Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

[Trencher]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

This stuff is classic! Great work on the villan Jeb. I hate him and I was not even in the game.

[nexus]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

"And the day started out so well too." Kuri has to rethink the planned revenge and she turns to defend herself and her friends, swinging savagely at the oncoming deadhead. Her blow swatted its arm aside, but the creature came heedless of the injury, barreling into Kuri and taking her down to the floor in tangle limbs. The shards of glass stuck in its dead flesh cut into her legs, shredding her pants as they wrestled around on the floor.

 

Sabrina shouted, as loud as she could, "GO FOR THEIR HEADS!" Not that she expected the Goon Patrol to pay any attention to her.

 

Mackenzie nodded to Sabrina, "thanks" she murmured. She looked to John,

"John... I don't want anyone dying here. I don't want anyone going to those

dead heads. Just work with me" she said looking to his eyes.

 

John looks up at Mackenzie and whispers "Don’t let them get me, kill me if it looks like they will get me"

 

Angie stammered. “We’ve got…got get away from here…they’re getting in…THEY’RE GETTING IN!â€

 

Sabrina had a sudden inspiration, and looked at the shattered glass to see if there was a stream of Deadheads approaching, or just the two they'd seen before. There were several out in the rain now, heading for the mall at an increased pace.

 

She checked her toolkit, if she had a torch and solder and could get some help maybe she could tack-weld a rack to the door before they were overrun. One was already clambering threw the hole and there were more coming, animated now that flesh was to be had. Kuri desperately continued to grapple one on the floor, fighting to keep its teeth away from her.

 

John looks at Mackenzie and whispers "How am I supposed to work with you? I cant do anything, unless you help me sit up and put my gun in my left hand, don’t know if I can do it or not, but I can try." He then tries to sit up on his own.

 

Mackenzie looked to Angie, "How are we gonna move him?" she asked, "I

>can't just leave him!"

 

"We can't stay here...we'll take him with us!" she said.

 

"How do you think we can move him?" she asked looking to her.

 

She walked over and started trying to haul John to his feet. “Are you going to ask those monsters to scrub in then? We have to move!â€

 

Sabrina had another idea: She took up the piece of rack she'd been trying to use earlier, and hurried over to Kuri, planning to drive the rack straight down onto its head. She lunged and drove the sharpened bar at the back of the thing’s skull, but in the tussle missed the mark. The rack slid off to the side, carving loose a hunk of the creature’s rotting scalp before sinking into the floor and barely missing Kuri’s shoulder in the process. They rolled again and knocked Sabrina off her feet in their struggles.

 

Mackenzie frowned but moved to help her sister. Together they got John to his feet, but he was in bad shape, bleeding badly and barely conscious.

 

Kuri struggles against the creature holding her down. She tries to focus her mind on the task at hand ignoring the pain in her legs and the stench that threatens to overwhelm her senses. She must. break. free. It lunged for her, teeth bared and Kuri got her free hand up which proved to be a mistake. The creature’s rotten incisors clamped down on palm, tearing loose a hunk of skin and flesh.

 

Screaming in pain, rage and not a little terror, Kuri shoved at the thing with her good hand, kicking as well and it fell off her.

 

Mackenzie tried to help her sister move John looking over, "Kuri!" she cried out. "Oh God"

 

Sabrina tried again to stave in its head, swinging half-blind in panic but doing the best she could. With a strangled scream, she drove the sharpened metal into the base of the creature’s skull as it tried to rise once more. It jerked once, fell flat and lay still. But the other one was almost threw and there was the one feasting on the unfortunate guard left. They had to move!

 

"Good work! Now, let's get out of here!" Kuri struggles to her feet then moves to help Mackenzie move John. If they moved fast they might be able to get away. Kuri’s surprising strength helped immensely with moving the semi conscious John and they started after Marc and Jeb. The ghoul was still tearing chunks out of the guard and ignored their passing.

