The Dead in River City (4 page)

7

The doors of Jefferson Mall were no longer functioning.
In fact, the glass panes were shattered into thousands of pieces that now
littered the ground. Alan and Kendra stepped through the hole where the glass
panes once were, and strode into the darkened building.

It was painfully obvious that looters had hit the
entire mall. Stores had broken windows, merchandise was strewn everywhere, and
more evident than anything else, corpses littered the facility. Looters seldom
get along with each other, so it’s no real surprise when looters go on a raid
and don’t come back. Their bodies littered store after store throughout the
mall. Alan was fully convinced that there were still looters somewhere in the
mall, and he wasn’t about to take a chance on anything.

Alan held the shotgun tight, ready to defend himself.
He was unsure if he would be able to see anyone in the dark, if there was
anyone there at all. Alan never liked the dark, in truth. It wasn’t really fear
of the dark. It was more so the fear of what was lurking in the dark. It could
be nothing, or it could be bloodthirsty looters. Even worse, it could be Dead
Ones. In fact, Alan would be surprised beyond belief if there weren’t any Dead
Ones in the mall.

“Kendra.” Alan whispered. “Keep quiet. There might
be Dead Ones lurking in the shadows.”

Kendra nodded, saying nothing. She held her sword
ready, and quietly followed Alan. They reached the end of the entry hallway,
and found themselves in the main part of the mall. It was a seemingly endless
row of stores and abandoned kiosks, each one nearly barren of merchandise.

Alan led the way through the dim darkness of the
mall, working off of his memory to find a clothing store. Reaching the first
one he could find, they walked in and started looking for something to replace
their attire with.

“I can’t see a thing in here.” Kendra said.

“Hold on, let me search for a light.” Alan replied.
“Usually stores keep a few flashlights in case there’s a power outage.”

Alan found his way to the counter as his eyes
adjusted to the lack of light. He wished his lighter still worked, but he would
have to hope he was right about the flashlights instead. Feeling around, he
found a flashlight and switched it on. The small store that was full of
darkness suddenly had a single beacon of light. Alan and Kendra could see
again.

“Much better!” Kendra exclaimed, as she went to
search for some clothes.

“We should make this quick, Kendra. Find stuff we
can wear and then let’s get out of here.” Alan said in a nervous tone.

“What’s got you so spooked?” Kendra asked, seeing
Alan’s discomfort at the current situation.

“I just don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here
very long.” Alan replied. “Whether it’s looters or the Dead Ones, this place
isn’t safe.”

“It’s the zombie apocalypse, Alan. Nowhere is
actually safe.” Kendra retorted.

Alan ignored her comment as he began searching for
clothes. As he had suspected, the looters had taken most of the merchandise
from the store, but there were still some articles of clothing that weren’t
taken. Alan found a single pair of jeans that actually came close to fitting
him. They were a little bit tight, but he supposed that was better than being
too loose. It would be horrible to die because you tripped on your pants while
running from Dead Ones.

Alan also found a few shirts. They were pretty
non-descript, just being a variety of colors. Meanwhile, Kendra looked around
and found a couple pairs of pants in her size, as well as a few tops. She
didn’t think that they looked very good on her, but Alan was confident that she
would look great. He always thought she looked great, regardless of what she
had on.

“Find what you needed?” Kendra asked as she gathered
the things she was taking.

“Yeah, this should work for now.” Alan replied. “I
hate to ask, but is there anywhere else we need to go in here before we leave?”

“We should do a run-through of the mall. Lets raid
whatever we can, and leave.” Kendra suggested. “I know you don’t like it, and
it’s dangerous, but it’s better to be prepared in the long run.”

Alan hated how right she was. He just wanted to get
out of the mall, but he couldn’t fault Kendra’s logic. There could easily be
other things in the mall that they could use. Alan went and grabbed some of the
biggest bags he could find behind the counter.

“We’ll need these, then.” Alan said, giving some of
the bags to Kendra. “Lead the way.” He continued, holding out the flashlight
for her.

Kendra nodded and took the flashlight. She walked
out of the clothing store and continued down the row of shops. Most of the
stores didn’t have anything terribly useful. Under normal circumstances, Kendra
would have loved to go to the bookstore, but this was not the time to do so.
The toy stores and novelty shops wouldn’t hold anything useful. Just when she
was beginning to think that it was turning into a fruitless search, Kendra had
an idea.

Kendra picked up the pace, and Alan followed her,
still being careful to make as little noise as possible. Kendra was running
towards her new idea. She remembered that malls always had big department
stores in them. She reached the nearest one, and as Alan caught up, she
explained her reasoning to him.

“These department stores…” She gasped, slightly out
of breath from running. “They have all sorts of things. We could find some
essentials here. Flashlights, tools, the possibilities are endless when you
think about it.”

Alan was impressed. “Let’s get to it then.” He said,
walking into the department store.

“Let’s stick together.” Kendra said. “If someone
else is around, we’ll need to have each other’s backs.”

Alan followed Kendra as she searched for
flashlights. With the amount of time they’d already spent in dark places in the
past few days, he knew they’d need more than just the one flashlight. Kendra
found them fairly quickly, and grabbed a couple flashlights, and enough
batteries to last them a month or two. Alan looked around nearby and found
rolls of duct tape. He wasn’t the smartest person in the world, but he knew
that duct tape could fix anything. He started gathering up the rolls, hoarding
as many as he could.

Kendra turned around. “What are you doing?” she
asked.

“Duct tape!” Alan exclaimed.

“Duct tape?” Kendra voiced her skepticism.

“Yes! Anything is possible with duct tape!” Alan
proclaimed.

