SEPTEMBER 19, 5:00 PM
The afternoon sky was a blood red sea over the ocean of writhing zombies in Leisure Park. Arthur and Megan were wading through the waves of the undead, killing only the ones that got in their way and trying to dodge the rest. Zombies by themselves were no big deal, as they were all stupid, but they were quite the threat when surrounding you.
The two survivors finally pulled beside the giant clock tower that marked the center of Leisure Park. The park itself was the center of the mall. Willamette Parkview Mall was a giant square with the Entrance Plaza protruding from one of its corner's. From Entrance Plaza, one could go east into Paradise Plaza which led to Colby's Cinema. One could also go west to Al Fresca Plaza which was a thin outdoor walkway crowded by zombies. Al Fresca led to the Food Court which connected to Wonderland Plaza. The North Plaza was attached to Wonderland Plaza, and contained Seon's supermarket and many other goods & services stores. North Plaza, Paradise Plaza, and the Food Court all had entrances to Leisure Park.
Arthur and Megan ended their break and sprinted straight ahead to the Food Court doors. They could see Brad, the African-American DHS agent, ducking behind a counter and Frank running across the floor. There were dull sounds coming from within, probably gunfire. The doors were blocked by hordes of zombies trying to get in and not knowing quite how to do so.
"We need to clear the way, somehow," Arthur told Megan.
She nodded. "Do you have any ideas how?"
Arthur scanned the area and saw a lawn mower in a field of unruly grass. "I bet we could use that to mow them down."
Megan gulped and took a step back. "You do it."
Arthur sighed. "Yeah," he remarked, "I was planning on it."
He walked up to the large red mower. It was old and covered in rust. He could see the giant drawstring he would need to pull in order to start the gas engine. The protective lid had fallen away, meaning that anything that got too close was going to get sucked in.
Arthur looked at the crowd of zombies, to his girlfriend, and back to the mower. He took a long breath, and then started the mower. It vibrated sharply under his hands. It created an extremely loud churning sound. The zombies at the door stopped wallowing and looked at the new threat. Arthur charged at them with the mower. It hit the concrete path and backfired back, slamming the handle bar into Arthur's gut. The recoil reacted dully with the mower and it shut off, black smoke billowing from the spent mower.
Arthur ran back to Megan with a solemnly blank face and his hands in an apologetic shrug.
"I guess that's out of the question," he remarked meekly.
"Look!" gasped Megan, pointing to the failed mower.
The zombies that were crowding the door began to abandon their post and inspect the mower.
"This is our chance," said Arthur. "Let's go!"
They ran for the Food Court doors and ducked inside. As they did so, the glass above Megan's head exploded as a machine gun bullet went through it. She yelped and hit the ground. Arthur grabbed her right shoulder and left elbow and dragged her behind the wine stand.
Brad took advantage of the misfire and shot at the gunner. It was a Hispanic man with long hair who was prancing about the billboards and awnings of the various restaurants with a machine gun. Brad's bullet hit him in the shoulder and the man stumbled behind a wooden support beam.
Brad jumped up and ran to the seating area with Frank emerging to aid him from behind a stack of barrels. They stood on the deck and surveyed the higher area. When they looked away from where he was positioned, the Hispanic man raced from behind the support beam and placed his foot in a suspended rope. It lifted him high into the ceiling.
"Damn," said Brad, "he got away!"
"It's okay," said Frank, placing a hand on Brad's shoulder. "Now do you mind telling me what's going on here?"
"I can't," said Brad. "Much of it, I don't know. All I do know is classified."
"Jessie told me you were looking for someone?" said Frank.
"Oh she did?" grumbled Brad. "That's already too much information."
"Does it have to do with this man?" asked Frank, showing Brad his camera.
Brad's face turned dark and angry. He shoved the camera away, and Arthur caught a glimpse of the image in the camera. It was the old man from the Entrance Plaza that morning!
"Where did you see him?" demanded Brad.
"So now you need me, huh?" remarked Frank.
Brad turned on him. "Listen," he snarled, "this man is a very important clue in solving the case of the zombie attacks. His name is Dr. Barnaby. Someone contacted him and told him to be at the mall today. We believe that man, Carlito, could be the one who contacted him and might also be the reason for the zombies. So are you going to help us, or not?"
Frank put the camera around his neck again and smirked. "So I'm part of the loop?"
"Yes," sighed Brad.
"Okay," said Frank, "I saw him in the bookstore at the Entrance Plaza."
"Alright," said Brad. "Let's go." He turned to the wine stand. "You two come with us. It's dangerous for you to be alone. I guess you're part of this now, anyway."
Arthur nodded, and walked with Megan to the two men.
"Excuse me," said Megan, "but if you could help, I think my father could be somewhere in Al Fresca Plaza."
"We'll look for him, too," said Brad. "Right now, it's imperative we rescue Dr. Barnaby."
6:00 PM
Al Fresca Plaza was always a traffic disaster when the mall had reached its biggest shopping hour. The path was very narrow, and it was difficult to maneuver through crowds of bumbling people trying to get into their stores. It was even worse now with flesh-eating zombies crowding the streets.
Brad and Frank took the front, Megan was behind them, and Arthur stood to her right. The group hung to the left side, avoiding the largest of the zombie crowds in the center. They walked up to the corner, when they heard two voices arguing from behind a barricade.
"Those people are still alive!" gasped Arthur.
"Hey!" called Frank. "Anyone in there?"
The voices stopped, but their hiding spot was already given away.
"I'm coming in there," said Frank. "Stay away from the doors." He removed a bench and tossed it aside. Brad covered him, shooting down any zombies that came too close.
When Frank cleared the barricade, a man in a red shirt attacked him with a bat. "Hell no!" he said. "Not another one!"
