Disclaimer: I do not own the 2004 or 1978 film Dawn of the Dead; I own Angela and any other unfamiliar characters. WARNING! Rated T for violence, death, gory scenes, and any other adult content.

Chapter Eleven

Natural light from the early morning sun flooded through the windows of the mall. Despite the howls and moans from the ever-growing crowd of undead from outside, the mall was silent, almost peaceful. With the quietness, grief also loomed in the air, sadness chilling deep in everyone's bones.

Four bodies were laid out on the floor, directly in front of the fountain; Norma, Andre, Luda, and the baby. Terry and Ana flicked a grey sheet into the air before gently laying it over the bodies, covering them all. The group was quiet as they watched the sheet still on the bodies, Angela shivering slightly.

A large hand caressed her shoulder tenderly. Her eyes glanced up to meet C.J's, who sat on a chair borrowed from Hallowed Grounds. Angela sat at his feet on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket as her back rested against his legs and her head was on his lap, barely keeping her eyes open.

She was exhausted, to say the least, but everyone in the group was. No one had slept a wink throughout the night after the events of last night. No one could.

Adjusting the sheet, Terry sighed. "Someone should say something."

"Yeah." Ana agreed, staring at everyone.

"Glen?"

Glen shook his head. "No."

"You worked in the church." Ana stated, crossing her arms as she stood opposite them.

"I played the organ." He mumbled.

"C'mon, you must have heard the priest say something about life and death." C.J said, looking up at him.

"It was a job. I don't believe in God." Glen replied, walking away from the bodies. "I don't see how anyone could."

"Somebody should say something." Ana repeated Terry's words as the group fell silent again.

"There's nothin' to say." Kenneth stated, walking towards the bodies, doing the Sign of the Cross. "Been to a lot of funerals, folded the flag and given it to a lot of wives and fathers and kids. I told them how sorry I was, but that's not what I was really feeling. In the back of my mind, I was always saying 'better them than me'."

His voice broke slightly, but he took a deep breath and turned to face the group. "But I don't believe that now, because now I realise that there are some things worse than death, and one of them is sitting here waiting to die."

Eyes wet, he stared at the group. Ana, who had her eyes casted down on the bodies, looked Kenneth in the eye.

"I don't wanna' die here."

Michael, who had been silent and had his head down, suddenly peaked his head as he looked at Ana, Kenneth, then towards the group. "I saw a couple of busses in the garage. We could fix them up; we could reinforce them, then get us far from here as possible."

Angela stared at Michael, remembering when they had ventured into the garage, and he was right, there were two busses - big busses - with enough room to get the group out.

"Yeah, I saw them too." Angela said.

"And then what?" Tucker asked.

"Oh, I have an idea." Steve suddenly said, sarcasm dripping from his voice. "While we're at it, why don't we swing by the marina and hop in my boat and take it for a pleasure cruise, ya' jackasses!" He laughed as he refilled his coffee.

Angela rolled hey eyes at him while Monica sighed, scoffing at him.

"Wait a minute, that's a good idea." Ana said. "There's islands out in those lakes. There's not a lot of people on them."

"I was kidding." Steve mumbled.

Angela cocked a brow, looking over at Ana. "Ana, I hate being a Debbie-Downer, but that plan is damn near crazy, never mind unreliable."

Michael stood up from his chair, his eyes far away as he thought of a plan.

"How far is the marina?" He asked.

"My God!" Steve laughed, though his face dropped as he looked at Michael. "You're serious?"

"I think it's a damned good idea." Michael argued. "How 'bout the rest of you? Kenneth?"

To Angela's surprise, Kenneth agreed with the plan. She wouldn't think he would agree to it, because to Angela, it did seem a tad far-fetched. There was no hope in getting everyone's hopes up, just to squash them again.

"Yeah, it's a good idea." He said. "We have to pick up Andy; he's part of the group."

"Hold on, hadn't we better talk this through?" Angela questioned warily.

