Act 1
Chapter 7
Ideally the plan was as simple as exiting the building and getting to Tommy's car. Unfortunately all the main exits were in chaos or blocked off, hell the entire Mall was in chaos. The screams of the infected and their prey rang out as loud as the bullets penetrating their skulls, so their plan had to become a bit more complicated.
Learning the ins and outs of the Mall was something James had accidently done during his working time at Fortress PC. He knew every single door and where it led so finding an exit that was relatively close was not a hard task. Actually, there was one that connected directly with Fortress PC.
On the west side of the Mall was a small facility that was used for the shipping and unloading dock and in the back room of Fortress PC was a door that led directly to it. James had used it to sneak out late, after the mall had already closed, to run a few gaming tournaments or to just escape from his life. It was chosen to be their means of escaping the 'quarantine' that was happening at the Mall.
Very quickly the four exited out of the Fortress PC back entrance into the large and spacey unloading bay. There were several towering stacks of fully loaded boxes and even a trailer or two that had previously been emptied out filling the normally empty space, meaning that, when the infection hit, there had been a lot of angry people in comfortable clothes unloading and distributing merchandise.
Entirely on edge the group of survivors, following one behind the other, navigated the maze the boxes had created until they reached one of the large bay doors. It was similar to a garage door in the way it was lifted up onto the roof with the simple press of a button. That would be their key to the outside world, a world they weren't entirely sure they wanted to see. It was a world completely unlike the one they were born into.
Young and restless could have been the only way to describe the looks of eagerness each one of them wore. Coleen was eager to find her parents and her thin eyebrows, sitting delicately above her shining blue eyes, showed it. Tanya was almost identical in her look except her eyes shown green through her sweat stained brown hair.
Only James could hide his eagerness behind his brown eyes and thin scruffy face. Tommy was probably the worst of them all. He stood behind James; knee's quaking, continually brushing his sandy blonde hair from his face. There were beads of sweat running slowly down his face and he counted them as they went.
Usually in these kinds of situations there would be some sort of moral countdown before one of them actually pressed the shiny red button that would lift the door, but James wanted it done before the infected spotted them. So he hit the button with his hairy hand and turned to shout some 'orders' before the door even began its noisy ascent.
Coleen, being the smallest in relative weight, would go first, sliding under the large steel door as soon as her stomach would allow. She had the keys and a generalization of where the car was setting in the parking lot, so she would try to get it unlocked and located before the others had slid under into this new world. She was nervous; the entire thing seemed to be riding on her bony shoulders.
Obviously, James would follow next using the small pistol to aid Coleen as best as he could. He was in no way a great shot but he had been partially trained at a police academy so he was the best qualified. Then Tanya would slide under to join James and try to catch up with Coleen, whom would hopefully be halfway to the car by then.
Last would be Tommy. He was a bulky guy for the most part, but two years of jogging every morning and eating less than sufficient meals had left him with a body that he could make go pretty fast when needed. He was in no way the fastest guy out there but he was at least the second fastest of this small group, maybe even the fastest depending on if James was wearing his huge brown boots or not (which he was). James trusted he could get to the car safely.
Earlier on, during the period of time when Coleen and Tommy were sitting and eating Coleen had slipped a napkin in her pocket thinking that she might need it later on. Well now she did, her hands were sweaty and she didn't even want to risk dropping the keys at any point in time after she was outside. She slipped the napkin out and dried her hands, reassuring herself that she would make it.
Embracing the cold cement floor Coleen shimmied her tiny body into the surprisingly warm outside air. The sun was out and it took her a moment to adjust to the sudden brightness before she stood and looked around at the parking lot. There were several people, infected of course, running across it towards the mall, or some were even running away from it. She began to panic.
Nearly hugging the edge of the parking lot that connected to Route 1, sitting at the bottom of the rolling green hill, was Tommy's car. She cursed at him silently as she began running, remembering how he always seems to park as far away as possible. The keys were gripped tightly in her right hand as her entire body bobbed up and down to the beat of her feet. She heard yelps from living people and previously living people and she herself let out a scream or six.
James quickly dropped to his stomach and crawled his way out of the cold unloading bay. Tanya gave Tommy a fretful glance before doing the same. Tommy was a little paralyzed with what they were doing, but he was able to bring himself to the ground and out into the sunny Danville morning.
The gun went off once and Coleen let out a scream as one of the infected that had began to dart towards her dropped to the ground missing its head. She began feeling around for the 'unlock' button on the keys when she knew she was close enough for it to work and that's when she screwed up. A piercing alarm rang out from the green mustang as she accidently pressed the 'panic' button which is stupidly placed beside the 'unlock' one.
Needless to say that drew the attention of the undead horde that was forming in and around the Danville Mall. Their combined roars blotted out the alarm and each one of the survivors began to run faster, hoping that this wasn't the end. It couldn't be the end; they weren't going to let it be.
Tanya ran past Coleen, who had all but stopped in her tracks, screaming at the top of her lungs for Coleen to get her ass moving. James followed close behind shooting one or two more of the infected as he went. Coleen still hadn't budged. She felt an overwhelming sense of failure and guilt; she honestly hopped that someone would pick her up and eat her slowly.
Someone did pick her up, but it wasn't a blood thirsty undead beast and this someone didn't plan on eating her. Tommy, who was catching up to James at the time, didn't even stop. His arms wrapped around her and lifted her up as he kept going like she wasn't even there. He even took the keys from her still sweaty hands and re-hit the panic button to shut off the whiny alarm. Of course it was too late to alter the path of the zombies, but it did relieve their ears slightly.
Coleen was half crying half screaming about how sorry she was but Tommy couldn't even begin to try and listen over the sounds of hate behind him. He was running as fast as he could and that didn't seem to be enough compared to the speeds some of the blood thirsty monsters were running. Luckily James still had a few bullets left and he dispensed them into the closest ones allowing Tommy to reach the car safely with Coleen in his arms.
Tommy basically tossed her into the backseat before hopping in himself, pulling down the driver's seat to allow James to get in and start up the car. It roared to life, raising the four survivor's spirits slightly, and James slammed it into reverse.
The infected hoard began to converge on the car, hitting the windows and just thrashing about hoping to stop the green car from escaping their grasps. James, with Tommy and Tanya screaming in his ear and Coleen trying to apologize for the now silenced alarm, shoved his foot onto the gas pedal which shot the car backwards through a mess of blood and gore.
"Buckle up for safety mother fuckers!" James yelled with a hint of glee in his voice before putting the car in drive and heading for the exit, dodging cars and hitting infected as he went. Tanya was all but screaming, Tommy was doing pretty much the exact same and after realizing that her apologies were going unheard Coleen joined in. It was the closest thing to fun that they could manage.
Exiting the parking lot was as simple as smashing through a small barricade and landing safely on the road on the other side. The car skidded sideways as James aimed it east, away from the city and towards the sparsely populated country side. Maybe there they could get some gas before the needle, which was already on E, stopped the car in its tracks.
