Granite City; A Manaverse Novel, Book 1

1.07 - The Mall

Granite Valley Mall
9:30 am
Granite City

Kyle scratched behind Gunther's ears and the dog panted happily. Lily was a curled up ball of fur beneath his bench. He had the countdown timer up and was watching it anxiously. Only Three and a half hours were left to go now.

It was crazy to Kyle that twenty-five hours could take so long to pass. Every second felt like it took minutes. Agonizing minutes felt like tiny eternities that were dragging him slowly forward into death.

The hardest part wasn't the creeping of time, however. No, the hardest part was not knowing what the countdown meant. Kyle had so many questions that spawned even more questions.

What was the system? What does it do exactly? It was something about a cycle and the Mana something or other, right? What were those terms? How could the system help him survive against all of those monsters?

Kyle gave up thinking about it with a sigh. Instead, he made the timer disappear and tried to enjoy being in the presence of people. Most of the survivors around him were preoccupied with their little groups of family or friends, talking quietly. Sprinkled throughout the groups were individuals, looking lost or intentionally secluded. Just like him, he realized.

Kyle could recognize a few customers from his morning sessions at the register but no one recognized him that he could see. He didn't exactly try to be noticed either. He wasn't sure how he would react if someone had come up and spoken with him. He still felt shaken and was trying to keep himself calm.

Gunther's head lifted from Kyle's knee. He looked back down at the mall hallway they came in from. Kyle noticed Gunther would do so anytime the guns would fire. As soon as they stopped, Gunther would rest his head on Kyle's knee once more.

This time, however, the dog didn't put his head down again. Instead, he stood up and turned fully toward the hallway, his hackles raised.

Kyle had scolded himself mentally every minute since they hid from the giant under that truck. He had just been thinking about how smart his animals seemed but didn't heed their warnings. It showed how well they trusted him since they didn't just flee when he ignored them. He doubted he could have held their leashes for long if they had tried to get away.

He wasn't going to do that again. Gunther knew something and he needed to find out what.

Kyle slowly made his way over to the hallway opening, standing just off to the side looking down. He was too far away from the entrance to hear anything or see the shop he'd entered through. There was no gun fire either. It didn't help that two people were loudly having a conversation nearby.

"My gear totally fried. We were having so much fun too." The woman said.

"That must have been rough. You had so many viewers." The man replied.

Kyle didn't want to overhear someone else's business. He was more focused on the hallway. It had been too long since the guns had gone off. Just when he was about to wander that way, he heard a faint crashing sound.
Without looking at the pair directly, he turned to them and spoke loudly.

"I think we should move back. Something's wrong."

He took his own advice and stepped back a bit, still watching the hallway. When he did look around, Kyle noticed the woman had listened to him. The man just looked at him and crossed his arms.

"This place has been safe since the countdown started. I don't see there being a problem now." The man said, shaking his head. "Some new guy can't understand what we've been through."

Kyle looked at him and shrugged. "I may not have been here from the beginning, but I can tell you something is not right."

Before the man could respond, another noise sounded from down the hallway. This one was louder. Kyle rolled his eyes, but crept down the hallway, the man shouting after him. Kyle ignored him. He had to find out what was happening.