Chapter Text
[Monday 10th September 2001]
"Which one do you prefer?" Mikey asks, glancing between the two t-shirts he's holding up. I flick my gaze between them and shrug.
"They're both nice." I answer with a smile, handing him my credit card. "Get them both if you want, Mikes." I try to hide my disinterest in his graphic tees by picking up an Invader Zim backpack from the shelf next to Mikey.
I turn it over, put it back and glance over at Frank and Ray. "You guys want anything else from here?" They shake their heads. I walk over to the register with Mikey, flashing my brother a grin.
"Two shirts for the birthday boy." I tell the cashier, as Mikey hands over the clothes and my card. Ava, as her name tag helpfully suggests, begins to ring us up when we first hear it. What sounds like screaming, coming from somewhere else in the mall.
Ray nudges me. "What's that?" He whispers. "I hope there's not a shooter or anything." Mikey glances over at him anxiously, eyes wide from the mention of a potential threat.
"I'm sure it's fine, honey." Frank comforts, his hands on Mikey's shoulders. "Even if there is a danger, there are plenty of security guards. We're safe." Mikey murmurs a thanks in response, but his fear is thinly veiled.
Ava had walked over to the Spencers door while we were talking. She glances up and down the hall, and freezes, her stare locking on to something. Her eyes first narrow, in confusion, but quickly widen and the fear in her face sends chills down my spine. Mikey tightens his grip on my arm, and I pat his hand without looking away from the door.
Footsteps thud along the corridor outside, and Ava suddenly starts moving again, desperately trying to push past the crowd forming around her. “Get out of the way! It’s coming!” She screams, but nobody can seem to react fast enough.
It grabs Ava by the ankle and drags her down, her head hitting the ground with a terrifying crack. It sinks its teeth into her neck, and I cover Mikey’s eyes with the back of my hand.
“Oh God...” Frank whispers from behind me, his voice breathy. “What is that?”
I stare at the creature, a sick feeling rising in my stomach. It looks human still, but its skin is a faded grey and covered in deep red patches. Mikey pushes my hand out of the way just as the thing looks up, staring wildly with bloodshot eyes, Ava’s blood dripping from its mouth.
The crowd by the door had already dispersed, leaving the back of the store crammed with terrified shoppers. Leaving us... closest to it. Ray moves in front of me and Mikey, holding a hand up to stop any protests I might have.
Frank shakes his head. “Ray. None of us are going to get hurt, ok? Don’t worry.” His words sound comforting, but I don’t think Ray’s really listening.
It looks up towards us at Frank’s words, attracted by the noise. It stumbles up and runs at us shakily, pale arms jittering as they grab at the air. Mikey squeezes me tight enough to cut off the circulation in my arm. Ray freezes, his face twisted in terror. Frank starts to hyperventilate.
I just shut my eyes.
A loud bang jolts me, and I open my eyes to see it lying dead on the floor. A security guard is standing over it, his gun still aimed at the creature. His arms and neck are riddled in infected-looking bites, and dried blood covers his uniform.
“Are you... okay, sir?” Frank asks gently from behind me; his eyes trained on the guard. “Those bites, they look nasty.”
“Hm, what, these?” The guard checks his arms. “Oh, they’re nothing, I’m fine.” His skin is pale and already has grey undertones. He brings a hand up to his mouth and tries to hide the dirty blood covering his fingers.
Ray stares at the guard’s hand in horror. “That’s... is that... blood?” The man stares straight back at him, glassy eyes giving everything away. He turns away with a shudder. A little girl, seemingly alone, walks up to the guard and puts a hand on his arm.
She smiles up at him. “Are you alright, Mister?” The girl asks politely, and he turns his gaze down to meet hers. With a pained retch, he throws up on her, blood soaking her face and clothes.
Everyone stares in silence and the girl bursts into tears, some of the blood dripping into her open mouth. I can see her face sour at the metallic taste, and I feel sick.
There’s a loud shuffling sound outside the shop, and everything happens so fast.
A swarm of people run down the hallway, grey bodies tripping over one another. Some of them stop at the shop entrance, bony hands waving at the air. One stumbles forward, blood foaming from her mouth as she gargles and retches. She slowly approaches a cluster of people near the cash register, who are holding their breath and trying not to move. The creature reaches out one of her hands and grabs a young man by the throat. He widens his eyes and kicks out at her, but it only attracts more of the creatures.
