"Atten- Oh, shit-"

The novelty megaphone was way louder than I expected. It was just a toy, but it functioned like the real thing. Actually, with all the static and popping, it was probably even worse. The sound blared through the massive halls as I clicked the button again.

"Could the real Bunny please come meet us by the fountain?"

I was standing on the bench to give myself extra height. I surveyed the area, and saw at least a hundred Bunnys staring back at me with eyes wide open. I turned off the megaphone and climbed back down to the bench.

"Bio, I don't think this is gonna work."

"It never hurts to ask politely."

We sat on the bench and watched the looming Bunnys. Some were moving aimlessly around the store, but most were frozen in place, doing nothing but looking at us. It was pretty scary, but as we only recently realized, there was something far scarier about this situation.

The mall was bustling, full of people. But excluding me and my friends, not a single person was there. No customers, no janitors, no employees. Every store was left only attended by varying amounts of Bunnys. Where did all the people go?

They were here before the incident. The last stranger I noticed was that girl who looked like me, and she seemed pretty normal. The key point is that she looked like me, not identical to me. After I started bickering with Rose, she just walked away. I don't have any idea where she went.

This megaphone came from the novelty gift shop right in front of us. And, for the record, I wanted to pay for it. But since there was no one there to attend the register, and it was an emergency, I just walked out with it. I'll put it back later, in case I need it again.

Though, maybe I won’t, because asking politely didn’t work. Not a single Bunny has interacted with us, willingly or otherwise.

"What is going on?"

"Are you Bunny?"

"Do you remember who we are?"

"Where did everyone else go?"

None of those questions received anything other than a blank eyed stare. I hope Rose was having better luck than we were. At least she had some sort of lead. Perhaps it’s time to tail her again… Before I had time to put this new idea to motion, I felt Bio meekly tugging on the sleeve of my hoodie.

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“What’s wrong? You’re acting sniveling again.”

“L-Look…”

I squinted my eyes and looked in the general direction she was pointing. A small crowd of Bunnys were still staring me down. There was the glasses kiosk we got the cool shades at, a shoe store, a trashcan…

“What, what is it? I don’t see anything wrong—er, that we haven’t already seen.”

“Look at the Bunny in the wedding gown, walking slowly.”

“You mean the one with the floral pattern?”

“Mina, wedding dresses don’t have floral patterns!”

Yeah, okay, they were usually pure white, but is it really inconceivable for one to have a big crimson design on one side? Though it was less of a flower shape and more of a splatter. Accentuated nicely by the pocketknife she was holding, the dripping edge a matching red.

And then my eyes did the thing in cartoons when they pop out and fly back in.

“Bio, we gotta go!”

I grabbed her wrist and pulled her haphazardly through the sea of Bunnys. I didn’t have any idea where I was going, but I wasn’t just going to stand around and wait to be stabbed by a murder Bunny.

I weaved her through the hallways and ducked into a storefront as soon as we were out of vision. It was a video game store with thankfully few Bunnys. We ducked behind the counter of used Nintendo DS games and held our breaths, listening to the slow footsteps around us.

It was a long, painstaking wait. Footsteps came and went outside, but no one went inside the store. It felt like we were hiding forever. After several more hesitant minutes went by, we grew a bit more relaxed. Bio was playing with the stuff in front of the counter.

“Mina, what’s this?”

“That’s a Pikachu plushie.”

“And this?”

“A keyblade.”

“This?”

“A Tamagotchi. No, wait, that’s a ‘WanderEgg’. Looks like some sort of knock-off.”

“There are a lot of strange things in this store.”

Things were calmer now, but I was still keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. No matter how calm a situation is, I’ve learned to always be prepared. Anything could go wrong at any moment, so I always—

“Mina! Look out!”

Knife-holding Bunny, dress covered in blood, charging into the store. Okayokayokay, that’s fine, just have to—

My reflexes kicked in before I even had a moment to think. If they hadn’t, then I would have a knife lodged in my cheek right now. Instead, I had just barely dodged out of the way, sending the murderous Bunny’s knife plunging deep through a cardboard cutout of Master Chief.

Gasping and stumbling around some bargain bins, I managed to get back around her to the front of the store. Biologist was already outside, and we started our mad dash to another hiding place.

“Wow Mina, you’re much more agile than when I met you. Have you been training?”

“No, I’m just traumatized.”