Zombie Adventure Ep. #4 [Open][NR]

The mall. At the west end of the suburbs was the large multiple building complex, currently surrounded by a horde. Alec stood upon a nearby police car, scoping the place out. There was no direct way in, each of it's entrances were mobbed up by walkers, not to mention barricaded, which suggested that someone was alive in there.

The police car Alec was standing on luckily had 2 Glock Pistols, a Shotgun and a moderate amount of ammo. Alec took a moment while crouching next to the car to inspect and explain the proper use of the weapons to the survivors, since all 4 of them were armed now. He showed each of them how to aim, fire, and reload while also educating them about the safety. While putting fire to his next joint, Alec inhaled deeply while thinking of a way to infiltrate the building without getting any of them killed.

“It wasn't this crowded the last time I was here,” said the female survivor.

”Barricaded from the inside too, might mean somebody's in there. Friend or foe though, that is the question... All of you stay right here, I need to see something.”

Alec took off the dufflebag and left it behind the police car. No one outside of Amaranth and maybe Vigilante would ever even hope to move it, let alone pick it up. He took off running at a high rate of speed, much to the survivor's surprise. Alec began a circle of the mall with Sharingan active, gathering himself a glance at each entrance, while keeping his distance from the walkers. Some turned and began to move toward something they thought they smelled, but none could really get a bead on him since he ran so fast.

Alec slid to a stop behind the police car again, leaning back on his dufflebag to catch his breath. The survivors stared at him with wide eyes. “You run so fast,” said the other female survivor. Alec just shrugged his shoulders. Every entrance was blocked, except for the garage, but that was just too many walkers to fight through. Too risky now that they had survivors with them.

”Vigilante, anybody up on the roof? See any ways in up there?'

Amaranth took in the sight of the mall while mildly listening to what her grandfather was telling the survivors as he instructed them on the use and safety of weapons: all while praying that none of them accidentally shot themselves or each other. However, she focused more as she saw out of the corner of her eye her grandfather drop his duffle bag down and then tell them to stay here before taking off.

She watched as he ran around the building, which she assumed he was doing to check the place out and look for an opening, all while moving too fast for the zombies to really keep track of. Eventually he was back at the car and leaning on his duffle bag. While she waited for the Vigilante to check and see if there were any openings on the roof or ways in up there, as well as any people who might be lurking up top, she sat down and began digging through her bag; taking the time to rest for a moment while also checking what supplies she did or did not have.

She pulled open the sandwich that her grandfather had given hear earlier and ripped it open. She took a large bit out of it and chewed quickly; making quick work of the sandwich which quieted the growling in her gut. While she took another bite she sorted through her bag quick enough, arranging everything - including the cure she still carried - so that more could easily fit once they got inside of the mall.

The mall was surrounded by an ocean of freaks. Alec and the survivors found guns in the police car they were hiding behind, with Alec explaining how to use and reload them. While Alec ran around the building, possibly to find a way in, Amaranth took the time to get some food in her. V found himself getting hungry again too, but decided to wait until he was inside somewhere to eat.

Alec did a quick lap around the mall, returning to the surprise of the survivors, who'd probably never encountered someone advanced or superhuman before today. When Alec asked V to see if anyone were on the roof, he was already doing a scan of the complex with Stretch... ”...The inside is still mostly intact. There doesn't look to be any freaks on the inside, the whole place is locked down tight...There's a few life forms in there, on the first and second floors. I'll have to get closer to see if they're dangerous or not. The 3rd floor is deserted, but there's a few freaks up top, on the roof. I'm thinking survivors who were hoping for a heli pick up but never got it...”

V thought either a distraction to clear away the crowd around one of the ground doors, or perhaps a rood insertion. ”What did you have in mind, Boss—Alec?...So weird, calling you Alec...”

They were coming. An army of them, from the direction they'd just come, the suburbs. The Murrays, they were an interesting appetizer. But the main course had eluded them....

...Until now. The horde of undead hungry for their flesh approached like a stampede of wild animals, eager to sink their teeth into the lot of them. The horde seemed to fill up the horizon behind them with countless amounts of mouthes desperate to consume them.

An unstoppable tidal wave of teeth, closing their approach with every passing second.

”Why? It's my name. We don't have time for that rank crap out here in the middle of this shit, we can both die just the same... Well, since all of the ground ways in are all mobbed up, I was thinking--”

Alec was interrupted by the screams of the female survivors. He looked at them, and then at what they were looking at, and had to do a double-take. There was a horde coming from the suburbs. There were hundreds, thousands of them. There was no taking on a crowd that size. With how fast they were moving, they'd be on them in seconds.

”...Shit... Alright, follow my lead! Hurry up!”

