Chapter Three: Nightmare in the Rain

-A week ago, June 21-

Auntie Sheryl glanced out the kitchen window, noticing the darkening sky. She turned to me as I slipped on my shoes, worriedly. I knew what was bothering her, but I just shrugged slightly as I tightened the laces.

"Are you sure that they won't postpone it, Kiara?" I shook my head, remembering the mocking text I got from Amy as she told me to stay home if I was scared of a little rain. To ease Auntie's nervousness, I grabbed my raincoat, just in case. I pulled out my cellphone to check the time and heard a soft chime stating that I had got a text. It was from Sean, and I rolled my eyes at the message.

"Amy said that you weren't coming because of the rain, are you alright?" I felt my fingers moved automatically to answer back and I stopped when I realized that my message may come off as rude; then I just sent it anyway.

"Tell Amy not to get her hopes up, I'm still going to be a thorn in her side. I promised you that much. Meet you at the usual place." Putting my phone back in my pocket, I gave Auntie a quick hug and left my house.

Sometimes I think the mall is a little overrated to go to. There were always way too many people in one place, and way too much drama to deal with. Amy seemed to act as if Terri, Richard and I weren't even there; the only one she was acknowledging was Sean. I guess old habits die hard.

The movie she picked was a cliché zombie apocalypse flick, one that I'm sure Sean had already seen. It was too stupid to even follow, but I sat through the agonizing two and a half hours of wasted screen time so then Sean wouldn't have to deal with Amy alone. Terri had her face glued to Richard's shoulder and he had an arm wrapped around her gently, as if shielding her from the screen. It was sort of what Amy had tried to do with Sean, but he made it clear that if she was brave enough to pick the movie than she can be brave enough to watch it without having a shoulder to cling to. In fact, Amy seemed rather pissed off at the moment, which made me smile slightly.

When the movie was over, it was a relief to almost all of us. Poor Terri looked like she was going to be sick, and Richard and Sean seemed to be bored out of their minds. I closed my eyes, trying to rid the images of mangled flesh and gore out of my mind before I made it back home. I've seen more gruesome things in my lifetime, so this movie didn't really bother me. I stood up with the others to leave the theatre, when I thought I saw someone watching us from the third row from the back of the theatre. Before I could get a better look, Amy roughly forced herself past me to get to the door. When I looked back at the row, the person was gone; maybe it was just a trick of the light.

I followed Sean out of the theatre, to notice that most of the power in the mall was fluctuating eerily. Terri gripped Richard's arm and Amy seemed nervous. Sean seemed to tense when I glanced down the hall. The mall seemed deserted, which was actually surprising seeing as the mall was filled up when we walked in. Trying to lighten the mood, I forced a big cheery grin on my face.

"So, who wants to walk down the scary hall first?" Amy glared over her shoulder at me like this incident was my fault. Sean and Richard raised their eyebrows and Terri clung to Richard's arm as if it as a life preserver. A small chuckle from the other end of the hall startled us; I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach and I glanced behind me to look right down the extended barrel of a handgun. I froze up, shifting my gaze to meet a pair of red, piercing eyes of a tall uniformed man. He seemed surreal, with a youthful face and hair whiter than any senior I ever saw, and it took me a moment to realize why.

"A Character?" Richard glanced at me only to swear loudly; Amy and Sean seemed surprised and Terri looked like she was going to faint. The man just stared silently at me, unfazed by being identified. There was a flash of light and loud crack a thunder outside, signalling the start of the impeding storm. I took a small step back and the man raised the gun to stay pointed at my forehead.

"Yes, it vould seem as if he is a Character. What an excellent observation, Fräulein." The one speaking wasn't the man pointing the gun at me. A short, plump man with cropped blond hair in a white suit began walking down hall toward us, a wide friendly grin planted on his face. He stopped a little bit away from us and stood with his hands behind his back, tilting his head to the side slightly as if he were observing a new toy, his glasses flashing horrifically in the faltering light.

"Who are you?" Amy glared at the man with her usual distain. "What do you want?"

The man glanced at her, amused by her attitude and snapped his fingers. The man pointing the gun at me pulled back the safety, and realizing what was about to happen; I tried to sidestep the gun. The roar of the gun going off made my ears ring, but the ringing didn't dull out the pain in my side where the bullet ripped through. Terri screamed and buried her face into Richard's shoulder. Sean made to move toward me, but the white haired man pointed his gun at him, making him back up once more. I felt my knees hit the floor and I grabbed at my side to try and staunch the blood flow.

"Who ve are is none of your concern, Fräulein. Und about what ve want, vell, I guess you could say that you'll be finding out soon enough." He gave a small wave of his hand and his smile widened cruelly. "How long do you think you can survive?"

The sound of footsteps caught my attention and I glanced up as another blond haired in a bloodstained lab coat walked over to the shorter man's side and whispered something in his ear. The man nodded and turned his back to us and waved again.

"Come, Captain. Ve need to give them time to prepare themselves for our little game." The white haired man moved faster than I could register and he was standing behind the man's side almost dutifully.

"Wait, what game?" Amy shouted at the man's retreating back, making Terri moan in fear. The man froze before glancing over his shoulder to her before turning somewhat to face her, his cruel grin still in place. Whatever he had planned for us seemed to make him giddy with excitement.

"I believe you children call it 'tag,' but this version has a little twist to it. The rules are simple, if you can manage to contact help, you survive und win. However, if you cannot und get caught, you vill be at our mercy." His grin was border-lining maniacal, he turned away and began to walk away once more. "Please try to make this amusing to watch, kinder."

I felt the blood seep through my fingers, and I stared at the floor trying not to scream from the pain. Sean threw himself at my side and pulled off his sweater to help me. I stared at him numbly as he tied his sweater around my waist and made me hold my hand tightly against the sweater.

"We've got to get out of here; chances are that the pay phones are already out of order." Richard made a motion to Terri for her to stay put, and walked down the hall to the pay phone terminal. He picked up the receiver and listened before slamming it back down. He stopped and glanced down the hall to his right before dashing back towards us in a panic.

"They've got zombies!" Amy stared down the hall as a creature made its way around the corner and her jaw dropped. Sean helped me stand and we ran outside into the theatre parking lot and into the rainy night.

A/N: For those of you who are not aware; Fräulein is the German word for young woman or miss, and kinder is a German word for children. This chapter is a bit short, don't worry, I'm not screwing you out of details. I've got this figured out for the next chapter, so please be patient.