Kendra shook her head with derision and continued
searching the aisle for anything else they might need. Unfortunately, she was
suffering from the age-old syndrome of only knowing what you need when you
aren’t looking for it. She ran through every scenario she could think of as she
looked over the inventory of items before her, but she had trouble finding
applications for anything that she saw.

Alan finished collecting the duct tape and looked
around to see what else he could find. Searching was difficult with only a
flashlight to aid him, but it would simply have to do. He looked over the items
and couldn’t find much of anything. It wasn’t until he heard a click behind him
that he realized the truth of the situation. He hadn’t found something.
Instead, someone had found him. In the few seconds of thought that followed, he
registered the sound of the click. It was the all too familiar sound of a
revolver’s hammer being pulled back.

Kendra hadn’t heard the click, but what she had
heard was the simple sound of nothing. She heard silence, and it was unsettling
to hear. She wasn’t sure if it was just paranoia setting in or not, but she
called out to Alan. When no reply came, she went into a slight panic. She
slowly began to sweat and her breathing was heightened. She left the aisle
she’d been standing in and went to look for Alan. She’d specifically told him
not to split up and now they were in trouble because he’d gotten too
sidetracked. Her search became frantic, and she held her sword tight, ready for
whomever… or whatever, came her way.

           
Alan
tried to keep calm, but he couldn’t help but tremble in fear. He was always
afraid of the things in the dark, and now one of those things managed to find
him, and also hold him at gunpoint. The unknown gunman took Alan’s flashlight
and shined it right into his face. The light was blinding and his eyes were
starting to hurt. Alan had heard Kendra beckoning him, but he dared not answer.
He only hoped that she could find him in time. Alan finally got the nerve to
whisper to the shadowy figure holding the gun.

“Who are you?” He asked in a hushed tone.

“That is not for you to know.” A distorted voice
replied.

Alan knew that this voice was not natural. No human
could sound like that on their own. He knew something was off with this person,
but he didn’t want to risk asking another question. He thought it best to
remain silent for the time being. He would have to bide his time and think of a
way out.

Kendra moved silently through the store. She knew
Alan couldn’t be too far away. The silence was maddening, and her chest felt
tight. Her stress rose, and fear began to seep in to her mind. Even in the
midst of the zombie apocalypse, an assailant in the dark was still a terrifying
thing to face down. As she wandered through the aisles, she saw a dim light. As
she ventured towards it, she saw a larger open area of the store, and in the
middle of it, Alan, on his knees, with a shadowy figure holding the light
straight at his eyes.

“Give me everything you have taken.” The distorted
voice demanded.

“Why should I give you anything?” Alan inquired.
“You hide in the shadows. You won’t even show yourself. Maybe if you’d asked
for help, you’d have gotten some!” Alan’s anger rose with each word.

“I don’t need your help.” The voice retorted, full
of disdain. “If you will not surrender your loot and your weapons, then I will
simply relieve you of them by force.”

Kendra took that as her queue. It was now or never,
and she chose now. With a fierce roar, she ran forward, towards the darkened
figure, and tackled the assailant to the ground. She held her blade against
what she believed to be their throat. Alan took the opportunity to retrieve his
flashlight. He picked it up and shined it on the attacker, and saw the form of
the person who nearly killed him.

The person wore a mask, and looked like they were
utilizing a voice changer. Alan quickly deduced that this was the source of the
distorted, inhuman voice. The figure was actually quite small, and Alan noticed
that this was no man. This assailant who would’ve seen him dead for a few
weapons and department store wares, was a woman.

Kendra held her down as Alan tore off her mask. She
couldn’t have been much older than 20. From the looks of it, she’d been hiding
out here for at least a few weeks. Alan suspected that the bodies in the store,
and even some in the rest of the mall were the remains of her victims. He
couldn’t make out many of her subtle features though, due to the damage that
the flashlight had done to his eyes. It would likely not be permanent, but his
vision wouldn’t be at full capacity for the time being.

Kendra held the blade still against the girl’s neck
as she spoke.

“Who are you?” She asked, her voice dripping with
venomous intent.

“That is not your business.” She replied flatly.

Kendra used her free hand to punch her straight in
the mouth. “I’ll ask again. WHO! ARE! YOU!?”

The woman spat out some blood. “Get the hell off
me!” She said with a growl.

Kendra pushed the blade as close to her neck as she
could without making her bleed. “What should we do with her?” she asked,
turning to look at Alan.

“Neutralize her and lets leave.” Alan replied.

Kendra wasted no time following Alan’s suggestion.
She rapidly used the sword to slash across her right arm. The blood flowed
quickly and she screamed in agony. Kendra stood and looked down on the woman.

“You’re bleeding significantly. If you don’t fix it
soon, you’ll bleed out and die. Good luck finding medical attention, and
avoiding the Dead Ones in the process. Whether you live or die is completely on
you now.” She said coldly as she walked away.

The woman felt weak, and knew she’d never be able to
shoot either Kendra or Alan, much less aim the gun in her current condition.
She struggled to her feet and got away as fast as she could. Kendra kept on her
way out of the store, with Alan following behind.

“That was a little extreme.” Alan remarked.

“Yes, and she was a little annoying and
uncooperative… and murderous, don’t forget that.” Kendra replied, defending her
actions.

“Fair enough. Let’s get out of here.” Alan said,
following her out.

As they reached the main hallway of the mall, Alan
and Kendra heard an all too familiar growling noise. They each looked around
with their flashlights and confirmed the worst; Dead Ones surrounded them. They
readied their weapons and prepared to fight, but in the most bizarre
circumstances, not a single Dead One moved towards them.

In the silence of the room, they heard applause from
a single person, followed by a voice. A figure stepped out from the shadows.