by Angel Ramon
“Hey George, what are you doing here? I’m glad to see you here! I see you still love your bacon, haha!”
“Yes, I do… Hey Scott, sit down.” Scott sits down next to him and George continues, “I was wondering if you knew anybody who is renting a spot around here. I’m going to be here for a while for work and I don’t want to spend money on a hotel.”
“Actually, I know someone who is looking for someone right now. How long do you plan on being here?”
“Around six months, no worries I’m willing to pay.”
“Excellent, you can come with me and I’ll take you there. Sounds good?” Scott asks and George nods his head.
After finishing his daily dose of heart attack inducing food, George hops into Scott’s car and they drive off. George can’t get over the defensive nature of the supervisor and the story he heard from Catherine. He begins to suspect that the creatures of Hybrid might not be too far from where he is.
Chapter 3
October 12th, 2007
“It’s been about two months since my last interview. As I imagined, Sean Callahan wasn’t happy with my performance and went on a rant about how I almost cost him the Hybrid contract. Poor Sean, he’s such a schmuck. I’m glad Scott helped me get this apartment and best of all I’m only a couple of blocks away from where the mystery woman lives.
She did say not to chase her right away. I think two months might be enough time to bug her. In one sense, I’m dying to find out who this mystery woman is. In another, I’m actually a bit nervous as I have no idea who this woman is or what are her real intentions. Of course, I really have no choice in the matter, do I?
Chief Hickey called me yesterday and said he hasn’t been able to get far into building a case. The courts are giving him a hard time. Combined with Hybrid’s lawyers, he tells me I need solid evidence in the form of a smoking gun. Maybe another month out here should be enough to kill the heat back in NY. I guess that depends on what I find out about my ‘Guardian Angel’. We’ll see what happens… I have yet to call Elaine, shame on me but I have to keep her out of this as much as possible.”
After writing in his journal, George makes himself some breakfast in his small rental apartment. He’s a bit disappointed when he sees he doesn’t have any bacon left. So he makes himself some hash browns and eggs instead. Turning on the television, George watches the news. Upon looking at the news, he sees an announcement from Hybrid that indicates they are working on a new vaccine that should be more effective than the Raven Hawk.
George shakes his head as he hears Anthony tell a bunch of lies to the media. He realizes that he has less time to take down Hybrid. Then he looks at the address that the woman left behind back in the hospital.
“It might be time to pay the mystery woman a visit. Hopefully, she’s home.” He says.
Getting dressed with a light gray sweater and black leather jacket, he prepares to head outside where the weather has begun to cool down significantly. He also brings his silenced pistol as well just in case. Leaving the house, he walks out on what turns out to be a rather gray and dreary day with light drizzle falling.
Walking down the block, he turns to the right when he reaches Oakland Ave. Entering Oakland Avenue, he sees the numbers on the houses start at the mid 220’s. When he walks forward, George sees the numbers go down.
“Good, I’m going in the right direction. Let’s see where this lady lives.” He says in his head.
Walking down the block, he sees that it’s rather quiet. Nobody is outside, all the homes are closed. He doesn’t think much of it as it’s a Tuesday where everybody is at work. The drizzle begins to pick up just a bit.
Seeing a brown house with a British flag on it, he walks up to it and sees the number 100 on it. George heads up the stairs and rings the bell next to the door. Waiting on the porch for about ten seconds, he gets no answer. He rings the bell again and waits twenty seconds. After receiving no answer, he rings the bell one more time.
“Looks like she’s not here. She might be out somewhere. I’ll try again later.” George says.
Feeling disappointed, he begins to walk back to his house. The drizzle lets up again to the point where he doesn’t feel it too much. His leather jacket easily stays dry. The rainy cool weather guarantees he won’t have to play vigilante. In fact, the walk back proves to be uneventful as the streets are mostly deserted.
When he returns to his apartment, George turns on the television and is bored when all he sees at eleven in the morning are soap operas along with commercials that remind him of his old age.
