"Black Friday": A story from "The Walking Dead"

[HumanBean]

Carl Henry, Gateway Mall Security Supervisor

8pm:

It had been a long, exhausting day for Carl. He'd had to be on site at 5am to relieve the night shift Security Officers. He himself would have been relieved at 3pm if the world hadn't fallen apart. It seemed pretty obvious that he wasn't going to get any relief tonight, either from the mall's owner/operators, from local police, or from the National Guard or other official armed forces.

In addition to monitoring the cameras inside the mall, Carl had been monitoring the exterior ones, too. It was bad inside. It was worse outside. He got on the PA system more times than he could count to tell people to remain inside. "You don't want to be out there now," he told them. "You will die out there. I'm not kidding you."

Most of the mall employees who'd worked today had returned immediately to their businesses and locked themselves in. Those who had worked at kiosks, booths, or carts and hadn't been killed by the Walkers seemed to be inside stores now, too. Carl hadn't seen any movement of living people in more than an hour.

But there was still at least one breach in the mall's perimeter. An exterior service door was open at the south end of the hallway almost directly beneath Admin. (Map with Directory) Because of it, Walkers were getting into the building's service hall there. It gave them a direct route directly north into the promenade.

That wasn't the only issue, though. Carl couldn't be certain of the status of Bootlegger, the casual clothing store in Suite 191; Tots Treasure Trunk, the secondhand children's clothing store in Suite 260; or the Family Resource Center, which was numbered FRC. Even though he knew that employees from the locations had in fact been here today, he'd seen nothing on the cameras that would indicate that the suites or employees were safe and secure.

Did that mean that the Walkers had gotten into those suites? If they had, could they go even further, right into the promenade itself? Carl couldn't know. Well, actually, he could. He could use the 2nd floor access halls to get close to those locations.

But there weren't accesses from the halls down into those locations. Carl could climb down the nearest ladder to the main floor and access the suites, which could get him killed. He couldn't be certain that he could get back up the ladder to safety before some Walker got him. And did Walkers climb ladders? He had no idea.

He could try to break into the ventilation system, knock out a vent panel in the ceiling of the suites, and drop down into the store like some Ocean's 11 burglar. But then what? He'd be trapped there. He could just look inside for survivors, he guessed.

The third option was to just get to the ceiling, knock, and see if anyone acknowledged him. The problem with that was obvious: Walkers were attracted to noise. What happened if he drew Walkers to places that, thus far, had been safe?

"Hello everyone," he spoke into the PA's microphone. "It's getting late in the evening, and I'm sure that some of you are ready to curl up in a corner someplace and get some rest. I want to speak to you about two things before I call it a night, too.

"First, we have a breach in the perimeter, and Walkers are getting into the mall," he began. He spoke about the breach he knew of. Then he asked people to indicate whether they knew of a breach somewhere. "You can put something blue within view of one of the security cameras. You don't have to wave it or anything. Try not to make movement or noise that the Walkers might see if you can help it.

"I will spend the next 30 minutes looking through the cameras, starting with the cameras near Ardene Superstore and moving through the camera's by increasing number," he continued. Carl reminded everyone that the cameras are numbered for the suites which they are the closest to. "I'll go through all of the cameras, spending a few seconds on each, then go through them again until I've been through them three times. If anyone signals me, I will contact you on the PA, and we will figure out what to do about it."

"Second, I know that everyone is scared, and I know that some of you don't have what you need to be comfortable," Carl continued. "If you have food and water and something soft and warm to lay down on, wonderful. If you don't, I will do everything I can first thing in the morning to get those things to you. Anything and everything a person needs to be safe, secure, and comfortable in life can be found in this mall: food, water, beds, bedding, warm clothes, even cigarettes and booze if that's what it takes to make you happy.

"Tomorrow at sunup, if the Authorities have not yet saved us all," he said with a feigned hopeful tone, "I will begin to work on a plan to get everyone what they need to remain safe, secure, and comfortable.

"Right now, though, I have a third issue that I only just now thought of," Carl said with a more urgent tone. "If you are on some form of medication that you do not have available to you at this moment, I need you to signal me. Only do so if it's something you can't do without until tomorrow. Also, if you were injured today sometime and you need immediate medical attention, please contact me as well."

He went through a signal function, then said, "Okay, so, I'm going to start monitoring the cameras now, beginning with the smallest number. If you need immediate attention, please signal me."

