Sunnydale Mills

ẀK҉H̕ ̨͟͠0̶̛1̢̀̕0̀́0͘0͢͡1͡҉͘01̸̷ ̡͏͘0̨̨̕1̷͜0͢0̕͝1̡11̵͡0͡ ͡͏0̵͠1̢́͞0̴̶0͟0͏҉10͟0̡

Preston hurries back to the group with the empty gasoline canteen and nods breathlessly. "Okay, we're good to go," he says in a whisper.

They all nod at Lena and she approaches the service hallway with the crowbar in her hands. She swallows nervously, attempting to bring moisture back to her dry mouth. She exhales and suddenly starts banging the crowbar against the frame of the doorway. The paint chips and the metal clinks as she hollers and whistles at the creatures within the hallway.

Lena backs up when she feels their presence linger towards her, and she bolts in the opposite direction. Her co-workers watch from afar as the shadowed beasts chase her down the old Sears wing of the mall. They determine that there are roughly four of them chasing her. Craig limps over to the service door with his wooden cane and Rosie by his side. She pulls out her cellphone and shines the flashlight down the hallway. They wait; no flicker. They briefly nod to Preston before hurrying inside.

Preston backs up and runs in the opposite direction, taking a glance at the mall's map that they vandalized with their master plan. Preston makes it to the next wing of the mall, waiting for Lena to loop around the corner with the shadows chasing her. Preston stretches his arm out over the line of gasoline that he just poured, and waits, tapping his foot impatiently.

Lena bursts from around the corner, sliding and nearly falling over before gaining her footing and picking up speed as she tosses the crowbar towards Preston's general direction. He swiftly dodges it with a pained frown at Lena as she gives him an apologetic look whilst trying to outrun the shadows. Preston ignites the pink lighter in his hand and kneels over, waiting to hit the gasoline with the little flame.

They inch closer to her with each step she takes, but she manages to leap over the gasoline line. Preston immediately lowers the lighter, and rolls back as the line of gasoline bursts into flames. The line goes down the hallway and loops around so that the four shadow creatures are entrapped by the flames.

Preston and Lena stare in disbelief at the scene for a moment before looking at each other. They both let out relieved laughter before they quickly help each other up.

Meanwhile, with Craig and Rosie, they rummage the office for the shotgun in question. Craig pulls the gun from under the desk, and Rosie finds an old box in the desk drawer.

"The shotgun's empty," Craig states while looking over at Rosie.

"I've got the bullets here, I think," she says while handing them to Craig. "Is there enough?"

"There's seven," Craig mutters whilst shoving the bullets in the barrel. "A full box would be more ideal, but I believe this should do just fine to get us down in the basement if Preston and Lena succeeded in their part of the plan."

"It actually worked!" Preston calls from the doorway of the office with a huge grin that quickly falls, "but we still don't know if there's any more of 'em, so we've gotta go fast and power up that generator."

Lena and Rosie nod and Craig has the shotgun ready with a firm nod in return. They all slowly start heading down the hallway, but their lights start to flicker again.

"Dammit," Craig hisses, "out, now!" Craig shoves his co-workers towards the mall, and they scurry out of the service hallway, picking up speed as they hear something thundering up behind them.

"Run! Go, go!" Craig yells as he gimps behind them with the shotgun. "Preston, catch!"

Preston turns around to see Craig tossing him the shotgun. He sloppily catches it and shoots the first thing he sees moving behind Craig. They all soon hurry around a corner.

There's a sudden crash beside Rosie as the windows of the old store beside her burst with a shadow leaping her way through it. She falls to the slimy floor, screaming as she attempts to roll away enough to get back on her feet.