Frank ducked away and landed a solid punch to the man's face. He fell backward and dropped his bat. He rolled and went for it, but Frank kicked it away.
"Please!" shrieked the man. "Please don't hurt me! I'm just trying to protect myself."
"Don't worry," said Frank, "I'm not going to hurt you. There's a security room where you can be safe. I have a helicopter coming in three days."
The man blinked. "Really? Why didn't you just say so? I'm coming with you. My name's Burt."
"Wait!" cried another man in a blue shirt. "I'm coming too!"
"Hurry up, Aaron!" shouted Burt. "We're going to a safe place."
Burt picked his bat back up, and Aaron grabbed a wooden plank.
"Can we go, now?" demanded Brad. "Dr. Barnaby could leave any minute now."
"Wait!" gasped Arthur. "There's a woman in that jewelry store."
"For the love of Pete!" roared Brad. He turned to Frank. "You guys go ahead to the Entrance Plaza, I'll get the girl."
Frank nodded, and the group went to the Entrance Plaza doors. Just like with the Food Court, the doors were crowded by zombies trying to figure out how to get the doors open.
"We'd better clear them out," he told his group. "Any ideas?"
"We could distract them," said Arthur. "It worked when I tried to get into the Food Court."
"That won't work," whispered Megan. "There's nowhere for them to go except to us. We have to kill them."
"Hold up," said Burt. "I've got an idea." He ran to the fountain in the center of the plaza and jumped in. He reached around on his knees until he came back up with a small gun.
"What is that?" gasped Aaron. "A submachine gun?"
"Yeah," said Burt, "I was part of a gang before I made the others mad. One of the things we did, in case of a gang war, was we hid weapons around the mall. That way we could kill any opposition who came into our territory."
"You told me about that," Megan said to Arthur, turning to him. "How did you know?"
Arthur just stared at the zombies ahead of them. Finally he said, "I also used to be part of the Parkview Gang. Before I met you, my life was pretty messed up. My dad died and my mom didn't want me, anymore. I was placed in a foster home, but my new parents only adopted me for the government payment. So I used to run away a lot and I found the Parkview Gang. They offered companionship and a family."
He stopped here to look into Megan's face. Her eyes were wide and her mouth was open. She had unconsciously formed a fist with her right hand and placed it on her chest.
"But I got in trouble with the cops and my foster parents threatened to send me back to the orphanage, and I didn't want to go back there. So I quit the Parkview Gang and tried to turn my life around."
Megan gulped back an alien substance in her throat. It tasted strongly, like vomit. "Why didn't you ever tell me?" she asked quietly.
"I didn't want you to think I was some street hood," he told her.
"I would never judge you," she said slowly. She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "You never have to worry about me."
"I know," he said. "Let's go save your father."
Brad showed up then, with a woman on his back. Her short brown hair was held out of her face with a pink headband and her leg was bandaged.
"Her leg was bitten," said Brad. "She should be okay."
"What's your name, Miss?" asked Frank.
"L-Leah," she gulped.
"Let's keep moving," demanded Burt. "I want to get to this safe place."
Suddenly, the bell tower struck seven o'clock. The last rays of red sunlight sank back behind the Willamette Parkview Mall. The heat of the day was suddenly gone, and icy cold rushed in to fill its place. The zombies crowding the door, and the others scattered across the plaza, stopped shuffling aimlessly and turned to the survivors. Their eyes were glowing red, and their bodies were stable.
"This doesn't look good," whimpered Aaron.
"They're smarter," said Frank. A zombie suddenly shrieked into the air and charged at them. Brad shot it down, but not before it had covered a lot of distance. "And faster."
"We've got to get inside that building!" shouted Brad.
Burt opened fire on the much more savage zombies, and they all rushed into the Entrance Plaza. Brad walked forward and opened the gates with his security card. Everyone continued down the dark plaza until they saw some movement inside the bookstore. The gates were still down over the store, and Dr. Barnaby was inside.
"Sir," called Brad, "we need you to come with us!"
"I'm not going with anyone!" Dr. Barnaby shouted back. "Not as long as there're these zombies everywhere!"
"If we get the zombies out of here," reasoned Brad, "will you come with us?"
"I'll do whatever you want with me?" said Dr. Barnaby. "But I'm not coming out until you do, and especially not at night. That's when they're strongest."
"How did you know that?" asked Frank. "How do you know so much about these zombies?"
Dr. Barnaby scowled and looked away. "I've got nothing to say to you."
"That's it, everyone," sighed Brad. "There's nothing we can do, now. Frank, you and I will come back tomorrow once everyone is safe."
"Okay," said Frank. "Let's go back, everyone."
"No," said Megan, "we haven't found my father, yet."
"We're not going to do anything about that at night," said Brad. "It's a long way back to the security room and we need to go before zombies can get us."
"Speaking of zombies," said Burt, "why do you think they're hanging out around that store, up there?"
Everyone looked up. There were a dozen zombies prowling around a shoe store on the second floor. "I bet there's someone up there," said Arthur.
And there was. Frank and Arthur went up, killed the zombies, and found a large man behind a stack of boxes. They lowered them, and the man fell out.
"Thank God someone finally came!" he cried. "I've been up here since last night. I was stacking the last of these products and the whole closet fell on me. I didn't think it would be a holiday, so why didn't anyone come sooner?"
"Well, you see," said Frank, "we're in a bit of a zombie problem."
"Zombies!?" coughed the fat man. "That's terrible."
"Don't worry," said Frank. "I can take you to the security room where you can wait for a helicopter."
"Cool," said Bill. "Just lead the way."
While Frank was leading the way, Megan and Arthur slipped away from the group. It wasn't until they were back at the security room until Brad noticed they were gone.