The landscape of the city had become more dismal as the day had gone on, and as the sun began to set low on the horizon it took with it what seemed to be the last rays of hope for humanity. In the blink of an eye it had become their world, a world of death and despair. There was nothing that mattered now except survival. And for many, even that had become a meaningless pursuit as they resigned themselves to their deaths, accepting this curse as humanity's punishment for it's sins.

Sebastian Blaine stared into the distance, back to where this disaster had begun for him. He thought he could still see the smoke rising from the wreckage of the Blackhawk that they had so foolishly damned to hell by thinking they stood a chance. He could hear the screams of his teammates as the hoard of infected engulfed them, and he blamed himself for leading them into a war that they could have not possibly been prepared for. The suspicion that his higher leadership had known all along infuriated him. Where a handful of crooked politicians really worth the lives of good Delta Force operators? And where was Nick, his friend and the only person Blaine hadn't physically seen be eaten alive?

The warm breeze brought the sweet smell of human decay along with it, one that Blaine was sadly not unfamiliar with. But not like this; never like this. Was the rest of the world lost to this plague? He thought of his sister, Sabrina, and was hit with a fresh sense of urgency to press on. He wouldn't stop moving until he found her alive. He could not afford to imagine any other outcome.

Yet even amidst the ashes of so much loss, Blaine had found some hope in his new companion. He had come across her at the bottom of the building on top of which they both stood now, having escaped a losing battle with a horde to the safety of higher ground. Wielding dual tomahawks like a tribal warrior, the woman seemed willing to go down in the glory of battle if that was to be her fate. Blaine had rushed into the fray at the last minute, swinging his own tomahawk as if the meeting of the two warriors was predestined, to cut a path into the building and to safety. When they had reached the roof she told him that he had broken a very important rule, something about never trying to be the hero. He had thought to himself that she didn't yet know the half of it.

He looked at her now, just as lost in her own thoughts as he was, her long dark hair swaying in the pungent air. 'Feather', she had called herself, and it was evident by the literal feathers in her hair and her face paint that she represented a proud and rare heritage. Clad in his own tactical gear, his HK416 slung across his back and 1911 in a drop-leg holster, the pair were a juxtaposition of ancient culture and modern warfare, one that had already come seamlessly together in the heat of battle. Their tomahawks were the most symbolic of this, hers crafted in the most traditional manner and his a tactical product of the most contemporary material.

Blaine walked to stand beside her and looked out at what he had decided would be his first deliberate destination en route to finding his sister. A shopping mall of that size was his best bet for supplies if he moved quickly. It was several blocks away, but moving tactically and purposefully it wouldn't be an impossible movement. He did not at all like the thought of Feather continuing on her own, but if the girl had her own agenda he couldn't force her to come along.

"Can't make any promises about what we'll find in there," Blaine said, "but I think it's worth a shot." He looked at her again, his icy blue eyes meeting her dark, expressionate ones. "Unless you have somewhere else you need to be?"

A second shot echoed around the mall entrance seeming to be louder than before, perhaps because the glass cocoon had been broken by the first. Mercy could feel her heart hammering within her chest, each beat caused a spasm of pain to run through her torso as the world continued to sway around her. She struggled to quell her panic as she tried to lengthen her breathing 'Not now...please not now', after losing Ash the blonde woman had been at odds whether everything they were doing was worth it...whether surviving was worth it. Knowing that unless she calmed down, she would lose consciousness frightened her immensely, even if Ash was there it was a dangerous situation to be in...without her there, Mercy was convinced that once her eyes closed they wouldn't open again.

She didn't think any of her companions thought her valuable enough to drag to safety...Dog was a medic, what did they need another one for? Mercy managed to lift her head slightly disliking how the escalator rocked back and forth like a board walk resting on invisible waves. She was leant on her forearms with the rest of her body pressed against the cold marble floor, even as she moved she felt the tiny shards of glass scraping her clothes and skin. Her body suddenly spasmed as her ICD kicked into action, working to bring her heart beat back down to a normal level. She still felt like she needed to sit up...open her airways...focus on something...as she thought it her body meekly responded, ignoring the sharp stabbing of glass as she pulled her legs up underneath her, she unsteadily lifted her upper body, leaning on her hands as she shuffled her position.

