Rising of the Undead

Chapter 3: The Mall

Alex and Sky ran. Their footsteps filled the empty space. Ghosts of once bustling shops passed them. Only 3 hours ago this shopping mall was packed.

"News travels fast when things look bad." Mumbled Alex.

"Yeah it does." Replied Sky.

Sky wasn't meant to hear that. He didn't want her to think of him as a pessimistic sarcastic goon but he guessed that now. It was dark inside the shopping mall. The natural light cast light in some places but made the shadows deeper in others. Most of the windows had been bordered up. Probably to stop the zombies infecting the food supply.

"Could they do that?" Questioned Alex.

"Do what?" Replied Sky.

"You know, can zombies infect food?" Answered Alex.

"Well you know that I am obviously a kick ass genius and I guess that is they can infect animals than they could certainly infect meats and turn them in to living, moving viruses." States Sky.

"I know your ego is the size of the solar system but how would you know that zombies can turn animals?" Questioned Alex

"They infected my pet frog. George. Never liked him anyway." Said Sky

"So cold hearted." Finished Alex

They came to a jogging pace and then halted. Sky could hear something Alex couldn't. Sky was training in the Special Forces before the explosion so her senses and reflexes were sharper than Alex's.

"What is it?" Asked Alex.

"Zombies." Replied Sky.

"But I don't see them. How do you know they are there?" Stated Alex.

"Instinct." Replied Sky.

All of a sudden a large zombie horde was heading their way. These looked like shoppers because some of them still had bags and some of them must have been trying on clothes because the tags were on them. They must've been peacefully going about their business when they didn't know what hit them. The explosion only was reported after the infected had hit many public places so the mall wasn't a smart place to go.

"Whose idea was this to come here exactly?" Questioned Alex.

"Well I'm sorry." Replied Sky. "I may have been trained in the Special Forces but I'm only 15."

And with that Alex lost all hope of survival. But these zombies looked different. They had no facial features above the mouth and for what they were lacking they had a giant moss covered moulding ear in place.

"These are called listeners. They only know you're here if you make a loud or noticeable sound." Stated Sky.

"But how can they not hear us talking." Questioned Alex.

"They have a range of hearing about 2-3 meter radius around them. We are about 100m away from them." Replied Sky.

"So smart-ass how do you know all this?" Questioned Alex.

"Well..." Hesitated Sky, "I stole these papers from the base I was working at."

"Ooh sneaky as well," Playfully replied Alex.

Sky laughed. Alex was guessing that she was starting to warm to him.

"Well we better start running and stop joking." Said Sky

And with that they ran away from the zombies, holding hands. But this time it wasn't a saviour dragging a wimp kind of hand hold. It was more of a friendship one.