded and leaned forward, finally giving his attention to Michael.

"We can get some paint from Case Hardware. Use some office doors to board up the weak spots."

"That's a solid plan." Michael agreed. "CJ, is it?" He asked politely.

CJ nodded. "Yeah."

"Alright, CJ." Michael moved away as CJ stood.

"Everybody, listen up." He called out, catching everyone's attention.

"I'm gonna give everybody a job to do and I expect you to do all of it. I don't wanna see any half-assin'."

He looked over at Kenneth, Ana and Vera.

"You know what? Why don't you start off by cleaning up that mess you made in Metropolis."

The survivors had been given their jobs and the tools needed to complete said jobs and off they went.

"Bart, Terry, c'mon, we'll take care of those sick fucks downstairs." CJ said, keeping a hand on Vera in case she tried to wander off. Not because he didn't trust her, she was just safer by his side.

They walked towards the elevator.

"You need to get cleaned up." He told her.

"I'll let you into one of the stores, you can get some clothes and shoes."

Vera looked down at her attire as the elevator doors slid open and they stepped in.

"I dunno." She said. "I think I really rock this almost-died-at-least-10-times look." she grinned.

"Smart-ass."

As they exited the elevator, she pointed in the direction of the fountain.

"I know for sure there's one still in the fountain. I'm not too sure about anywhere else." she explained to them.

Bart got there first.

"Hey CJ, look!" He called behind him.

"Terry. Take a look at Ben Cozine."

Terry and Vera stood side by side, staring at the infected security guard. He was splashing around in the water, his body going through multiple spasms.

"Hey, Ben. Ben." Bart antagonized. Vera rolled her eyes and CJ got close enough to see.

"Christ." Terry breathed out. "Look at him."

"He's not alive." Vera said quietly. They all looked at her.

"How'd you know?" CJ asked.

"Those things don't feel anything. They don't feel pain. That shot would have killed someone if they were alive, but he's still moving. He's already dead." she tried to wrap her head around it, knowing it didn't really make sense. But what else could it be.

"Look, he's a twitcher." Bart laughed.

"TV says you gotta shoot 'em in the head."

"TV said a lot of things that aren't true." Terry said cynically.

CJ stepped closer. "Fuck the fucker." he stated simply.

"I told him not to go downstairs." he raised his gun just as Ben seemed to stop and face him. The gunshot echoed through the empty halls and Ben's body splashed back into the water, this time motionless.

"Let's go. Let's get to work."

As they walked off, Terry remained behind, staring at the fountain.

"Holy shit."

"Bart, Terry. Go up to the roof, keep an eye on those fuckers. I'm taking Vera to get some clothes and a shower." CJ told them, placing a hand on the small of her back, leading her towards the elevator.

"Shower huh?" Bart said, looking up from where he was placing one of the wrapped bodies on the floor, his tone laced with suggestion. CJ glared at him.

"Just do what I fuckin' said." He turned and began walking back towards the elevators. The employee showers were on the upper floors, near the security office. The silence between them was palpitating and Vera wanted to say something, anything.

"I thought you were dead." She mumbled, avoiding his eyes when he turned to her. "When I saw the security guard downstairs. I, honest to God, thought you were dead and I wasn't sure what I was going to do if you were." She told him truthfully.

"Doesn't matter now." He said gruffly. "I'm not dead, neither are you. We'll stay here until help comes."

She scoffed. "Do you really think help is coming?" He didn't answer. "I saw it out there CJ. It's a mess, I don't know if help is coming and if it is, I don't think it's going to be anytime soon."

"C'mon sweetheart. You'll feel better after a shower." He said as they exited the elevator. She moaned at the thought.

"You should be prepared, there might be tears." He unlocked the clothing store and held the door for her, sticking close as she collected something to wear.

Once they reached the showers he stopped her. "I'm gonna be just outside this door, shout if you need anythin'." He told her.

"I can shower on my own." She said, walking past him. "Maybe next time." She winked, closing the door, leaving him to shake his head.

She didn't shower long, she scrubbed the blood off of her and washed her hair, her face twisted in a grimace as the water ran crimson. Vera scrubbed until her skin was a light shade of pink but yet the hot, sticky feeling of blood never seemed to leave her. It made her skin crawl.

She got out quickly, towelling her hair until it was as dry as she could get it. She pulled on a pair of black jeans and a plaid shirt over a black tank top. She opened the door as she tugged on some boots.

CJ looked her up and down and whistled. "Well don't you clean up nicely."

Vera rolled her eyes. "I'd say ditto, but I've never seen you in anything other than your uniform." That sobered them both up. CJ sighed and the two made their way to the roof in silence.

Vera stood by Michael staring into the sea of infected as they came towards the mall. To her right, CJ, Bart and Terry were getting rid of the bodies, throwing them over the edge.

"What are they?" Michael asked. Vera shook her head.

"I don't know." Ana replied. "Why are they coming here?"

"Memory, maybe." Kenneth supplied. "Instinct. Maybe they're coming for us."

"If I had any hopes of sleeping tonight, there they went." Vera quipped. Bart snorted from behind her. Gunshots pulled their attention to a small store across the lot. Vera peered over, barely making out a figure on the rooftop. Maybe he wasn't that close, maybe she should have grabbed her glasses from beside her bed before she bolted. The dissolvable contact lenses she usually wore had obviously reached the end of their life span.