Having to move slowly because of how light headed her heart palpitations had made her meant by the time she was sat upright, resting back on her calves, the dilemma in the shop had been settled. With the occasional twitch passing through her body because of her ICD, she sat with her eyes closed and the hand holding her arrow uselessly clutching at her chest as if such an action would stop the pain, her other hand still clasp her bow tightly having pulled it up onto her knees. As she was trying to control her irregular breathing, she heard the others voices behind her, though she couldn't make out what they were saying. She was locked in a disorientating bubble, that made them sound distant and detached her from their words. 'Focus on something...breathe...' In its desperation her mind recalled a calming memory for her to focus on, a woman's voice, one she hadn't heard in a very long time...it seemed to be working. She caught the end of what Kaylah said, though as she opened her eyes she searched for Tony feeling her heart flare up a second time if he wasn't close by.

Whether she caught sight of him or not she asked a general question, turning to look at Kaylah if Tony had moved away from her "Is...is everyone...okay?" She asked having to pause to draw in a hasty breath between some of her words. Sweat beaded her forehead and trickled down the sides of her face as she struggled to hold it together, hearing a crash across the way from them Mercy turned her head abruptly to look in the direction of the food court. To her dismay and no doubt her companions, a few clumsy infected were making their way through the abandoned tables and chairs. "Damn it" The blonde hissed between her teeth, still breathing pretty hard but comforted by the small electronical device under her skin she got to her feet, clearly still feeling rather unsteady in herself...though the world rocked a little less than it had before. "More company" She rushed to spit the words out around taking a deep breath and setting the arrow into her bow...unsure whether she would even be able to hit anything in her current state. As she lifted the bow up though she caught a glimmer of movement out of the corner of her eye and quickly glanced that way, feeling panic rise in her mind again as she realised more of the undead were staggering out of the shops across from them, their heads raised as they sniffed the air.

"...shi-taki mushrooms" Mercy murmured under her breath backing up to the windowless hole behind her. She was really hoping these ones weren't smart...she'd seen the smart ones, they moved as a pack of predators would sometimes using something akin to human intelligence to learn from their mistakes and better their hunting skills. Either way the horde had finally smelt the blood and they were beginning to pick up speed, seeing the window of opportunity closing Mercy felt her pulse starting to speed up yet again, poking her head through the window her eyes caught sight of Dog helping Chris up and Cat on his way out of the shop, she glanced at Kaylah briefly before saying "Lets plan later and run now" it was brash but their escape routes were slowly but surely being swallowed up by the swarm moving towards them. At the moment only two routes were obvious, skirt around to the right into the food area, where there were tables and chairs to negotiate through as well or run straight for the frozen escalators and get up to the second level...the latter was slightly more risky as it looked as if a few of the undead would reach it around the same time they did.

---

Sacqui Shikoba thought over the 'hidden knowledge' of her people as she looked out over the street before her. Stood atop a building that would have become her final resting place were it not for her heroic companion. She lifted a hand to her face gently touching the dried war paint accumulating her skin before reaching up to run her fingers through her hair 'And look at the reality we have created...' she thought. Though she wasn't solemn about what had happened...it was unfortunate, yes but being sad about it didn't get her anywhere. This was their new reality, end of. And she had every intention of finding a way to live with it...and return to her family who she believed would do the same.

The Lakota woman's thoughts about her family caused her mind to drift to her new companion, the soldier who had introduced himself as Blaine. The way he had charged through the infected to assist her had been compellingly admirable...though foolish by Zombieland standards...by intervening he had saved her life and that meant Feather now owed him a life-debt...something she was also sure wasn't a good thing to owe during the apocalypse. Hearing Blaine's light footsteps approach her, she glanced in his direction following his gaze to the shopping mall a few blocks across from them, listening as he spoke. Feather searched his striking icy blue eyes for a moment before turning her head to look at the landscape behind the mall. "I don't for the moment so...lead the way"

Before the apocalypse several blocks wouldn't have been considered much of a journey, now with the infected scattered around the streets it was turning into quite the mission. Using the fire escape to get them off of the roof, Feather and Blaine made their way through the streets below tactfully skirting around any corpses. With Blaine taking point they were able to cover ground a lot quicker, Feather watched his back. Despite their differences Feather found it comforting how easily the pair of them slipped into a harmonious routine. Her companion moved with a regimented fluidity from one spot to the next, checking every possible place he could think as they moved between the desecrated buildings of the city. Even with the immense -or at least she thought it was immense- amount of tactical gear that he had on, he never seemed to tire and still managed to move with a lighter step than her.

By the time they'd reached the mall -thanks to Blaine's careful trail blazing and precise instruction- Feather was beginning to lag, the apocalypse had really taken it out of her, she couldn't recall being this lethargic before hand. Her dark chocolate eyes focused on the soldiers back as he carefully inspected the malls small foyer through the glass. They'd come across one of the side entrances so it wasn't as grand as the main entrance but it was still a practical way in. Feather watched Blaine for a few moments before flicking her gaze around the street they were stood in, inspecting it for danger until her companion summoned her over to him.