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: This is a continuation of the above post.)

Carl Henry, Gateway Mall Security Supervisor

A few minutes after 8pm:

(Map with Directory; click on "Mall Map".)

Carl began cycling through the cameras as he'd told the others over the PA system. He started in the west with the cameras over the Ardene Superstore and moved along the west section's southside. This gave him a view of the promenade and the store fronts on the northside, of course.

He paused a moment to study Dollarama. That business had already had its moment of drama, of course. The occupants had saved two mall employees from the Walkers. Unfortunately, one hadn't made it inside. Rose McDaniels' boyfriend, Roger, was still lying out in front of the suite's gate. Well, what remained of him anyway.

The second corpse there was a mystery to Carl. He hadn't witnessed Jared Taylor stomping the Walker's head to a pulp before pushing the body back out into the mall. In fact, Carl didn't even know that it was a Walker yet.

He continued cycling through cameras. Camera 191, over top of the entrance to the casual clothing store, Bootlegger, looked directly across the promenade into the Food Court. Carl zoomed the camera for a better look. The place was an absolute mess. Living people had initially banged on the outside of the glass doors, searching for shelter. Carl couldn't have known what was coming, of course. What had come to replace the living were the Walkers.

The Food Court was now littered with the remains of the potluck that had been offered there. Most of the living had made a plate as they waited for Carl to arrive. He'd called them there for an update about the virus spreading across Prince Albert, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and apparently the entire world. He'd barely gotten through it when the living hit the glass. And moments later, the living were overwhelmed by the Walkers.

Carl zoomed and panned the camera. He was supposed to be looking for signals from others that they knew something about the breaches. He found himself scanning the bodies scattered about, though. There were an untold number of them just beyond the glass doors.

But it was the bodies inside the Food Court that bothered him presently. There were at least half a dozen of them, possibly more. And worse, Walkers were still feeding on them. Carl was tempted to switch to Cameras 750 through 850 to look more closely at the mayhem but resisted. He had a mission right now. And he couldn't help those people anyway.

He continued with the 200-, 300-, and 400-series Cameras that covered the east end of the mall. As he flipped between them, he took a moment to scribble down which suites were flying the colors that indicated whether they were safe or not. He figured I'm looking at ya. I might as well jot this down.

It was only when he got to the cameras near the Outreach Program suites that Carl really got an understanding of how bad the Walker problem was going to be. The Outreach Program, which served young people in a multitude of way, occupied 4 connected suites (471, 475, 480, and 490). They were accessible by an exterior door at suite 471 and an interior door at suite 490.

Carl found bodies on the ground in the open, exterior door of suite 471. Switching between the 400-series cameras and the one over the entrance to CJ's Climb & Play, he found Walkers munching on people both inside and outside the mall entrance.

His assumption was that people on the outside got got beyond the exterior doors, and people on the inside had rushed for the exits only to find that the outside wasn't any safer. They got got there. It was gruesome.

And then Carl saw something that seriously piqued his interest!

(OOC: I ended it that way because I know that my writing partner has a post regarding what Carl sees there.)

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Introducing Paige Greer:

(OOC note: on the map of the mall, the large unnumbered business in the far southeast corner is Rick's Outdoors and Sports, typically simply referred to as Rick's.)

Paige was one of three Rick's employees who had had to come in that morning to decorate, the only female and the only employee excited about doing the deed. She loved the Christmas season for both its religious and non-religious angles. She'd arrived at 6am, entered through an Employee's Only exterior door in the northwest corner of the store, and got right to work breaking out the dozens of boxes of decorations.

Her coworkers joined her at their own leisure, one at 8am and the other at 10. Paige couldn't have given a shit; she was having fun and earning double her hourly wage for being here on Thanksgiving Day. At noon, she reluctantly broke off from hanging lights and tinsel to attend the get-together at the Food Court. Putting together a big plate, she sat to listen to Carl, only to be interrupted by the beginning of life as she knew it.

She got back to Rick's safely, along with the one male employee who'd come in that day; the female employee, Samantha, wasn't seen again, and Paige had to assume that she'd fled for her car or -- horrifically -- had been caught by the things that Carl Henry had taken to calling Walkers.