"What's there to talk about?" Michael asked. "We've got a plan right here."

"Excuse me, not to shit on anyone's riff here but let me see if I grasp this concept, okay?" C.J suddenly said, clearing his throat. "You're suggesting that we take some fucking parking shuttles and reinforce them with some aluminium siding, and then just head on over to the gun store, watch our good friend Andy play some cowboy movie 'jump-on-the-covered-wagon' bullshit. Then, we're gonna' drive across a ruined city through a welcome committee of a few hundred thousand dead cannibals, so that we can sail off into the sunset on this fuckin' assholes boat? And head for some island for all we know doesn't even exist?"

Everyone fell silent for a moment, all staring at each other. If not for the seriousness of the situation, Angela would laugh at what C.J had just said. It was far-fetched and very much crazy, but then again, what else did they have?

"Yeah." Kenneth replied to C.J's question.

"Pretty much, yeah." Tucker agreed.

Ana nodded, Michael coming to her side. "Yeah." He said.

"Okay." C.J leant back in his chair and nodded at Michael. "I'm in."

Angela's eyebrows raised as she glanced at C.J, before looking over at Michael, who stared back at her.

"Angela?" He asked.

A frown appeared on her face as her brows knitted together, thinking over the plan in her head, before looking up at C.J. "You're serious about this?"

He nodded his head, his hand rubbing her shoulder. Looking back at the group, Angela sighed quietly as her gazed dropped down to the bodies under the sheets. She didn't want to die, not like how they died. She didn't want to end up being a meal for the undead or lying under a sheet. All she wanted was safety and security and maybe this plan could give her that.

A mix between a sigh and a grunt left her lips as she raised her hands up. "Fine, I'm in."

As both Michael and Ana smiled, Steve laughed out loud, slapping the counter as he sipped his coffee. "You're all fucking crazy, you know that?"

"Well, have you got a better plan?" Ana snapped. "Besides sitting around and drinking?"

"Look, this is the only plan we got." Michael stated, before turning to the rest of the group. "What about the rest of you? Does anyone else have a better idea."

Everyone remained silent, shaking their heads in answer. Terry stepped forward, next to Ana.

"I'm in." He said.

"Me too." Nicole quickly said, standing next to Terry.

Michael nodded his head, turning towards Glen and Monica. "And you two?"

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Glen sighed. "Okay."

Monica, who lent against the counter at Hallowed Grounds, shrugged her shoulders. "Sure, what else have we got to lose?"

With confirmation from the group, Michael then turned to Steve, who shook his head in disbelief.

"Fine, okay, I'm in." He sighed, sipping his coffee. "But if I get fucking eaten by those things..."

Shaking his head, Michael crossed his arms as he leant against the edge of the fountain.

"So, it's settled." He smiled, before glancing at the bodies and sighing. "Listen, it's been a long and tough night for everyone. Maybe we should all get some sleep, at least for a few hours. Then tomorrow, we can start planning what we can do."

"What about..." Ana trailed off, also staring at the bodies.

"Kenneth and I will handle them." Michael said, looking over at Kenneth. "If you don't mind."

Nodding his head, Kenneth looked down at the bodies. "Yeah, sure."

Michael clapped his hands, rubbing them together as he stepped forward. "Okay, well, if you all want to rest up, then do so."

As the group started to disperse, Angela yawned loudly as she stretched her arms up. Standing up from his chair, C.J helped Angela as she stood up, pulling her up by her hand.

"What are you doing then?" He asked.

Wrapping the blanket around herself, Angela began to walk towards the bed store, C.J in tow. "Think I'm going to sleep for the morning; it's been one hell of a night."

"You could say that again." C.J mumbled as they entered the store.

Collapsing on her bed, Angela moaned as she crawled under the comfort of the blankets. C.J pushed the cushioned armchair next to Angela's bed, grabbing a thick blanket as he sat down.