Alec got to his feet quickly and grabbed both female survivors, leaving the males for Vigilante and Amaranth to grab. With a girl in each arm and his dufflebag, Alec was still able to move just as swiftly as he could if he didn't have all that extra baggage, and this was good, for the screams of the females also attracted the crowd outside the mall. Many of them turned toward the ear piercing sound and began head in in it's direction. Alec thought that they were trapped in a jaw between teeth, and those teeth were closing in on them from both directions, intent on tearing them apart... literally.

Alec ran toward the mall horde head-on, since they weren't moving as fast as the horde behind them. He got as close to them as possible, before ducking and jumping high into the air with a grunt. The super jump enabled Alec to carry the two girls above the crowd of walkers and land safely on the roof. His boots slam into the metal ceiling, sliding a moment before gathering his balance. Alec released his hold on the 2 girls who were in shock that a person could perform such a feat, with 2 people at that.

”Vigilante said there were walkers up here somewhere too, so get somewhere and hide. Leave this to us. Don't shoot your guns unless you have to, we're gonna wanna sneak in here if we can.”

The girls shook off the shock state they were in and both moved off behind some of the large Air Conditioning units as Alec grabbed the Katana sheath with his left hand, waiting for Amaranth and Vigilante to jump up here with the 2 guys. He could hear movement up here over the sounds of the thousands of undead below...

She listened as the Vigilante explained how there didn't seem to be any freaks inside of the mall, but how it was locked down tight and the first and second floors had other people inside - Amaranth wasn't going to assume that those people were any different then the brothers they had just previously fought: everyone outside of their group was an enemy until proven otherwise was the mentality she had taken up. People became too savage in situations like this, and while they could end up looking completely normal it didn't mean that they were. Better to play it safe then be sorry later on.

Amaranth heard the two female's scream and blinked before turning her head in the direction of what they were staring at: a horde of zombies was headed in their direction, and there were way too many for them to stand a chance fighting against even if all of them worked together. She then glanced behind them, taking notice that the mall horde had heard the screams and were converging on them as well. They were trapped between two hordes and without some quick thinking they were going to be turned into a tasty meal for the hundreds upon hundreds of mouths aimed in their direction.

She threw her pack on her shoulder and watched as her grandfather picked up the two females. Following his lead she grabbed up one of the guys who was far too amazed by such a feat of strength to be capable of commenting or screaming at the moment. She took off after her grandfather, leaving the last guy for Vigilante to snatch up. The repulsion on her anti gravity boots kicked in, launching herself and the guy she had a hold of into the air in a high arc: she really was going to have to find some way to thank Devon for these boots if or when she got back to Edge City. The guy, who finally had been shaken from his confusion and amazement grabbed hold of her panicked "You don't drop people, right?"

Amaranth landed lightly on the roof seconds later, and put the guy down on his feet. "Nah, I've never dropped anyone yet.", she said very softly. She waited until he seemed steady enough on his feet which took a second or two, before nodding her head in the direction that the two females had gone. Without needing to be told twice the kid took off to join the other two females while Amaranth's hand went to the weapon her grandfather had lent her; unsheathing it as she looked around with silvery eyes for the zombies the Vigilante had spoken of.

”Dude! You guys are in serious trouble if you don't start moving right now!!”

A zombie horde. This was not good. Big V could fly, and so could Amaranth with those boots of hers, but Alec and the survivors... if he had to make a choice of who to rescue, then Alec was on top of that list...

But then Alec grabbed up the girls and took off running. Amaranth grabbed one of the guys, so V snatched up and put the remaining guy on his back. Stretch and even his woman - Jasmine was her name – were staring at the screen with wide opened eyes at how fast Alec was running, at the same time carrying 2 people and that giant bag.

Alec ran toward the crowd. V wondered what his plan was, then he jumped, really high. Jasmine gasped and Stretch just went “...Wooaahh.” Amaranth jumped next making Jasmine gasp again. V's turn to jump came last, boosted by the jets in his boots.

”What, I don't get any surprised reactions??”

”I see you jump around and fly all the time, man. Alec did that carrying 2 people tho! That's something you don't see everyday!”

'Yeah, I guess not...kinda cool to see him in action anyways, back in the day he'd just stay behind that desk all the time...”

Vigilante landed on the roof nearby Amaranth and let the survivor down off his back, who said thanks before going to hide with the others. V nodded his masked head to him. The scanner picked up 5 freaks nearby, spread out, all coming toward them because of the sounds of them landing on the metal roof. Big V pulled off the Peacemaker and caused it to expand.

”5 freaks coming this way. 5 is better than 5 thousand though...”

The food was escaping, but the horde was patient. The horde were many. The horde never tired like the food always did. It would chase it's meal until the very ends of the earth.

Then they were all off of the ground. The horde never got angry or protested, as stated, it was patient. It would wait... there was nothing else to do, after all.

So, this horde added its numbers to that of the horde that surrounded the Pacific City mall... and waited. Sooner or later, the food on the roof, as well as those inside, they would have to come out...

...Sooner or later.