Paige and her coworker had immediately set to ensuring that they were safe and secure in the store. Security at Rick's was a particularly important thing for one very important reason: they sold guns and ammunition. Oh, it wasn't like they were a National Guard armory or anything like that; typically, they only kept one model of each firearm in stock, with the rest of them being shipped to customers upon purchase from a warehouse somewhere in the Deep South of the US.

But Paige knew that they were well armed for just two people; they had in their displays or in the back room more than 30 models of handguns, 40 of hunting rifles, 10 of assault-style rifles, and 20 of shotguns, as well as hundreds upon hundreds of boxes of ammunition to satisfy each firearm.

It was this inventory that would come to Carl Henry's interest -- pique it as he was thinking to himself -- when during his camera hopping he would see hanging from the inside of Rick's mall entrance gate a big handwritten sign that said simply WE GOT GUNS!

It hadn't taken long after the madness began for both of the Rick's employees to realize that they were sitting in a pretty position to defend not just themselves and their store but the mall as a whole against these fuckers! Paige had grown up hunting all sorts of game before spending 4 years of active service in the Army; she was still a member of the Reserves having reenlisted to complete a 10-year hitch, 5 years of which was still remaining.

Paige had never seen service in a warzone, thankfully, but she had provided protective services in Europe when some of the troubles there had threatened the Embassy at which she'd been assigned for 9 months. She knew that she could take one of these Walkers down without hesitation; she'd killed an actual, living, real person in Germany once, foiling a suicide bomber plot to kill Americans there, so these fuckers weren't going to be an issue for her.

But Paige understood the difference between operating in a warzone, operating on American soil in the middle of Berlin, and operating in a shopping center in the middle of America; she couldn't simply snatch up one of the AR-15 style rifles and start exploding heads with 5.56×45mm NATO rounds or even the smaller .22 LR caliber rounds used in the AR-22. Just as with her service, she needed instruction from the ranks above, and in this case, that seemed to mean Carl Henry ... for now.

 

[HumanBean]

Carl Henry, Security Supervisor

Looking at the handwritten sign attached to the back of the gate of Rick's Outdoors and Sports sent Carl's thinking to a place he wasn't comfortable with. He'd never been a gun kinda guy. Oh, he'd shot them before. His uncles were hunters. They'd taken him out target practicing a couple of times. He hadn't been either good at it or enthusiastic about it.

Carl had also had an aunt who'd been a cop. She showed him how to use her duty pistol, a Beretta semi-automatic pistol. Beretta he remembered because there had been a short-lived cop show back in the 70s with that name. Carl only knew about it because of its main star, Robert Blake.

Blake had been accused of killing his second wife in the early 2000's. Carl had been enthralled by the minute-by-minute court coverage of it. OJ Simpson had, of course, had his own high-profile trial just a few years before that. Carl had had other things occupying his mind then, so he'd missed it.

There were at least two dozen Walkers in the promenade outside Rick's. Most of them were gnawing at the dead bodies littering the area. Some were pawing at the gates of the suites, including Rick's. He watched the sporting store's entrance for a few minutes. Carl didn't see anyone moving around inside, but he knew that someone was inside. No survivors, no sign, he told himself.

He considered the situation they were in. They were surrounded by Walkers both inside and outside of the mall. No help was coming. The Walkers were trying to kill them. And eat them! It only seemed appropriate to kill all of them. Guns would do that.

On the other hand, the Walkers were attracted by sound. That had been a good thing when he'd needed to attract them away from the stragglers. But pulling out rifles and pistols and shooting them all would only attract more of them, wouldn't it?

He sat back and thought for a moment. Then he turned the PA on again. "Attention, mall occupants. I have a message for the employees of Rick's Outdoors and Sports. I see your sign. And I understand what you're hinting at. I don't think we're there yet. Close. But not yet. If you are safe inside your suite, please indicate with something green."

He waited a minute, then saw movement beyond the gate's grill. It was Paul Granger. Carl didn't know Paul well. He only knew him by name. Paul lifted a piece of green cloth over his head and flagged it about. Carl pressed the mike button, saying, "I see you. Glad to hear that you're safe."

He thought again about what Paul (and others?) was (were?) suggesting. He didn't think that gunning down the Walkers was the right think at the moment. He activated the PA again, saying, "To everyone in the mall, we are working on an idea to get rid of the Walkers inside the mall. But first, we have to secure the mall. We have to close all of the breaches, the opening. So, I'm going to continue with checking all of the cameras for people signaling that they have information about breaches."

