Part 5

Lotus curled her fingers through Leo's fur, squeezing closer as he ran over the rooftops and leaped the gaps between tenements. The ground and sky passed in a gray blur until her head pounded and she had to close her eyes. He showed no fear as he moved, sometimes not even caution as he vaulted wide gaps and only saved them from fatal falls by firmly gouging his claws into the brick. One slip and they'd fall to the pavement. She closed her eyes and buried her face in his fur. It didn't help much. Her stomach still lurched with every leap.

"We're here," he said, stopping. He waited until she nodded and then set her on her feet. "At least, I think we're here."

They were on top of a building she recognized, one right across from the museum from the night before. Both of them stood at the ledge and looked down at the street several stories below. Abandoned cars stood in the street, all parked at the bottom of the wide stairs leading to the doors. A few jeeps were on the stairs, blocking the doors like a barricade.

"I wonder if they did that on purpose or just left them there," Lotus said. "If it even helped."

"Must have," Leo said, his voice more of a growl. "They're still in there."

"How can you tell?" She leaned forward and tried to see through the dark doors.

"I can smell them." He glanced at her, his eyes shining. "You'll have to go in without me. I'll only cause a panic."

"I'm not going anywhere without my..." She glanced at him, trying to gauge his species. "...my backup. You'll have to change shape again."

"A turtle won't be much better."

"Human." She put her hand on his arm and pointed down at a department store a block away. "Take us there. You can change and dress, and then we'll go into the museum together."

Without question, he picked her up and leaped off the building, grabbing the rainpipe to slow their descent. He landed on the sidewalk, cushioning the impact merely for her. He didn't put her down, carrying her as he ran for the store. After what he'd seen the night before, he wasn't sure he could protect her and win a fight at the same time. Crossing the street made them hold their breath, scanning in all directions as they went. The doors were locked, and Lotus reached into her pockets for her tools. Leo beat her to it, grabbing the door's handle and wrenching it open.

"After this is all over, I've got to take you with me," she said. "Smash and grab jobs are amateurish, but they have their place."

She didn't squirm to be let down, so he carried her through the store. She guided him past the empty stores and deserted food plaza into a dark clothing store. Here she slid out of his arms and turned to face him, staring into his luminescent eyes.

"Okay, I think we'll be safe here for awhile." She looked around one last time to be sure, but they were alone. "Go ahead."

"I don't know if I can," he said. "When I turned into this, it was pure instinct."

"What about before, when you raced your brother up the wall? You did it consciously then."

"I'm not--"

"Try."

He lowered his head and concentrated. He felt for the new part of himself, the core of his transformations. Black shadows swirled around him, slower than before, as he worked the change. Darkness covered him like a cocoon, and in the middle of that black veil he was sure she couldn't see him, just as he could not see out.

Human, he thought. Two arms, two legs, a head, no shell, taller, warm blooded. There were too many things to take into consideration, the change would not come. Am I making this too difficult? When he'd turned before, he'd had an innate idea of what he should look like. Human. I know what that is. So I can turn...

He opened his eyes. The shadows were gone, and Lotus was staring at him with a hand over her eyes, peeking through her fingers. Confused, he looked down. His body was human, thinner than his other two shapes. He held up his hands, five fingered, thin, tanned like coffee with a lot of cream. It all looked okay, not wrong. "What?"

"Hang on," she said, smiling. A few moments later she brought him a handful of clothes and pushed him into one of the dressing rooms. Without even looking at what she'd brought, he dressed, figuring out how everything went on and thankful now for all the TV Mike made them watch.

He looked in the mirror. Black long sleeve that fit like a second skin, black jeans that stretched to let him move, black sneakers.

"We match," he said as he stepped out.

"I know." She was sitting on a glass counter, examining a handful of pearl necklaces. Pocketing a few, she jumped off and stood beside him. He was only an inch taller. She put her hand on his shoulder, fingers lightly brushing his throat. "I forgot how young you are. Just sixteen?"

"Seventeen in a couple months." He looked away. It sounded weak to his own ears. "Is it really that young?"

"Mm-hmm. But I don't mind." She pushed his hair out of his eyes. "You look good."

To her surprise, he ducked his head and looked away. "It feels weird. I'm too light. And I don't have the strength I did before, I can feel it missing."

"You won't be free to change inside the museum," she said. "We'll have to get you a decent pair of swords next. And I could do with one, too."

"I should've brought mine--" he started.

