Vera groaned and opened her eyes, blinking hard against the strong light of the morning sun. She brought her hands up, pushing herself away from the steering wheel. Looking down at her chest, she could see the red marks left by the seat belt. The sound of a gun cocking caused her to freeze.
She turned her head slowly, making eye contact with a tall, well built black man in a police uniform, holding a shotgun directly at her. She moved her hands slowly into his line of sight and kept them there, showing him that she wasn't dangerous.
He looked at her and then he lowered the gun.
"Can you get out?" He asked.
"I think so." she replied, lowering her hands.
She quickly forced her belt off, reaching onto the floor of her car for the kitchen knife that had fallen from the seat during the crash.
The door opened easy enough and she stepped out, careful of any glass that could tear into her bare feet. She winced, her side aching a lot. Glancing down, she noticed fresh blood on her once grey tank top. Lifting it, she saw a small shard of glass stuck into her side.
She'd have to deal with it when she was somewhere safer. Turning in the direction the cop had walked, she caught sight of another car, the car that had hit her. She scurried over, carefully watching for any infected that may appear.
A blonde woman was slowly crawling out of her wrecked car. One glance showed that this woman had been through hell. Besides her bloody pyjamas and bare feet, the smashed car window and the bloody handprints showed just how much shit this woman had been through already.
The black man cocked his gun again and Vera stood at his side, knife raised a little. She looked up at them.
"Say something." the man said. His voice was deep and heavy.
"Please."
That seemed to be enough for the cop as he walked right by her. Vera held out her hand and the blonde grabbed it, standing slowly.
"Are you okay?" she asked, looking her over for any injuries that might need immediate attention.
"I'm fine, are you? I hit your car." the blonde asked, glancing past Vera at the ruined volvo.
"I'm fine, don't worry about it." she started to walk after the man.
"I'm Ana." she heard from behind her.
"Vera." she replied, catching up to the cop.
She knew the mall was close by and felt the relief knowing that soon, she'd be able to rest. Her head was pounding, both from the encounter with Debbie and the car accident. Vera wondered briefly if the wound on her head was still bleeding.
She tried to ignore the playground as they walked past it silently, each of them stepping around the red bicycle on the ground. The only sounds she could hear being their light footsteps and the jingle of the officers keys on his belt.
As they walked through the underpass, 3 gunshots and a woman's scream rang out causing them to drop to the ground. Vera flinched as one of the bullets ricocheted against the wall above her head.
Vera's heart pounded. The officer in front of her had his shotgun trained on 3 individuals. Two men and a woman.
A man in a bloodied white shirt had one hand out to stop the officer from shooting and one hand out towards the black man dressed all in black who held a gun towards them.
"Alright, Okay." The man shouted, trying to diffuse the situation. "Put the guns down."
The man all in black hesitated, keeping his gun pointing towards them.
"What are you doing? C'mon he's a cop."
Vera stood slowly, raising her hands and slowly crept out of the underpass. The man in black's eyes flickered to her but he didn't point the gun at her, despite the knife in her hands, so she assumed that was good.
"Come on, put the gun down." The white man said, this time with less force. The black man lowered his gun, as did the officer. He and Ana stood, coming out from the underpass.
"I thought you were one of them." the man in black explained.
Vera walked closer, noticing the twitch of his gun hand. She passed them, slowly walking up the grassy bank.
"Then you wouldn't have been able to stop us." she said to him before she reached the metal link fence that separated her from the Mall. The parking lot was empty and the place seemed in good condition. Which meant it was probably safe inside.
"Vera, where are you going?" she heard Ana's voice call from behind her. She turned to look at the woman.
"I'm looking for someone who works there." she explained. The officer continued walking, in the direction the new group had come from. Ana stopped by the man in the white shirt and seemed unsure.
"You do not want to go that way." the white man told them.
"What's that way?"
The officer continued, despite the warning.
"Officer. Sir, you do not want to go that way." the man said more firmly.
Now the officer stopped and looked back.
"What's that way?" Ana and Vera asked in unison.
The man seemed unsure what to say, and instead settled with, "It's pretty bad."
"What about Fort Pastor?"
"Maybe if you had wings." The man in black spoke up. "The road's thick with those motherfuckers that way."
That sent a chill up Vera's spine. She did not want to encounter another infected. She turned instead, to the chain link fence in front of her, trying to figure out if she could scale it.
"How do you know?" The officer asked.
"We just tried." the man in all black began to help his wife up the bank to the fence.
"Back when there was 8 of us."
There was a beat of silence.
"We're going to the mall."