He looked to one of the monitors, saying, "Right now I'm on Camera 525, over the Prince Albert Science Center in Green Section, looking across the promenade at the construction zone." (OOC: The 400 Suites aren't in the directory. We're going to pretend that they are being renovated and are empty.)

He got to Camera 570 over top of Kids First. The camera was set to look diagonally over the intersection of the main promenade, the secondary entrance from the north, and the secondary entrance from the south. That last one was filled with Walkers who were mostly entering the mall. That was definitely a sign that there was a problem there.

Then he saw a blue piece of cloth hanging out of the gate of the Family Resource Center. Carl saw one blue cloth on the center's east side, then another on the north side. He spoke into the PA again, "Attention, please. I am seeing blue flags at the FRC. I am taking that as a sign that you know something about a breach. If that is true, and if it is safe, pull your flags back inside to let me know you have something to tell me."

A moment later, a blue cloth disappeared. A moment after that, the other one did. Carl could see that they were still tied to the grill. They'd simply been pulled inside, as he'd asked. He thought for a moment. Then, on the PA again, Carl said, "Attention again, please, and this is for everyone. Most of you probably know that on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the mall there are passageways used for janitorial and utility access.

"What most of you probably don't know," Carl continued, "is that Security sometimes uses those passageways for security purposes."

His tone included a bit of a knowing tone. Security had used the passageways to watch shoplifters, pickpockets, general troublemakers, and others over the years of the mall's existence. They'd also caught some employees committing commercial theft of their employers. That was why the passageways weren't spoken of a lot.

"This is what I'm going to do," Carl continued. "I'm going to use the passageways to get to the overhead above the Family Resource Center. You're going to hear me in the ceiling, so don't freak out. I'm going to come talk to you about what you know about the breaches. If you understand this and you think it's safe for me to get there, stuff one of your blue flags back out."

He waited a moment and out came the flag. Carl said with joy in his voice, "Here I come."

It took a couple of minutes to get where he wanted to be. Carl moved slowly, checking every corner with a powerful flashlight. Mall Security didn't carry firearms. All he had to protect himself from a Walker was his extendable steel baton, which he had in fact extended. Despite his distaste for firearms, Carl would have loved to have one right now.

When he was over top of the FRC, Carl knocked three times, paused, then knocked again. He didn't want to attract Walkers if he could avoid it. A moment later, he heard three knocks from below him, followed by three more. Then, a male voice asked, "Carl?"

He knelt down, answering, "Yes, it's me, Carl. What's your name?"

"Peter Jacobs," the man responded. "What's next?"

"Tell me what you know about a breach," Carl instructed.

"There's a dead body lying in the outside door to the right of the FRC," Peter said. He clarified, "I think that's to the south, right?"

"Yeah, south," Carl confirmed. "But I don't show that door being open. The light is green for that door."

"I don't know what to tell you, Carl," Peter continued, "but I saw it when I tried to run for the door, something I won't try again. There's a million of those things out there now. Well, fifty maybe, but you know what I mean."

Carl didn't understand why the security panel showed that door as being closed while Peter swore that it was open. But he believed the man. "Are you alone down there?"

"No," Peter said. Then he shocked the crap out of Carl. "There's 10 of us here. Me, my volunteer, and 8 children."

"Children?" Carl called down into the ceiling. "What the fuck?"

As soon as he used the profane word, Carl wished he hadn't. He asked with a softer tone, "What children? Whose children?"

Peter explained that the FRC was providing daycare for the children of some of the employees who'd been called in that day. The Family Resource Center didn't normally do childcare. But today was a special thing. Unfortunately.

"Okay, this is what we're gonna do, Peter," Carl told him after ensuring that everyone was safe down there. "I'm going to find a way to close that door and clear that hall of Walkers. And then we'll figure out a way to keep you all safe. Okay?"

"Okay," Peter called up toward him.

Carl immediately rose and headed east, then southeast. Above Rick's, he started knocking softly and saying, "It's Carl, from Security. Can you hear me?" When he got no answer, he'd move to another point and repeat. Eventually, someone would hear him, and he'd act accordingly."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

(OOC: I try to check all of my links before I post them. If you ever open one up and it doesn't seem quite right, please PM me immediately. I say this because I almost posted a link for "Kara" that was actually a NSFW image of a naked man with a stiffy from another roleplay of mine. I think I know why this is happening: I deleted a bunch of NSFW images from my Postimages account, and the links to the saved images didn't remain as they were; the numbers changed, making every link in this roleplay potentially incorrect. I am going to check them, and if that's true, I'm going to revert to Imgur.)