 

They hustled back to the front of the store to stumble on two horrific things at once. Marc’s body, laying in a slowly spreading pool of blood near a check out counter and that Jeb has closed the gate partitioning the store off from the rest of the mall. They were trapped!

 

"Son of a bitch!" Kuri cursed loudly.

 

Sabrina pulled on the gate on the off chance Jeb had failed to lock it properly, then turned to look back and see how many more deadheads were behind the one coming through - and how far behind they were. They were on the other side of the store. So far none of them were following. Out of sight, out of mind (what little the filthy things had) for the moment at least.

 

Kuri rushes over to check on Marc. Maybe there was a chance he was still alive.

 

Mackenzie frowned moving trying to help Marc as well. She was afraid that she wouldn't be able to help him, but she had to try. "Who else is injured?" she asked looking up to find out what else she had to deal with. Marc was dead. He had a wound in chest and head, part of his skull was gone and clots of gray matter and bone littered the floor.

 

Angie was on the verge of screaming. They were trapped. Trapped in her. With all those things!

 

Mackenzie swore but got up, "Angie... is anyone else hurt? Marc... he's

dead" she said softly. Her sister was nearly incoherent. Hearing about Marc’s fate didn’t make things any better. She rushed at the gate and shook it, screaming to be let out. She was going draw those things right to them!

 

John tries to whisper "Try the doors we came in thru, or any other door. Just don’t let them get me."

 

Mac went over grabbing Angie from it and shaking her a little, "Sis, shhh shhh" she said drawing her to her arms, "You're gonna bring the things to us. We gota be quiet"

[nexus]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

“We’ve got to get out.†Angie whimpered. “There’s got to be another door. Anything!â€

 

"Yes, there should be another door, a fire exit or something. Let's keep moving but try to keep it down." Kuri ignores her own wounds for the moments to help the rest of the group continue on. It actually didn’t hurt that much. She felt a little warm but that was probably adrenaline.

 

"Right now," Sabrina said quietly, "we need to keep quiet, so the deadheads outside wander off. Then we can seal that door and deal with the ones we've already got. We know how to kill them now, remember?"

 

"It took all of us to kill one. Kuri's been bitten, John's been shot. There's at least four of them inside now and that guard is going to wake up!" Angie hissed.

 

"All the more reason to keep quiet so the ones outside stay outside."

 

“You don’t think they’ll find us?†Angie hissed. “Come, Mack, lets get out of here. We can carry John. We’ve got to.â€

 

They could hear the creatures stumbling about on the other side of the store, knocking over racks and moaning. It wouldn’t be long until they found them…

 

Mackenzie looked over, "We stay quiet and we stay together" she said moving

to help carry John. "C'mon..."

 

â€Where are we going to go, Mac?†Angie whispered. “There’s no way out.†It was plain in her eyes that she was on the verge of panicking completely. It was just Mackenzie’s presence that was keeping her together and that might not last much longer.

 

"There's a difference now," Sabrina pointed out. "Now we know that we need to hit them in the head. And we can out-think them, they're dumb as rocks. So what we need to do is scare up some improvised staffs, so we can smack them for outside their reach."

 

Angie looked to her, "We're gonna do what we always do. Stick close and

play rough." she said, "We've gotten this far and we can go further"

 

“Can’t someone open the gate?†Angie suggested. “Or maybe we can find another door out of here. There’s got to be another one!â€

 

Mackenzie looked over, "We stay quiet and we stay together" she said moving to help carry John. "C'mon..."

 

"Come on, let's move along the walls. Maybe we can find a fire exit or maintenance hall" Kuri helps drag John along.

 

They hauled John along towards what should be the said exits. They could hear the Deadheads stumbling around, moaning and babbling, but they didn’t seem to be getting closer. John was pale. His breathing was getting really labored.

 

Sabrina did what she could to help in carrying him, "If that idiot weren't already dead i'd kill him myself for shooting out that door."

 

Mac frowned, "I know" she said, "We were safe if he hadn't done that"

 

â€Stupid motherfuckers…I those things get into that damn mall…I hope they eat that bastard alive.†Angie murmured as the made their way around to the side door. Looking threw the rain streaked glass showed no Deadheads in the immediate vicinity.