Angela could feel her lids beginning to close as her head hit the pillow, but she forced them open, staring up at C.J.

"You know, you didn't have to come back here with me." Angela said.

"Well, where else could I go, back up to the cell?" He replied, causing Angela to chuckle. "Anyway, I don't think anyone else would want me, especially Terry."

"That's not true." Angela stated, frowning.

C.J snorted. "Please, after the way I acted."

"Yeah, but that's in the past now." Angela said, sitting up to lean on her elbow. "What happened is forgotten about now. You were a big help last night and you proved yourself how helpful and trustworthy you are. Everyone understands why you acted that way. True that you were an asshole, but the last time I checked, I don't think anyone took to the apocalypse very well. After last nights events, the only thing that matters now is everyone getting out here alive."

C.J sighed, leaning back into the chair. "Whatever you say, sweetheart."

Taking her weight off her elbow, Angela huffed as she turned on her back, staring up at the ceiling. Memories from the night flooded her mind and she sighed deeply.

"I'm sorry about Bart." She whispered, eyes still staring up. "I know he wasn't the smartest kid, but he didn't deserve to die, not like that."

After a moment of silence, Angela turned her head to face C.J, who stared into space with a blank expression. She wondered whether he even heard her, but then he looked at her, nodding his head.

"Thanks." He said. "I just wished I had put him out of his misery as he was being..."

As he trailed off, Angela brought her hand on his knee. "You can't dwell on that. It would have been over quickly, he's in a better place now."

"I guess you're right." He said, placing his hand on top of hers.

As C.J stroked her hand, the two sat in silence, but it was a comfortable silence, calming. Angela's eyelids began to droop, her head daring to fall against the pillow. Trying to keep awake, she tried sitting up, but a hand gently pushed her back down on the bed.

"You should get some sleep." C.J said. "God knows we're going to be fucking busy over the next few days."

Yawning widely, Angela drew her hands under her pillow as she closed her eyes, snuggling into the pillow. "Good point."

It didn't take long for Angela to drift off to sleep, as she blacked out in a matter of seconds, but knowing she had C.J by her side made her sleep easier. For the rest of the morning and afternoon, Angela slept, only waking up when C.J brought her and himself some dinner. The two talked for a couple of hours as they ate, relaxing in each other's company, until Angela fell asleep again, not waking up till the next morning.

After a refreshing shower and cooked breakfast, Angela felt much more energised as she joined the group at Hallowed Grounds. Michael had decided to call a group meeting to discus their plan in more depth. Angela sat around one of the round tables by Hallowed Grounds with C.J. On the table next to them sat Michael, Kenneth, and Ana, while the rest of the group congregated around them.

The group had already been planning for an hour, coming up with ideas on how to reinforce the buses. They had decided to strip the insides of the buses out entirely, getting rid of the chairs, and bulking up the sides of the buses with metal sheets and grates, using supplies from the various hardware stores to add more to them.

"So, we'll need at least twenty iron sheets, eight metal grates, twelve iron bars, around fifty feet of barbed wire, nails and screws, and wooden planks." Angela listed off, writing all the supplies on a notepad. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of." C.J mumbled, scratching his moustache.

"That's fine for now." Michael said. "We can add more later. Now we just need to organise food."

This time, Ana pulled out a notepad, flipping through it. "Well, if we just use the refrigerated and freezer food from now on, we will have sixty cans and forty packs of dry food. We'll also have five packs of bottled water. We don't have to take it all, but we will need a good part of it to last us on the boat."

"Good, so maybe we could fill, I don't know, two duffel bags of food?" Michael asked.

"We could put a bag each in both buses." Kenneth suggested.

Taking a sip of coffee, Steve chuckled. "Okay, this is all fine and dandy, but can I just ask the big main question? Once Andy does his little 'Indiana Jones' and jumps into one of the buses, how the hell are we supposed drive through the city down to the marina and get on my boat without getting eaten by those motherfuckers?"

