THEM

Chapter 21

A startled scream escaped me as I scrambled backwards, trying to get as far away from the gate as possible, the noise instantly waking everyone else and in just a few seconds everyone was sitting up and alert.

I counted ten. Ten heads, human heads, that were all staring inside the store like they had just won the lottery.

"What's going on?" I heard my dad's tired voice from behind me at the same time I heard Marco mutter "What the hell?" from over in the corner.

I didn't bother answering either of them. I was too busy scanning each of the faces that stood only a few feet in front of me.

I jumped as I felt a pair of hands gently grab my arms before pulling me to my feet. It was only once I was standing that I finally tore my eyes away from the people in front and saw that it was Cory who had pulled me up.

Cory wasn't looking at me however. He was staring intently at our new guests. It wasn't until he had gently pushed me behind him so that I was no longer directly in their line of sight that he finally spoke.

"Who are you?"

A man standing in the center of the others and who stood closest to the gate cocked his head to the side, the smile on his face spreading even wider as he eyed Cory. He was big and burly with short dark hair and a scraggly beard. He reminded me of a psychotic lumberjack.

"A friend." The man spoke before gesturing to the rest of the people with him. "We're all friends."

Cory eyed the man as if he had lost his mind, and judging by the crazy smile on on his face I'd wager he was right.

"As your friend I think it's only right to tell you that this place here," the man gestured to the entire mall with his arms. "It's ours."

The smile had dropped from his face now.

"But we're friends right? So, I'd be happy to let you all stay here," the man eyed our bags full of supplies. "For a price."

"And what exactly would that price be?" By the tone of Cory's voice it was clear he was only entertaining the man, he had no intentions of giving up anything.

The man laughed, the sound loud and grating and I glanced around nervously. Didn't they know those things had bat hearing?!

"Well, for starters you can toss us all of your supplies. But don't worry, we'll take good care of them for you."

That creepy smile was back on his face again.

"And what if we say no?" Cory asked.

That smile was spread so wide on his face now that you could count every single tooth in his mouth.

"I wouldn't recommend that."

The sounds of several guns being cocked and raised filled the space and I felt the breath freeze in my lungs.

"So, what do you say friend? How about you hand over those bags?"

***

Being in situations like this just goes to show why people died out so fast in apocalyptic movies.

People were selfish.

People were greedy.

There were plenty of supplies in this mall and yet they still wanted ours.

The moment we were forced to lift the gate, two of the men from the group rushed in and instantly went for the bags while the rest, the crazy lumberjack included, stayed at the entrance with their guns trained at us to make sure no one tried anything.