 

Mac looked to the others, "I think I remember seeing a resteraunt out there

too. Do we wanna make a break for it?"

 

“You think we can get inside?†Angie asked.

 

"Aw, crud... we secured the loading dock, we'll need another way in," Sabrina muttered. Fortunately, the deadheads were as dumb as dead wood.

 

"You think we can get to one of those cars and hotwire it?" Angie asked. "You know how to do that, right?

 

"If we can get in, and it uses a regular key, sure," Sabrina replied.

 

"We should do that. This place is dead. Its going to be dead." Angie whispered. "We can find a hospital for Marc."

 

"We can come back later, fix that door. It'll be a good place once we get the rent-a-dweebs in line."

 

John moans

 

"We have to find something or he's going to flatline on us." Angie said

bluntly.

 

Mac looked to her, "You think I don't know that? I had wanted to get to the

drug store and pray that their pharmacy hadn't been ransacked yet"

 

"We're being stupid," Sabrina commented. "We just need supplies and a place to work, right? Let's find another loading dock and go back in that way. This place must have one for each anchor."

 

Mac nodded, "Agreed, lets go" she said. "There are too many in here. Maybe there's another spot to lock down at. Maybe we can block them in here and only loose part of the mall’

 

†That is excellent thinking. The inner gate to the mall from this store is already locked up. Let's get out of here." Kuri moves towards the door making sure the area is free of threats. The parking lot on this side still looked clear of Deadheads. The rain had even let up

 

Mac smiled and started to walk with them shivering a bit, "Lets keep going"

 

Sabrina smiled a bit, "So far so good. Now let's go, that way," and she gestured with her chin toward the nearest of the other three anchor stores. It would take some hustling to get around the mall quickly but they seemed to have a clear shot. Nothing moved in the direction. As they circled around the back side, they saw another vehicle parked by the loading dock they’d come threw, a large SUV. The door to the loading dock was slightly ajar.

 

Mac took a deep breath, "We don't know what's in there so everybody stick together and stay quiet"

 

Sabrina smiled, "Kuri, check it out." She herself was a bit busy, as she was helping to carry John.

 

Kuri gives a curt nod and slips off towards the indicated direction.

She tries to be as unobtrusive as possible keeping her eyes open for any threats. While moving she whispers to herself, "Let the guards be alive, let the guards be alive...so I can kill their stupid asses." Kuri walked over, but she looked a little unsteady, likely more shaken up than she was letting on. In the brief time they had known the Asian woman maintaining a tough façade seemed to be very important to her.

 

She slipped up to the door and was again assailed by the horrible smell of rotting flesh. If anything it seemed stronger. She could hear people inside, two or three voices inside the loading dock.

[Guest Skaramine]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

Wow... just goes to show, humans are their own worst enemies...

[nexus]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

Just then someone steps into the loading dock door, a man presumably dressed in some kind of makeshift body armor of sports equipment and scavenged police gear. He has a hand on his pistol holstered at his hip. "More of the living... is there anything inside? Should be be getting our asses out of here?"

 

There are dead heads in the mall. We were in it and some dumbass shot out a window. We need a safe place can we come in"

 

"we have an injured man who desperately needs treatment," the Chinese woman at her side repeated," Can you help us get him into the mall?"

 

"Inside the mall... We need to get in anyway. We'll cover you." He replied, and then looked over his shoulder presumably to the other people in the loading dock.

 

"Thank you!" Sabrina said. "Oh, and in case you don't already know, the way to kill a deadhead is with head shots."

 

Kuri, apparently hearing something inside the building stepped into the door way. The armored man was startled. Apparently he was unaware of her presence so close to the door. That didn’t speak well of his awareness. "Please, don't lock us out just yet...." She says.

 

"Who are you and how did you get here?" came another male voice from inside. "How extensive is their infiltration into the Mall?" he inquired of them "And how long have you been in there?"