Introducing Kara Wilson

The arrival of Carl Henry in the overhead of the Family Resource Center was expected, and yet the sound of his footsteps, followed by the knocks of his knuckles above, still sent chills up Kara's spine. This whole day had been one roller coaster ride after another, and her nerves were shot

It had started with her arriving to decorate Paris Jewelers only to find that she was being let go. The note left for her didn't specify a reason, but she knew why it was happening; the asshole manager who was three times her own age of 20 had hit on her several times before Kara had finally told him she'd go to Corporate Human Resources if he did it again. Apparently, he'd decided it was better to get rid of her before he failed to restrain himself one more time.

Distraught and not wanting to drive while so emotional, Kara had headed over to the Family Resource Center. Her friend, Peter Jacobs, worked there; he had arranged for her to get Work Credits at Springfield University for helping him, and she hoped that maybe he could give her a shoulder on which she could cry. She'd had no idea that he was providing childcare to the mall's employees today -- it wasn't something they often did -- and Kara ended up sitting back in the office and sobbing to herself.

Eventually, she calmed down enough to go out and help with the kids. Kara li ked children, and children liked her. She'd stuck around and engaged them in creating Christmas ornaments, which had led to her getting glue all over her fingers, paint on her blouse -- which she'd only bought yesterday! -- and glitter everywhere! Kara hated messes, and this definitely constituted a mess.

Then, of course, there came the Walkers. Neither Peter nor Kara went to the Food Court get-together, instead sending Kris, the other member of today's daycare and decoration crew. She'd never come back; no one knew yet what had happened to her, but Kara thought she'd recognized her dress on one of the bodies out in the promenade being torn apart by the Walkers in the most gruesome way possible.

At the first sign of trouble, Peter and Kara had moved the 8 children they were watching to the backroom in the FRC; it had no windows looking out into the mall's promenade, and its back door to the service hallway was very securely locked and barred both. The only problem with that room was that they soon realized that they could hear Walkers in the service hallway, growling hungrily. To combat this, Kara put a movie in the DVD player with a bit higher volume than normal. One of the children remarked on the sound of the Walker; Kara very quickly told her it was just a dog and that Security would get it out soon.

She spent her time moving between the kids and Peter, who had hopped up onto a table to get closer to the ceiling and called out, "Carl?"

"Yes, it's me, Carl," the man from Security responded. "What's your name?"

"Peter Jacobs," Kara's friend answered. "What's next?"

Peter told Carl about the body in the outside door which, apparently, was how more Walkers were getting inside. Peter also warned about how many Walkers there were, at first saying Millions. Carl asked about the occupants of the FRC, to which Peter answered, "There's 10 of us here. Me, my volunteer, and 8 children."

Kara thought about the word volunteer. Peter could have said friend but didn't. That was probably because there was an ongoing discussion between them about their relationship. They'd each wanted for years to have a relationship that went beyond friendship. In the beginning, though, such a relationship would have resulted in Peter going to jail; Kara had been just 14 when they'd met while Peter had been 21. Neither of them was an idiot, though, so nothing had happened between them.

Over the years, they'd continued their friendship but always at a safe, appropriate distance. When Kara finally reached age 18, Peter had been engaged so, again, nothing happened between them. Then, almost two years ago, when Peter and his fiancée had gone their separate ways, a significant roadblock that had always been present was the last but strongest one to get in their way: Kara's father.

Robert Wilson, who was a Bible-thumping Baptist Pastor, had made it clear during the entirety of his daughter's upbringing that if she wanted him to pay for her college education and -- at age 22 -- sign over the trust fund that her grandparents had left her, that she would keep her distance from boys and -- more specifically -- maintain her purity until marriage. So, despite Kara now being of age and the both of them having a burning lust deep within them, the two of them had somehow kept their hands off each other for the nearly-2 years since he'd again become single.

"Children?" Carl called down through the ceiling. "What the fuck?"

Peter explained the situation, telling Carl that everyone was safe for now. They talked about getting the door closed and the Walkers away from the FRC. Kara spent the extent of the conversation standing in the doorway to the backroom listening to the guys while eyeballing the children, who remained enthralled with the animated movie.

