A/N: Wow, chapter 10 already! I always knew I'd get this far until I actually typed up my first chapter and posted it. Then my "hiatus" where I totally forgot it and never thought it would get done. Then I started to write again and now here we are. I'd love some reviews. Still a little... starved of attention on my end. But I shouldn't be demanding.
My eyes opened slowly to darkness. I began to get up only to touch a cold liquid on the floor. My hand shot back to my side and I stood up. My left hand groped in the darkness for some sort of familiarity and I was rewarded with the plastic door of a bathroom stall. The events of yesterday ran through my head as a clear picture of our situation came to. We were in a dank bathroom in a massive sports complex next to a once-busy highway parallel to one of the busiest train lines in the country and across that was a massive shopping center.
I maneuvered to the door, bumping into a sink on the way. I felt around for a switch and turned it on. Damn, no power. I flicked the switch a few more times until I succumbed to logic. I opened the bathroom door to a brightly lit room with linoleum floors. A smell of blood and flesh assaulted my senses. I heard a loud groan behind me. I turned to see Mark staring at me from the floor, giving me the finger before he got up and reached for his bag. He stumbled around a bit with the sudden addition of 20 pounds and kicked over a lantern effectively waking up Kevin and Dannie.
A light breakfast of chips and water peppered with insults to me for waking Mark up and to Mark for waking everyone else up. Soon we were packed up and ready to go downstairs before I remembered the banging last night.
"Hey wait. Weren't we under siege by the undead before we went to sleep?" We exchanged worried glances for a few seconds. "I'll check the situation outside. You guys go downstairs."
They shuffled down the stairs as I stood by the window. I always took high ground when we were in danger. Whether the library, radio station, or here. But I sure as HELL wont be jumping off of this. I couldn't see too many zombies. Only a handful by a burnt car, a lone zombie banging on a wall, and the massive horde in front of the mall. All clear-ish. I didn't hear any shooting so I thought that no zombies got in. But when I turned the corner at the base if the stairs there were four dead zombies each with either a knife wound in their heads or said head virtually obliterated.
"Is it safe? Can we go?" Mark inquired.
"Yeah, lets move. To the mall right?" I was genuinely excited about this. People, actual people surviving in a mall. It's like Dawn of the Dead or something!
"Sure. Lets see if we can make contact with them before we go barging in, alright?" Kevin said. Being a smart ass again.
One door had been broken down at the entrance and not wanting to attract more undead we took another door, avoiding the broken glass. The zombies from around the car looked our way and began to stumble over. The zombie against the wall hadn't taken notice until one of them let out a moan. I raised my rifle but Dannie protested.
"No! If you shoot, then the massive crowd just across the street will hear us. You wanna fight them?"
"Alright. Get your knives." I ordered.
We then began the arduous and dangerous task of dispatching the undead by hand. Many squishy noises and one too many close calls later we were alone. We moved up to the train tracks again and sat down on the rails, thinking of ways to contact the people in the mall.
"Well, if we want to get their attention we should make loud noises." I suggested.
"And attract a massive horde of zombies. We need to use light or something. A mirror or piece of glass..." Kevin interjected.
"I have an idea. Break a piece of glass off that train and climb up to the roof. Then we can do both!" Mark hit a home-run. Standing on the train meant the undead couldn't get us.
Kevin smashed one of the windows on the dead train and climbed in with Dannie. Me and Mark made headway on climbing up the train. Soon, Kevin returned with an armful of mirror shards from the bathroom and Dannie with two beauty kits. After climbing up she opened one and found a clam shell mirror and the other held only more makeup. Like beauty was a thing to worry about here. The wind was strong this morning but we had a picturesque view of the horizon. Smoke to the west, and clouds to the east.
I stood near the edge of the roof. "Are we ready? Kevin and Dannie, you got the mirrors set up?" They nodded in reply. Each had an array of mirrors in their laps and hands. "Mark, come here. I'm gonna need help to make us known."
Kevin and Dannie began to aim the mirrors to reflect sunlight at the sentries on the roof. One of them cringed and looked our way. Time to shine. "HEY! OVER HERE! HELP!" I screamed as loud as I could. I felt my voice crack a bit near the end and coughed.