 

"My name is Kuri, but you can call me anything you want if you let me and my friends in. I think they only got into one of the stores...Don't trust the security guards, they're a bunch of assholes."

 

M ac sighed, "We all just happened to wander in about the same time and it's only by the one wing by the main store" she said naming it. She frowned, "There was a stupid man in there who wouldn't believe us when we told him there was one behind him."

 

"I don't like this," the young little mallrat complained, barely more then a whisper. Her voice began rising, a little at a time with each word. "Not at all but if they're not fibbin' we're goin' to need them." She was practically shrill then. "Just get them in and shut the fucking door!"

 

"She's right. Get in, and get down. The living need to help each other." The road warrior stepped up to the door to usher them all inside.

 

Sabrina went along. Mac and Angie helped her carry and half drag the semi conscious John into the loading dock. The familiar stink was even more intense now and glance confirmed why. Someone had opened the dumpster.

 

The newcomers were fairly varied. The “road warrior†of course, three women of various ages ranging from pretty but someone skanky looking blonde in her late teens to a early 20s “Mom†type with dark hair and an brunette that might have been in her early 30s. There was also a pale, haggard looking man practically lurking in the background.

 

"You", the older brunette said, pointing to John and his aids holding the injured man up, "bring him here. I can help. But you have to understand that if he's been infected, there's probably nothing I can do for him."

 

The haggard looking one said, After that get over by the wall with your hands where we can see them and start explaining in detail who you are and what happened." Caleb sternly asked.

 

Mackenzie looked to him, "I'm a doctor. I used to work in an ER and there is little I can do because we haven't been in a safe location and we haven't had the supplies to try" she said frowning, "Please... I just want to fix this"

 

Turning his attention to the newly arrived women. "Get over by the wall with your hands where we can see them and start explaining in detail who you are and what happened." Caleb sternly asked.

 

Mackenzie looked to him, "I'm a doctor. I used to work in an ER and there is little I can do because we haven't been in a safe location and we haven't had the supplies to try" she said frowning, "Please... I just want to fix this"

 

The skinny blonde started screaming "Close the fucking door!" Again she said it, loud and growing louder with each utterance.

"Close the fucking door!"

 

"CLOSE the FUCKING door!"

 

And again she all but screamed, clutching her chest that was beginning to ache with the violence of her breathing, her high pitched wail grating upon the ears.

 

"CLOSE THE FUCKING DOOR!"

 

Mackenzie waited to see if someone else would move to close the door.

 

The armored man goes to close the door and tries to jam it with the crowbar he's carrying Once that is done he turns to Tatjana and hisses "Are you fucking crazy? You want to keep them out... don't. scream.".

 

Mackenzie just looked around, maybe it was better outside. "Ang, lets get him down"

 

The haggard sick looking man turns to the blonde and hisses "What is your problem?â€

 

She did not reply, just as she slipped in, keeping to the walls and to the shadows so she shrunk back further into the loading dock's corners. It wasn't hard to imagine how the pale skin between her skirt and her boots became so grimy as she nestled herself into the darkness between a cluster of pipes.

 

“We should find a better place than here. It still stinks. Its not even close to sanitary. Look we need to move him into another room. Come on. Enough with the Gestapo act, all right?â€

 

"It's just good sense," Sabrina added. "Just close the outer door and open the inner and we can all go into the main mall and save this man's life!"

 

Mac nodded, "Let’s go" she said starting to move him trying to get them to somewhere sanitary.

 

"And when you're done patching him up, you think somebody can take a look at my hand? It feels kind of funny." Kuri slumps to the ground looking damp and tired.

 

Ignoring the cringing blonde for a moment the sickly man in fatigues turned to the inner door and opened it, revealing a lit and thankfully empty hall beyond.

 

"Funny? Funny how?" Mac asked Kuri as she tried to walk with Jon. "Tell me what's wrong with it on the way." She was used to juggling a lot of wounded from working in the emergency room.

