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...
