Day 1099 – Nightfall

Vince

"Hold the line!" Vince yelled, raising his pistol and preparing to fire at the oncoming herd. Instantly the community members surrounding him darted forwards as the walkers crept into the mall, sneaking through the open doors until the sheer weight of them all smashed the windows.

Lucia had been standing right next to him when it happened. The woman withdrew a glock with her remaining hand and joined Vince as he fired at the dead.

The bandits had been positioned closest to the doors but the walkers shuffled past them without giving them second thought, headed straight for the mall's residents. Vince wasn't sure but it sounded like Silas had employed some variant of the smoke technique, meaning that his group had coated their clothing in the smell of ashes so that the walkers would not register that they were human or edible. Vince had used it once before, and knew it worked.

Silas's group, however, were not so sure. Based on their various expressions of fear and shock, Vince assumed that they had never heard of the smoke technique before and were so frozen in their panic that they didn't know what to do. Two of them were positioned on each side of the mall's entrance; a woman and the one named 'Kirk' on one side, still grabbing onto Sal, while the one called 'Carson' clutched Natalia beside a darker-skinned man.

"You heard Church!" Kirk yelled. "Kill all of these fuckers! We're fucking invincible!" he laughed excitedly as the walkers strayed past him, still focused on Vince and the rest.

The bandit known as Carson looked terrified, but his expression only intensified and turned to pain as Natalia bit down on the side of the hand he had clamped over her mouth. The teenager gave him a forceful shove, then snatched her blade from the other bandit with him, attempting to run and reunite with Vince and his group before Silas's group could do anything about it.

But it was not to be.

While the bandits had been momentarily stunned, the walkers were not. One of the dead lunged at Natalia, forcing her to dive into a store and pull the shutters down so that she could hide. Not five seconds after, the herd had moved past said store, successfully trapping her inside and preventing her from getting back to her people.

Vince turned his attention back to the horde, which was getting uncomfortably close now, and showed no signs of slowing in speed or size. Raising his pistol – all too aware that he didn't have much ammunition – he shot at a walker, hitting it in the chest and creating a fine mist of blood that did not cause the dead person any issues. It lumbered towards the assembly of mall residents without much trouble, forcing Vince to shoot at it once again. Luckily it was closer this time, providing a better target, and collapsed easily with the second bullet.

Quickly checking on the bandits again, Vince realised he could not see any of them, which did not bode well. There had been no cries of pain or death wails, so chances were that Silas's crew were moving as one with the herd, knowing that Vince's group didn't know where they were. Either that, or they had taken their one shot at survival and had retreated through the herd so that they could get out safely. Vince certainly hoped for the latter; not because he wanted the bandits to live, but because he didn't want them to pose a threat. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Sal in the chaos.

Spinning on the spot, Vince saw that the walkers were starting to breach the line of defense and were swarming around the group members. He couldn't see many of them, perhaps making out Maya's head on the other side of the room, or Gary's rifle swinging in the air as he tried to bat the dead away from him.

As he tried to spot Becca or Annie in the chaos, Vince caught sight of a walker lunging for Lucia, who was standing a few metres from him. Grabbing the thin grey material of her sweatshirt, he barely managed to pull her away from her potential killer before it reached her. His grab too her by surprise and she almost turned her gun on him, but the sight of his face forced her to put her guard down as they backed up and bumped into someone else.

"Watch it!" Donald growled, raising his rifle and firing it at a walker ahead of him.

Vince continued scanning the hall as the three of them backed up against the right hand wall, the escalator and bridge above their heads. "Where're Becca and Annie?" he pressed.

"Haven't seen them." Lucia admitted, pistol-whipping one of the dead once it got too close. "Annie was hiding where we are right now. Maybe she ran back with the residents?"

Vince quickly glanced at the opposite end of the hall to the breach. The reinforcements were clearly visible, making it obvious that the community members who were less well versed in combat had fled back to their respective rooms and sealed themselves inside. "Let's hope so." he grunted, then kicked at another walker. "Fucking hell, please let them be safe."

"What about the big guy?" Donald asked, referring to Silas. "Where's he gone?"

"No clue." Lucia murmured.

Vince looked up, glaring at the bridge over their heads. "Up there." he said.

"Probably headed for the roof." Donald grunted, moving forwards to barge a walker out of the way and start carving a path. "Gotta take advantage of this while they're still spread out."

Vince didn't say anything, too concerned for everyone's lives to argue. Instead he got behind Donald and followed him through the sparser part of the herd, Lucia bringing up the rear. It took them about ten seconds to get around the escalator that led up to the bridge.

Donald led the charge once again, spying a walker that had strayed up the rigid steps and throwing it over the banister so that it fell a solid six feet and landed on its head. They made it to the bridge with relative ease after that, taking a breather once they reached the top.

Huffing and panting, the three adults found their way to the centre of the bridge but Silas was not there waiting for them. He had moved.

"Where the fuck is he?!" Donald demanded, slamming his fist on one of the reinforced barriers that Vince had cowered behind a few nights prior.

