September 7
Harlan awoke with a jolt. Carr stood above him.
"C'mon, our friends are having a meeting."
"What time is it?" He asked, rubbing the sand from his eyes. He briefly thought about where that stuff even came from.
"Early." She said, Anthony and Junior both stirred into consciousness.
"Okay but, the time?" Harlan ran a hand through his hair, it was getting long. He only remembered his watch when a strand got caught in the wrist strap.
6AM.
"Never mind." He mumbled as he stood up. All around him were bleary-eyed people shuffling towards the mall's atrium. The dull banging of undead hands against plexiglass evaporated, becoming part of the gentle muzak being broadcast over the mall's sound system. Anthony walked with Harlan, Junior in between them. Carr walked a few paces ahead.
At the mall's center, they found Governor Fairweather standing atop the fountain. Harlan looked around and tried to get a head count, maybe a hundred or so people counting the Governor. A fair portion looked as bleary-eyed as he felt. The trio settled in next to a display car, a bright red Chevalier Cossette.
"My fellow survivors!" Fairweather bellowed, "A glorious Tuesday morning to you all." He clasped his hands. There was a light mumble of "thank you" and "morning" from the large group before he continued, walking around the fountain to face everyone at least once.
"I'm sure you've noticed our flock has grown quite a bit as of late. Our ventures across the great Knox Country have been fruitful, saving lives, acquiring resources, and learning more about this new world we find ourselves in."
Anthony was unimpressed by Fairweather's speech. But Harlan listened, moving behind Junior and resting his hands on his shoulders.
"And as we grow, there will be changes, there will be pain. I cannot promise everyone a pain-free future, it just isn't possible." He chuckled, garnering some sympathetic mimicry from the peanut gallery. "But I can promise you this, I plan on undertaking a grand reorganization of how this place works. We will secure the existence of our people, and a future for our children!"
There was some modest applause, one person hooted from the right. Harlan looked, it was Meghan, who winked at him before swiftly chugging her water bottle until it was empty. Harlan looked back to Fairweather, who scowled at Meghan, but turned back to face the people with a radiant smile.
"We love to see some enthusiasm!" He laughed and clasped his hands. "Now how about a quick prayer?"
Without a moment's hesitation, a good majority of the crowd bowed their heads and folded their hands, including Harlan and Junior. Anthony looked around, his height suddenly making him a prime target.
"Oh Heavenly Father…" Fairweather began, some in the crowd spoke along.
Anthony ducked down and whispered to Harlan with a grin, "Whatever happened to the separation of church and state?"
"Got eaten." Harlan turned back to his folded hands. "Just play along."
"Amen." Fariweather concluded.
"Amen." The crowd echoed before dispersing. The thudding of dead fists against glass once again returned to the surface, before pleasant muzak drowned them out. As the crowd thinned, Anthony felt the confidence to speak a bit more plainly.
"I don't like this, Harley. Not a bit."
"What, that?" Harlan waved his hand in the air. "Look, I'm not hardcore or anything but I like to believe there's something else after all-"
"No, no, not that. Your faith is your own thing. I don't like public prayer being ordained by the only type of government around. It was part of this country's foundation and-"
"So don't participate. No one has a gun to your head."
"No, are you listening to me Harley? It's-" Fairweather appeared behind Harlan.
"I hope you boys are having a fine morning." He said as Anthony snapped his mouth shut.
"As fine as can be, given the state of it." Harlan said. "Junior and I have been through the ringer this week."
"Yes, I remember our conversation." Fairweather crouched down to Junior's level and handed him a piece of candy. "Did you know we have a toy store?"
"Yeah." Junior said, mouth full of chocolate. "Can I go play?"
"Play and learn, young man." Fairweather tustled his hair before hailing a woman with messy brown hair and a long crucifix necklace. Anthony looked her up and down, by all accounts she seemed like a perfectly normal person wrapped in a bright pink sweater.
"Laureen, be a dear and add this one to the pile. His name is…" He paused.
"Harlan." His uncle stated.
"Right, right, right." Fairweather muttered.
"Where are you taking him?" Harlan asked the woman.
She pointed just past the fountain to the toy store Junior spotted yesterday. "We'll be right there if you need your son back."
"Oh he's not my-"
"He's the boy's uncle. They lost the birth mother just yesterday." The Governor interrupted.
"Oh dear," Laureen knelt down and gave Junior a hug, "I'm so sorry to hear about your loss." She looked up at Harlan. "The both of you." Harlan pursed his lips.
"Thanks, we've been on the run for a while."
"You can rest easy now, what was your name?"
"It's Harlan." They had a brief but formal handshake.
"Your family must really like that name, huh?"