"No." She took his hand and led him out of the store. There was a map of the mall in the middle of the hall and she studied it for a moment before heading for the stairs. He walked beside her, depending on her to keep an eye out for threats while he looked around. He'd used to dream of being inside one. Aside from a few knocked over displays and dropped bags, probably from a few late night panicked employees, the mall was orderly, every store a neat little world. He spotted a couple birds trapped near the skylight as they flew back and forth.

They went down the stopped escalator and headed past huge department stores. Lotus had to tug on his hand after he slowed to glance inside.

"C'mon, we're almost there," she said.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Just around the corner." She brought him around and then turned to watch his reaction.

He gasped and stepped forward, enthralled by the rows knives and swords along the walls. Most of them were obviously for show, covered with ornate ribbons and decorations, but a few looked serviceable. He followed her behind the counter and through the employee door, into a room filled with shelves and long cardboard boxes.

"I'm sure they keep the best ones in back," she said. "The ones they order for customers."

While she dug through one shelf, knocking boxes over when she didn't find anything suitable in each, he worked on another shelf. The first two held swords with dragon-shaped hilts and the next had display shuriken with kanji decorations. He bit back a laugh and tossed them aside like trash. The next box held a set of curvy knives with skulls in the pommel.

"This is ridiculous," he said, shoving them aside. "Why make knives you can't use?"

"Most people don't use swords the way we do," she said, throwing away a sword with gold dragon wings for a guard.

"But they're useless."

"Ah, they're good for hanging on the wall and looking shiny."

After several shelves of worthless decorations, he was ready to give up. He knelt down and reached for a box stuck in back of several others, still wrapped in mailing tape with several large Chinese stamps. When he opened it, he breathed in sharply. Four swords, all of them bound expertly. Almost reverently, he pulled out the shredded packing straw and placed the box on a higher shelf.

"Lotus," he said, "I found them."

"Hmm?" She looked over his shoulder and smiled. "Perfect."

He took the top pair of katana in simple wrapped sheaths, drawing a gleaming blade with a distinct tempered edge. It hissed as it came free, and he turned it over a few times. "I can't tell for sure, but it's perfectly balanced."
"These will do," she said, taking a pair for herself. "Ready to--"

They froze as something scraped on the floor somewhere close. Both of them drew a single sword and faced the corridor leading deeper into the employee section.

"Damn," she whispered. "All of these stores are connected."

"What?" he growled. "And you were knocking stuff around?"

"So were you."

"I didn't know."

In front of them, an empty box slid across the floor and hit the wall. There was a muffled curse and then a young girl's voice.

"Are you human?" she asked, still hiding. "'Cause if you're not, I've got like a huge shotgun and I'm not afraid to use it."

Shaking her head once, Lotus closed her eyes and put her sword up. "We're human. Come out, we're hiding too."

As Leonardo put his own sword back, a small blonde came around the corner, hands tugging at the hem of a blood spattered skirt. Her shoes left bloody prints as she came forward. She looked no older than sixteen, though her face was hard to see through her messy hair. She pushed it out of her face.

"I don't have a shotgun, I just...I was afraid," she said. "There was screaming and when I looked out the door, something big had Nancy and it looked like...there was blood everywhere..."

"Is it still here?" Leo asked.

She shook her head, staring at the floor. "It left in the morning. It was moving all over the place, trying to smell me, I think. But I hid with the dogs. None of them barked and it didn't find me." She looked up at them, blinking back tears. "Is it safe to go out? We haven't heard anything and we can't find a radio."

"No," Leo said. "We haven't seen anything, but you can hear them howling sometimes."

"We?" Lotus asked.

"A couple other girls who work down here. I think everyone else got out. We heard you moving around, and since I'm the oldest..."

"This is probably the safest place right now," Lotus said. "And there are plenty of places to hide if something comes in, right?"

The girl nodded.

"I saw a gun shop listed on the map," Leo said. "You'd better find that shotgun and arm the other girls, just in case."

She nodded again. "We're headed that way. We just heard you and thought someone else was alive. Is...is it bad outside?"

"To be honest, we don't know how bad it is," Lotus said. "I was nearly killed by a huge wolf last night but he saved me. We haven't seen anything today."

"You killed one?" the girl asked, staring at Leo. He nodded.

"Then they can die," she whispered to herself.

He looked at Lotus. "We need to go. It'll be twelve soon."

"Good luck," the girl said, already moving towards the corridor again. She bent and picked up a long knife that had fallen. "You'll need it." And with that she disappeared.

"Makes you wonder how many people are stuck somewhere, hiding," he said.

"I'm more curious about when the looting will start," Lotus said. "Ready?"

"Yeah. Let's go."