"LOOK OVER HERE! WE NEED HELP!" Mark continued our debacle. The sentry that cringed sprinted to his friends and pointed in our direction. "GODDAMNIT WE NEED HELP HERE!"
"COME HERE! HELP US!" The zombies crowded around the mall began to disperse and head in our direction. It looked like over three hundred zombies began to shuffle over. I could see many more guys appear on the ridge of the mall and walk briskly back and forth. Many were dressed in everyday clothing. Some had on large jackets and one had a business suit on. "Alright Mark, I think we got their attention."
I looked for a sign of activity from the mall but couldn't see anything other than the zombies coming closer. At least we were safe on top of this roof. I turned to the group. Kevin and Dannie were hugging and Mark was laughing. I couldn't help but start to laugh, too. Soon, we were all laughing. We were saved! Not by the military or some official government or something but damnit it was close enough!
About ten to twenty zombies found their way to the tracks but even that couldn't ruin our moment of ecstasy. The screeching of tires emanated from the building as a big truck rounded the corner, taking out a few zombies. It drove onto the street and came to rest under the edge of the train bridge. The zombies had swarmed the truck in a matter of seconds as we juggled the possibilities.
"Jump down to the tracks, possibly break a bone and get bitten. Or rot to death up here. Yeah, I'm jumping." Kevin declared.
"Fine, lets all jump. No other choice really." Mark replied.
First Dannie, then Mark, me, then finally Kevin fell off of the train. The fall wasn't as hard as I thought. Maybe I lost weight running around and barely eating. The number of zombie on the tracks doubled to forty, eighty, and soon we had over a hundred zombies up here with us. The bad thing though was that the truck was in the same direction as the zombies.
"Fucking hell. Looks like we gotta run this thing." I said with as much disdain as I could.
The run wasn't far but it sure as hell was stressful. Running into a crowd of zombies to reach salvation. I thought this only happened in over-the-top action movies. Nope, it was happening now. There was at least ten feet between us and the zombie horde when we reached the truck.
"JUMP!" I shouted. Mark hopped the short fence and landed with a loud thud on the truck. Kevin was next. He literally lept over it and rolled as he landed on the truck. I looked at Dannie and she scrambled over the fence and onto the other side. She gripped the wall a second before dropping. A zombie fell at my feet and I scrambled over the fence and landed on the truck.
"I'll give that a 6. That's the best I can do." Kevin was having a field day with the snappy attitude today.
The truck lurched forward and headed back to the mall. I gripped the side as hard as I could as my hands slicked with sweat. I was on a moving truck swimming through a massive horde of zombies. The truck took a sharp left in to the parking lot. I heard a yelp followed by a thud. Panic-stricken I looked back to see Dannie on the ground. "DANNIE!"
Mark and Kevin looked back as Dannie jumped up and began to jog our way. Was she invincible or something? I slammed on the truck's cab to get it to stop. The driver slowed down to a halt in a fairly empty part of the parking lot. Dannie began to sprint towards us a the truck slowed to a stop and grabbed onto the side. "Grab my hand!" I shouted.
"Trying!" she replied. Her hand shot up and latched onto mine as the zombies came to the truck. Damn, they could be fast when they wanted to. A zombie's finger caught her shoelace and jerked her back a bit. She was mostly on the truck when her shoe came off and she was launched on top of me.
She rolled over and onto the truck, breathing so heavily I thought her lungs would explode. The adrenaline wore off as the truck pulled around the mall and into a loading bay. The driver, a balding man dressed in a polo and tan slacks around the age of forty or so, hopped out of the truck and banged on the large corrugated steel door. It slid up and a woman in her twenties wearing a lot-cut top and tight jeans motioned for us to come in. We dropped from the truck and ducked through the opening and into the store.
Inside were boxes up to the ceiling on metal shelves. A forklift sat to one corner and a set of double doors to another corner. Sears logos covered everything. Literally everything read Sears and was colored in their color scheme. The man came over to Mark and whispered something after shaking his hand. The woman looked at us and then to the doors, some emotion was on her face. Too little for me to read. After a short minute of standing around, staring, and glancing the man finally spoke.
"Hi. I'm Jason. Welcome to the Sanctuary."
A/N: And that's chapter 10. It would've been longer, rest assured, but I thought anything after Jasons line would ruin what little grandeur I pulled together no matter how corny his line was. Well, seeya in another week!