When the conversation was over, Kara crossed over to Peter as he came down from atop the table. He had barely reached the ground before she wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling their bodies tightly together as she began sobbing. She'd managed to hold it in after crying herself out earlier.

Feeling him against her for the very first time in her relationship led to Kara's heart pounding with excitement. For a moment, she forgot about everything that was happening outside the FRC; the only thing in her mind now was how badly she wanted to tilt her head up to him and press their lips together. For now, though, she just wanted to hold him.

(OOC: I'm going to write the Rick's post separately after lunch.)

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

OOC post for anyone following our story:

HumanBeing and I use the same photo sharing account for our images because he doesn't have one for himself. I just learned that by deleting a bunch of images from my Postimages account, ALL of our images have shifted to different images. So, I'm going back to my Imgur account to post images.

For now, I'm going back through my posts and deleting all of the links. I'm not going to fix them all. HumanBean, you can do what you want.

For future posts, I will use Imgur, so they should be okay.

Sorry if this messes any of you up. (Honestly, I doubt anyone is reading along with us anyway, so it doesn't matter, does it?)

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: I will check my links, too. I will delete bad ones and replace them after you have switched us to imgur. I won't look for a pic for Peter until we're ready for it.)

Peter Jacobs:

Peter had experienced his share of surprises today. Having Kara throw her arms around his midsection and pull him tight to her was the biggest. Huge. Maybe even bigger than the rise of the Walkers. At least, to Peter it was.

He'd yearned to hold Kara's delicious body from the moment he'd met her 6 years ago. The 7 year age difference between them wouldn't have stopped him. The obvious illegality of getting busy with a then-14 year, of course, did.

The age gap was still present, obviously. The gaps didn't change, even if with age, they came to mean far less.

When Kara turned 18, Peter would have loved to have been her birthday present. He wouldn't have let his engagement get in the way of having her.

Oh, it wasn't that he was some horny dog. Peter had never in his life cheated on his significant other. But he would have for Kara. His infatuation for her knew no bounds.

And he wouldn't have let her daddy's religious beliefs and the rules they'd led to stop him either. Peter wasn't religious. He would have gladly accepted being told he was going to hell to be Kara's first and, hopefully, only lover.

He would have felt guilty about Kara fearing that she might end up going to hell for engaging in premarital sex. Peter wasn't sure if her own beliefs had been or still were too deep to have gotten naked and sweaty with him. It wasn't something they would ever have discussed, of course.

Now, though, all that went out the window. All Peter wanted right now was to hold Kara to him. He wrapped his arms around her, happily joining the embrace.

The feel of her body was unbelievable. Kara's impressive bosom pressed into his muscular chest, as if it had always belonged right here against him.

He suddenly realized that he was hard down yonder. He tried to be inconspicuous in pulling his groin back from her.

Peter could stay like this all day. Walkers be damned.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Paige Greer, at Rick's Outdoors and Sports

Paige and Paul had already begun preparing for the arrival of Carl Henry, selecting the firearms best for the job of clearing out the Walkers.

Ironically, it was Paige, not Paul, who was Rick's foremost authority on things that went bang; most people -- particularly their male customers -- didn't expect a mere female to be the business's gun expert.

That wasn't to say that Paul wasn't an expert in his own right. The man was better with both a bow and crossbow than anyone she'd ever known.

"We're going to be killing these things up close," Paige reminded him as she laid shotguns out across a gun case. "We'll want to use these."

She'd selected models with the highest capacity and the fittings to support a sling. Paige wanted to carry a pair of them over her shoulders and one in her hands, enabling her to take down a dozen and a half Walkers without having to reload.

"I know that we never sell them," she went on, circling around the counter to head for the backroom, "but we have some shotgun shell bandoliers in storage. They were slated for return to the manufacturer 'cause the buckles had a tendency to break while still under warranty, but I'm sure they're still back there."

They talked some more about weapon selection, particularly about the feasibility of Paul's favorite weapons. They also talked about whether or not each of them could actually kill a Walker.

"I'm sure I can," Paige said with confidence. She pointed toward the gate; there was a wall of Walkers there, attracted to the movement and sounds inside the business. She told him with a firm tone, "Those aren't people anymore. They're animals. Not even that. I can kill animals easy enough if I have a reason: food, pest control, self defense. These things ... hell, they're toast."