Amaranth and Vigilante both made it to the roof with no problems. All survivors went to go hide. Alec stood up after catching his breath, listening to Vigilante say there were 5 walkers up on the roof. 5 were indeed better than the many thousands below.

Alec broke out into a run again, darting in between the large A/C units that littered most of the roof area. He approached an incoming walker and executed a quick slash of the Katana, removing the walker of it's head. He ran past another, slashing toward the knee area. With both of it's legs removed from the knee down, the walker fell forward onto it's face, allowing Alec to raise his right leg and drop it with high rapidity towards the head. He stomped, creating a “squelch” sound along with the obvious crunch, finishing the creature.

Past the A/C units on the roof there was a clearing. Someone had attempted to hold out up here. A large “SOS” was painted on the roof using someone's blood. Pieces of people were strewn about a makeshift campsite that had chairs, tables a couple of tents and sleeping bags. Someone had managed to light a fire even. Alec didn't know how things went sour up here. If he had to guess, it was likely because someone had been bitten or scratched on the way up here, everyone else didn't know, the person turned and bit someone else, and from then on it was just like dominoes.

Alec approached the 3rd of 5 walkers quickly and came with a swing of his sword from the floor. He made a slice that started at the groin and ended through the top of it's head; a clean slice straight through the creature that rendered the thing in 2. Both halves fell in either direction, twitching and oozing multi colored fluids, not to mention the smell of rotten decayed flesh.

Alec sheathed the Katana again, looking around what was left of this roof camp while Amaranth and Vigilante handled the remaining 2 walkers.

Amaranth unsheathed the Blind Fury stick and moved over to one of the five zombies on the roof; which had just come out from around one of the other large AC units on the far side of the roof. She moved towards the zombie while it moved mindlessly towards it. She was glad there were only five on the roof compared to the thousands below, and hoped that those below didn't somehow end up getting in.

For now though she focused on the task at hand: getting rid of the danger on the roof by the quietest means possible as to not attract the attention of anyone inside or down below. The zombie, when it got close enough, went to grab hold of Amaranth who ducked below the out stretched arms, turned, and stood facing it from behind. Before the zombie could turn, or realize even what happened, Amaranth struck. The blind fury stick was thrust upward at a forty-five degree angle and straight into the brain of the undead fiend and out its eye socket.

After a quick and violent jerk she removed the blind fury stick, now coated in blood and brain matter, and turned her attention; looking around for the last of the five zombies to see if it had been dealt with or not since she had been aware of her grandfather taking care of three of the five rather quickly and easily.

"Last one down?" she asked as she moved back towards the rest of the group; not yet sheathing the blind fury stick just in case. She looked at the camp-site, wondering if there were any supplies littered around that hadn't been used up before everything went to hell up on the roof; while also wondering if perhaps they should take some time to rest and regain their strength before going into the mall itself... who knew what those in the mall would do when they found the small group of them intruding?

Big V ran up into the range of the last freak. He began to rapidly pelt the hard Peacemaker at random points all  over it's zombie body. The thing probably didn't even feel it, but V wanted to get the exercise anyways. His stick combo ended when the head was knocked clean off of the shoulders, to then boot over the still wiggling body. ”Last one down.”

Spoiler:

How did it get to the point to where someone had to use blood to try and signal for help, was what he was wondering. Now that he was up close he was able to do a more thorough scan. There were a lot of people alive in there, some of them armed. No one was on the 3rd floor at all, but the 2nd and 1st were occupied.

”Lotta people in there...some have guns. Looking pretty normal for now, not like back with those Murrays.”

”All clear you guys, come on out.”

There was really nothing left of the roof camp that would be of any use to him. The survivors looked around anyway, scavenging what they could. Alec walked over near an edge, to look down into a sea of walkers. They were everywhere now, a giant mob of the people who used to inhabit this city, mindless and driven solely for the need to feed.

”You see this, Amaranth? You see why I told you and your mom not to play God? Shit like this happens.”

Another round of rain rolled in with clouds that made it darker. Alec turned and began heading across the roof towards one of the access points, with the survivors following. He approached the door and opened it, stepping down inside. The power was still on, indicated by the still functioning lights. Alec went down a floor to another door that lead into the main area. Before stepping through Alec turned to everyone and put an index finger over his lips, indicating to them all to stay silent. He wasn't ready to reveal their group to the people down on the lower floors yet, there was no telling yet if they were friendlies, or Murrays.

It appeared that all of the stairways up to the 3rd floor were blocked in or wielded shut; all escalators destroyed. Mostly all of the shops were pretty much untouched since this disaster began, and the survivors didn't hesitate to go shopping.

Alec walked into a dollar store were there were giant pallets of bottled drinking water. He grabbed several dozen to stuff them into his bag, and one for himself, drinking half the bottle. Alec snapped his fingers toward Amaranth and waved her into the store so she could grab some. As he saw the survivors he waved them in next, and Vigilante as well. This could have possibly been the last time any of them would have access to clean water, so it was best to grab as much as they could carry.