Before Michael could interject, Terry stepped forward, clearing his throat.

"Actually, I think I can help with this." He said as he pulled out a map from his back pocket.

He unfolded the map, spreading it across the table. As Angela looked, she could see multiple red maker lines scribbled on it.

"I was looking over this last night and I've come up with a route that might work." He said as he pointed to a specific point on the map.

"This is us. Now, I thought if we take the main road here and drive straight into the city, those things will follow us." He explained.

"Um, I think that's the exact opposite of what we want." Steve commented.

"So," Terry continued, dragging his finger across the map. "We would then take this side road here."

"Along the construction site?" Ana asked.

"Yeah, because then, there's the road that was closed off. So if we take the short cut through there, we should begin to lose those things there." He said. "After that, we then take the long roads. From there, we can take the back roads instead of the highway. It'll be longer, but we should lose them."

He then started to drag his finger along the map. "If we continue on this road, it'll lead is to the back entrance of the marina straight into the docks."

As they all stared at the map, Angela looked up at Terry with her mouth slightly agape. "Terry, this is brilliant!"

"Yeah," C.J said as he studied the map. "This is a solid plan. Didn't know you had it in ya', kid."

"So, you just came up with this last night?" Michael asked.

Scratching the back of his head, Terry awkwardly crossed his arms as he nodded, suddenly going back to his timid self. "Um, yeah."

"This is a good plan." Kenneth said, looking at the map. "One that'll work."

"It's probably our safest option, if we get to lose those things along the way." Angela said.

"Okay, so it's settled; we'll take this route." Michael said, folding the map. "So, this is where the fun begins."

"We're going to have to work hard over the next week." Kenneth said.

Michael nodded in agreement. "We're going to need everyone to put in a hundred percent effort."

Steve chuckled as he put his coffee down, stepping away from Hallowed Grounds.

"Um, excuse me, but does this working thing include me?" He asked.

Turning to face him, Angela crossed her arms as she frowned at him. "Yes, that does include you. If you want to get out of here, you have to work."

Pulling keys from the pocket of his silk night wear, he twirled them on his finger as he smirked at her. "Well, sweetie, I've got the keys to your ticket out of here, so that would make me the most important person here, kinda' like the captain." He said, glancing up as if he was thinking, striking a pose.

"Oh, great." Ana mumbled as Angela gritted her teeth.

"And you know what the captain does?" He asked Angela with a chuckle. "Nothing."

"Well, how would you like it if I shoved this gun up your ass and pulled the trigger, captain?" She growled, standing up as she slammed her gun down on the table.

Stumbling back, Steve's eyes widened as both C.J and Michael stood as well. C.J put his hands on Angela's back, calming her down while Michael stood in between her and Steve.

"Hey, hey, whoa there, darlin'." C.J said as he gently forced Angela to sit back down.

"He's being an asshole!" Angela exclaimed.

"She just threatened me." Steve said. "She's crazy."

As Angela growled at him, Michael raised his hands, gaining attention from everyone.

"Angela, calm down." Michael sternly said, before turning towards Steve. "Steve, stop being an asshole."

As Angela sat back down and Steve grumbled to himself, C.J smirked and shook his head. "As much as I would like to see you do that, Angela, we need this asshole for the moment, so just leave him, even if he is being a dick." He muttered looking towards Steve.

"I hate to say it, but C.J's right." Michael mumbled.

"Well, then, I guess I'll leave you all to handle this." Steve smiled as he stood up and left the table, whistling as he continued to swing his keys.

Watching him walk away, Angela grunted as she snatched her gun back off the table, shoving it into her holster. Michael sighed as he sat back down, looking over the group.

"Okay, let's just get back to work." He mumbled, rubbing his eyes with his palms. "So, Kenneth and I will move the trucks to level one of the parking garage."