Allowing Blaine to move through the glass door first with his sharp eyes and smooth gait, Feather followed behind him stepping gingerly across the marble floor and gently closing the filthy door behind her. The foyer was small and almost like a bottle neck, it was open near the entrance doors but as the pair of them moved further in the walls closed in to create a fairly large corridor. Shops lined both sides of the corridor, some of them were obscured from view by metal barriers whilst others only had remnants of smashed windows and broken signs. Feather gripped Otaktay tightly in her hand, trying not to focus on the gore staining the walls or the floor, she didn't want to think about what the dirty substance that clinging to everything actually was. Tiny shards of glass littered the main floor no doubt crunching under the weight of their boots as they moved accompanied by lumps of earth and empty shopping bags.

"...Do you think there will be anything left?" Feather whispered, uncomfortable with how loud her voice sounded in the quiet area, although waiting for his answer she moved over to one of the store fronts to carefully peek inside. The insides of the stores hadn't fared any better than the corridor, they looked as if they'd been ransacked a fair time ago, racks of clothes had been pulled over and left scattered across the floor, basically anything that hadn't been bolted down had been pushed to the side or knocked over. Looking into what used to be a WHSmith, Feather felt a shiver run down her spine as she realised the fallen bookcases could have quite easily have created perfect hiding places for the infected to linger. Moving back over to Blaine the Lakota woman lifted a hand to her forehead wiping away a few beads of sweat as she did, she was starting to feel a little nauseated...though she guessed it was just from the hideous smell that seemed to cling to the air no matter where you were.

"Book shop's done for, so is the cookie place next to it..." She trailed off resting the hand holding Otaktay against her hip and spreading her fingers across her forehead as she tried to resist the urge to throw up. "Jewellery, smoothie bar, body soap shop...none of these sound like they'd have many supplies..." Feather was mumbling more to herself than her companion, up until now she'd followed him without question, though now that they were here she felt the need to prove that she was useful to have around. "Your call though, want to check them out before moving on?" Feather asked still keeping her voice down as she spoke, personally she'd rather check them before moving on in case there were things that needed to be 'double tapped' so they didn't sneak up on them.

(Disclaimer for the first paragraph, not my own words just an interesting bit of knowledge found)

When the glass stopped pouring over them, Tony shuffled closer to Mercy and rested cautious hands on her back and shoulder. He wanted to soothe her and knew of nothing that could. His body seized at the second gunshot. His legs spasmed, desperate to run inside yet unwilling to leave Mercedes. So he held her tighter instead, just enough to reassure himself neither of them were alone.

"I've got you," he whispered.

The shuffling footsteps of the undead came only moments later, and their mumbled half-words followed. They came from across the atrium and far behind the escalators. Tony watched them come, heart rattling in his chest.

Like the shrill high note of some terrible opera. That's what Chris heard. That's all she could hear. But she saw everything as if someone had hit the slow motion button on her life and the cameraman had been drinking. She wrapped her fingers tightly around Dog's forearm when he helped her to steady her feet again, still holding the strap of the stranger's rifle in her other hand.

A dog leapt across the space in front of her, and Chris' head snapped to the left to follow it. She watched Cat jerk the animal's head halfway around and wanted to shout, lunge at him, stop him from making a bad situation worse. She moved a fraction forward and felt the world spin again. Then his hands were on the girl's neck, and his knife in her eyes, and curses tore from Chris' throat.

"Christina!" Tony called from... somewhere. He sounded like a terrified little boy again.

Tony wrapped an arm around Mercy to support her, and moved with her when she stood. He dropped his arm as soon as she seemed steady, but remained close. The undead shambled faster. At least, that's what he thought he saw. "I can't see them," he told Mercy, walking with her to the window. He reached for the revolver on his belt with a shaky hand. He followed Mercy's eyes around the mall and to the escalators, and quickly understood.

Chris pushed against Dog and gestured to the storefront; his brother was already leaving. Some brother. "We have to go." She crouched, swaying, and picked up the baton. "I'm sorry," she told the weeping woman, then swung both rifles over her shoulders and seized her by the arm. The woman fought. She clawed at Chris' arm and struck with an open palm wherever she could reach, shrieking all the while. Chris dragged her out into the mall atrium.