“No need to remind myself that I’m an old fart. Wait…” He stops talking when he sees a commercial for a new mall that opened in Putnam County.
“Hmm… Bacon world. Well, this sounds like my place, I love Bacon World. It looks like this old man is taking a road trip to the mall.” He says cheerfully.
Putting his coat back on, he grabs his pistol along with the magnum for extra protection. George walks out of his apartment and heads into a black 2001 Nissan Maxima that he bought for a thousand dollars off a guy who was desperate.
Getting into his car, he drives through White Plains. A few minutes later, he hops onto interstate 684, which leads to Putnam County. When he gets onto the highway, he sees there’s a decent amount of traffic. Seeing police cars up ahead give him a good idea what’s causing the holdup.
“Put a little water on the road and all of a sudden people can’t drive.” George says shaking his head.
The accident is only 200 yards from him but with only one lane open, George has to wait at least a half hour before he can get through. Once he gets through, the traffic begins to disappear. The accident is pretty bad despite only drizzle falling with both cars totally destroyed and both drivers heading into ambulances.
Seeing the traffic clearing up, he pops in some classic rock and drives leisurely through the expressway. As he’s driving, he can’t get over the story that his cousin told him. Nevertheless, he tries his best to just enjoy the day without thinking about Hybrid. As he enters Putnam County, he looks for exit 10 leading to Brewster, New York where the new mall is located.
Finding his desired exit, he drives to the right down through the exit ramp and heads onto the main road. Driving on the main road, George sees the mall on the right-hand side of the road. Seeing the time read twelve-thirty in the afternoon, he figures that he’s making really great time considering the accident.
Seeing the volume of cars ahead of driving into the mall, George is patient as he drives slowly into the mall. When he finally enters the parking lot of the mall, he’s shocked that most of the spaces are taken.
“Hmm… I thought everybody was at work. Guess they decided to play hooky from work just to come here. With Bacon World inside, I can’t blame them. I’m actually no better.” He says while chuckling.
He spends about 20 minutes looking for a spot and has to settle for a spot all the way in the back of the parking lot. George doesn’t mind the walk as he looks at his flip phone to see the time. It’s one thirty in the afternoon with a gray eerie sky above him. After a five minute walk, a couple of homeless people call him over. He decides to walk over to see what they want.
“Hey old man, you mind giving us some money to eat?” The vagrant asks.
“Sure, here you go.” George says as he hands him two dollars.
“Two dollars, is that all you got? Come on, you got more than that!” The man says angrily.
“Sorry fella, it’s all I have.”
“You sure about that grandpa?” The vagrant pulls out a knife.
George pulls his leather jacket open and shows the homeless man his pistol.
“Yes, I’m sure. I’ll ask you a question. Do you feel lucky?”
“Screw you old man. You’re probably too poor anyway, now scram!” The homeless guy walks away from George.
“Well, that was fun. Now to get my hands on some bacon.” He says cheerfully to himself.
Walking inside of
the mall, he is amazed by the architecture. He sees roman style columns and statues that remind him of ancient times. As he walks, George bumps into a fountain with a statue of a female plebeian carrying a vase of water.
“I like the Roman Theming here. Gives a different feel than your normal consumer hell hole.”
Admiring the scenery, he almost forgets why he went to the mall. He accidentally bumps into a female as he’s walking. She drops a pair of black stiletto heels that she brought.
“I’m sorry, I’ll pick these up for you.” He says.
“It’s ok hun. This is a crowded mall so it’ll happen. Thanks for picking up my heels.” The woman replies.
“These are nice, I’m sure your hubby will like these on you.” He says nervously.
“I’m actually not married, to be honest. I know, what’s a good looking female doing single? It’s a long story.” She says in a deep British accent.
