They Left Us For Dead

Dead Center: Mall

"It's a bit quiet, but I still say we should check it out." Rochelle suggests, peeking over the safe room door.

"Maybe the evac is a bit further in the mall?" Ellis questioned, giving us all a sense of uncertainty. Should we really take such a risk?

"Goddamn, I hate malls." Nick was always negative. It didn't matter how optimistic Ellis was, Nick was pessimistic and remained that way.

"Everybody father round, let's pray." Coach tells us, and we follow suit. Coach starts the prayer and I bow my head. Nick seemed to have lost the message, looking everywhere around the room except down. The bastard could at least have some respect.

"CEDA has got to be around here somewhere, right?" I ask, and to no surprise, nobody replied, "let's find this evac and get out of here."

"If anybody sees a men's store, let me know. I got blood on my suit." Nick retorts, clearly only caring about one thing and one thing only; his fucking suit.

"Man I love malls! Once I was in this mall up in Atlanta and these guys were dancing for like money and stuff and my friend Dave and I was all like-"

"You know what I like best about your stories, Ellis? The sound they make when they stop. Why don't we just try quiet time for a while?" Nick was acting like an asshole for absolutely no reason, so I planned to put him back in his place.

"Nick, unless you want to become one of those fuckers out here in the mall, I suggest you keep your lousy ass opinion to yourself. Got it?" Nick looked weirded out by how much I gritted my teeth and raised my voice. I wouldn't do this, but this time someone needed to.

"Damn, you got fire Kel." Nick replies, laughing as he reloads his assault rifle. What was so funny? The fact that he got yelled at by a woman? Or just because he got told what to do for once in his life?

"Well, lets roll on out." Coach announced as we all headed for the door. Nick kept a close eye on me, I could practically feel it in my skull. It made me want to punch him, but I saved that for my dreams at night.

"Keep a look out for anything useful. Especially the food court. I'm starvin'." Coach complains, pointing to his grumbling stomach. We hadn't eating in a few hours, but that was normal for me. For Coach, not so much...

I shot any incoming infected, and the others did the same. Surprisingly, the coast was actually pretty clear. We could see where we were going and rarely had to stop for anything.

"There's another safe room!" Rochelle tells us, and we pick up the pace. The day was nearing the end, meaning we'd have to stop and rest for the night. I knew I probably wouldn't get much sleep, considering the state of emergency.

"Okay, y'all we should be gettin' some sleep." Ellis says, taking his hat off for the first time. His hair was a dusty blonde, with little swirls of curls. He was actually very good looking, and I probably would have liked him even before all this. Something about him, made me feel so dangerous and special. Dangerously special.

I get myself situated on the floor and ready to sleep. It was very cold concrete, slightly covered in human blood. I was so tired that I couldn't be bothered by it. My mind was on so many other things, a bit of blood didn't make me queasy.

I hadn't realized how zoned out I was until Ellis pointed out I was crying.

"You okay, Kelsey?" He asks, gently walking over to me, sitting beside me on the floor.

No, I wasn't okay. My parents, sister, brother, dog, and everyone I loved was probably dead. Hell, I had barely survived with these people, I'd be stupid to think they do it all alone. By the looks of the refugee centers that have been slaughtered, there were probably already goners.

I started sobbing at this point, I felt like my life was slipping out of my hands. One wrong move, and I would be like the rest of my family.

"Hey, it's okay. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but things will be okay, Kels. You're awesome from what i've seen and super smart, man." Ellis had brushed a piece of my hair behind my hair. I slightly blushed, the last person who did that was Jace...

"Thanks, Ellis. It means a lot." There was a tension in the air, but not the bad kind. It was a sweet, gentle and caring one. Ellis leaned in and I did the same, and we almost...

"Damn, this floor is awful. I say we go back and eat a couch from the mall!" Nick complains, and he returns to the main room of the safe room. Ellis and I return to our normal positions, but I give him a generous smile, and he returns the favor.

Damn you, Nick. Damn you.