Lex's heart was racing as the infected security guard charged at her. Its moves were jerky and out of place. The food court was empty, but you could hear its growl. The sound was almost animalistic with hunger. Lex stopped moving for a moment as her mind tried desperately to make sense of what she was seeing in light of what she knew about reality.

This isn't real.

But there wasn't time to think about it. The thing was almost on top of them.

"Move!" Lex yelled and pushed Sophie and Brandon behind her as she grabbed a metal chair nearby. While the infected guard lunged at her, its bloody hands reached out to grab her, she swung it with all her strength.

The guard was knocked out for a second when the chair hit him in the chest with a loud clang. It didn't even move as it turned its crazy, bloodshot eyes back to her. Lex's stomach turned.

"Brandon, get us another way out!" She gave the order, but her voice was scared. "Sophie, stay close to me!"

The guard growled again and swung at her very quickly. Lex dodged, and even though she was out of breath, her fear kept her going. It didn't care that she was holding a chair; the guard's teeth snapped at the air, hungry for her flesh. It kept lunging forward.

It didn't respond much when she swung again and hit it on the side. What the hell can we do?

Brandon quickly grabbed a tray from a nearby table, threw it at the guard, and his face turned pale and his eyes grew wide with fear. The tray hit the thing in the head, which distracted it for a second.

He yelled, "Go! Run!"

Lex didn't think twice. Sophie was pulled toward the nearest exit by being grabbed by the wrist. Their running footsteps could be heard in the eerily quiet food court as they ran toward the hallway that went to the stores. The infected security guard behind them let out a yell of anger and started running after them again.

Sophie let out short, scared gasps of air. "What is that, Lex?" How did he get there?"

Lex responded with a tense voice, "I don't know, but we need to leave this place."

They ran into the electronics area, which was empty and had been left alone. The aisles that usually have phones, computers, and game systems were eerily empty. Lex looked around to see if there was anything they could use to protect themselves.

Brandon caught up to them and was breathing hard. "We have to stop running. That thing has to be stopped!"

Sophie was shaking so badly that she could hardly stay together. "How do we fight something like that?"

Lex shut her hands and forced herself to think. We've never seen anything like it before. It's only a person, right? A metal display rack with some long, heavy poles caught her eye. It was probably used to hold up shelves.

Braden, get those poles. It needs to go more slowly.

They quickly grabbed the metal poles as the infected security guard crashed through the store's front door and fixed its eyes on them. It growled and ran at them very quickly, which wasn't normal for it.

"Get ready!" Lex yelled and raised the stick like a spear.

As the guard lunged, Lex and Brandon pushed the poles forward and hit the thing in the middle. The impact knocked the infected back and made its body shake fiercely. For a moment, it stumbled, as if the blow had thrown it off.

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Then it let out another roar, this one angry and frustrated, and charged again.

Lex clenched her teeth. We can't just hit it over and over. It needs to go down.

The virus tried to attack again, but before it could get to them, there was a loud clang and then a dull thud. The guard's body jerked forward and then fell to the ground.

Lex blinked and quickly looked in the direction of the noise. Damien was standing there with a big metal bat in his hand. He was so excited that his eyes were going crazy with energy.

When he said, "Looks like I got here just in time," he smiled.

Maya came out from behind Damien. She had a pale face but was determined. She ran over to Lex, and her voice was full of happiness. "Are you okay?" We ran to the food area when we saw all the chaos, but then we heard the alarms..."

Lex let out an air that she had been holding in. "Everything is okay. However, Maya, something is very wrong.

Maya said "yes." "I understand. People were changing, Damien and I saw it. They look like they have something on them. "A virus."

She wiped her sweaty forehead, and her scared eyes were still wide open. "This is not a normal spread. "Everyone is crazy."

Damien got on his knees next to the security guard, who was now still and not moving. He held his bat tightly in his hand. "Whatever this is, it's not just turning people into zombies with no thoughts." "These things are... faster and stronger."

When Brandon finally caught his breath, he took a quick look at the body. "What are we dealing with here, Lex?"

Lex thought a lot as she looked at the sick guard. She didn't know what to say, but she did know that they were stuck. It would get worse as they stayed longer.

"We need to find a safe spot." We need a place to think and find out what's going on.

The group got together and moved quickly through the electronics area. They were quiet and kept to themselves. There were a lot of confused and scared people in the mall, and the sick people could be anywhere.

They crept into the hallway that led to the back rooms of the mall. Lex kept an eye on the exits, looking for any sign of movement. She was scared of every sound and shadow that moved.

"We need to figure out where this came from," Brandon said in a low voice. His mind was already making up ideas. "Maybe there’s something in the mall’s network that can tell us more."

Sophie nodded, and as she fixed her glasses, her hands shook. "I can hack into the cameras if I can get into the security room." We'll be able to see everything going on in the mall.

"Good," Lex said in a steady voice. "That's the plan." We get into the security room and look at the cams. Then we decide what to do next.

Each of them was on high alert as they moved slowly through the poorly lit hallway. A warning that danger was all around was the sound of screams coming from far away.

More screams could be heard as they got closer to a service door near the back of the mall. Lex's heart rate went up. It wasn't just them.

Suddenly, a person stumbled out from behind a row of boxes, shaking very badly. It looked at them with yellow eyes.

"Another one!" Maya let out a gasp and stepped back as the infected let out a low growl and reached out with its twisted fingers.

Damien stepped forward with the bat in his hand. "Get out of the way." It's going to be confused.

But before he could swing, he heard another growl coming from the other way. Then another. One more.

When Lex saw that they were trapped, her blood ran cold. More infected were coming out of the shadows, stumbling toward them with eyes filled with hunger.

"Damien, wait!" Lex yelled. "There’s too many!"

Brandon swearing under his breath, he quickly looked around them. "We're stuck. We can't fight all of them.

"Run!" Lex yelled and grabbed Maya by the arm, pulling her toward a service door that was close by. "Move, now!"

The infected were running after them very quickly as the group ran down the tight hallway. The voice of their growls and footsteps filled the room, getting louder with each second that went by.

When they got to the door and threw it open, Lex's heart was pounding in her ears. They walked into the inky repair area.

But as they slammed the door shut, heavy footsteps could be heard on the other side.

They were still not safe.