A male voice sounded out of an overhead ventilation duct, the words muffled and incomprehensible. Paige and Paul stared at each other a moment before she asked, "That was a person, wasn't it? Not a Walker? Could it be the Security guy already?"

As if he'd heard the question, the words repeated from nearer, "It's Carl, from Security. Can you hear me?"

Paige smiled, relieved, then gestured Paul to respond.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kara:

Feeling so safe in Peter's arms -- even with monsters just yards away wanting to eat her -- Kara could have stood here in Peter's arms forever, just as he was thinking that he wanted to do with her. But just then, the movie playing in the adjacent room ended, and those children who hadn't yet fallen asleep came running up to find the adults. Four of them threw their little arms around the legs of Kara and Peter as if joining in a planned group activity.

Kara reluctantly broke the embrace with Peter, turning her attention to the children and listening to their needs: two 6-year-old twin boys wanted another movie; one 4-year-old girl wanted to play Barbie dolls; and a 3-year-old boy simply wanted his mother. The other four children in the pair's care -- a little boy just 14 months old and one each 3-, 4-, and 5-year old -- had each passed out on nap pads with extra blankets, some of them hours ago.

The two grownups did what was necessary to convince the still-conscious children that it was time to lay down and go to sleep. The youngest ones had been fairly easy, but it took a while to get the twins down. It did finally happen, thankfully.

Kara sat near the slumbering children for a while, reading softly until all 8 pairs of eyes were closed. She didn't like the sleeping arrangements; the Family Resource Center wasn't a daycare per se, with its mission being one of serving mothers and future mothers with prenatal advice and service and those who'd recently birthed a child with understanding how to get through the often frantic days of being a new mother.

When all 8 children were undoubtedly out for at least a few hours, Kara went searching for Peter; he'd returned to a task that they'd been tending to earlier in the evening. Once again, she wrapped her arms around his torso, pulling him tightly to her. After a long moment, she whispered, "I love you, Peter." She paused a brief moment, adding, "I always have. I think you know that."

She lifted her head to look up into his eyes, then stood on her tippy toes in the hopes of pressing her mouth to his for the first time in their 6 years of wanting one another.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

(OOC: I can't get Imgur to work any better than Postimages. I'm going to stop posting image links until I can figure this out. I'm not really saying this for you, HumanBean; you know this already. I'm saying this for anyone who might be reading along.)

The Girls inside Dollarama

As the others continued the inventory, Ronnie gathered up more cheap yoga pads and beach blankets, as well as cute little sofa pillows. They were all they had to use as bedding, so they'd made the best of it. Luckily, there was still electrical power, so Ronnie adjusted the thermostat for the backroom to ensure it didn't decrease to 62 Fahrenheit like it normally did after closing.

Jay, Abby, Jared, and Kimmie all tended to their end-of-day needs as was appropriate for each of them. Dollarama had a comfortable employee bathroom that was going to get more use now with six residents than it ever had before.

Abby brought Ronnie the stack of inventory sheets, telling her, "It's done. We checked everything. Fastest inventory I've ever seen done." They talked about the perishables for a moment, determining that they'd likely use up what they had before anything started to go bad. Abby warned, "That's unless we lose power. The refer and freezer'll fail really quick. They aren't like my mama's fridge back home. When we had that power outage last year, everything inside it kept good for six days."

"Yeah, these aren't really made for that," Ronnie agreed. The refrigerator and freezer units had glass fronts for customers to easily spot their favorite drink or ice cream, not keep things cold for days on end. "We'll use it all up. And if we don't, maybe Carl will figure out a way to make it safe for us to move around, and we'll share what we have with those who need food. We need things, too."

Ronnie was specifically thinking of beds and bedding. The crap that Dollarama sold in that area weren't meant for sleeping; they were meant for picnics in the park or on the beach. "Of course, we might not be here long anyway."

Abby's face filled with shock as she asked, "Because those things'll eat us?"

"No, no!" Ronnie said quickly, taking the younger woman into her arms and holding her. "No, Abby. That's not what I meant. I mean ... if Carl figures out a way to make the mall safe enough for us to move around, maybe we'll end up sleeping in the bed section of one of the big home furnishing stores or something."

"Maybe we'll get to leave and go home?" another female voice asked. Ronnie released her hold on Abby, and the two of them turned to look to Rose; the pretty redhead had slept for a handful of hours after the ordeal of seeing her boyfriend, Roger, torn apart by Walkers, and this was the first time they'd seen her on her feet since. She repeated with a desperately hopeful tone, "We'll get to go home?"