The sudden exposure to light sent her stomach whirling. She raised her arm to block out the worst of it. Ahead of them, the undead swelled around the atrium. Chris made for Tony and Mercy, brushing shoulders with the latter and exchanging a glance with the former. At the sight of her, he relaxed but for a half second, then his shoulders went up again. "The fire exit," he said, pointing with the gun. His words seemed far away, but she could hear them, even over the ringing. "There'll be stairs in maintenance corridors. Safer." Chris nodded and wasted no time in running for the food court, where a pair of double doors stood behind stalls, tables and chairs.

As they began to understand their prey were moving, the infected changed course.

Blaine could tell by the way Feather looked at him before she turned her gaze to the horizon that she was unsure of what to make of him. He understood that she may not trust him -his intentions?- based on a single shared encounter. But it had been a long time since somebody had met his gaze so evenly, much less with such intensity. Feather's dark eyes smouldered at him in the moments before she answered him.

"...lead the way."

It was like flipping a switch; the focus and urgency of executing a mission, his senses tuning into his environment, and him immediately embracing that his own demise was still not a good enough excuse for failure were all part of Blaine's natural instincts now. He rotated the HK416 from behind his back and slung it over his firing shoulder, that hand on the pistol grip and the other hand just in front the the magazine, and turned back toward the stairs. He didn't look back; he could hear Feather start after him.

Feather would survive this apocalypse as long as he drew breath.

He would have loved to have simply Aussie rappelled of the top of the building and called it a day. They obviously didn't have the equipment for that, so back into the build they went, Blaine sweeping his weapon smoothly from side to side around every angle. He knew he had 23 in the magazine and one locked and loaded, and he wanted to have those same numbers when they got outside. When they hit the first floor he immediately led them away from the front entrance, where a horde of infected still lingered from their last skirmish, through an office on the opposite side of the building, where he looked out the window into the street.

They were out there, the soulless husks of the infected, wandering aimlessly, with no purpose left except to devour humanity into extinction. On this side of the building their numbers were few and far enough between for the two companions to get their feet on the ground before the infected could get close enough to be a threat. Blaine slowly opened the window, ensuring that he made no noise that might attract another horde. Then he stacked himself against the wall and looked intently at Feather.

She nodded at him, he nodded at her, and Feather was through the window in a single agile movement while Blaine immediately rotated around after her looking down the reflex sight of his weapon, ready to cover her by fire at the first sign of imminent contact. She found cover immediately and Blaine was right on her heels.

* * *

Inside the mall it was just as much of a disaster as the rest of the city. Blaine walked with Feather a short way down the wing that they had entered into. It was not swarming with infected right away, a state of affairs that he knew could change in an instant. He slung the HK416 across his back again and unsnapped the band on his tomahawk holster.

"Want to check them before moving on?"

He regarded his companion with concern, looking intently at the girl, who seemed to be on the verge of collapsing at any moment. He instantly regretted pushing the pace so hard on the way in. In his urgency he had forgotten that he was no longer leading soldiers; he should not have expected Feather to move out like one every time he gave her a hand signal. His expression softened slightly as it occurred to him just how tough the native warrior really was.

"We'll need to clear them as we go," Blaine answered her. It was the most tactically sound thing to do. They had gotten this far; Blaine was not about to take any chances with Feather's safety now.

"But first," he said motioning with a nod toward the smoothie bar, "it looks like you could use a drink. We'll do a security halt there and I'll see if anyone is on the other side of this radio."

Blaine began carefully leading the way there. He would feel better to sit and listen for awhile, in the back of the bar where the infected would have no choice but to bottle neck if they caught on to their presence, with Feather safely behind every round of firepower he had left.

Stacey Erika O'Neil: "This place looks mainly untouched. I guess in a world where only bullets, food and the traditional medical kit a place like this would be left alone. Some of this stuff promotes healing, health and can stop diseases as well."

After a moment she realized she was talking to herself and she did not even know it. The natural herbal health shop was located on the second floor, it was the 7th shop from where the entrance of the mall was and everything here was for the taking, but she could only carry so much. Her unnatural eyes scanned the contents of the items on the shelf closest to her. The yellow, white, blue, pink, purple, green, brown and black labels she saw as she waved through everything. This shelf had stuff that was not needed; much of it was oil based products prompting her to move along to the next shelf where she looked over the products to see some herbal based pills. These were not needed either making her once more move to the next shelf where normal based pills could be seen, vitamins and other things of that nature were present. Stacey began to look several over, picking some up and placing them down if they were not what she wanted.

Stacey Erika O'Neil: "Maintaining health is so hard these days, good food is hard to find so I guess you will have to do."

