A feeling of claustrophobic panic struck Max. There were too many people in the city. They wouldn't be safe until they were beyond the state border and headed to Montana. Standing there near the wall and in the shade of a tree, Max watched the panic around them. People ran between cars, as those cars struggled through traffic trying to reach their destinations.
An idea began to form in Max's mind. Even with a vehicle, people weren't going anywhere. Looking back into the traffic, Max could even still see her truck sitting right where they had left it. She could see the man in the driver's seat, banging the steering wheel and laying on the horn like the rest of the drivers. He wasn't going to get anywhere in his stolen vehicle. Wait it out. It wasn't Max's way, she was always ready to go. However, the mayhem raging in the city was inescapable.
Suddenly the tempo of the moving crowd changed. People started screaming, dropping their items and running in panic. Max tensed, immediately sensing danger. She motioned to Jack to follow and they slowly crept toward the street to see what people were fleeing from.
"Oh my god," Max breathed. She heard Jack's shocked inhale behind her, but her daughter knew better than to make too much noise.
What mother and daughter saw was a mob. Not of healthy people fleeing, but of the infected. Even at a distance, their strange uncoordinated movements gave them away, looking like puppets on strings that weren't being controlled. The mob spanned the entire road, bumping into each other, running into cars, but slowly making their way forward. Max knew they had to move.
"We need to run," Max said to Jack. All the girl did was nod and tighten the straps on her pack.
Turning away from the road, Max quickly decided to cut through buildings, to avoid the main pack of infected. As well as avoiding any more panicked people that wanted to do something stupid. With Jack on her heels, the two of them entered the alley that was behind the Mexican restaurant. The back door of the building swung open as they ran and Max had her gun out and aimed before she thought. A man weighed down with bags of what Max assumed was food screamed when he saw Max pointing her 9 mm at his face.
"Sorry," Max said simply, holstering the gun. The man didn't answer or look back as he ran down the alley.
As they exited the third alley they went through, they met a dead end and had to join the road again. The screams of frightened people had followed them, an orchestra of the terror. Max and Jack slowly approached the congested road again. They had come to a large intersection. A vehicle accident in the middle had stopped people from driving through clearly. Now the intersection was full of the infected, the remaining living fighting off the attacks.
Max spun her tomahawk that she had been carrying while they ran. She itched to stay and fight, but she couldn't see a safe hiding place for Jack. Leaving Jack unprotected wasn't an option for her. However, they would have to enter the intersection to continue their travel on foot.
Standing in the mouth of the alley they caught the attention of the two nearest infected. Max pushed Jack back into the alley slightly. Looking back where they had come from, Max didn't see any immediate dangers.
"Stay here. I'm going to handle these two, then we'll keep going." Max said. Jack just nodded and pressed against the wall.
Without hesitation, Max met the infected head on. Her tomahawk sliced into the first infected's leg and as she yanked the blade back the infected lost its balance and fell to the asphalt. With the first infected down, Max stepped toward the second, slamming the tomahawk into its skull. She rounded just as the first infected was gaining its footing, half crawling to reach her.
A wave of anger swept through Max. This sickness was stealing people's lives. She saw the infected as the sickness itself, no longer the living people the bodies once were. Now, these snarling, grotesque beings were the host of this illness that was killing everyone around her.
Without thinking, Max struck out with one booted foot, catching the infected under the chin, toppling it backward. The anger she was feeling fueled her movements. Standing over the infected, she stepped down on its neck with one booted foot. The infected tried to claw into her jeans but couldn't find purchase. With a cry, Max swung her tomahawk down and crushed the skull of the sick body.
She took a deep breath, calming her inner turmoil. Looking around, she saw fights being waged and lost all around her. She knew she couldn't just walk away without doing something. Even if she didn't feel the need to help these living people, she didn't want to leave more infected to wander the city.
A cry near her had Max pulling her gun and spinning quickly. She saw a woman fighting off an infected man twice her size. Max groaned and quickly ran toward the pair. When she was close enough she pressed the gun point blank to the infected man's head and pulled the trigger. He never saw Max coming and his attention was purely on the meal at hand.
The woman screamed as the bullet tore through the infected. His body limply collapsed and Max looked over at the woman.
"Are you alright?"
"I...you shot him," the woman answered.
"Yeah. He was trying to eat you, right?" Max replied sarcastically.
"I think so. I don't even know. He worked at the gas station. I remember him," the woman rambled.
"He was dead before I ever shot him. You should go now. Run," Max said, motioning around them.
"Thank you," the woman said, before turning and fleeing.
"You're welcome," Max mumbled as she turned back toward the nearest fight.
She couldn't be sure but it felt like the amount of infected was increasing in the intersection. The noises of fighting, shots, and screams were drawing the ill to the living, to feast. Max continued to fight as she headed back to where she left Jack. She had lost count of the number of infected she herself had put down, but by the time she reached Jack she was popping her 9mm magazine and shoving it into her pocket. She found her spare and slapped it into the gun.