"While we do that, C.J, Angela, Tucker, Terry and Ana can gather the current materials we need; whatever will help reinforce the trucks, bring them down here." He continued. "Nicole, Glen and Monica, you can get supplies ready. Food, water, clothes, whatever, just gather them on the table. Everyone happy?"

The whole group murmured in agreement, causing Michael to smile and clap his hands. "Good, let's get to work."

Half an hour later, everyone had split off into their groups and were working hard. Angela's group had settled into one of the hardware stores, Ana, Tucker, and Terry working upstairs while C.J and Angela stayed downstairs. The two of them had started to collect the iron sheets, piling them on the table.

As Angela struggled with her sheet, she groaned as she managed to lift it onto the table. Wiping the sweat off her brow with her shirt, she sighed as she leant against the table.

"God, I'm thirsty. Want to get a drink?" She asked, looking up at C.J, who was carrying sheets of iron.

Falling silent, Angela gawked at C.J, noticing the muscles rippling over his arms as he carried the heavy load. Sweat covered his arms, causing his skin to glisten in the light. Realising she had stared for too long, she shook her head as he dropped the metal on the table, stretching his arms.

"What, tired already?" He asked with a small smirk on his lips.

"No, I just need a drink and I was being polite by asking you if you wanted one." She stated, rolling her eyes at him.

"Yeah, whatever." He grinned, grabbing two bottles of water as he stood by her side.

Gladly accepting the bottle of water, she greedily gulped down the refreshing liquid. As she twisted the cap back on her water, she stared at the pile of iron sheets on the table. For a moment, she wondered how they were going to go through with the plan, thinking if it was even possible to do so. Her head began to swim with thoughts as she continued to stare at the table.

"C.J," She suddenly said, catching his attention. "Do you think this will work?"

Turning his head towards her, he frowned. "What makes you think it won't work?"

"I never said it won't work," She replied, pushing herself to sit onto the counter. "I'm just asking what you think."

Turning silent, he thought for a long moment before shrugging his shoulders. "It's a good plan, it's our only plan, and hopefully it works, that's what I'm thinking." He said, leaning next to Angela. "Anyway, I'm glad we're finally gettin' out of here."

"Or you're just glad you're not stuck in that cell anymore." Angela smirked.

"And that too." He said with a chuckle, swinging his arm to rest it on her shoulder.

Angela leaned into his arm, exhaling through her nose as she rested her head. She had noticed how close her and C.J had become, even before he was free from his cell, though now they've been closer than ever. Her feelings had grown for him even more, and it may seem stupid in the short amount of time they had known each other, but Angela knew this wasn't some stupid crush.

After her divorce, Angela hadn't been with a another man. For two years, she had never felt this way about another man, before C.J. It wasn't some, as Angela called it, 'love-sick movie bullshit' - she wasn't in love with him and was going to confess her undying love for him.

There was something there, though; more than friendship. Rolling her eyes, Angela sighed at how cheesy it all sounded.

"God, how did things get so fucked up?" She asked out loud.

As she said it, Angela didn't know whether her question was about her feelings or the world ending. Angela felt C.J shrug.

"Life's just a bitch, sweetheart." He replied.

Silence fell upon the two again, but neither minded. The two enjoyed each other's company, C.J keeping his arm around Angela as she leant into him. A minute later, Michael suddenly appeared through the doors, wiping his hands with a rag. He cocked a brow quickly at Angela, before composing himself.

"We got the trucks, so when you're ready, we can move all this stuff down." He said.

"Yeah, man. Thanks." C.J said, giving a slight nod.

"Okay, I'll go and tell the others." Michael said, smiling as he began walking to the stairs in the store.

Jumping off the counter, Angela stretched her arms, grabbing her water and taking a sip of it. She jumped when she felt a slap on her rear.

"C'mon, let's get your lazy ass to work." C.J grinned, wiggling his eyebrows.

Feeling herself blush, Angela shook her head as she chuckled.

"You know, you're still a dick."

"I know."