The odd woman soon checking the label once more before placing two to three of those branded vitamins, they covered most if not all she needed. Her breathing was slow as she once more waved through all the products that were present, her long hair sometimes getting in her face making her use her right hand to move it out of the way. At this time she was a little lost in thought as she gathered some other items that she herself did not notice other survivors were here, as she continued to gather stuff she thought was important. At this time she gathered herbal based products, the real natural stuff that nature made. None of that human processing crap was present in these products. Stacey soon rubbed the upper left pointer finger as she moved around once more. Every so often her left upper pointer finger would cause some form of uncomfortable feeling making her rub the said finger.

Stacey Erika O’Neil: “Maybe I will take some cash from the register; it would make good camp fire fuel.”

Stacey eventually stumbled across fitness and breakfast bars, the boxes were mostly full, about three or four were missing from some of the boxes while others looked like they had not been touched. Recovery, muscle mass, lean and other fitness bars were present. The oranges, greens, purples, whites and reds caught her eye but the breakfast bars made more sense. Milkshakes were present as well, of course the fridge they were in was off so who knew if they were still good or not. When was the power cut? She did not know and nothing hinted towards it either. Like someone who was starved of food the odd woman began to pick up various breakfast bars, she could only handle about 8 of them. The rest of the little space she had left in her green and black backpack was filled with the stuff she took before leaving home.

The bag had a charm hanging off it, something many would not know until they asked or unless they were a witch as well. The faint sounds of gun shots soon got her attention though this mall was big it sounded it was around her area somewhere making her grab things she thought she needed. Each thing she picked up was small meaning she could take more. The question was how would she leave this place, the infected would be coming because of that sound. A second shot was soon heard; the infected would definitely come now.

Stacey Erika O’Neil: “My magic and spells will keep me alive here, but which one to cast?”

Kaylah Kross:

The infected were coming and it seemed Tony had an idea where they should go. The fire exit, one of many would be present somewhere in the mall. Kaylah began to follow Chris making sure not to lose her in the chaos which was being created at this very moment. Bruiser by her side at this point as she soon saw the food court, her stomach soon making a small growling noise as she saw the various food chains that were located here. ‘Damn, if only things did not turn to shit. Later maybe?’ she thought to herself. As she ran she began to place the hockey stick beside her, it pointed at anything in front of her like she was a medieval jouster. Though without a steed, the armour and all that other stuff jouster needed. The blade on the end of the hockey stick was the most dangerous part of her weapon at the moment.

Kaylah: “If only I did track when the world was not so messed up.”

Since the infected were pouring in, from which direction would they appear? The woman in blue’s eyes began to search for any signs but since fast and other variable infected existed, one could not be to careful. Hopefully the others were behind her; being split up now would weaken them greatly. Her hunger made her less effective then she normally was but hopefully no one could tell though thinking it they probably would. ‘I really want a cheese burger and fries right now’ she thought to herself. As she moved she actually went on to say with a coke to wash it down.

The blonde woman hadn't noticed Tony move closer whilst she struggled to get a hold of herself, barely aware of his hands as they cautiously rested on her. His words however helped to bring her back to the present, whether it was because she was grasping at straws or not but the words he had chosen were the ones Ash had often used to reassure her...it helped.

She jolted as Tony's voice ripped through the air, calling out to Chris, the terror in his voice helped sober her up further as she focused on remaining calm. Feeling Tony's arm support her as she went to stand and then him remaining close by, the blonde woman felt a small rush of appreciation, unfortunately their predicament and her current lack of breath didn't give her much of a chance to verbally thank him, she gave him the smallest of smiles accompanied with a brief nod of thanks before walking over to the window. Saving her breath eager to find out what had happened and where the others were.

Mercy was distracted by the heavily pregnant woman Christina dragged out of the shop with her, she felt her conscience split, the woman was clearly distressed about something but she was really wishing she'd shut up. Gritting her teeth together she made the decision to lower her bow, jumping slightly as Chris brushed past her shoulder, she cast a wary glance at the other woman trying not to appear quite as terrified as she was. Though the blonde woman listened to Tony speak she felt her eyes move to find Dog, Kaylah and...Cat, concerned they wouldn't hear the plan. She wasn't as worried about Cat, not because of what he'd done in the past but more because of who he was, she doubted he'd be caught out.

As Chris shot off towards the food court Mercy's pulse quickened, she slung her bow over her body and jammed the arrow into her quiver, pulling Ash's knife from her belt she turned to Tony wanting to make sure he went next as Kaylah shot past and after Chris. "Dog?" The blonde called uncertainly, hesitant to leave without the tall lad. As for the matter of the distraught woman that had been dragged out of the shop, unless Chris still had a hold of her, Mercy didn't have the heart to leave her behind either. If she had been left behind she tried to encourage her to come with them with soft words of encouragement followed by harsher threats and facts, though nothing seemed to be able to pull the woman out of her grief stricken episode. Unfortunately the blonde archer didn't have the strength to drag the other woman very far and with the infected changing their course and picking up speed, her conscience was split in two.