Amaranth frowned somewhat to hear that those inside had guns: normally being shot wasn't an issue at all but in this city it was a whole other story. At least her cape was made out of bullet proof material, so she had that much going for her, she just hoped everyone else could be so lucky. 

When her grandfather moved to the edge of the roof and looked down she followed and stared down at the crowd of undead freaks. She gave a nod to her grandfather's words with a grim look on her face. "If only those scientists would have listened to you like I did... maybe this situation wouldn't have happened like this." Of course there was no use crying over spilled milk; what was done was done and all they could do was try and save as many people as possible - and perhaps her mother would be able to find a way to cure the masses. Some of them were so far decayed and broken that curing them would likely kill them, but better they be dead than stuck like that.

She followed her grandfather without hesitation - she had come this far and she wasn't about to back out now - down the steps and into the mall itself. It had been beginning to look like it was going to start storming soon, so getting inside was a god send: those zombies were likely only to get more riled up due to the noise of the thunder. She moved silently and didn't speak after watching her grandfather bring his finger up to his lips as a sign for them to be quiet. She watched, once they were on the third floor, as the group of survivors they had picked up went into one of the nearby stores. She followed her grandfather, looking around carefully while she did so and noticing how the third floor was blocked off: she wondered how it had happened and why it had happened since there were so many people on the bottom two floors.

She heard her grandfather snap his fingers and followed the sound; walking into the dollar store. Seeing all of the water she grabbed up a bottle which she opened and drank a third of before putting it to the side. She picked up several more, about six in total, and began to stack them inside of her bag. She then went to the nearby rack of chips and began to pull several off as well, stuffing those into her back too. Looking towards the actual mini food aisle she ventured down it and pulled off of the shelves two loafs of bread, a jar of peanut butter and another jar of jelly. After stuffing the jelly into her now nearly full bag she closed it up and headed back towards the front of the store; snatching up the bottle of water she had opened and left behind along the way which she took another swig of while walking - pausing only long enough to snatch an assorted tiny box of plastic silver-wear along the way. She had plenty of food in her pack now to ensure they wouldn't starve for a few days.

They were everywhere. Hundreds of thousands of freaks. He tried not to imagine how it would feel to be bitten all over by many mouthes. With as many of them as there was now, it also posed the question: how exactly were they going to get out of here now?

Alec would figure out something, he'd gotten them this far. There was a crack and a boom above, then rain. V turned to follow Alec, Amaranth and the survivors over to a roof entry and down into the building. Keeping quiet of course, V did a detailed scan of the 3rd floor. No one was up there with them. It would probably give them a chance to catch a breather after running and jumping around.

Many of the shops up here were still legit and intact, probably since the day this whole horror movie thing started, whereas some of them looked like they'd been occupied. The mall looked like the kinda place that he, Stretch, Jasmine and probably Cala would gather to go pal around. It was game over for this place most likely, but there was no mall in Edge...There was an idea.

V went over to the dollar store when Alec snapped his fingers. There was a lot of water in here. V grabbed several for himself and shoved them into the pockets on his pants and his small bag. ”Hey, Alec. When this is all over, consider putting a mall in Edge somewhere? A hangout for the young bucks and the tasty young females, y'know?”

”A good idea. I'll run it by Jr when we get back. He's probably watching us right now somehow, so don't be surprised if there's one already waiting on you when we're finished here.”

The survivors began filling their bags up with water and food from the shelves. Amaranth grabbed her fair share, as did Vigilante. That was one less monkey off his back; he wouldn't have to worry about anyone going hungry or thirsty. Alec tossed into the dufflebag some food and snacks from the shelves himself, before stepping back out into the mall.

“It takes months or even years to build a place like this, how would you do it so fast?” asked one of the male survivors.

”You wouldn't believe me if I told you.”

“You picked me and her up and jumped to the roof of this building, and you run as fast as anyone i've ever seen before. You and Amaranth have gold rings above your heads floating somehow. I think we'd believe anything you told us,” said one of the female survivors, making the other 3 nod their heads in agreement.

”...Niala, who used to be my right hand when I was Boss of Edge, whatever she imagines, she can bring it to life, make it real. It wouldn't be too hard for her to imagine a mall for Edge.”

All of them looked sort of shocked to hear that someone could just imagine a mall and make it real. At this point they'd have come to an area where there was a balcony, allowing them to see down into the second and 1st floor. The current room was used to house the dead down on the 1st. Bodies lie in a pile below, the stink of them attacking the nostrils upon entry. The survivors all covered their noses.

Alec came to a half destroyed escalator, walking down it to jump down to the 2nd floor. He caught all 4 survivors as they jumped down. Alec then turned around hearing one of the female survivors give a shriek and hearing the click of weapons behind him.