 

Sabrina helped carry their injured companion inside, "As far as I know, the deadheads are only in Macy's, as long as the rent-a-dweebs haven't done something moronic... again."

 

They were back in the same hallway again, of course. Nothing looked to have been disturbed.

 

“We had best avoid the Macy’s for the time being until we are able to determine the strength and locations of the both the Deadheads and the Security Guards.†The sickly man advised anyone who had followed him into the Service Hall. “What other big box retailers are in the Mall?â€

 

Angie spoke up girl’s spoke up. “Hey, we should get each other’s names. We can’t keep calling everyone “Hey you.â€

 

Nodding her head at the large double-doors, Erika said, "we should probably stay away from the anchors for now; their open layout makes them more dangerous. I can't see from here; do the other doors say what stores they lead to? I'll feel better once we're in a more defensible location."

 

"Alright, avoid anchors... can do" Mackenzie said. "Lets just find somewhere I can try to patch people up'

 

"Good idea, Angie," the Chinese woman said. "I'm Sabrina. Oh, and there are Hecht's, Sears, and Rite Aid, plus Macy's off-limits right now - but I think we can fix that."

 

Kuri looks at the mess her hand is in and says "It kind of a mix between tingle and cold sting. I'm a little afraid of infection because of what caused this and it just doesn't feel right. If we get through this night alive, I'll stop saying 'hey you' and you can start calling me Kuri." She chuckles a little at her own joke.

 

Nodding Mackenzie looked over, "I'm Mackenzie and this is my sister Angela"

 

"Road Warrior" seems to agree, be he says "Yeah. I'm Jeffrey - call me Jeff. Anyway. Holing up in a big abandoned building? Could the guy who's going to go crazy and betray us all step forwards NOW?" He shakes his head.

 

Tatjana slowly emerged from her down beside the pipes and refuse, ignoring the others. Hiding in the garbage kept you safe. The stench of the refuse kept you hidden but she was more worried about the door. She still kept her back against the wall, following it wherever she moved. Then the frail young woman, unkempt and dirty then began struggling, pushing with her skinny limbs against the large steel refuse dumpster, futilely trying to press it up against the door they'd entered through.

 

Angie glanced over at him. “You have a problem with light heat, power and food?†She took a deep breath. “All right, yeah, we can move, but these people are going to need someplace dry, warm and relatively safe for awhile to get into a condition to travel if you got some secret hideaway all planned?â€

 

"I concur." Caleb stated plainly, "Right now we have to secure defensible shelter and food. You may call me Caleb for now. Was the man attacked by the zombies?†“How long ago?" he continued. "We should also assess what other resources we have. Would anybody care to highlight any special skills they have?" he added.

 

"Let's go to the rite aid. It will have the best chance of medicine and first aid equipment and I have two to try to patch up" Mackenzie said fearing there was no help for the one.

 

“I was just going to suggest that. “And someone needs to see if there’s cot we can scavenge too. Mack is a doctor; I’m an ER nurse like we said. I’m not sure about the others.â€

 

Erika replied, "I'm Erika and I was a Med School student. Now I'm a doctor. Crazy world. Rite Aid is a great idea. I have a few specialized items in my kit that might come in handy; I had the run of NYU Medical's pharmacy before hitting the road."

 

She let the warrior wanna-bes take point and helped move their patients inside the Rite-Aid.

 

"For medicine," Sabrina said, "I'm just another pair of hands. The man was shot by a now-dead rent-a-thug."

 

John moaned. “Look we can’t stand here talking anymore. We have to get to work on John on he’s going to die in this hallway.†Angie snapped.

 

Mackenzie nodded, "Let’s roll" she said. "If you guys can bring him I'll run ahead to see if I can find the right supplies"

 

"Good point," Sabrina concurred. "Rite-Aid, everyone! Questions later, life-saving now."