She tightens her grip around his throat, and I stare in terror as he goes completely limp. The creature lowers her face down to the corpse’s neck and sinks her teeth in, ripping out the flesh as if it wasn’t from a human she just killed.
Mikey reluctantly drags his eyes away from the scene and whispers to me. “They’re... they're zombies, aren’t they?” He’s trying to keep his voice even, but he sounds so broken. I nod wordlessly and he swallows. “Gee, are we... are we going to be okay?”
I look at him, directly into his eyes, and I can’t bear to lie to him. “I don’t know, Mikes. I really don’t.”
Frank taps my shoulder from behind, and gestures to a hidden door at the back of the store. It’s been painted over, but the entrance is clear, so I can only assume it’s a staff room. I nod, taking Mikey’s hand and pulling him towards the back.
Other people start to look over at us, and once they realise that we’ve found an escape, they all hurry to follow us. As the shoppers quietly make their way over, somebody steps on something. I can’t tell what it is, but it’s loud – and it attracts the attention of the zombies. About thirty grey heads snap up to stare at the group, and the first few begin to charge.
I pull Mikey towards the door, running as fast as I can while also making sure Ray isn’t too far behind. Not many others are making it close to where we are, and for a moment, I’m scared we won’t, either.
Frank grabs Mikey, and I grab Ray, and we all get through the door. I glance back before I shut it. There’s a woman on the other side, a young child in her arms. Her eyes are pleading and I’m going to let them in and... Ray slams the door shut. I stare at him as if he’s crazy.
“Ray, what are you doing? We could’ve saved them!” He just shook his head miserably, and I knew there was something I had missed. Was there something off about them? They looked regular, maybe except for... oh. “The kid was bitten, wasn’t she?” He doesn’t respond.
I can hear Mikey murmur to Frank, his voice hoarse from silenced crying. “We need to leave... we need weapons, and supplies.”
Frank nods. “What about Target?” He suggests, stroking Mikey’s hair soothingly. “If nobody else has got there yet, it should still have some weapons for us.”
“Yeah, it’s... it’s a plan, at least.” I press a kiss to the top of Ray’s head, and we head towards the other door, hopefully leading somewhere safe.
Frank pushes open the door; shoulders tense as he glances up and down the corridor outside. “Clear.” He mumbles, and steps out. I follow Mikey and glance around the corridor, the white too clean and sanitised for how I feel.
We continue down the corridor, occasionally passing doors with neatly labelled shop names. At some point, I must’ve zoned out, because when Mikey shakes me, we’re at the door for Target.
I nod, carefully opening the door and checking the staff room. I deem it safe enough to walk into and the others follow.
Ray cups his ear to the door leading into Target, opening it when he decides it sounds quiet enough.
The shop looks suspiciously empty. Other than the shelves, which are still stocked with seemingly endless supplies, and the floor, messily covered with dropped items, there’s not a single sign of anyone else being here. We walk through the aisles in silence, each of us afraid to be the first to talk.
It’s not long until Mikey nudges me and points to a sign. He’s looking at the sports section, and I nod. I’m sure we can find something useful there, like baseball bats or even Nerf guns that we could load with sharp things.
I turn the corner, leading the group into the aisle, and pause. There’s somebody standing there, looking at the shelves with their hood up. Mikey, who’s caught up with me, glances up questioningly. I shrug. The person looks harmless enough – they seem to be acting normal.
“Uh, hello?” Mikey calls out. They turn to look at us, and I freeze. Glassy eyes stare through us; grey skin already covered in blood.
It starts to run at us, and I don’t move – I can’t. It’s going to kill us, and there’s nothing I can do.
The zombie is almost within reaching distance when it’s tackled to the ground. Ray kneels over it, using a cricket bat to hit it repeatedly. Its milky eyes go dull, and he steps away with a pant.
Ray looks over at us, eyes narrowed. “We need to be more careful.” He instructs. We all stare at him open-mouthed.
“Ray?” Mikey starts. “Are you alright?” He just stares back at us and nods slowly.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Ray asks, confused. He checks his bloodied hands and deems them fine.