"Hey, look over there. There's someone on the roof." Ana mentioned. CJ grabbed the binoculars he had and raised them to his eyes.

"His name's Andy. He's alone."

"He may as well be on the moon." Andre stressed. Vera nodded in agreement.

"Poor guy."

The man, Andy, frantically began to point at something. Almost completely indistinguishable between the growls of the dead, the whirring of helicopter blades could be heard.

"What's he pointing at?" Ana asked.

Michael and Vera were the first to see it. "Helicopter." They cried in unison. Everyone turned quickly in the direction it was coming from.

"Hey, it's coming." Andre pointed out to them, Everyone began to wave them arms. CJ walked closer to Vera. "Fuckin' A, man. See? What'd I tell you Red." He gave her a pointed look, waving his arms as the helicopter came even closer.

The helicopter passed over their heads and away from them. Vera and CJ exchanged looks. The other quickly began to lose their excitement.

"Please... What's he doing? Where's he going?" Ana's tone became hopeless.

Andre though confused, tried to explain it to Luda who looked so upset. "No. I mean, they saw us, so…"

Vera knew it wasn't coming back, but she didn't have the heart to tell them, she had a feeling they already knew. CJ put his arm over her shoulder and sighed. She turned to look at him and he groaned quietly. "Don't say 'I told you so.'" She gave a faint smile.

"I don't think I need to." She muttered, watching at the helicopter disappeared into the distance.

"It's safe here. We'll just wait for them to come back."

The rest of the day passed and the mall was fully reinforced. They'd painted a lot of signs and placed them on the outside of the building wherever possible.

Vera followed CJ through the mall, the rest of the group trailing behind. She yawned. "What time is it?" She asked. He checked his watch and stopped outside of a furniture store.

"Almost 8." He squatted down and using his keys, unlocked the shutters. He pulled them up and stared at the group expectedly. "Well, go on." Slowly, they walked in, realising that they were being shut in for the night, like animals. Vera moved to join them, but a finger wrapped around one of her belt loops, drawing her back.

"You're staying with us." There was an unspoken meaning behind CJ's words but she nodded. Any other person might probably have joined them, refusing to accept the favouritism the senior guard was handing out, but Vera couldn't deny that she felt much safer with him.

He threw down the shutters and locked them.

"I don't want anybody sneaking around and stealing shit." He warned them. Nobody said a word. "Comprende? Sweet dreams." He said before walking away, Bart and Terry on his heels.

After watching Bart haul a mattress into the TV and entertainment store, Vera decided instead to settle into the armchair next to CJ's with a blanket. The TV played an interview with some scientist who was giving out basic information about the infected.

"These guys are so full of shit. The same damn thing all day. Give me something I don't know, asshole." He yelled, throwing his cap at the TV and smoothing his hair back. Vera laughed a little and he looked at her.

"What?"

"Nothing, I've just never seen you with your cap off. I was starting to think it was welded onto your head or something." She smiled and he grinned at her.

"Wanna hear something that sucks?" Bart said, getting comfy on his makeshift bed. The news broadcaster was informing anyone still alive to view that they were going off the air. Vera felt her heart sink a little.

"You know that chick at Dairy Queen?"

"The fat one?" CJ questioned.

"Yeah. She was coming over tonight. I would have tapped that shit for sure."

Vera giggled and shook her head. "Seriously?"

"Bart, dude, everybody's dead, OK? Your mom's dead. Your brother's dead. That fat chick at Dairy Queen. Dead." Terry raised his voice.

Vera wondered briefly of her living family, if they were, in fact, still living. Were they worried about her? Did they ever try to contact her? Maybe they were already dead.

"Yeah." Bart sighed. "That sucks too."

A few hours later and Vera and CJ were the only ones awake. Now, without everyone else around, CJ felt it was easier to talk to her.

"I was worried about you too yanno." He muttered so low she almost didn't hear him. She looked at him, giving her attention, but not replying for fear of stopping him before he said something else.

"But it's not like I had your fuckin' number or anything. I thought you were dead, or sick or some shit." He paused. Trying to find the least mushy way of telling her how he felt.

"I'm glad you're not dead." He said. Vera slowly moved over and kissed his cheek.

"You might be all I've got left in this world CJ. And if you are, then I'm glad it's you."

CJ's hand draped on the arm, palm up. He looked over at Vera and then wiggled his fingers a little. She seemed to get the message and hooked her arm behind his, placing her right hand in his. He tangled their fingers together and relished in the sigh of comfort she gave. Just having something to grasp onto made her feel safer.

Vera leant her head against his shoulder and scoffed at the television which was broadcasting some black guy spewing religious bullshit. CJ watched the TV, not saying anything.

"When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth."

A few moments later, the generators powered down, all the lights went off, televisions included. Vera listened carefully, the darkness was more terrifying now than it had ever been. She could hear the dead, growling and groaning, scratching at the walls, desperate to get inside. It made her shiver.

"I can hear them." She whispered to CJ. His grip on her hand tightened and he turned his body more towards her.

"Those fuckers aren't gettin' in here. They're not gonna get you. I won't let them." He promised her.

"Thank you." There were no more words between them and he refused to take his eyes off of her until she was sleeping peacefully. Only then, did he succumb to sleep.