Episode: Seven, Part 4.

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Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens

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Fourth of July by Sufjan Stevens


The evil it spread like a fever ahead
It was night when you died, my firefly
What could I have said to raise you from the dead?
Oh could I be the sky on the Fourth of July?
Well you do enough talk
My little hawk, why do you cry?
Tell me what did you learn from the Tillamook burn?
Or the Fourth of July?
We're all gonna die.

We had made it down into the mall, it was slimy, wet and overgrown. "So, turns out when FEDRA connected that block up to the grid, this place got connected, too. Not that they know." Riley explained, looking at the switches. "So what are we doing here? Trying to get electrocuted, or..." I asked, Riley shined her light in my face "Ow." I deadpanned,
"Pay attention. You're gonna go through there... then turn right. You'll see a door. Go through it. Wait." She explained,
"No."
"Fucking turn right, open the door, tell me when you're there. Go." She repeated, "Fine." I said, striding away from her "Are you gonna kill me? This seems like a perfect place to do it." I asked, pissed off.
"Oh, I'm aware."
I pushed open the door, shutting it heavily behind me. Turning right and going through the doors, "ARE YOU THERE!?" Riley shouted to me
"Im here! Now what?" I answered, my flashlight flickering in and outof power. "Oh, you fucking piece of shhhhit. Come on." A loud whirr sounded through the building, catching my attention as it slowly lit up. It looked magical, just like the books said, except the overgrown plants and shit tumbled over. I stared at the sight in awe. "So... what do you think?" Riley asked, walking up beside me, "It's... it's fuckin'... wait- the lights." I quickly panicked,
"We're fine. You saw the outside. It's like a big bunker. No-one can see shit but us. Just me and you. Annnd you ain't seen nothin' yet. Tonight I'm gonna show you the four wonders of the mall." She explained,
I was taken aback slightly "You planned stuff?" I smiled at her.

"No way!" I saw the moving metal staircase, "Electric stairs?!"
"Escalator."
"Escalator!?" I beamed, "Go ahead." Riley encouraged, I stepped on one them, letting it carry me down, marvelling at the machinery "No way!" I stepped down a few steps, "Check me out man! This is so cool!" I turned and ran on the spot. I had played around a bit with it, finally looking at Riley properly. "So this is the first wonder, right?" I asked her, "Uh, yeah! Sure!there can be five wonders in this mall." She stepped onto the escalator too. Laughing at me messing around.

"Not exactly "full of infected" is it?" Riley teased, "ok, you were right. Can we like, stop and check some of it out?" I asked.
"Nope. Time is of the essence."
"Why are some of these stores empty and some not?" I asked,
"My mom said, when the outbreak happened, people started looting until military shut it down. So the stuff thats gone is the stuff that people need the most, or wanted, i guess." She explained, "Right. So... sneakers... and not soap." I said in disbelief. "Or that shit." Riley pointed out, I turned to see a store of fancy underwear. "I mean, i don't get why people back then wanted all this stuff." We walked up to the stores window, "Do you need me to explain it to you?" I asked,
"Ha-ha, no. I know why. It just... looks uncomfortable"
"Yep." I agreed, Riley started chuckling. "What?"
"Nothing, I was just trying to imagine you wearing that." She told me,
"Shut up!" I said laughing.
"Alright?, come on. We're almost there." She said, walking away.
I quickly looked at myself in the glass, fixing my hair before Riley shouted to me again, "Uh-huh, I'm on my way!" I shouted back, jogging to her.

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