Survival ultimately won over compassion, this world was unforgiving and being a good samaritan was just another way to throw your life away. Unless Tony or one of the others stayed behind she took off after Chris and Kaylah, knowing she wouldn't be able to run as fast or far as them but hoping she could at least make it to the other side of the food court with them. She vaulted over a few fallen chairs, skirting around the swarming infected as they picked up their own pace and begun to close in on them, stunted by the scattered furniture.

---

The Lakota woman looked over at the smoothie bar with a raised eyebrow, she doubted there was anything good left in there...though she had to admit a drink would be appreciated at this time. Feather reached for her bag with her free hand, cautiously inspecting their surroundings as she did "I've still got some water" she murmured sliding her hand up and into her bag to feel around for the water bottle within. "Could use a top up though..." She decided following quietly after Blaine, shifting her free hand to rest atop Kohana that was tucked into her belt. She was confident Otaktay could handle anything that came at them for the time being. As they moved her eyes flickered over the assortment of firearms attached to Blaine before searching around the area they were in. Being sure to keep her voice low she murmured "...We should probably avoid using any guns whilst we're in here" just as they reached the edge of the smoothie bar, she figured Blaine had already decided as much but it didn't hurt to mention it. She quickly studied the interior of the building they were stood outside of, the seating area at the front of the bar wasn't as bad as some of the other places, a few chairs had been knocked over here and there but overall it wasn't too bad, just a bit grimy. "Imagine this place can carry an echo-" No sooner had the words passed her lips when the sound of a distant gunshot broke the peaceful silence surrounding them.

Feather instinctively dropped down into a crouch and swiftly scooted over to one of the tables right next to the bar as it was closest cover she could find at that moment. "What the" The words escaped her mouth in a low hiss as her eyes darted around the hallway around them. Barely any time passed before yet another shot echoed around the shopping mall, luckily it still sounded distant to them. Feather shook her head and glanced at Blaine "On the plus side, I was right...on the down side, no time for supply hunting. Lets get the hell out of here" standing up, she tightened her grip on Otaktay. Unfortunately the Lakota woman couldn't have foreseen what happened next, as soon as she stood up she attracted the attention of the infected lurking in the shadows behind the bar.

What was unfortunate for the two companions was these infected were not like the others...they didn't strike straight away instead they watched the pair for a few brief moments. Waiting for Feather to turn her back on the bar before one of them lunged forward and grabbed at her shoulders giving the tired woman the fright of her life as long cold fingers dug into her shirt. Going into autopilot Feather dropped one of her shoulders and tried to twist out of the creatures grip, keeping herself as far away from it as possible as it tried to pull her towards it, luckily they still had a bar between them. Though the other infected perhaps 2 or 3 were beginning to lurch forward threatening to spill over the bar as well trying to get a hold of Blaine whether he was close to them or not. If Blaine didn't intervene...Feather managed to flip Otaktay upside down and slide her hand up just under the hatchet head and swing her arm back catching the infected across the face and forcing it to loosen its grip just enough for her to wriggle free. "Bugger this" The Lakota woman hissed as she stumbled forward, whether the slimy creature was alive or not she knew better than to hang around as the others flopped over the counter moving closer to Blaine she nudged him with her elbow as she passed by shooting out into the corridor.

As the infected in the smoothie bar had distracted Blaine and Feather a small collection of them had loped into the bottleneck of the entrance hall and now stood between them and the large glass doors that they had used to enter the mall. Looking at the other end of the corridor they were in, more infected were stumbling out of stores and gathering at the far end. Hearing the creatures behind them scrabble to their feet with a plethora of moaning Feather instinctively searched for the nearest exit route. Though her instincts told her it was a bad idea the only way out of this predicament was to run down the corridor skirting around the few undead blocking the way and up the escalator, though she couldn't see it looked as if there was more space up there...and hopefully a shop or somewhere that could be locked down. Unless Blaine had already seen it, Feather pointed it out to him "Take point, got you covered, don't look back" The Lakota woman spoke quickly as she pulled Kohana from her belt and flexed the hand holding Otaktay if he didn't leap into action and take the lead, Feather did...they didn't have time to dilly dally after all. The pack of the infected behind them were looking to herd them all the way down to the swarming death trap at the end of the corridor if they couldn't get their teeth into them before hand...

