A/N: Chapter 11 here just for you, my adoring mute fans.
"The Sanctuary?" I asked. It sounded like the corniest thing to name a... well, sanctuary.
"Yes, the Sanctuary." Jason replied. He began to walk to the door. "Come on. I'm sure your famished."
The woman looked at us one last time before heading over to Dave and through the door. We soon followed. We're not even hungry, I thought. We stepped into a back aisle of Sears lined with all sorts of paraphernalia for wood cutting, shaving, and grinding. The entire store smelt of rubber with a coppery scent in the background. Jason lead us through more aisles until we came to an open hallway. I was stunned when I realized the lights were on. Full and bright.
"Do we get a big bag of candy at the end of this tour?" Kevin asked, obviously trying to stir the pot.
"Jesus, Kevin. Not even five minutes in and you're already antagonizing people." Mark starts before he's cut off by Jason, "Try to keep your mouth closed for-"
"No, no. It's okay. I understand why he's skeptical of this. I mean, Hell, even I was. Everyone was!" Without another word we moved closer to the main mall. I could hear echoes shuffling feet, nailing boards, and boxes being moved around. Turning a corner I saw the off-white color scheme of the mall I remember. The Koi pond that adorned the area immediately in front of the Sears on the ground level was dry, even the fish were gone. We continued farther inwards past the food court which had a group of determined people boarding up the main entrance. Then we descended a flight of steps. Here Jason began to talk.
"About a week ago, when this whole thing started, the mall was all locked up. No one in or out. I guess they were renovating or something because of all the tools lying around. So a group of survivors, not unlike yourselves, found a way into the mall. After camping out in the back rooms they finally got the nerve to return to the main mall. And guess what."
"What." The group said in varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"There weren't any zombies."
"NO." Kevin shouted in mock surprise. Everyone glared at him except for the woman, still following us, and Jason, who shook off his sarcastic comment. We continued to the main atrium of the mall. There, a man dressed in a business suit was standing on top of the Starbucks shack in front of the glass elevator shaft and giving orders along the lines of "Over there!" and "Put that back there!"
Wooden crates and cardboard boxes lined the atrium with breaks allowing for people to be moved about. The man continued to scream orders before Jason shouted.
"Hey Will! We got some survivors!" The man looked our way and his eyes lit up. He hopped onto a crate and down to the floor and jogged over. He was an average man in what must've been his 50's. He had gray balding hair and wore a fine blue pinstripe suit with a red tie. Professional was an understatement.
"Hello, my name's William Henshaw. I see you already met Jason and Lydia. Well, enough chit chat, let's get you settled in." He leads us to the Macy's which has been transformed into a barracks or designated living space or something. Even after a week it still stunk if perfume. Along the aisles were empty sleeping bags, cots of all sizes and collections of clothing and old plates of food. Further along the crème colored tile floor were even more crates.
"What's with the crates?" I ask. Will turns around without missing a step continuing backwards.
"No idea. Maybe they were setting up some sort of holiday thing, fashion show, big promotional thing. I don't know." He turned back around and made a beeline for a relatively empty part of the store. A nice corner lined with shelves of polo shirts and a big poster of a white guy with blonde hair and blue eyes giving a laughing smile stared down at us.
"Can we get rid of the poster? It's kinda... I don't know." I begin.
"It's fucking creepy. I don't want some fake-ass model watching me sleep." Kevin always being the bright one.
"Oh sure. Just try not to make a mess. We need this place to last after all!" At that Will strolled back to the mall and out of sight.
I sat on a shelf and looked at our group. Mark, tall with slightly lighter brown hair than the first time we met, wearing the red polo and tan slacks from the first day we met at the library. Kevin, slightly shorter with a shaved head and beard stubble, in a slightly blood-splattered dress shirt with a red tie hanging limply around his neck with black slacks with dress shoes still shining brightly. Dannie with her dark hair hanging at shoulder length behind her in the leather jacket she always wore and jeans that always seemed too tight finished with an ironic T-shirt underneath. And finally me. Thick brown hair parted to the sides, complete with wings that made me look like an idiot, plain black hoodie with blood speckled on the front, blue jeans stained with blood and other liquids I don't dare contemplate what they are, and a pair of sneakers that won't just die.
"Well guys," I begin as I sit up, "Looks like we found a home."
Things were pretty rocky at first. People went into stores and grabbed whatever they wanted and brought it back to their "living space". Total anarchy when more than two people wanted the same thing. Plus the lack of a major source of food. There wasn't a supermarket around, just fast food stations. But things stagnated to a simple routine for mostly everybody. Kevin would wake up around sunrise and play soldier on the roof with the other sentries, sometimes he would take nights, Dannie would help organize and distribute supplies according to how much work was done, Mark and Jason were busy converting stores into living spaces, and I was left to help Will with running the place.
I was surprised he wanted a 15 year old to be his right-hand man at first, but I guess it was expected. One day he caught me looking through games at GameStop and struck up a conversation about games. He never played but he had a grandson who did. He asked me about some big titles and I filled him in on who made it and the general plot and timeline of events. Soon we drifted to simulation and tycoon games. I bragged about how many times I lead a successful city or company in markets ranging from trains to construction. So even though video games were far from reality and there was no real business sense required he drafted me in to the Sanctuary's higher management. With such a prestigious placement I earned a few extra pillows and access to the semi-off limits areas like the roof and maintenance hallways.