Then it hits him like a ton of bricks, he heard a similar accent from the mystery woman that saved him before. She does have brown hair like what he saw back in the hospital and laboratory. The only thing is that it seems she doesn’t know him. Her face is a bit chunky but well defined. She is sporting a pair of sunglasses along with a gray hoody, sweatpants, and white running shoes.
George is still not sure if he’s looking at the mystery woman or if he’s overreacting. Nevertheless, he thinks of trying to entice her to lunch in order to find out more.
“Oh really, well I’m on my way to Bacon World. You look tired, I’ll pay for lunch. Care to join this old man? It’s ok if you’re busy and don’t want to be with an old man, hehe.” He asks her.
“I’m not busy at all. These heels were for a party I’m attending this weekend hehe. I do love wearing heels if I do say. Sure, I would love to grab some food. I love bacon even though it’s bad for my diet, hehe” She accepts the idea.
The two of them walk towards the Bacon World restaurant just talking about the mall and scenery, nothing serious yet. George continues to hold out hope that he’s talking to the mystery woman, but he’s not holding his breath. When they get to Bacon World, they are impressed by the size and retro style furniture from diners past. They are even greeted by the Bacon World mascot who is unsurprisingly a piece of bacon with a big smile on its face.
The two laugh as they watch the mascot jumping up and down like a total idiot just to make his daily pay. The female even accepts a hug from the bacon mascot and even George follows a second later with a hug of his own. George loves the atmosphere so much that he nearly forgets about Hybrid.
He and the woman order their food. After a long wait of 20 minutes, the two of them are tearing through their double-decker bacon cheeseburgers with bacon flavored chips, bacon flavored French fries and vanilla milkshakes. George figures that he’ll try to ask the woman who she is after he finishes his meal.
After devouring his meal, he heads to the bathroom. Once he gets back, he sits comfortably and he cuts the small talk.
“That was delicious. Anyway, I like to know, what’s your name? For some reason, I think I know you.”
“Really? I've never seen you before, maybe you’re confusing me with someone else. If so, it’s ok. Lunch was delicious. I like to thank you for that. Anyway, my name is not important since we’ll probably never see each other again. Take care, my friend.” She says as she walks out of the restaurant.
“Hmm… I guess I was overthinking. Oh well, she did seem a bit young anyway. Damn, looks like I struck out again. Not surprising of course, but it looks like I’ll have to see if I can catch her in her house. That is if she wants to talk.” George says in his head.
After expressing disappointment, he begins to get up and sense a strange smell in the air. It’s heavy just like what he smelled back in the hospital. He becomes suspicious about what is taking place and quickly tries to leave the restaurant.
“Crap it can’t be…” He says to himself.
When he leaves the restaurant and heads to a Roman Emperor statue, the lights go out. There is massive panic in the crowd with people screaming and running for their lives. However, he’s unable to see anything. He can hear people screaming, but they’re screaming in pain.
“What the hell is going on here?” He asks.
After a couple of minutes pass, he sees red lights turn on indicating the emergency lighting has been activated. He sees the area by the restaurant is quiet where even a pin drop can be heard. The relative scene of silence is quickly replaced with one of pure terror as he sees dead bodies in the restaurant and the hallway.
“Oh damn. These dead bodies have purple veins indicating that the Raven Hawk virus has hit. Hybrid didn’t waste time I guess. I better find a way out quickly. It’s a shame I didn’t bring my camera.” George says.
He believes that the mall has been infected and the people will turn into the undead very soon. When he tries to go down the stairs, he hears a horrific noise behind him. Looking behind him, he is shocked by what he sees...
Chapter 4
When he looks behind, a zombie is right there ready to make him its next meal. Looking at the zombie, he sidesteps as the undead trying to grab him. The zombie falls down the stairs. Once he falls down the stairs, George pulls out his pistol and prepares for his next survivor horror experience.
Game Start…
Prepare to enter Survival Horror mode!
