The car turned slowly down a street littered with bodies, or parts of bodies. Before all of this, the most irritating thing that littered the streets of Lagos were empty cigarette packs or used condoms, and now dead bodies had become a common sight. If a day went by without a single dead body being spotted then Leo’s warning bells would go berserk. None of the bodies on the streets were human or at least, they’d stopped being human long before their deaths. All the time he’d spent praying for Lagos to be peaceful and quiet, he’d never once imagined that when his prayers were answered, it’d be in the worst way possible.
Leaning forward so he could properly study the bodies that lay ahead, he continued driving, checking to see if any of the bodies would make a slight movement. Finally, he reached the Hallmark Mall and drove in, parking the car directly outside an entrance to the mall. Society had fallen: that meant there wasn’t anyone around to berate him for parking moronically or force him into going into the parking lot. He needed supplies and he wanted to be able to split as soon as he’d gotten what he needed; if he left the car in the parking lot and had to escape Fleshers, he’d be fifty shades of screwed.
Instinctively, he studied the surroundings before grabbing his shotgun and climbing down from the car. “Stay calm,” he whispered to himself, strapping the shotgun around him. It was unlikely he’d get much from the mall; it’d probably been long since raided by any other survivors who were around but hopefully, they’d left something behind for him. The power had been down for months now so any food stored in the mall had probably gone rotten or gone stale. He’d settle for stale.
As he’d expected, he was greeted by the ghastly sight of a corpse with its head sawed off when he walked into the mall, although he could tell from the pale gray skin of the corpse and white fluid on its mouth that it hadn’t been human when it’d been beheaded. What he found terrifying was the fact that there was a survivor out there fearless enough to be within the sort of proximity that’d be needed to behead a Flesher. Unless it was completely unavoidable, Leo preferred to keep his distance from the Fleshers. He couldn’t risk being overpowered by a braindead, bloodthirsty creature.
The register was completely unattended to, not that he’d expected to find a worker at the mall but further investigation revealed it’d been completely emptied of cash. “What kind of bozo needs cash in an apocalypse?” Leo muttered to himself, and cast a searching glance around the mall. Most of the shelves in sight were either fully empty or nearly empty but he got the sense he’d find supplies if he ventured deeper into the mall. However, there wasn’t any electricity and going deeper meant he’d be moving away from the windows and glass doors that allowed sunlight to intrude; that meant he’d be going into the much darker areas of the mall. If the Fleshers had vacated the streets nearby after sunrise, there would be few spots better for them to camp than a dark, desolate mall.
His mind weighed the situation. On one hand, there was a chance he’d encounter Fleshers if he went deeper into the mall and on the other hand, anyone else who’d come into this mall had probably thought the same thing and had probably refused to go deeper meaning the shelves further in had a chance of being stocked. Sighing, he grabbed a cart and tossed his shotgun in and started to venture deeper into the mall. Perhaps he’d find a torchlight on one of the shelves so he could at least tell whether or not he was being surrounded by reanimated morons.
As he wheeled the cart and moved deeper into the mall, the light starting to fade from view, he couldn’t help but be bothered by the low screeching sound of the cart’s wheels against the mall’s tiled floors. It wasn’t a loud sound but in a completely empty space like this, it was sufficient enough to draw any nearby Fleshers towards him.
“Shut up!” he hissed at the cart. “You’re going to get us both killed.”
Two minutes later and it’d gotten difficult for him to make out anything in the dark of the mall but what bothered him most was the foul stench that now filled the air, a stench that could only mean one of two things: he was either in a section filled with rotten food, or, he was in a section filled with rotten people. His mind screamed at him to turn around and make a run for it but he pushed on; after all, he hadn’t yet heard the groans or growls that signified Flesher presence.
A little over five minutes later, just as Leo had decided he was far too uncomfortable to continue, he made out a stack of flashlights after squinting really hard. Excitedly, he grabbed a handful of them and threw all but one into the cart and turned on the one in his hand. The brilliant white light from the flashlight immediately put Leo’s mind at ease since he could now see his surroundings. His journey deeper into the mall would pay dividends minutes later when found the pasta and noodle section which appeared relatively untouched.
“Yes!” He took as many as he needed from the shelves and moved on, discovering salt, dehydrated milk, honey, canned vegetables, fruits and meats, precooked rice, and then some vinegar. At the moment he had no idea how he’d turn all of those into a satisfactory meal but it was an apocalypse, he’d long since stopped caring about what food tasted like, as long as it kept him alive.
The contents of the cart satisfied him and he’d started to head out when he discovered a section filled entirely with alcoholic drinks. His eyes lit up at the sight of alcohol, and he immediately grabbed as many cans and bottles as he could, placing them in the cart with immense care, almost like he was handling a newborn. He stopped adding to the cart when it’d started to feel far too heavy: if he needed to run, he didn’t want to be slowed down and die because of alcohol. That’d be far too cruel.
He started to continue towards the exit, the light from the glass windows and doors coming into view once more. A little over six minutes more and he’d be out of the mall, and that was when a loud yell caused him to freeze. There was no mistaking it: the yell had come from right inside the mall, and he knew it hadn’t come from a Flesher. There was another human in here.
“Get off me!” a voice shrieked.
That was when Leo started to hear the groans, the growls; the sudden noise had alerted the Fleshers in here. It’d disturbed their slumber or whatever it was they did during daytime. The groans didn’t bother Leo, not as much as the voice that had shrieked. It’d been a while since he heard another human but there was no mistaking that the voice he’d heard belonged to a child.