 

It took some effort to haul the wounded John back to the main thoroughfare. The concourse was still eerily empty, the strains of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy†echoing again and again over the PA system as they dragged the semi conscious man into the drug store. It looked like the place hadn’t been touched at all which was truly a godsend. There was a couch back in the pharmacy department and after John was lain out, Angie used a chair to smash her way behind the pharmacist’s desk. “I’ll look for some pain killers and antibiotics. You,†she pointed to Caleb,†bandages, gauze, whatever you can find in first aid. Sabrina, see if you get find something to hold hot water and get some from the bathrooms, ok?

 

Caleb moved off and quickly returned with the collection of bandages and items he felt would best be able to treat the man

 

She nodded, "Right," and headed for the "House wares" aisle first, collecting a set of pots and a large measuring cup; she took the largest pot and took it into the bathroom along with the cup, and filled the pot with hot water as quickly as she could, then took it back to the couch. "Here you go, it was the best I could do."

 

Mackenzie and her sister went to work, diligently trying to suture and sew John's battered flesh back together and into some semblance of working order. It was going to be a long and for John, painful job. The others could do little by just standing around and it was frankly unpleasant to even do so....

 

Sabrina excused herself, saying she was going to go to Radio Shack. She wanted to get the materials together, if she could, for a solar array. Whatever was powering the mall would eventually fail, after all, and a backup source was a must. She'd need panels, storage cells, an inverter, and lots of extension cords.

 

Erika helped out where she could, fetching supplies from within Rite-Aid and supplementing with items from her kit, as needed. Even when there wasn't anything else she could do to help, she held John's hand and let him know everything was going to be OK.

 

Angie looked up from the wound she was bandaging at Kuri. The Japanese woman was looking very pale and half out on her feet. “Oh man, can you look at her, Erika? She doesn’t look so good.â€

 

John starts squirming as they cut into him. "Oh god that hurts, knock me out or something, oh god."

 

“Just hold on a little longer, John. Here, squeeze my hand.†Angie said, taking his hand. “I’ll give you something for the pain in just a second.â€

 

Perversely grateful for something useful to do, Erika replied, "Yes, of course." Turning to the Asian woman, Erika asked, "Can you tell me what's wrong?" and looked for any obvious evidence of injury, infection or disease.

 

"No, no, I'm fine." Kuri smiles and stands up straighter...for a few seconds before becoming dizzy and slumping to the floor. "See? Nothing to worry about." She leans up against the nearest medicine shelf and closes her eyes to rest. The wound on her hand oozes puss mixed with thin lines of blood. The edges of the bite look inflamed and the wound was… necrotizing in places. They’d have to cut that tissue away and clean it thoroughly. She must been injured by something incredibly septic for the infection to be running its course so quickly. Her hand could probably be saved though.

 

"Allow me to help, Erika." Caleb offered.

 

"Great, I could use it," Erika replied while opening her first aid kit. She turned to Caleb, "This bite is very suspicious... be prepared for anything." She competently started cleaning the wound. "Crap. I'm going to need to cut away some of that dead skin. Kuri, this is going to hurt a bit. I'm going to give you something for the pain." She hands the kit to Caleb. "Caleb, get me one pill -- only one! -- from the vial marked Vicodin. I'm also going to need two ibuprofen tablets. And there should be a sterile scalpel in there." She continued to prep Kuri's hand while Caleb got the items requested.

 

Initially tending the cuts wasn’t a problem. Erika couldn’t help but notice that Caleb was clearly experienced at this sort of thing. The most painful part for Kuri was trimming the dead skin and subcutaneous tissue, but even that was more a dull ache as most of it was quite insensate. Erika recalled reading something in an old medical journal about experiments that used maggots for this sort of thing and being somewhat disturbed by it. The larva cleaned the wound and secreted a natural antiseptic…pity she didn’t have any now. What was more troubling to both the medicos was the fever Kuri seemed to experiencing. That didn’t bode well at all.

 

Meanwhile back by the door, Jeff stood back by the door. He was highly uncomfortable with this. Something felt wrong about this situation but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Ok, part of it was it was straight of Dawn of the Dead, but he couldn’t just come out and say that yet. While pondering what struck him as wrong, he thought he heard something a dull popping noise, like a fire cracker…or a gunshot.