He turned to see 2 men. Both were dressed in combat jackets that had many pockets. Both were armed with 9mm Berettas, pointing them at Alec and the survivors. The kids looked scared, both the girls grabbing onto Alec as they stood behind him, but Alec just looked as calm as he always did. The guys both had weapons in their hands, but Alec waved them off.

”Easy, guys... we're just here to help.”

“Who are you people?” asked one of the men who Alec figured had to be the oldest because of his beard and mustache. “How did you get in here?”

”Just some survivors. We got in through the roof.”

“Well sorry Mr survivor, but the mall is our territory. Ain't enough room, food or supplies to go around. Gonna have to go back out there with the biters and take your chances, i'm afriad.” Alec looked at the man closely. He looked parched, like he hadn't had anything to drink in a long time.

”We're just here to help, sir... I can't help but to notice that you look sort of dehydrated... you and your man here. It looks like you could use a drink.”

Alec reached behind him to the dufflebag, making both the men click back the hammers on their pistols. Alec remained calm, even as the male survivors pointed the pistol and shotgun from the police car at them. He waved them off again and hoped that V or Amaranth wouldn't suddenly come flying in from above with an aerial strike.

Alec grabbed 2 unopened bottles of water and showed them to the 2 mall survivors. He could see the life suddenly appear in their eyes at the sight of the H2O. Alec tossed both of them a bottle, and they stared at them a moment. “Are these poisoned?” asked the younger one.

”How could I poison an unopened bottle of water? WHY would I, for that matter? Drink!”

Both men eagerly opened the bottles and downed them. Alec swore he could see the color returning to their faces. Both of them seen very grateful to be drinking the clean refreshing water.

”Mmmm. Good, yeah?”

“You said it, guy. You're a life saver!” said the older one, pouring some of the water over his head and face.

”Let me prove that we're just here to help. The rest of the people in here have to be in a bad way without water too, right? Well there a gang of water upstairs, more than enough for all of you. I can go get it and bring it down for everyone.”

“But... there's no way up to the 3rd. A while back, when we first ran in here and fortified the place, some of us got bit. After a while, you turn into one of them. We quarantined the bitten and several who tried to pull a take over upstairs, sealed off all stairs, elevators and escalators. We stopped hearing things up there so we assumed they were all dead...”

”You're right... there were nothing but walkers up there when we got here. We had to put them down. And like I said, I can get that water for you, trust me. We just wanna help, no violence.”

The two male survivors lowered their guns, and so did the mall survivors. “...Alright, I don't know how you're gonna get back up there and carry all of that water down here alone, but i'll believe it when I see---” His eyes went as wide as golf balls to see Alec jump dozens of feet upward and land back on the 3rd floor.

After another few sips of her bottle of water Amaranth finished it off. She grabbed a fresh bottle of water and then followed the group out of the store. She listened to the Vigilante ask about a mall in Edge when everything was over and couldn't help but smile at the idea: it sure sounded like a cool place to hang out - even bosses needed a break once in a while.

She chuckled softly at the reactions of the survivors upon hearing that it wasn't at all impossible for Edge to get a mall overnight due to Niala and her ability to manifest anything she imagined. Amaranth could never imagining having such a power, nor would she want to: she could only imagine how horrible things could get if the wrong person found out about someone having a power like that, and said person getting in the wrong hands. Probably why Niala stayed in the tower all of the time, in the office, where she was as safe as anyone could ever get.

Amaranth found herself jarred from her thoughts as her grandfather and then the four survivors jumped down below to then instantly be confronted by two men with guns. Two thoughts instantly crossed her mind: either stay upstairs and provide cover fire if things went downhill while remaining out of sight for now, or jump down behind those two and eliminate them. Amaranth hadn't yet reached the point of shooting first and asking questions later so she simply ducked down and kept herself hidden but close by with her hand on her folded up gunscythe; her finger ready to trip the clip that would unlock it from her belt so she could fire it.

She listened to the conversation going on and listened as the idea of water was brought up and how parched the two guys below looked. She listened then as her grandfather convinced them that the water he had handed them wasn't poisoned and peaked around the edge and down to below as they drank it down. It made her glad that she hadn't gone down firing off rip.

Amaranth stood to her feet as her grandfather jumped back upstairs, looking down to the two below and making herself known. "You guys said you're low on food, yeah?", she called down: it wasn't like they needed a store full of food to themselves anyway... especially if her grandfather planned on moving on soon. She moved towards the store and back inside. She headed back to the same shelf she had grabbed food from before and started pulling off about six loaves of bread and several jars of peanut butter and jelly. She walked back out of the store and jumped down to the second floor.

Big V walked with the group. He listened to the conversation between Alec and the survivors, and saw Stretch and Jasmine high fiving each other over the link up at the mention of a new mall in Edge. Alec soon jumped down to the second floor with the survivors, and in his thoughts of a new hang out he forgot to do a scan.

