Firefly

Fifty-Seven

Flashback
Ellie

Ellie and Riley sneaked into the mall. The mall once held infected back when the outbreak happened. FEDRA corralled them all into the mall when they were building the QZ. At the time, it was the best option, and it stayed that way for years until they finally cleared it out. 

This wasn't the first time Ellie and Riley had been inside the old long forgotten mall. There used to be a FEDRA soldier who camped out inside to keep people from trespassing. He used to have a horse, but he was no longer around, and neither was the horse. Ellie had visited him often. Now, his stuff was just abandoned and left to rot like everything else in the world.

They walked around the mall, Riley in the lead. “Where are you taking me?” Ellie asked. Riley smiled, “You'll see.” They walked up a flight of escalators and to Raja's Arcade. Coins littered the once dark carpet with bright colors sprinkled into it. Some games were busted, but others were left as they had been twenty years ago. They weaved through them and came to a stop. “Close your eyes,” Riley told Ellie.

Ellie looked at her suspiciously, “Why?” She asked. Riley just rolled her eyes and said, “Just close them. It's a surprise.”Ellie sighed but closed her eyes and let her best friend guide her through the machines. When they came to a stop, Riley positioned her before telling her to open her eyes again. Ellies vision came into focus once more, and when it did, she couldn't believe what was in front of her. “The Turning.”

“Oh, man, I wish I could play this!” Ellie said, hitting the buttons and pretending to play. She thought kids were so lucky back before Cordyceps. They had all this cool stuff like arcades like this, and she even heard that they had something called games consoles in their homes. “You can close your eyes.” Ellie looked at Riley and slowly closed her eyes. Riley started to paint a picture of what was happening, giving Ellie instructions on what to do during the combat. And Ellie could easily see it in her mind. Angel knives fighting against the opponent.

After the arcade, they walked around more, Riley again in the lead. In the middle of the mall was a carousel. It had always fascinated Ellie, but at the same time, she never understood why it did or why people enjoyed it so much. “Stay here,” Riley told her, walking backward. “Where are you going?” She only got a smile before Riley disappeared around the corner. Five minutes later, the carousel was being lit up along with part of the mall. “Whoa!”

“Want to ride it?” She spun around to see Riley walking towards her. “I thought the mall didn't have any electricity?” Riley came up beside her, “It didn't until a couple of weeks ago. Well, not the whole mall but part of it. So, you wanna try it out?” She smiled at Ellie and walked over to the controls. With a flip of a switch and a press of a button, the carousel started to slow spin, music floated out from the middle and filled Ellie's ears. She looked at it wide-eyed. “Come on!” Riley said, holding her hand out for Ellie to take.

Present
Yn

“I stood beside Ellie on the platform beside the generator. Shadows moved in the darkness in front of us. The loading dock area was at least mid calf to knee high. “We need gas to turn this generator on,” Ellie whispered. She walked over and picked up a small red gas can that sat behind us. I pulled my gun, took the magazine out, and checked how much ammo I had. I snapped it back in and looked at Ellie. “I only have five left.” Her grip on her gun tightened, and she nodded, “I have three left,” she said.

“Okay, we take care of them and then check these trucks for gas. You stay near me, understand?” She nodded her head, and we went to work, killing all the infected. There were three stalkers and one clicker. After checking each truck, we finally found one that had a little gas in it to start the generator. The only problem now was we could go back the way we came since the water was electrified since a lone cable hung from the ceiling an inch from the water.

Flashback
2005 /Yn

“I feel like we're in Dawn of The Dead,” I said to Joel as we walked around the mall we were taking shelter in for the night. “Kind of glad that remake never got to see the light of day,” he said. I hummed in agreement and walked over to the first store I saw. Well, it wasn't actually a store; it’s an arcade. Totally Retro Arcade.  It was the first thing that caught my eye.

The lights in the mall were still on even after almost two years. The arcade was dark, and the only lights coming from it were the bright neon colors from the games and signs. The floor was black and had colorful confetti like shapes on it. The shapes almost looked like they glowed under the neon lights. “Oh, man! Look at this place!” I turned to Joel, grabbed his hand, and pulled him into the arcade.

“We can't be getting distracted…” I cut him off by holding a hand up. “Stop being such a buzzkill, Joel. Just because the world is being taken over by fungus controlled freaks doesn't mean we can't still enjoy life once in a while.  Come on, you can't tell me this doesn't bring back memories for you! Going to the arcade and spending your allowance on games. Or were you one of those boring following the rules kind of the kids?”

“I wasn't boring,” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him. “I don't believe you…old man,” I said. I turned around and headed deeper into the arcade. I squealed when two hands landed on my waist, and my lips grazed the skin on my neck. “I'll show you just how not boring I am. You're gonna pay for calling me an old man.” I laughed, pulling out of his grasp to spin around and look at him. “Sure you can catch me…old man?” He narrowed his eyes at me, “You have three seconds to run,” he said in a low husky voice that sent shivers all over my body. I smiled, turned, and ran.

Present
Yn

“How are we getting out of here?” Ellie asked. I walked over to the gate that caged in the controls to the building. I pressed the green button, a buzz sound, and the door opened open. “Up that ladder,” I pointed to the ladder inside and then pointed above us. “We'll have to be really careful, but we should be able to walk across the ducts to the other side. There should be another door over there,” I told her.

We climbed the ladder, and I let Ellie go first since she was smaller and lighter. “Take your time and be careful. When you're halfway, I will follow.” She nodded her head and climbed onto the duct. I watched with bated breath as she slowly made her way to the other side. When she was halfway there, I took a deep breath and prayed to whoever or whatever would listen and begin my slow, careful journey across the duct work.

There were a couple of times I had to stop and stay completely still because the duct started to shake. But eventually, I got myself across. Once we were on the platform, Ellie and I worked together to clear the stuff that was stacked in front of the door.