"It's a long story, he'll have to tell you later." Fairweather reassumed control of the conversation. "Mister uh… Anthony. There's a man in a blue suit looking for you in the food court over there." He pointed to the mall's northern wing.
"A man… in a blue suit?"
"Labor assignment." Fairweather held his hands up. "Not my idea, we assign folks as they arrive and as they are needed." The group stood in silence as Junior was lead away by Laureen. "Make haste, please."
Anthony narrowed his eyes at Fairweather before whispering into Harlan's ear. "I don't trust him." And with that, he was off to the food court, leaving Harlan with the Governor, who smiled wide and clapped his hands.
"I have some good news for you and Junior, even that muckraker might agree." Fairweather looped an arm around Harlan's shoulders and lead him down the mall's western hall. He shrunk in the older man's arms. "You two will be posted up with the other families on the second floor, a much safer place for you and your nephew."
"What about Tony?"
"What about him?" Fairweather took his arm off Harlan. "Is he blood?"
"No, but-"
"Then he'll stay with the other men in the department store. First floor."
"But we've both been through so much, he's basically family."
"Now Harlan, I can't go giving you special privileges. If I do, then everyone and their nutjob cousin will be in my office asking for this rule to get bent, this ordinance to be twisted, you know what I mean?"
"I… guess."
"Fantastic! I'm glad we're on the same page boy." Fairweather gave him a firm smack quarely in the center of his back. "Family is very important to me, to us, and it's vital we maintain some of that old world charm folks seem to have abandoned so quickly in all this."
Harlan felt words begin to spill out of his mouth.
"Yeah, I-I get that I think? But like, I just met Junior only a few days ago. I didn't even know he existed until a week ago when I found Hilda. And- and…" He felt his face get hot. "And now I have her kid, my kid I guess? And I don't know how to take care of him and I don't even know if he's okay and he hasn't said anything since she died. What kind of kid isn't crying constantly through all this? Hell I'm a grown ass man and-" he paused to take an unsteady breath and compose himself, "And here I am. Dealing with all of it and breaking down in a goddamned shopping mall."
Fairweather took a seat on a bench and patted the spot next to him, Harlan obliged.
"Clearly you have a lot on your mind."
"That's one way of putting it." Harlan sighed. "For the first time all week I feel like I can rest a bit."
"You were in Rosewood, right?"
"Were, yes."
"What was the town like, after the end?"
"Well," Harlan leaned back in the bench, "It was quiet, more quiet than here, but those things were all over. I ran into Anthony at the supermarket of all places, he was desperate, he begged me for help and something in me just… gave it to him." He felt tense. "Then we… teamed up… and survived for a few months. Then the prison broke open, there was a helicopter, in all the chaos I found Hilda and Carr. I don't know where Carr went actually." He looked around. "I saw her earlier."
"The teacher, right?"
"Yes, Mrs. Carr. She's a world away from the last time I saw her."
"Yes, when you "abandoned" everyone like Meghan said." He held up air quotes.
"Abandoned is such a harsh word. I had a free ride to an Ivy League school, who would turn that down?"
"Someone without the sense to get in there in the first place." Fairweather laughed. "Now was it Columbia or Cornell?"
Across the mall, Anthony walked into the food court. The silhouettes of the dead against the glass provided an uncomfortable reminder that the creature comforts of the mall existed so long as the dead weren't invited. He glanced around, groups of people were eating, some were cooking, when he locked eyes with a man in a blue suit.
A boiler suit.
Pushing around a bright yellow trash can and a broom.
"ARE YOU TONY?!" The man shouted from across the room, disturbing breakfast for some diners. He was tall like Anthony, but his head was completely bald. He had a slight hunch as he walked over, rolling the can with him.
The man looked older and older as he neared Anthony. When he was within striking range, he held out his hand with a smile. The younger man gave a limp smile and a firm handshake.
"M'name's Harold. Master of the custodial sciences in this'ere mall." He gestured around him.
"Anthony, I uh, I don't have any experience doing this sort of thing."
"You ever pick up in your own home? Same thing. C'mon." He beckoned, Anthony followed.
The two received empty stares and narrowed eyes as they walked past the food court and into a nondescript gray door. It was just Anthony, Harold, and empty white hallways.
"I know it's not the most glamorous position for a New Yorker such as yourself, but they had janitors up there too." Anthony followed Harold as he rolled his garbage can down the back halls. "And you learn a whooole lot on the job. Stuff you wouldn't believe. Do you know how to make chloramine?" Anthony shook his head. "Did it by accident at my first job back in '55, lemme tell you those boys in the FBI don't mess around!"
"What's chloramine?"
"Sonny, get ready." The two disappeared deeper into the mall's maze of back halls.