2 guys were below, with pistols. 9mm semi automatic Beretta model. V went down low, just like Amaranth, remaining out of sight for now. If they tried something, they were dead. V wouldn't even care about it afterwards: by no means would he let anything happen to Alec or Amaranth, even if it meant him dying.

Alec gained their trust though. They hadn't had anything to drink in ages, and they'd all just loaded up on more water than they'd need to reach the bridge. So, V showed himself along with Amaranth when Alec jumped back up to the 3rd, leaning on the railing with his forearms. ”I can help out too if you need, Alec...”

”I got it, V, don't worry about it.”

Alec returned to the store. He picked up an entire pallet of the bottled water while Amaranth grabbed more food, returning and jumping down to the 2nd floor with it. He landed, causing a tremendous vibration of the floor. The survivors all looked at him in shock and amazement. “How---How?...How the--!?”

Alec only gave a slight grin from under the hood, carrying the pallet. The 2 mall survivors shook off the shock and disbelief of what they'd seen and began leading the way. They took Alec and the survivors down the the first floor, to the food court area where there were many others, old and young. It looked like they'd been holding out here for a long time. Months. The whole year this thing had been going on, even.

Alec put the pallet down with another vibration, tearing the plastic off. The many people here flocked to the water and grabbed bottles, drinking and bathing. Everyone had smiles on their faces; it looked as if they'd had their hopes restored.

Others came out of an office behind the food courts between 2 restaurants, attracted by the joyful noises. One of them was armed with an AR-15. “What is this?” said the male next to him, wearing glasses, whom Alec figured  to be the 'Leader' of sorts. He gave a strange look to Alec, Amaranth and Vigilante. “Who are these people? What's going on here?”

“Actually I don't know, but it doesn't matter. He saved our asses. We all have something to eat and drink because of them,” said the bearded survivor.

“You know the rules, Burt! No outsiders! It's how we keep alive, how we hold out until help comes!” Alec pulled off his hood as he stepped closer. Some of the people there recognized him.

”Do you know who I am? You recognize me?”

“You're... Alec Kane... Alec Kane? A city Boss, here?”

”Right. So if you know that, you should also know I warned the people who ran this city that this would happen. You should also know i'm here to help. If a rescue is what you all've been waiting for, i'm afraid that we're it. Those scientists? All they were concerned with were their own asses, there's no one out there trying to rescue survivors but us. Who knows if those clowns are even still alive.”

“...Well, that's pretty noble of you Mr Kane, but whatever you did outside just made it 10 times harder to get out of here. There's a big crowd of biters out there, and they have all routes out blocked off.” Alec tossed both men bottled water. He then began rolling himself another joint. Many of the people thanked Alec, Amaranth, Vigilante and even the survivors with them.

”Well, we've been running and jumping around a while. If you'll allow us to catch our breath and get our bearings straight for a while, we'll figure out a way to get you all out of here.”

“Then what?” asked the one holding the rifle. “Everything is fucked! It's not like we can exactly go home, right?” Alec lit the joint and took a long drag, releasing the smoke from his lungs slowly.

”...Come to Edge then. All of you. Housing, jobs, vehicles; i'll make sure you all can start over. This much I promise.”

The survivors' moods began to brighten up. It seemed like none of them had smiled or laughed in a long time. Alec could see they believed him, probably because of him bringing them water than none of them had had in quite a while. Some still looked skeptical, but in times like these it would be hard to trust anyone. Alec knew how that felt, thus he did not plan on betraying or lying to these people.

The leader and the rifleman looked at each other before beginning to relax and lighten up. “...Alright, Mr Kane. We'll take you up on your word. We'd have probably lasted another day or two if you and your people hadn't brought us these supplies... We all realized too late after we quarantined the infected and the traitors that the majority of the water was upstairs, and no one is strong enough to make the climb up, let alone get as much water as you did back here... So, thanks. Take all the time to need to get your wind back. When you're ready to come up with a plan, i'll be in the office. The name's Alex, by the way.” He and Alec shook hands.

”Alright, Alex. Call me Alec by the way.”

Amaranth, still holding the many loaves of bread and the several jars each of peanut butter and jelly, followed after her grandfather and the other survivors. She couldn't help but grin a bit at the way everyone seemed so shocked at what her grandfather was doing: she figured that this city likely didn't get very many supernatural type people, probably due to the suppression field that surrounded it. The other cities allowed for at least a little bit of magical power, just nothing super dangerous or powerful, but this city allowed almost nothing at all. So, the shock they were showing was easy enough to understand.

While her grandfather put down the pallet of waters on the floor and tore open the plastic in the food court, Amaranth went over to one of the tables and laid out the loaves of bread and the jars of peanut butter and jelly: plenty enough for everyone to enjoy. And, if that wasn't enough she could always jump back up and grab more.