The others joined them and they all looked over at the mall.
Vera watched as the man in the white shirt, Michael, he'd told her, attempted to pry open a fire exit door. However the crowbar he carried with him wasn't quite big enough and it kept slipping.
"Damn." she turned as the officer spoke. A few infected were running towards them. The one closest was an asian looking man, missing an arm. Her heart beat faster. Luda began to scream.
"Hurry up."
Andre, the man dressed all in black, moved forward and began to shoot, chest, stomach, nothing. Instead he kept running towards them.
Vera kept her blade raised, just in case.
"Back up." the officer ordered. There was a gunshot and suddenly everyone was piling into the mall.
The one armed infected had caught up with them and shoved his shoulder through the gap in the door in an effort to keep it open. The stump of blood and torn flesh wiggled at them, as though he was convinced he could still reach them.
"Open the door." the officer told them.
Andre let the door open a little and the cop kicked the infected, knocking him back against the others. Andre quickly pulled the door shut and the group was plunged into darkness. They were mainly silent, the pounding and growling at the door was enough to convince them to move on.
They moved as one through the darkness, and past another fence until they came to a small room.
"Lights." Michael's voice mentioned. Vera immediately began to grope at the wall, hoping for some switch.
"Here." Ana said. The lights flickered on. Vera guided Luda to the water tank in the corner and the pregnant woman filled a cup to drink. Andre spotted a phone on the wall and crossed to it, pulling the receiver to his ear.
"No?" Michael asked from behind him.
"No."
Finding nothing else of use, they entered the store. It was mainly home appliances. Vera walked up to the doors that exited into the mall and pulled. They were locked. A brief glance for another exit gave no results.
Michael glanced at his crowbar, but upon realising it would be of no use, looked around for something else. He spotted the toilet close to them and with Andre's help, it was picked up and thrown at the display window. The officer and Andre exited first, gun's pointed in case of danger.
Vera glanced down at the shattered glass and sighed. Michael looked over at her and then at the glass. He'd noticed her lack of footwear earlier.
"Here." he said, capturing her attention.
He walked closer and placed an arm across her lower back, bending his knees to put the other beneath her knees. She placed her arms on his shoulders and he picked her up, carrying her over the display and into the mall on a spot free of glass.
"Thanks." she said. Michael smiled at her and went back to get Ana. Once they were all together, they moved as a group, walking towards the front doors that Vera had exited yesterday. She tried to pay attention to their surroundings but it became harder. This place was too quiet, did that mean that anyone who was inside was dead or alive?
As they approached the fountain, Andre sat Luda down on the edge. Both Ana and Vera began to clean the blood from their hands.
"We need to make sure this place is safe." Michael said, glancing at the doors behind him. Vera nodded, agreeing, and walked over, tugging on each door.
"These are all locked." she told him. He nodded.
"I'm gonna see if the doors this way are locked."
"Alright and I'll check down there." Andre added, glancing towards the stairs just behind them.
"Maybe officer, you could go down that direction, check for…" Michael trailed off noticing the look the officer gave him as he reloaded his shotgun.
"Alright, okay. Maybe it's better if you stay here with the gun."
"Andre and I will check around."
"Alright baby, i'll be right back." Andre assured Luda as she stood.
He gently forced her to sit back down.
"No, just stay right here okay? Stay right here."
The two walked off. Vera stood in front of the officer.
"So, do you have a name or do I just call you Officer?" She asked him softly.
"Kenneth." he stated. She nodded.
They were all silent for some minutes, each lost in their own heads. There was a struggle from somewhere on their level of the mall. Michael's yells was prominent as were the growls of an infected.
Kenneth had stood, shotgun ready as they waited.
There was a growl and a scream from their left. An infected had grabbed Luda's arm and she was struggling.
Vera raised her knife, trying to figure out a way to help the pregnant woman without injuring her.
Kenneth rotated the shotgun and with the butt of his gun, hit the infected in the face. Ana pulled Luda away from him as he lunged for Kenneth.
They struggled before Kenneth fell into the fountain, the infected on top of him. There was a vicious metallic, tearing sound and blood began to leak into the water.
Vera raised her knife, but froze when she saw the uniform the man was wearing. A security guard's uniform.
'No. Oh God no.'
A gunshot made her flinch. Ana had picked up Kenneth's fallen shotgun and pulled the trigger. The bullet passed through the man's shoulder and back, it didn't kill him, but no doubt caused some nerve damage as the infected man remained in the water, twitching.
Vera pulled Kenneth out of the water and they all began to run. Andre joined them at the top of the stairs.
