"He's right. If those things were to break in here right now we'd be lunch without some more firepower," Peter agreed.
"But I thought we were safe in here!" Nicole yelped. Unconsciously she edged her chair closer to Terry's. He reached for her hand under the table and gave it a comforting squeeze.
"Nicole baby, we are safe here," Michael spoke with a confidence he didn't feel. "All Kenneth and Peter are saying is how much better off we would be if we are prepared for the worst to happen. That doesn't mean we're not safe here."
In the end, Kenneth accompanied Stephen to the gun shop. He and Andy loaded the weapons, ammunition, even a few extra gadgets and surprises, into the helicopter. Within a matter of a few hours they'd returned and triumphantly unloaded their new cache of weapons.
The rest of the afternoon was spent checking over the entrances to the mall and shoring up any potential weak spots that they'd missed before. Then they began constructing the barricades, using things like bookcases, filing cabinets, and boxes of merchandise from the storage areas of the stores. Everyone worked in pairs or small groups, the morning talk of the zombies outside breaking in making them all nervous to be on their own. The only ones not there to help were Steve, André, and Luda. The former just refusing to do manual labor, the latter two continuing to distance themselves from the others.
In the days that followed, the survivors allowed themselves to be lulled into a sense of security. They all still carried a gun wherever they went, but being alone no longer seemed to scare anyone, even Nicole.
Six days after they had all arrived at the mall reality intruded. It began that night at dinner, as in the nights before, they had all gathered together in the food court with the noticeable exception of André and Luda. It almost felt like a festive occasion, the food and drink flowed steadily. They were sharing stories of their lives prior to the walking dead destroying their lives as they knew them, when the lights went out. Nicole shrieked as Monica and Fran simultaneously uttered, "Are they inside?"
Michael again seemed to take charge, assuming a leadership role he had never wanted in his life. "No they're not inside, it's just the power. Everyone grab some flashlights. Kenneth, we should go see if CJ knows whether or not there's some kind of back-up generator for this place." A short fifteen minutes later, Michael found himself arguing with CJ down at the bottom of the stairwell to the mall's underground employee parking garage.
"Generator's fenced in back by the mall parking shuttles. Good luck," CJ was saying as he turned to walk away.
Michael chambered a round in the rifle he was holding, "Uh uh, the deal was we let you out and you show us the way."
"I ain't going nowhere without a fucking gun," CJ began to say when the sound of another rifle being cocked echoed through the stairwell causing both of them to jump.
Kenneth stood just above them on the stairwell, flanked by Peter, Roger, Andy and
Stephen. "If you kids are done playing we should get going." Kenneth stated gruffly,
walking towards Michael. Looking the latter in the eyes he gestured towards the rifle,
"You sure you know how to use that?"
Smiling nervously, Michael pointed the small flashlight he held towards the muzzle of the weapon, "Bullets come out of this end, right?"
Kenneth reached over and clicked off the safety, "Now they should." Michael had the good grace to look sheepish as he stepped aside and signaled that Kenneth should take command. CJ still balked over going into the garage unarmed, so Michael turned towards the emergency kit on the wall next to the door. Shattering the glass he removed the fireman's ax from where it hung and handed it to CJ.
"Bart, get the chains," CJ commanded, resigned to the fact that these assholes were finally going to get him killed.
Sticking together closely, Kenneth lead the way into the garage. CJ and Michael followed slightly behind him, guarding the right side of the group, Peter and Stephen did the same from the left. Bart brought up the rear, armed only with a large flashlight. Andy and Roger had been left behind to watch the door, just in case the worst happened. They were a few dozen yards into the parking area when they saw the large smears of blood along the wall nearest them. Almost simultaneously they heard the sound of movement just outside the range of their lights. It seemed to be moving closer, circling all around. Bart was the only one to speak at first. "Shit I hear something! What the fuck is that? It's getting closer!"
As suddenly as it began, the noise stopped. Slowly, from behind a pillar, a black and white
dog emerged. Michael dropped to his knees, setting his rifle down beside him. "Hey,
come here boy," he reached out to pet the dog. "At least now we know that there's
probably nothing down here or else they would have eaten him."
Just as Michael finished his statement, a zombie appeared, almost as if out of nowhere. It dropped onto Bart's back, biting into the guard's neck all in one swift movement. Bart screamed in terror, blood spurting from the bite on his neck as he tried to shake the creature loose. Michael attempted to aim at the creature with his rifle, but only succeeded in hitting one of the fire sprinklers overhead. The garage was suddenly filled with the sound of running feet as a pack of snarling zombies came into view, speeding towards them.
"Run!" yelled CJ, taking off full steam towards where the fenced in area housing the generator stood. The others followed, taking shots at the zombie pack as they ran. Bart had managed to throw the zombie off of his back and was stumbling along after the rest of them pleading with CJ for help. He was quickly overtaken by the rest of the pack. CJ looked back just in time to see Bart fall for the final time.
Stephen also turned to see Bart's final stand, his hesitation proving to be a fatal mistake. As he turned to run towards the gate he momentarily lost his footing, falling to his hands and knees. He half ran, half crawled towards the gate, almost regaining his footing when he was overtaken by the mob.
From inside the fence, Peter watched Stephen's death in horror for a few seconds, then
snapped out of it and began fighting with the others for their very lives. Michael tossed
his rifle to CJ and then managed to get a padlock on the fence as the others fired their
weapons. Kenneth ran out of ammunition while the others continued to fire, Peter tossed
an extra clip towards Kenneth. The zombies just kept coming. Michael scrambled
towards one of the fuel pumps, grabbing a nozzle and spraying gasoline towards the fence,
liberally dousing the zombies outside. "CJ, Peter I need matches!" he yelled. He never
saw the zippo that CJ flicked towards the pooling gasoline, he just remembered the sight
of the flames leaping up just as the zombies breached the fence. The flames succeeded in
slowing them down long enough for Kenneth, Peter and CJ to take them out.
It was a very subdued group that returned to the food court. When they arrived they were
met with even further tragedy. Not only had Bart and Stephen been lost, but Norma,
André and Luda as well.
"What the hell happened," Kenneth demanded.
Ana sighed. "All I can figure is that somehow Luda must have been bit when we arrived,
maybe that guard that attacked up by the fountain got her, I don't know. But that's why
André has been keeping her away from us, she was becoming one of those things. He had
her all tied up, even a gag in her mouth to keep her from biting, he must have known..."
She paused, fighting tears for the first time in days. "Norma went to check on them for
me, take them some more candles, check...check if they were all right." She took a deep
breath before continuing on, "Norma killed Luda, André too, but not before he shot her. I
killed the monster that Luda gave birth to...it should have been me Michael, not Norma"
She'd said the last in a whisper. Michael reached out and gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"It wasn't your fault Ana."
Fran finally looked at them from her seat next to Monica. She'd been shell shocked over
Luda and her baby, wondering if what had happened to them would end up happening to
them would happen to her as well. It was then that she realized who else was missing,
"Where's Stephen," she asked in a trembling voice.
Peter and Roger looked at each other. "Fran, I'm so sorry, he didn't make it." Roger told
her. She just nodded, unable to say anything, still thinking about her unborn child,
Stephen's child.