Vince scanned the room and leaned over the bridge, hoping to catch sight of Becca or Annie rather than Silas. As far as he could tell the others were probably still directly below the bridge or further back, as the herd had moved a decent thirty metres or so into the mall.

"There!" Lucia called, pointing down the hall. Vince followed her finger and spied Silas grinning at them from a balcony further down, just standing there... watching. He was truly off the deep end.

Silas saw them on the bridge and snarled, lifting his pistol. Vince grabbed Lucia's sleeve and pulled her down to the ground while Donald ducked, all three of them barely avoiding being hit by a slug of metal as it slammed into the wooden reinforcements behind them. When they stood up again, Silas had disappeared.

"Where'd he go?" Vince mused, checking that his pistol still had a decent amount of ammunition in it.

Lucia grabbed his wrist and pulled him in one direction. "Don't worry about him right now. We have bigger problems." Letting go of his arm she pointed to one end of the bridge, alerting him to the fact that walkers had followed them up the escalator and were almost upon them.

"Yeah..." Vince gulped. "Time to go."

"We should get to the infirmary!" Lucia commanded, backing away from the walkers she had spotted. "I have spare ammo in there, and some-"

Her words were cut off by a grunt that came from Donald's direction. Spinning around, Vince saw that Donald had turned to deal with a group of dead that was approaching from the opposite end of the bridge, yelling with strain as he batted them away with the stock of his rifle.

They were being attacked from both sides.

"Lucia!" Vince called, "Which side has the least walkers on it?"

Lucia did not respond, too busy trying to fend off the dead instead of talking about them. Struggling to decide who to aid, Vince hesitated and then darted for Lucia, understanding that her handicap was a major disadvantage. Raising his pistol he tried to avoid wasting his bullets, instead using the gun as a blunt weapon, slamming it into the heads of walkers that came his way.

Something creaked behind them. A disheartening, stomach-churning groan that Vince recognised from some point in the past. Croaking wood that was threatening to buckle.

Looking over his shoulder Vince saw Donald backed up against the wooden barrier - a barrier that was about to collapse. Lucia saw it too, yelling "Vince, help Donald!"

As fast as he could, Vince rushed to the aid of his old foe, sliding into a crouch and extending a desperate hand as the board crumbled under Donald's weight. The ex-bandit's face was a mask of fear and shock, eyes wide as he tipped off of the bridge. His hand barely caught Vince's, locking in as soon as they came into contact.

Vince felt his shoulder almost dislocate as Donald's fall was cut short. The weight of the man strained him beyond belief but he couldn't let it get to him.

Donald's rifle clattered to the floor below, smacking a walker on the head as the ex-bandit looked up into Vince's eyes. "Vince!" he gasped, shocked that his old enemy had saved him.

"Come on," Vince growled. "Grab on to the ledge; I can't pull you up myself!"

Donald looked from Vince to the walkers gathering on either side of the bridge, then focused on Lucia. With one hand there was only so much the woman could do to fend them off. As Vince tilted his head to look at the woman, a walker got a grip on her good arm and she struggled to shake it off. She was dangerously close to being bitten and both men knew it.

"Vince!" Donald groaned, "There's only enough time for me or her."

Vince looked at Lucia and tried to pull Donald up. "Don't put me in this position." he complained. "Don't force me to choose."

Donald loosened his grip on Vince's wrist. "You don't gotta choose. I already know your choice, and it's the right one. Any fucker can hold a gun, it's the medic you need more."

Vince looked down at the man. "I can save you both, I-"

"If I land properly I might be able to get away." Donald proposed, looking down and resigning himself to his fate. "There ain't much time. We shouldn't be talking. Just let go and save Lucia!"

Vince tried pulling his old enemy, but Donald was having none of it. "Do as I say!" the man commanded, shaking his wrist so that Vince lost his grip. "She's better than me!"

"Vince!" Lucia screamed, an ear-piercing wail escaping her lips as she tried to fend a walker off. "Help me, please!"

Looking back at Donald, Vince scowled at him. He knew deep down that he wanted to save Lucia over Donald, and Donald wanted that too. He was unsure of what to say before he dropped the man, so he just opted to try and utter "goodbye", but before he had a chance, Donald slammed his free hand down on Vince's wrist, causing him to let go and jerk back in shock.

Donald fell, but Vince looked away before the man hit the ground. Dashing over to Lucia he gripped the walker that was tackling her and threw it to one side, pulling the woman out and onto her feet.

"I can't..." Donald yelled from below. "I can't feel my legs! I can't-"

His words were cut off by a blood curdling cry as the walkers tore him open like tissue paper, lying on the cold hard linoleum tiles. Vince looked at the walkers behind them, who were more attracted to Donald's death wails than two living people, and then back to Lucia. The woman stared at him, wide-eyed, probably thinking he had killed Donald rather than being forced to, but Vince had no time for that. Grabbing Lucia's sweaty palm, he pulled her across the bridge, barging the distracted walkers over the side so that they could clear a path and escape to the balcony.

He just had to gather his thoughts. He'd just seen the first casualty of the night, but it was definitely not going to be the last.