Amaranth then returned to her grandfather's side, listening to the conversation he was having between himself and a man who seemed to be in charge of all of these people. She couldn't blame him for not wanting any extra people showing up - there was more than enough people here as it was to take care of - but at least they would be able to help, and were able to provide these people with plenty of water and some food. She listened as her grandfather offered the survivors places to live in Edge as well as jobs and vehicles; everything that they would need to start over and have a second chance at a normal life. It was a much better option than continuing to sit in this mall while waiting for help that was never going to come.

Amaranth looked around a bit, looking around and taking everything and everyone in. At the same time her mind began to formulate several plans on how to get out of the mall. The easiest of course, if they had enough time to do it, would be to fly everyone out: both her and Vigilante could fly which meant no one would risk being bitten. But, that would be time consuming, and something that would only work if they had plenty of time to spare. Given the horde of zombies outside... she wasn't sure exactly how much time they were actually going to have. No, they would need a way to get everyone out at roughly the same time if they were going to be able to stand a chance at all...

Alec came back with a big case of water, making Stretch and Jasmine do the eyeball thing again. V thought their eyes were about to pop out when Alec jumped down a floor carrying that big thing. He went with everyone to the food court area, the living space for quite a few people. They were all plenty happy to get some water.

The head dudes running this show came out, or at least V thought that's who they were. With Amaranth standing at one side of Alec, V stood at the other. These guys seemed distrustful on them, until Alec revealed who he was. Alec said he'd help them all get out, and even give them residence in Edge.

In the meantime V hacked into their still functioning CCTV system and looked at all of the outside cameras. The freaks were everywhere, swarmed around every way in and out. This left him to wonder how the barricades they had were holding with all of the new editions. ”Hey...i'm gonna go have a look around the exits...do some math and see if their set up will hold or not, alright? I won't be gone long...”

V activated his jets and took off. He went from exit to exit, using his computer to calculate the probability of the barricades failing vs the weight pressing against them from outside. All of them were good enough to last maybe a week with doubled the current weight on them before there was a breach... But there was one that looked as if it could fail at any time. Even with the minor repairs that V did right there on the spot, the exit would fall in several hours, and V very much didn't count on them to have the kinds of tools to fix it...

"Let's hope this exit strategy Alec and those other guys come up with is cash money...otherwise alotta people are gonna die."

Alec put his dufflebag down, causing yet another violent vibration of the floor. He nodded his head to Vigilante before he took off flying, causing the usual surprised reactions. Alec sat on the dufflebag as he often did, giving himself one of the rare times to relax and rest his muscles. His survivors as well as several others did too, staring at the rings above his and Amaranth's heads. A lot of the younger kids that were here were plenty impressed because of Amaranth being so young and having the courage to hold her own in a time like this. It inspired most of them to begin making weapons of their own.

The survivors asked Alec a bunch of questions, but he didn't mind. They didn't believe him when he said Amaranth was his grand daughter. They still didn't believe him when he took out his cell and showed them pictures of Dez, Demi, Jr, and Artemis. Several of the older boys oogled Avery's picture though, and Alec could only grin.

Others told Alec and Amaranth their own accounts of when this nightmare started. How people started eating other people in the streets in total pandemonium. How everything just fell apart and everyone was left to fend for themselves. How most of them saw family members die right in front of them and were only alive today because of their sacrificed loved ones. Again, Alec knew exactly how they felt. All he could do was promise to do his best to get them all out of this bad dream so that they could start again in Edge.

Amaranth went and sat near her grandfather; dropping her own bag on the ground right beside herself; she wanted to keep it in arms reach at all times in case something went down and something bad happened. She rolled her shoulders for a moment, enjoying the feeling of not lugging the heavy bag around for the time being while giving herself a much needed break. She watched the Vigilante take off to go check things out before turning back to the younger survivors.

She grinned at them; offering up tips when she saw them going to work on making their own weapons. Normally she wouldn't support untrained kids having weapons because she knew how dangerous that they could be, but in this situation it was best that everyone was armed, even the younger survivors. A weapon in this sort of situation was the difference between possible life and certain death. Better to be safe than sorry. 

Amaranth laughed softly when she saw the reaction some of the survivors had at Avery's picture; it made her think back to all of the half naked females who roamed around her beaches. She didn't blame the survivors for not believing she was Alec's granddaughter; he looked young himself, but angels didn't age like humans did or else Alec would probably look a lot older. She listened to the survivors speak of their stories; how everyone came to be here, and how much life had been lost. Amaranth didn't want anymore lives lost like that, not if they could help it.

"Depending on how long the barricades would hold we could probably fly everyone out. But, that's going to be time consuming; and with how many people are here it'd likely take a good many hours to do it. You have any other ideas?", she asked her grandfather; all while hoping that V returned with good news.