Christina charged towards the fire exit with the pregnant stranger behind her. Only when the woman caught up and whimpered in her ear did she realise how tightly she had been gripping the woman's arm. Chris let up a little; she feared the worst if she were to let go.

The undead shambled closer, mere feet away from them. Little space stood between the undead and the doors, but if they could just move a little faster...

One of the walkers broke free of the horde and sprinted towards the survivors. A Runner. Chris opened her mouth to warn the others when another came racing out of the crowd. The first launched itself at her. Yellow claw-like hands swung for her neck. Chris threw herself back and wrapped an arm around the woman behind her. Her screams pierced through Chris' head. The ringing returned.

She pushed the creature back with her baton. It snarled. She held the baton horizontally ahead of her and thrashed forwards. If she dared to pull on the rifle, she would have to drop the baton or let go of the mother-to-be. Even then, there'd be no time and not enough bullets. Frustration drove her attack, strengthened it enough to keep the creature at arm's length.

Tony surged forward with the crowbar and swung, his pistol forgotten. The hook connected with the Runner's head and sprayed Christina and the woman's faces and clothes with rotting flesh and blood. When she opened her eyes, Chris saw Tony staring at the crowbar embedded in the Runner's skull.

"Tony! Keep moving!" she pushed against him with a bloody arm and he jolted. Back to his senses, he reached for the crowbar but Christina put out her arm to stop him. "Leave it," she told him, stepping forward to push him again. They were so close to the doors now, why wouldn't he move? If they could just get to the doors and barricade them, if they could get upstairs... She didn't want to die this way.

The walkers closed in on the group. As Tony turned to run again, they latched onto him and onto Christina and her tag-a-long. She tried to pull the woman back to her, but they were too many hands and heads in the way. She slammed the baton into their arms but it only stopped them for a second. They pulled the woman into the throng of the horde and drowned her screams. Shouting her grief, Chris punched, kicked, swung her baton, and still the woman and her babe were gone.

With the little space she created between herself and the undead, she turned her attention to the others. To her left, Tony wrestled with two walkers. He wriggled and punched his way out of their grasp over and over again. To her right, the rest of their group. No one else could die.

Christina lurched left, struck each walker with the baton just to push them back, then pulled Tony to her side and passed it to him. Hands free, she swung the rifle over her shoulders and rammed the butt of it into their heads when they came forward again. The path to the fire exit was clear, if only they could get the others through the horde. "Stay close," she told Tony before turning back to help the others.

The mall was getting much nosier, the sounds of moans, footsteps and things falling over filled the ears of this witch. The disillusion that helped her yet hinder her in different areas. At this moment in time she began to remember any spell that could help her, the infected had yet to see her or for that matter come her way. As her brain processed which spell to use her eyes soon widened, the sheer numbers of the infected here in the mall had quickly threw her thoughts into disarray. Forgetting everything she was trying to think, her mind became clouded with thoughts of the infected fighting her. The only weapon she had was a dagger, she would have to get close to use it though with the numbers here she would not last very long though the main problem was she would always run instead of fight. Was she a coward? Probably not but she did not have the mindset or stomach to put down the undead.

Stacey: "How did so many get here so quickly and why do I always want to run? I wonder if other survivors came here and these guys followed them."

Her eyes still on the horde of the undead, how would she get out of this one. She hoped the answer was she wasn't, why die today when you can die tomorrow was something she would say to herself a lot in this dark age. In reality only the infected ruined this dark age..... well for her anyway.



Kaylah did not do much other then run, she tried to follow Chris's tracks but it was partly impossible with the odd walker getting in the way every so often. On top of that she was not focusing on her breathing which caused a stitch to happen yet she did not slow down. The feeling only got worse but it was a better feeling then being munched and chewed on. She could feel herself struggling to get the air she needed around her body though in this situation she could not stop to catch her breath. In her head she repeated 'I should of gone to track, I should of gone to track.' She was far from unfit, it was panic that got to her most of the time. She hoped the others were behind, waiting around at this point would get you killed. Now she thought about it what was Bruiser doing at this time?

Kaylah: "Bruiser where did you go?"

An infected at this time tried to lung at her, Kaylah barely avoiding it and her left foot soon going at an angle causing it to feel a fairly strong pain. Her whole foot was on its left side, she had no support causing her to limp, all the weight of her body putting a lot of pressure on her shin and the side of her left foot. 'Crap' she thought to herself, her running would be partly effected to the injury she just got. It was a bad time to get one as hurting herself was a fear that would play on her affecting her ability to do things. The infected had a keep calm and party t-shirt on, his jeans were torn and he had one trainer on. Blue, light blue and white were the only colours on the said trainer. The infected had shaggy dark brown hair and also had shades on though the shades themselves were not on straight.