Jack's face was pale and full of fear. She had a perfect vantage point of the intersection hiding in the shadows of the alley. It was a war zone with one side clearly losing far more than the other. The living were dwindling in the area and Max feared they would be the next targets if they didn't move quickly. There were too many infected in the city to keep walking in the open.
A large parking lot opened at one end of the intersection and Max recognized the mall buildings beyond that. The mall was large, but if it were never opened that morning due to the emergency, they may be able to lock themselves safely inside one of the smaller stores. It wasn't the prime choice, but it would be harder for anyone to sneak up on them. Additionally, it happened to be the one side of the intersection not crawling with the infected.
"The mall over there," Max told Jack, pointing to the buildings.
"You hate the mall," Jack remarked.
"Well, that's true. But we aren't shopping. We're breaking in," Max stated.
"Totally different," Jack agreed.
"Stay right with me. If we are approached by an infected, stay away from my right arm so I can shoot or fight," Max instructed.
They stepped into the intersection, Jack on Max's left side. The two of them carefully navigated around the abandoned cars. Some were covered in blood spray, bodies against them or dead inside. Others were clean and it helped Max to imagine those people had abandoned the cars earlier and got away without harm. Jack pressed closely to Max's side, almost causing her to trip. She put her arm around her daughter and hugged her to her side. The death and carnage were a lot, even for Max.
Suddenly Jack was yanked back a step, causing Max to spin with her. She found herself face to face with an infected that had latched onto Jack's go bag. Jack let out a high-pitched shriek that only caused the infected to hiss and become more frantic. Max grabbed the front of Jack's shirt and yanked her body toward her. At the same time, she lifted her 9mm and shot the infected directly in the eye.
Holding onto Jack kept her from being dragged to the ground with the infected body. When the hands were ya
nked off her pack, Jack fell into her. Small sobs shook her body. Max took her shoulders and held her back from her so she could look her in the face.
"Jack, you're fine. I've got you," Max said briskly. She was never very good with emotions that caused anyone to cry. Her own heart was roaring with fear. One bite. She was sure that's all it took. The infected got too close to Jack for comfort.
"It's all so scary, Momma," Jack hiccupped.
"Yeah, it's not great. But it's our job to make it through this. And I need you to be strong. We are partners, just like we've always been. Got it?" Max said confidently. Jack nodded her head and swiped the tears from her face using her shirt sleeve.
Turning back toward the mall side of the intersection Max cursed inwardly to see that their run-in with the infected had attracted some additional attention.
"On my left side again, Jack," Max said sternly. She held her gun up and walked directly to what she hoped would be a safe haven. She circled, keeping an eye on the approaching infected. She didn't have enough bullets in her gun to protect them.
"We have to run, stay close, Jack," Max said, the urgency in her tone made Jack pay close attention.
Concentrating her fire ahead of them, Max took down three infected that were between them and the mall. She grabbed Jack's hand with her left and took off for the parking lot. Halfway to the entrance of the lot, Max brought them up short as additional infected wandered into their path.
"Damn it," Max breathed. She pulled her 9mm again and fired, missing the first infected with her first shot. She readjusted and held her breath and fired again. Realizing she didn't have enough ammo to keep firing, she holstered her gun and pulled out her tomahawk again. All she needed was to get to the doors of the mall and hopefully find a place to hide inside.
Max estimated five infected before the parking lot. There was no way to know what would be there once they reached it. One problem at a time. Grabbing Jack's hand again, Max started off at a fast pace. She didn't concentrate on killing infected, just stopping them from reaching her or Jack. Using her tomahawk, she sliced at arms and legs, keeping a hold of Jack's hand all the while.
When they reached the clearing of the parking lot, Max picked up speed and the pair ran for the nearest part of the building. Jack lagged, gasping for Max to slow down. However, a backward glance told Max they weren't in the clear as infected began to pour into the parking lot. Where did they all come from?
They reached an automatic glass door entrance but the doors didn't budge. Max had anticipated that no power and no employees since the mall never opened once the infection began to spread.
"Momma," Jack gasped, looking behind them at the infected that were approaching.
"I know, I know," Max replied. She didn't want to break out a door. If she did, the mall was no longer the safe haven she was hoping for. She crouched down looking at the locks and wished she knew how to actually pick a lock. Even if she did, a glance above showed a second locking mechanism that she had no idea what to do with.
Brain whirling with alternative ideas, Max was about to turn away from the door when she saw a flash of light inside the dark mall interior. She pressed her face against the glass and used her hands to shield out the sunlight. She could see people moving inside the mall. From their movements and the fact someone had a flashlight, Max knew they were healthy people.
Her panicked banging on the glass drove the infected more in their direction. The people in the mall stood off from the door but Max could tell they watched her.
"Please! Let us in. We aren't bitten!" Max exclaimed. She wasn't sure the people heard her, but they seemed to be talking among themselves. Max pulled Jack closer, so the people could see. Maybe they could turn away a lone woman but there was no way they would ignore a child.
"My daughter, she's only eight-years-old. Please let us in!" Max cried out again.