“Tam, go!” the voice shrieked again.
“What?”
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“Run! I’ll be behind you.”
A gunshot went off.
There were two people in here, people who had clearly gotten themselves into a mess. Leo heard rapid footsteps, footsteps far too rapid to not be human and then a boy came into view, one that looked just as old as Leo. Leo frowned, realizing the person looked all too familiar but he couldn’t quite place it, not in that moment, at least.
The boy also didn’t seem to have noticed him, focused entirely on escape, a bulging backpack slung across his shoulders, no doubt containing whatever he’d raided the mall of. There was another yell, and then another gunshot.
“Aghhh!”
The kid was still in there.
Leo cursed under his breath and pulled the shotgun out of the cart. This wasn’t his problem and yet, he couldn’t bring himself to get out of here and leave an unknown kid behind. So he left the cart and charged in the direction the yell had come from, his heart pounding against his chest.
He came to a sliding stop as he found the source of the yell and also the cause of it. The kid cowered next to a shelf, struggling to reload the pistol in his hands while a horde of Fleshers closed in on him from every direction. The kid’s brown hair was caked in dirt and dust, his body stained with soot and Flesher juice. The frantic expression on the boy’s face, the watering of his brown eyes, he wasn’t ready to go out. Leo wasn’t about to let him either.
“Kid!” Leo yelled. “Get up and run! Follow me!”
The kid stared at Leo, his eyes widened in fear. With trembling hands, he pointed his pistol at Leo. “You’re one of them! You’re one of the smart ones. You’re trying to bait me in. Stay away.”
Leo frowned. “Smart ones? What the hell are you talking about?”
“You’re a Flesher!”
Leo sighed. “Kid, you can come with me and we both get out of here. Or I can turn around and leave you here to be breakfast. I think we both know which of those choices works out best for both of us so I need you to get your ass off the ground right now and come with me.”
The kid bit his lips, considering the choices he had and finally decided to go with Leo. The kid grabbed the backpack next to him, rose onto his feet and started to run, Leo letting the kid go ahead of him so he could watch out for him. When they reached Leo’s cart, Leo ordered the kid to throw his backpack in, threw his shotgun in too then lifted the kid and slung him across his shoulder, and continued to hurry for the exit, pushing the cart ahead.
As soon as they were out of the mall, Leo set the kid down. “Get to that car!” Leo pointed at the car he’d used. The kid ran ahead to the car and climbed into the front passenger’s seat while Leo pushed the ridiculously heavy cart, reached the back doors, opened them up and with a loud grunt, lifted the cart and dumped it in the backseat before slamming the door shut.
A number of Fleshers had come out of the mall while others seemed to retreat once they noticed the sunlight. Leo decided against trying to kill them, it’d only delay him and attract even more. He climbed into the car, started the engine and reversed with full speed, swerving the car dangerously as he turned and then sped out the same way he’d come in.
Outside the mall, he encountered the boy who’d upped and left the kid behind, still sprinting with his bulging backpack, sweat trickling down his face. Leo was reluctant to stop for someone who’d left a kid behind to die but the kid tapped his hands frantically against the dashboard and beckoned for Leo to stop and so Leo obliged, much to his immeasurable displeasure.
“Get in!” he growled.
The boy didn’t ask any questions. He opened up the door at the back and climbed into the backseat, stuffing himself next to the cart. “Thank you!” he was breathing heavily and sweating, and Leo noticed blood on his shirt.
“Were you bitten?” Leo demanded.
“What?”
“Blood on your shirt. Were you bitten?”
“No,” the boy answered and pulled his shirt up to reveal his bare chest. No sign of him being bitten. “Not my blood. If I got bitten, I’d have put a bullet in my head by now.”
“Good, saves me the stress of having to do it myself,” Leo muttered.
“Caleb, are you okay?” the boy asked, rubbing the kid’s head.
“Yeah, I’m fine. What about you, Tam?”
“Scared as shit but I guess I’m okay. Might have pissed my pants a little back at the mall though. Try not to mention that to anyone back at base.”
Leo frowned. “Base?”
“Yeah,” Caleb answered brightly. “There’s a supermarket a couple blocks ahead that we’ve sort of used as base for the past three months now. It’s not a lot but it’s kept us safe. Don’t you have a base?”
Leo sighed. “No. Staying in one place too long gives me some mild anxiety. Best to be on the move.”
“You could join us,” Tam suggested. “Some of the others probably would mind but I know Big Jo, he’ll let you in.”
“Big Jo?” Leo repeated, his eyes widening. He knew that name all too well. He brought the car to a halt and turned around to stare at Tam’s face, determined to piece together where he’d met him before. “Have we met before? Do I look like someone you know?”
Tam had a puzzled expression on his face, one that slowly shifted into widened realization. “Leo? Leo Blaine?”
“You know me?”
“Of course!” Tam yelled excitedly. “We went to the same college. My dorm was a floor above yours; heck, we hung out a couple of times. Tam, remember? Performed together at that talent show?”
“Shit,” Leo grinned. “You son of a bitch, you’re alive? I was sure not a lot of people made it out alive. You’re telling me Big Jo’s alive too?”
“Yeah,” Tam answered. “He’s different though. Not the way you remember him.”
“How so?”
“You’ll see.”
“Different bad or different good?” Leo queried.
Tam snorted. “Look around, man. What do you think? There’s nothing like different good in the world. Not anymore. Just a whole lot of bad.