 

"Oh god" John moans while squeezing Angie's hand really hard.

 

“Just a little longer, hon,†she assured him. “Hold on and I’ll give you a vicodin to kill the pain, just a little longer.â€

 

Sabrina made her way to the map kiosk to look up a Radio Shack or something similar in the mall. Suddenly, walking around alone didn’t seem like such a good idea anymore. She felt watched and the fine hairs on the back of her neck kept trying stand up. Big empty and quiet was not a good combination for one’s nerves. She knew from experience just how quiet the Deadheads could be. Then there was shot. Sabrina squeaked in surprise and half leapt turning towards the noise. I came from the dark interior of a hobby shop near the corner leading towards the Home Depot. She looked back toward the Rite-Aid, and gestured for Jeff to come over, hoping he would. She was not going to check out the shot alone.

 

Jeff thought to himself, "Holing up in a big abandoned building with somewhat crazy guys with guns. Yeah, that's gonna end well. Still. I'll go crazy if I spend all my time alone on the road. I need someone to go with me - and some of the chicks here don't look bad.... Did I just hear gunfire? Shit. The shot snapped him out of his contemplation and he asked aloud, "Did anyone else hear that? Gunshots are not a happy sound..." He cautiously approaches the door out, but doesn't open it, waiting instead for a reaction.

Sabrina, the cute Chinese girl was out there, gesturing for him to come over, apparently she’d decided being alone sucked now.

He has enough time for a thought of "Oh yeah..." before he follows, keeping quiet until he knows what she wants to show him...

 

Once he was over she whispered urgently, "I heard a gunshot from that hobby store. I don't want to check it out alone."

 

A swift internal evaluation later... "Sure. Investigate gunshots. I'm going with you, but if we get shot, it's your fault. Okay?"

 

She smiled weakly, "Deal," and crossed to the same side of the mall as the hobby shop and started walking quietly toward it, keep watching into the stores she passed as well. “The Game Stop†was dark, the window shutters down but the door was clear. Posters for various game and such (Sabrina assumed to call her knowledge of such things limited was being generous) adorning the windows to the point seeing inside was nearly impossible.

 

A high pitched and shrill scream emerged from inside the store. It was short, sharp cry of pure female terror…

 

Mackenzie looked over at the sound of the scream, "I can't leave John" she said.

 

Sabrina stepped in immediately, on full alert, assuming trouble trouble and looking for it.

 

Sense overridden by some innate sense of chivalry (or something), Jeff hurriedly dashes to the door and pulls it open. Even as he does so, he is realizing just how dumb that is.. Just as he opens the door, another screams rings out and six more gun shots. The muzzles flashes light up the interior of the small store like mini bolts of lightening, revealing Tatjana in the back blazing away to something down one of the side aisles.

.

Cautiously, since he doesn't want to get shot, Jeff asks her "Tatjana - we're here. Are they in here?†As he does so, he slow walks towards her, hands on gun, looking around nervously.

[nexus]

Re: Zombie Hero: Pt 1 The Oakdale Galleria

 

The young girl gasped, spinning and pointing her gun in his direction. Thankfully the small revolver had been clicking on empty chambers but her wild eyes didn't really help Jeff feel anymore comfortable about the situation. At least she showed the sensibility enough not to be clicking the empty pistol at him.

"It was a guy," she said, almost staring eerily through him, "it was a guy... and I killed him... I killed him. He got up. He got up and I killed him again... and again... and again."

 

A low snarl interrupted her, Tatjana half turned and saw the man she “killed†barreling towards her arms outstretched and his pasty faced twisted into leering animal grimace. She threw herself to the seconds before the 200 pound late nerd got her and he crashed across the gaming table, scattering models and crushing foam buildings under his bulk….

 

Meanwhile back in the Rite Aid, Caleb and Erika had almost finished cleaning Kuri's wound. The girl was looking worse. She was quite pale and sweating now. She had a raging fever and was having some trouble breathing.