Weapon Equipped: Silenced Pistol. Good for stealth missions and more accurate meaning more headshots. However, it sacrifices power for accuracy. There are eight bullets per magazine. Pistol Ammo: 16
Secondary Weapon: Magnum: Magnum Rounds: 6
Defense Weapon: Survival Knife
Side item: Lockpick. Lockpicking Level: 10
Ammo Crafting Level: 3
Can you survive the Mall of Hell? Fight your fears and survive!
With his pistol equipped, George sees a couple of people get up from the ground. At first, he’s reluctant to shoot as he has no idea if they have turned into the undead.
“Hey! I’m not going to hurt you, just tell me who you are. I wanna help you get out of here, ok?” He shouts.
Getting no response, George sees the two people continue to walk awkwardly towards him as he backs away. He’s able to get a better look at their skin when they get into the red emergency light. Looking at their skin, he sees that they have purple and blue veins to his horror.
Realizing they have turned into the undead, he shoots his pistol and manages to kill them with headshots.
Pistol Ammo: 12
“Crap, this is not good. Not only did I strike out on the mystery woman, but I also managed to get myself into the next zombie outbreak. Damn you Hybrid!” He says.
Not taking any chances of getting trapped, he runs down the stairs to the first floor. He sees the shafts are still up and he quickly runs towards them trying to escape. He ignores the people that are lying on the ground. By the time he gets within six feet of the shaft, it closes abruptly. Looking around the mall, he sees all the other shafts have closed.
“There goes escaping through the front door. I gotta find another way before the virus spreads.”
Turning around, he sees all the people that were lying down begin to get up. Looking at their skin, they have all turned into zombies. He shoots a couple of zombies dead and reloads his pistol.
Pistol Ammo: 8
After killing the two zombies, he sees more of the undead coming from both sides. George quickly realizes that he’s surrounded by the hordes. Seeing that escape through the front door is no longer an option, he runs up the stairs and escapes to relative safety. He walks back to the Bacon World restaurant where he sees the mascot of Bacon World eating an armed guard.
He walks next to the zombified mascot and pulls out the survival knife he got from the mansion. With the knife, he thrusts it into the head of the undead. Despite the pain of killing his favorite mascot, George knows he has to survive.
“I’m sorry Captain Bacon… You were
always my favorite mascot. You were always so delectable and every time I got to hug you, it was a special feeling of hunger I got. Hybrid is gonna pay for messing with my bacon! No one messes with my bacon and lives, not even the undead!” He says to himself.
With his favorite mascot dead, he looks in its pockets to see if it has anything useful. He feels a key in its pocket.
Picked up a Key. The tag reads, “Bacon World Manager’s Room”
“The last thing I wanted to do was go around the backways of this tourist trap. However, I gotta find a way to override the shafts or find another way out.” He says in his head.
He sees the armed guard that was bitted to death and looks to see if the guard has anything useful. George finds a couple of ammo packs on the guard.
Picked up two Pistol Magazines. +16 Pistol Ammo
Pistol Ammo: 24
Getting some much-needed ammo for his pistol, he walks back to the Bacon World restaurant where he sees the customers and workers turned into the undead. With his pistol, he shoots most of them. George doesn’t see another mascot is walking towards him from behind. When he looks behind him, he sees that it’s a smaller version of his favorite mascot.
Pistol Ammo: 10
“Crap it’s Captain Bacon Jr!”
The mascot grabs his legs and begins to bite his right leg. Using his survival knife, he stabs the mascot until he’s able to strike its head killing it. Despite killing the zombified mascot, he takes a bit of damage after the bites he took.
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
George tries to brush off the damage, but his right leg begins to bother him as he’s walking. When he walks into the restaurant, George is grabbed by a zombie that he doesn’t see. Using his survival knife, he stabs it in the head killing it. He looks around and sees the coast is clear.
Looking at the restaurant, he sees the cash registers are dead. There is nothing more to see besides a large amount of dropped food and drinks on the floor. He spots a desk that is locked to his right. George easily picks the lock and gets the desk opened.