"What happened? Come on, move." he yelled. "Move!"
"Which way?" Ana cried out as Michael appeared, white shirt now completely soaked in blood as well as his hands and face.
"Here." Michael pointed ahead. "Elevators. Let's go, let's go!"
Michael pushed the button and they all practically fell in. Kenneth pounded on the close door button as well at the second floor button.
Vera stood just to the right of Michael, eyes filled with tears, both from the pain running caused her as well as the realisation that she may be too late to find CJ.
"Can I see that arm?" Ana asked Kenneth, still cradling the shotgun. He moved his arm forward, the wound bleeding extensively.
"I need to suture that." she mumbled. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." he told her. Ana then turned to Vera.
"Are you okay? You froze. Was he…?" She didn't finish her sentence.
"No, but-" She cut herself off and slid down the wall. Exhaustion filling her. Vera sniffled, trying to compose herself. 'Now is not the time to lose your shit.' she chastised herself.
The was a soft ding as the elevator reached its destined floor. The doors slid open and there were multiple clicks of guns. From her spot on the floor, Vera glanced through Ana and Kenneth's legs. There were 3 pairs of legs. Uniformed legs. 'Perhaps…'
"Find someplace else." CJ's familiar voice rang out, his tone was low and threatening, something she'd only heard once.
"Look, we just need a place-" Michael was cut off by CJ flicking the safety off his gun.
"Maybe you didn't hear me."
"There is no place else." Michael countered firmly. Vera slowly pushed herself up, ignoring the waves of pain spreading through her body.
"Well, that's tough shit because this is our place and you can't stay here."
"Yeah." Bart agreed.
Vera pushed past Ana, trying not to bump Kenneth's injured arm. CJ's gun twitched in her direction before he noticed those familiar green eyes.
"Vera? C'mere." He said, overjoyed that she was there but shocked at the state she'd arrived in. She was covered in blood and there was a gash on her forehead, some minor cuts and bruises covering every inch of skin he could see; which was a lot.
He held his hand out for her to grab in case she was unsteady. She reached forward and he pulled her gently from the elevator, looking her over. 'What the Hell happened to her?' She hadn't even had time to put on shoes. He pulled her to his side, his left arm still pointing a gun at the group.
"You already trashed Metropolis." Bart said to them.
"Look dumb-ass, my wife is pregnant." Andre motioned towards Luda. "We can't run anymore." the elevator dinged and he threw his arm against the door to stop them closing.
"His arm-" Ana tried to tell them.
"Those things are down there!" Michael interrupted.
CJ stood firm. "Well, these are all your problems, not mine."
"If I put my foot up your ass, would that be your problem?" Kenneth's voice was deep and laced with pain.
"Hey, asshole, I'm the one pointing the gun at you."
"He is a cop, CJ." The trainee, Terry, mentioned.
"So what?" came CJ's reply. The elevator dinged again, Andre stopped them from closing.
"We're not gonna cause any trouble. Just let us stay here for a little while. Please." Ana pleaded. Vera's grip on CJ's arm tightened and he looked down at her. She nodded at him, hoping to change his mind.
"OK." His voice was softer this time, but still laced with warning. "Come outta there slowly and give your weapons to Bart and Terry." He motioned to the two guards either side of him.
"Don't do it." Kenneth said to Ana as she took a step forward.
Andre chimed in. "You must be outta your fuckin' mind."
"You can take your ass on over to Quality Inn if it's still there, Shaq." Kenneth glared at him.
"Huh? You wanna do that?" No one said anything, realising this was their only option. "Let's go."
Ana stepped out of the elevator, holding the gun away from her body. "Hey, don't give him that gun." Andre called as she handed the shotgun to Terry. Luda placed a hand on Andre's shoulder, whispering to him.
"Fuck." He muttered as Bart stepped forward, taking his gun.
"Smart move." CJ told them as Michael and Luda stepped forward, weaponless. Bart and Terry lead the way, CJ choosing to stay at the back with Vera. She held her knife out to him. He looked at it, covered in blood and shook his head.
"Not gonna use it on me are you, Red?" He smirked. She shook her head and huffed a laugh, wincing slightly at the pain in her side.
"I don't know, you were a bit of an asshole back there." She mentioned.
He shrugged, waving away the knife. "Safety first." he muttered. "Keep the knife for now, I'll get you a gun once we've sorted those fuckers out." He motioned to the group ahead.
"I don't know how to shoot." Vera told him.
"I'll teach you." He replied, scratching at his moustache as they reached the entertainment store.