While they ran, Ben explained the situation to the rest of the survivors.
" I saw at least five of the strong infected coming through the door of the mall- we have got to make it to the roof ASAP." He said, looking over his shoulder.
Gabe aimed his rifle around a corner, picking off five infected. "Alright guys, we need to find a map of this place. Any ideas?"
Ed looked into a candle shop, shooting the infected in it. He narrowly missed destroying the computer that was on the desk.
Computer, he thought. "Guy's, I have an idea. Aren't all of the computers in these stores required to have a map of the mall? You know, for fire safety and stuff like that."
Alex looked at him- that was probably the most helpful thing he had said all day. "I think the kid's right, lets go into this candle shop and look through the computer."
Ben nodded. "Alright, but we've gotta make it quick, we have a bunch of infected on our asses."
Ed ran to the computer, searching over the desktop for anything that might resemble a map.
Gabe looked at him, thinking. "Alright guys, we've gotta buy him some time. Ben cover the door with me. Old man, watch the emergency exit.."
Alex looked at him, as he moved into position. "My name is Alex, and I am not old. I am forty-five."
Gabe looked at him. "Whatever. I'm Gabe, and this is Ben."
"My name's Ed." Ed piped up.
Alex looked at him. "Get back to work, we've gotta get out of here quick. Anybody got the time?"
Ed looked at the bottom right of the computer. "Its 10:53, we have about an hour." As he searched through the computer's files, he heard a loud screech.
Ben looked through the shop's window. "We've got two Lemurs, a frog, and a bull."
Alex looked at him, a puzzled look on his face. "The pouncing ones." As he said this, a bull charged through the emergency exit, taking Alex with him out of the shop, into the open.
Gabe began shooting the Frog, those things could get annoying. It took him an entire clip- that bastard was pretty far. Hearing a puff of smoke, he was satisfied that he had killed it and turned to help Alex. The Bull was repeatedly picking him up and smashing him into the ground.
Ben looked on the ground, seeing Alex's rifle laying on the ground. He picked it up, shooting the Bull in its back.
All Alex could see was that the Bulls chest was exploded outwards, but that was all he needed. He began to crawl away, pulling out his combat knife in case one of the lemurs got close. Satisfied with his position behind a fountain, he began to call out positions to Ben and Gabe.
" Gabe, the other Bull is coming from behind you!" he yelled out.
Gabe turned around, shooting the Bull as it charged at him. It stumbled forward, trying to at least punch him before it died. He shot it once more, and with a grunt it fell over, dead at last.
Ben threw Alex his sniper, pulling out his Colts. He scanned the roof of the mall- there were many hanging lights the lemurs could be hanging on.
Just then, Ed yelled out " I found it! I'm printing it, it should be done in a bit it's a pretty big map. Timer says thirty sec- OOF! " As he was finishing his sentence, one of the lemurs pounced him. It started to attack him, but he managed to hold it back with his shotgun. "Guys, shoot this thing off of me!"
Ben ran over, unloading his left pistol on the lemur. It fell over dead, and Ed got up.
"Alright it's done, I'm getting the map. Gabe, you've got to help out Alex." Ed said.
Gabe nodded, grabbing Alex's arm and pulling him upwards. "You alright?" He asked.
Alex looked himself over "Just a few bruises." He replied.
Ed went through the emergency exit, revealing a long hallway that went behind all of the stores.
"What is this place?" Ben asked.
"It's where you're supposed to go in case of a fire." Gabe replied.
"Alright, apparently if we head all the way down this hallway there will be stairs leading to the roof. Let's get going, I can't wait to be safe." Ed said, looking over the map.
They proceeded moving down the hall, until they heard gurgling.
"Damn it, not one of those again." Ed complained.
"One of what's?" Ben asked.
"They're fat infected that explode when shot, and they shower you in a bile. The infected run to it like a fat kid runs to cake." Ed replied.
"Oh, well what do you guys call them?" Ben asked, checking their rear.
"How 'bout whales?" Alex said.
Ed nodded, and they continued towards the staircase, which happened to be where the gurgling was coming from. He looked up, only to be vomited on by a Whale. He looked up and shot the infected with his shotgun. "Fucker," he added, wiping away the bile from his eyes and mouth, "didn't know they like to up-chuck on you too."
They looked down the hallway- a horde the likes they had never seen was rushing them. It included the rest of the special infected they had not yet killed- two lemurs, two Whales, a midget, and a frog. Instantly, Alex shot one of the Whales, making the infected round it scatter from the explosion.
Gabe looked over the horde, "That bought us some time but we've gotta move if we want to make it. Anyone got the time?"
Ben looked at his wristwatch, a panicked look coming over his face. "We only have five minutes!"
The group climbed the stairs, shooting the infected that got close. They busted through the door to the roof, and saw a group of survivors, about seven, getting into a modified bus.
" Wait for us!" Gabe yelled, as they tore across the roof towards the bus. The last man getting onto the bus looked at them, and looked past them at the horde following them. With a look of panic in his eyes, he shut the door of the bus, and it started moving towards a makeshift ramp that the survivors had probably made just that morning. It drove down it on to the road, its horn blaring, trying to attract all the infected in the area.
"Those sons of bitches!" Alex yelled, "They're attracting the horde to us so they'll have an easy ride out of here!
A look of defeat washed over Ed's face.
Alex looked at him, his face full of confidence. "Don't worry, we're not dead yet."