Now it’s Frank’s turn to speak. “I mean, you just killed a zombie! Those things are scary...” He trails off with wide eyes, and I follow his gaze to try and see what he’s looking at. “Ray, dude, is your hand ok?”
I look at Ray’s hand and my stomach turns. There’s a nasty gash, and it’s bleeding heavily. “I’m fine.” He frowns. “It doesn’t even hurt.”
Mikey starts to cry next to me. “Ray... Ray, you’re not infected, are you?” He sobs. “Ray, please tell me you’re fine...” I take my brother’s hand and squeeze it, blinking away my own tears that threaten to spill. I need to stay strong for him.
“It’s alright, Mikes, he’s going to be fine. It’s just a little scratch.” I smile down at my brother, the lies sour on my tongue.
Frank walks back towards us, and I hadn’t even noticed he left. “Here. Painkillers.” He hands Ray a bottle of pills, and kneels, grabbing the scratched hand.
Frank then pulls a bottle of rubbing alcohol out from his pocket. “What are you doing?” Ray asks, tugging his hand away. Frank glares up at him, obviously annoyed.
“Trying to help you.” He responds shortly, taking Ray’s hand back and dousing it with the liquid. Frank turns to Mikey. “Bandana.” He demands and snatches it from Mikey’s hands. He then begins to wrap the fabric around the wound, tying it tightly.
Ray stares at him. “What did you do that for? You can’t just put random stuff on open wounds, are you trying to make it worse?” He snarls, his arm spasming in Frank’s grip.
I stare at him in horror. “Ray, you’re hurt, he was just trying to help. What is wrong with you?” Mikey mutters something I can’t hear and walks away.
“What’s wrong with me?” Ray asks incredulously. “More like what’s wrong with you guys! You’re trying to convince me there’s something wrong! I’m not hurt, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“Oh my God!” Mikey yells from behind me. I whirl round to look at him, and frown at his annoyed expression. “We’re stuck in the... zombie fucking apocalypse, and all you want to do is argue? I don’t know how long we all have left, but I don’t want to waste our time with yelling at each other!”
Mikey glares at me pointedly and I stare at the floor sheepishly. “I’m sorry, Mikes.” He shakes my head, and I take a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Ray...” I mumble as I turn back to look at him.
Ray’s staring at me. No, not quite at me, but almost through me, almost like he can’t focus. He snaps out of it once he realises, we’re all staring at him. “Hm, what?” He questions, glancing around with glassy eyes. “Did you ask me something?”
“No, Gerard was just apologising...” Frank glances over to me uneasily. I bite my lip and look away. “Yeah, I’m sorry, Ray. It’s pointless arguing.”
He nods slowly. “Oh.” It’s all he says, no apology on his behalf. I roll my eyes and bite back a snarky comment.
“We should probably get some supplies while we’re here.” Frank mutters, walking over to the display and grabbing a baseball bat. I copy him, taking a bat of my own.
Mikey walks off in search of bags, while I look for food.
I start making me way over to the canned food. Maybe Ray’s not infected? He seems adamant that he’s fine, and surely, he’d know best of all of us.
But, I think, I’ve watched enough zombie movies with Mikey to know that if someone gets scratched by a zombie, it’s not a good sign. Hopefully whatever Frank did helps.
I’m mindlessly picking out canned vegetables when I hear Mikey scream. I drop the cans and run towards his voice.
“Mikey!” I yell. “Mikey, where are you?” I hear his voice again, a few aisles along. I sprint into the clothing aisle with Frank not far behind, still calling for Mikey.
When I spot him, my breath catches. Ray’s standing over him, blood slowly dripping from under his chin. He’s gripping Mikey’s wrist with tight, grey fingers, and staring down hungrily.
“Ray, please!” Mikey wails, desperately pleading for his life. “Ray, I’m sorry, don’t hurt me!” I keep running towards him, gripping my bat like a lifeline.
I stop behind Ray, holding my bat up, and I know what I need to do. But just like earlier, I can’t move... I try to open my mouth, to say something, but nothing comes out. My arms are shaking, and I can’t swing the bat, I can’t...
There’s a loud crack and Ray falls to the ground, blood pooling beneath his still head. I drop to my knees, discarding my own bat on the shop floor. “Ray...” I whisper in a broken sob, tears clouding my eyes. “Ray!”