Of course I didn't do anything substantial. I just ordered a few people around and advised Will on things. Like how the barricades in Sears were getting wobbly or more smoke coming from the west. But aside from the conditions outside the mall, things were very cozy inside. On Easter the 60-something people that managed to get to the mall over the last few weeks, including Mark, Dannie, and I, sat around a crude collection of food court tables and ate a wide variety of junk food from various stores and 'express' fast food places in lieu of a real Easter feast. Kevin was on guard duty again and didn't want to celebrate anyways. We spent the evening eating and remembering loved ones. Around this time my mom would drive me and my little brother to Grandma's house and we would run around and play games with our cousins. Maybe play Trivial Pursuit with my aunts and uncles. I always had so much fun.
A few nights later Kevin woke us up. He began to shake me and checked my face to make sure I was awake, then darted to Dannie to wake her up. Mark was stirring at the commotion and asked what on Earth Kevin was doing.
"There's people," he said vaguely. He turned around to face us as Dannie stood up from her pile of pillows, "I'm not shitting you like all those other times. There are people outside!"
"People. You mean like good people? I mean, like survivors or whatever?" I managed to slur out. I was never a morning person. Much less a middle-of-the-fucking-night person. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my glasses from a shelf and began to meticulously clean them on my shirt. It was a new shirt I picked up that had a dirty orange lambda on it. Old habits die hard.
"No. People with guns."
"The military? 'Bout fucking time!" Mark exclaimed.
"No, not the military. Far from the military. These guys showed up a few times before in the distance, never thought much. But now they set up a camp on a building across the highway and they seem hostile. They got people tied up and I saw one of them toss a kid over the edge and... and..." Kevin started to whimper a bit. I've never seen him even break under any sort of stress. I guess children are his weak spot.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. I'm sure you were just seeing things-" Dannie consoled until Kevin cut her off.
"I AM NOT FUCKING SEEING THINGS! THEY THREW HIM OVER THE FUCKING LEDGE," Kevin took a breath and released a long, harrowing sigh. Some people began to wake up due to his outburst, "And... and the zombies got him. I watched as they tore him apart... Tore him as he screamed for his mother. Then... then a woman on the roof began to squirm and tumble around. And this big guy, he just casually walked over and shot her. They... they just fucking shot her!" By now Kevin could barely contain himself at this point as he fell into Dannie's pile of pillows weeping.
"Jesus, what fucking animals..." I say in astonishment.
"Well, we need to do something," Mark started, "I say we go to the roof and scout out these guys. Maybe there was a misund-" Mark stopped as Kevin stopped sobbing, about to scream at him for doubting the validity of his story, "Maybe we should just go to the roof and see for ourselves."
I donned my black hoodie, Dannie her jacket, and Mark a light winter jacket and we headed into the maintenance section where the roof access was. It opened with a creak and I was assaulted by a cold gust of air. Even in mid-April it was still freezing at night. It was dark but I could see a few gunmen around the roof but they were converged in a semicircle discussing something. I heard a few scattered words about "murdering psychopaths" and "poor child". Maybe Kevin wasn't lying this time.
One of the guards turned and came up to us. "Civilians aren't allowed on the roof." He said sternly.
"I'm Will's second-in-command. I think I have access, as do my friends." I said, arrogance on the tip of my tongue.
"You could be the President it wouldn't matter. Get outta-" He was cut off as Will interjects in to the conversation.
"Sean. What on Earth are you doing here?"
"Well, I'm here because Kevin woke me up screaming about a case of murder and infanticide. A bunch of guys on a roof of a building across the highway, if I'm not mistaken."
He sighs, "Yes, actually. Well, since you know this much you and your friends can stay. But don't interfere." He walks back to the semicircle of men and the chattering continues. The guard gives me a revolting sneer and follows Will. We set off for the edge of the mall facing the highway and catch glimpse of a small light on the other side of a sea of cars and zombies. There's a pair of binoculars and Mark grabs them before I can.
"Holy shit. He wasn't lying." Mark hands me the binoculars and I peer through them at the light. I see a group of men dressed in biker gear or punk or something sleeping in bags on the roof of an Olive Garden. Below lies a crowd of zombies feasting on two dark lumps on the ground. I can just make out an arm as Dannie pokes my ribs.
"Let me see." she demands. I give her the binoculars and wait for the situation to hit her. "Oh, oh my god..." And it hit hard. Dannie begins to cough and puts the binoculars down. We sit down on a vent and wrap our minds around what we just saw. Kevin comes up after what feels like seconds saying it's been over an hour and he got worried.
"Oh, okay then. I'm still tired, yeah." I rub my lower back a pinch as I stand. Dannie and Mark walk back down the stairs in silence. I continue to stand next to Kevin. "So, what do we do?" I ask.
Kevin looks at me, then looks back at the camp. He sighs long and hard and turns to me. "We can't do anything. Not a damn thing." He sits down, defeated. I shrug and walk back to the stairs when Will stops me.
"Listen, don't make a big deal out of this. I don't want to worry anyone."
"Alright. I see what you mean." I feel the weight of my eyelids as I head down corridor after corridor. Soon I get lost. No map, you're fucking kidding me. I find a small room off to the end of a hallway. Am I underground? It's full of crates. More crates. Whoopee. I sit on one crate labeled with JC Penney's logos and designer labels. The room absolutely reeked of perfume. It didn't matter to barely conscious me, I lied back and closed my eyes. When you're tired enough, anything's a bed. I think to myself as I fall into a fitful sleep plagued with zombies, death, sorrow, and a deeper meaning I just cant find.
A/N: And so ends chapter 11. Big thanks go out to SC Girl for reviewing! It's nice getting a review once in a while. Anywho, something big is happening. Something so big I haven't even thought it out entirely yet. And yeah yeah, I missed the update by 34 minutes...