V fixed the barricade as best he could before heading back to the food court. He landed and slid a while on the polished floor. V didn't want to start a panic so he stopped next to Alec and got close to his ear. ”All of the barricades are legit except one. It's gonna break soon; based on my calculations I give it a few more hours. The metal is old and warped...even if they had proper torches which I doubt, it would still be only a matter of time before it gives out.”

He stood up again, giving the thumbs up to some of the kids who were making weapons. They probably looked at how heroic Amaranth was being and got inspired. V saw nothing wrong with that.

The question now had to be what was Alec going to do? They could fly everyone out but that was going to take too long. He was confident that Alec could think of something with his big Boss brain.

Alec listened to what Amaranth said and blinked his eyes slowly. Flying everybody out of here would take too much time. Add on what Vigilante just said into his ear, and that possibility was a bad one. Someone was going to die that way.

Alec stood up and started walking toward where Alex, Burt and the other leadership figures went. He entered the office, which was full of TV's linked to cameras all through the building and outside. Alex was sitting in the seat behind the desk that contained all of the TV's.

”My man Vigilante here went and had a look at all of your barricades. He says one of them is beyond repair and will give out in several hours. We didn't want to start a panic with your people so we didn't tell anyone out there. So if we're gonna butt our heads and get these people out of here we better get on it; we're running out of time.”

“Alright then, Alec. I can't come up with anything,” said Alex, cycling through each camera. Each exit was swarmed with walkers.

”I was thinking about going outside and making a lot of noise. Get a whole shit load of them on me, draw them away from a door. Give all of you the chance to make a break for it.”

“Some of these people aren't in the shape to do any running, Alec,” said Burt. Alec nodded his head, letting smoke drift from his nose.

”...These malls usually have like, private parking on the inside somewhere, right? Any cars in there?”

“Yeah, we thought of that ourselves,” said Alex, switching to the parking garage. “But the only vehicles big enough to accommodate everyone are the RVs. Only one of them will start, and we have no mechanics here...” There were 5 RV's in the garage. More than enough room for all of these people. Alec reached over Alex and typed very quickly with one hand, creating the usual shocked reaction. Alec went to a camera in Sears, to the car maintenance area to see if still fully stocked, then the audio department. He then switched to a hallway where there was a futuristic-looking convertible once about to be mass produced in Pacific City still on display.

”Perfect... Me and Vigilante will fix those RVs... That car there, i'll fit it with loud speakers.”

“Why? Those things are attracted to loud sounds,” said the rifleman.

”Exactly... I'll go outside and make a scene. Grab up their attention, get them away from the garage doors. While I distract them, you all hit the road, head toward the outskirts and The Bridge. Leave the dangerous shit to me, ok? I'll take the risk, giving you all a chance to get out unnoticed. We will be right behind you. Do not wait around for us and don't worry about us. We know what we're doing. Worrying for our safety will have you make a mistake, and mistakes get people killed.”

“...Alright then, Alec... it's a better plan than any of us could have thought of, and if you say it'll work, then we'll trust you.”

”Alright. Try to calmly inform everyone what's going on, get them ready to move and sort out 5 drivers. Vigilante and I will get started on those vehicles.”

Alec did a head motion to Vigilante and turned to head back out of the office.

Amaranth remained seated for a moment while two things ran through her mind rampantly. The first thing that ran through her mind of course was how to get all of these people out of here as quickly and safely as possible: since she was coming up with a blank on that one, and seeing her grandfather suddenly get up and walk into the office after what she had just overheard Vigilante say, she figured he had an idea so she let that go. 

The second thing on her mind was the fact that where ever they did end up heading they were going to need food and there was no telling if food was going to be available right away or if they were going to have to go scouting for some. There was plenty of water now on the ground floor and she was sure that there were bags somewhere in the mall so that they could start packing some up, but they would need food too.

Seeing her father nod his head for Vigilante to follow him she stood up and grabbed up her bag before jumping back up and onto the third floor. She walked through the area and into several stores grabbing up the brand new gym bags that she could find and the various backpacks. She knew she couldn't make them too heavy or else no one down below would be able to carry them. So, as she headed into the dollar store and began to fill them she kept that thought in mind. She pulled everything and anything off of the shelves that she could; the bags that held cans of food also had several can openers thrown in as well. As she packed the food up she tried to even them out; a few loaves of bread, more peanut butter and jelly, some cans of food, some water, in each bag. More than enough to keep a small group of people happy per bag.

When she had roughly ten bags filled she grabbed up five in each hand, her own being on her back, and jumped back down to the ground floor where she laid them out. She then headed back upstairs, filling up the remaining bags the same way she had the first. With the next round of bags filled she jumped back down to the second floor and dropped them. She then took a moment to look around at the way everyone was dressed: who knew how long getting everyone out of here would take, or how the weather would change in the process.

So... once more she headed upstairs; off to fill a few bags with some jackets and clothing just to be on the safe side.