Kaylah: "Jeez is this were I die, will Cat put me down because I will slow them down?"

As the infected creatures closed in on them, Mercy found herself divided from everyone as Chris, Tony and the pregnant woman dissappeared behind a wall of zombies, she felt her pulse quicken and her heart threatened to skip a beat. It was just her and the danger this time, nobody was going to dive in and save her sorry ass...not anymore. She had two choices at this moment, crumple to the floor and submit to an inevitable death or straighten up and deny her fate. With Ash's dagger gripped tightly in her hand, Mercy appeared to be frozen to the spot, forced to watch the horror unfold in front of her whilst her thoughts ran astray and her body refused to respond. She dropped her eyes to the floor in front of her as the pregnent woman was pulled into the throng of infected surrounding Chris and Tony, desperately wishing she could just block it all out. Her eyes flickered over Tony's abandoned pistol about the same time that something lurched at her. The walker brought its arms towards her, latching onto her right arm and tear at her skin with its yellow fingernails, snapping its teeth together in anticipation of gorging into her warm flesh. Decision made, with Ash's knife held tightly in her left and she quickly jolted it towards her attacker , the blade sunk into the creatures soft skull with ease and only stopped moving once the hilt was pressed against the walker's decomposing skin. With a shaky breath Mercy pulled her arm out of its grasp and gripping the knife tightly shoved the immobile corpse away from her and into the wall of moving corpses behind it. She turned sharply to search for the others, catching sight of Kaylah's shiny blue stripper dress she automatically focused on her first.

As an infected zombie launched itself at Kaylah, Mercy felt herself inhale sharply even as the other managed to avoid it, she'd been close enough to see the strippers foot turn at an odd angle that was no doubt painful. Her eyes flickered back to the sea of infected zombies, she could just about see Chris and Tony struggling further on. Without thinking it over she swooped down and grabbed Tony's pistol before sprinting towards Kaylah. Ducking and dipping her way past a few undead, she came up behind the runner that had launched itself at the stripper and buried her knife in the back of its neck effectively severing its spinal chord. "Cat's not killing anyone else" She stated, pulling her knife back just as the infected closed around the pair of them, pushing them towards Chris and Tony whilst separating completey separating them from Dog and Cat. The blonde could only hope the twins were able to make it to safety...and that Kaylah's dog was close by them rather than being with the twins on the other side of the thin wall of undead. Shoving her knife back into its holster at her waist and tucking Tony's pistol into the waistband of her jeans Mercy reached for one of the broken chairs next to her and Kaylah, the back of it had been ripped clean off, leaving just the seat behind with three legs left in tact it probably wasn't an ideal weapon but as the walkers closed in on them it helped to keep them at bay.

"Lean on me if you need to but we have to keep going" Mercy spoke to Kaylah moving closer to her as she bashed the seat weapon at the infected, sharp jabs seemed enough to push them back for a few seconds. And providing Kaylah stayed with her, either holding onto or not the pair of them would have steadily made their way towards Chris and Tony, just as they managed to make a path to the fire exit. "Kaylah's hurt!" She shouted over to Chris, seeing the other woman turn towards them. "Get her to the fire exit and I'll cover you as best I can" She added, grunting as the walkers put pressure on her seat weapon, pushing against her as their arms reached out trying to claw at her face. She was leant far enough back that they couldn't quite get a swing on her, but each time they forced her back she felt their filthy fingers drag across her skin. She knew she wasn't strong enough to drag Kaylah along with her, if she was to make a break for the fire door, running on her own was draining enough with her heart.

Providing Kaylah was with her, it didn't take Mercy long to get to Chris and Tony. It was a short trip but the blonde woman was tiring quickly, with the multitude of things going on inside of her it was a wonder she was still standing at all. With the gap Chris and Tony had made in the swarming walkers, Kaylah's dog should have been able to make a break for it if she was with them and Mercy was positive with a little assistance Kaylah herself could make it even with an injured ankle...though it was probably going to be tight. Jabbing her seat weapon to push back another walker she forcefully kicked another's kneecap making its leg snap backwards and sending it crashing to the floor...not that it caused the others much bother as they simply swarmed over it. Having decided to cover the others until they were home free, she would have been trailing behind if they made a break for the fire exit "You have got to be kidding me, take a hint and sod off!" She spat through gritted teeth, jabbing the seat at another as it tried to advance on them.