A woman stepped closer to the door and Max could tell she was arguing with the other occupants. Max looked back and realized the infected were closing in. Looking from side to side, she began to decide which side had fewer infected. She pulled her tomahawk preparing to fight their way out. One infected got within her swinging range and she embedded her tomahawk in his head.
Behind her, she could hear the click of locks on one of the side glass doors. Jack was at the door, pressing against it in fear. Max backed up to Jack, staying between her and the infected. Two infected came at them, arms reaching, fingers raking at the air in front of Max's face. She leaned back to avoid the nearest, using her tomahawk to shove the small framed woman back from her. As the infected stumbled, Max brought her blade down on the next infected's head. He crumpled quickly at the feet of the woman infected. Max didn't waste anytime cutting down the second infected, buying them a few more moments before being overran.
As she pulled the tomahawk from the second skull, the door behind them was pulled open. The woman that unlocked the door grabbed Jack by her pack and yanked her inside. Max took two fast strides and followed closely behind. The door locked behind them just as infected began to bounce into it, realizing their meal had escaped their grasp.
Max stood and watched the infected for a moment. They had no fine motor skills, no mental capacity to break windows or pick locks. Mindless beings just bouncing off the glass.
"You should step back. They will probably go away if they can't see us," a man spoke up from further inside the mall. Max turned to study the group of mall refugees. A mall wouldn't have been her first choice. However, at the moment, it had been the clearest place she could run with Jack. Now she stood, sizing up the group while being sized up herself.
It wasn't in Max's natural behavior to befriend people. She also never relied on anyone else to provide for her or Jack. The mall wasn't their place and she knew she would need to curb some of her base instincts to take over. Be cool. She wasn't sure she knew how to do that. Nevertheless, she would try to think like her sister Alex. Max tried to put a soft smile on her face.
"Hi. Thanks for letting us in," she said evenly. She led Jack further into the mall, silently agreeing with the man that the infected would lose interest as soon as they couldn't see the living.
"Where are you from?"
"Do you know what's happening?"
"Did you see the police?"
"Is help coming?"
Questions were shot from all directions. Max counted the group, finding 12 people huddling together away from the doors they entered in. Her patience already on the thin side, she held up her hands for silence.
"We are from here, Charleston. No, we didn't see police or any first responders in general. I have no idea if there is help coming. What's happening? Well, you can see for yourself," she finished, motioning toward the doors where they could still see the infected hitting the doors.
"What are they?"
"As far as I can tell, they're dead. And they eat the people that aren't. The news said it was a plague. Haven't you seen any news reports? Heard any radio?" Max demanded.
"No, we've been hiding in here the whole time."
CHAPTER FIVE
Max hated malls. She hated the smells and the crowds. She never felt comfortable with so many people in one building. She despised people trying to sell her things from little kiosks in the middle of the mall. And the women spraying perfume at her in the department stores. That was enough to keep her only stepping foot in the mall once a year to Christmas shop.
Despite the plague raging outside, Jack was able to find some humor in the fact that they were trapped inside the one place Max would rather burn to the ground. The people already seeking refuge there were workers who had come to work early the morning the plague broke out. From the stories they heard Max gathered there were more originally. However, in the news of the infected attacks, some of the employees attempted to get home to their families.
The ones that stayed were those that had no one else to worry about. Max quickly realized they had the belief that a rescue would be on its way. Thou
gh none of them could clearly determine if someone was looking for them. Max worked hard to not allow her frustration to show. The lack of leadership or organization was enough to push her over the edge of sanity.
The group explained that everyone had found a place to sleep. They were eating meals together in the food court, utilizing what power and gas they still had. One woman named Jules asked Max if she'd like to see the showers. When Max looked at her blankly, Jules had motioned down the length of Max, causing her to look down at herself. She was only slightly surprised to see blood splashed across her clothing.
Jules showed Max and Jack to a small spa like store. Its signs promised relaxation and beauty. All Max really cared about was hot water. Turned out they had one small shower in a back room, assuredly for guests before or after treatments.
From a young age, Jack had been taught how to take a fast shower. Max was a utilitarian by nature and wanted everything to be practical. When at home they didn't practice speed showers. However, when they camped and only had their solar camp shower, they only had time for the necessities.
Jack and Max took their turns taking fast showers. They both had changes of clean clothes in their bug out bags. The dirty ones Max decided could be trashed. There was no way of knowing when washing clothes would be possible. And if they were going to be in a mall, the options of clothes would be abundant.
When they exited the massage store another of the mall group was waiting for them.
"We are getting ready to have lunch. Are you hungry?" The small man asked.
"Sure. I know everyone introduced themselves, but I'm not good at remembering names. What was yours again?" Max asked.
"Scott," Jack offered.
"Yes, Scott," the man said smiling at Jack.
"Well, we are hungry, Scott. So, if you're offering lunch, we would accept," Max said, her smile a little more genuine that time.
They followed Scott through the mall and up a set of stairs. The food court was located centrally on the second floor. Interestingly enough there were windows to the outside here and Max stood looking out for a long time. The parking lot they had come through was off to the right of the windows. The infected milled around the area, still thickly grouped by the door they had come through.
Survive (Sundown Series Book 2) Page 4