"Maybe," Ronnie responded without much sincerity in her voice. "But ... it's dangerous out there. You saw it on the TV; those things are everywhere. I ... I think we are safer in here for now ... until the government -- the National Guard and Army and cops -- get control."

"That's not going to happen," the fourth female inside Dollarama offered. All three turned to Kimmie; she'd used the bathroom to strip off her makeup, pull her long faux-auburn hair back into a ponytail, and don one of the oversized tee shirts the store sold, as well as a pair of sweats that -- comically or perhaps horrifically -- had Bite me! printed across the butt. She explained herself, "Those things out there are going to kill ... and eat ... all of us."

She didn't wait for a reply, instead turning to where she'd arranged a bed on the floor in between some stacked boxed of inventory. Kimmie laid down, curled up under the layers of thin bedding, and after a moment began sobbing.

Abby looked to Ronnie. "Is she right? Is there any hope for us? Or are we all dead?

 

[HumanBean]

Peter Jacobs, with Kara Wilson in Family Resource Center (FRC)
Sometime close to 9pm maybe?

Peter was disappointed when he and Kara were mobbed by those children still awake and active. He hadn't been in the backroom for a while and had believed that all of the children were asleep by now.

They dealt with the kids. Well, Kara did, mostly. Peter loved children, of course. He wouldn't have applied for the manager's position at the FRC if he didn't. But this many children? All at one time? This wasn't what he was used to.

Peter actually dealt more with parents than children. The FRC educated and otherwise assisted women about to give birth and those who recently had. It was their mission to ease new mothers into the responsibility and madness of motherhood. Today's daycare hadn't been his idea. It had been suggested by the Board located at another location in Saskatoon.

But he was glad this had come about. Kara had promised to stop by and help after she'd checked in at her place of employment, Paris Jewelers. Well, former place of employment as of this morning. She'd been fired for not giving into her boss's sexual demands.

Peter had decided that he'd confront the man before the Black Friday weekend was over. Of course, that had been before the Walkers. He doubted that he'd ever get his chance now. Honestly, he'd thought to himself a couple of times today, Hopefully they ate him alive, slowly.

As Kara tended to the children, Peter returned to what he'd been doing earlier. He was pulling lengths of rolled 3-foot-wide craft paper off a dispenser and taping them over the FRC's windows that looked out onto the promenade. He and Kara had decided they needed to block the children's views of the Walkers.

They couldn't block out the sound of them growling. That they took care of by keeping the kids in the back with the television on. But they couldn't keep them isolated back there forever. So, blocking the windows and playing children's music was going to have to do it. They knew, of course, that sound attracted the Walkers. But what were they supposed to do? The creatures' sounds were scary to the children and unnerving to the adults.

Kara came out from the back to help Peter. She wrapped her arms around his torso again. He responded in kind, of course. She felt so good. He'd imagined this (and much more) for years. Why did this affection have to come on the same day as the end of the world?

Peter couldn't help but smile as he remembered a scene from Will Smith's Independence Day. A teenage boy tried to talk a teenage girl into having sex with him via the justification that she didn't want to die a virgin. Oh my God, Peter thought to himself as he had every time he'd ever recalled that scene.

"I love you, Peter," Kara whispered after a moment. She paused while he considered the ramifications, then added, "I always have. I think you know that."

"I have," he whispered back. "And you know that I have always loved you, too."

It wasn't a question from Peter. He was certain that Kara knew of his deep feelings for her. They'd never spoken the "L" word to one another with a romantic meaning. They had in simply the deeply caring friendship way. At least, that was what it was supposed to have sounded like. Peter had meant I am in love with you. And he believed that Kara had meant the same, though, he'd never asked.

She lifted her head and stood on her tippy toes. Peter didn't hesitate to lean his head forward with a slight tilt to meet her lips with his. He'd waited for this for so long. It began as a soft kiss, then became more. He wouldn't push it toward being erotic unless he felt that Kara wanted that, too. He wanted so badly to let his hands roam about her body. But that, too, would follow her lead. It had been too long for him to scare her now with his hunger.

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: That's okay about the image links. I know what they all look like.)

The Guys inside Dollarama

Jay and Jared had determined that the Dollarama Six needed a place to get things done. They'd cleared a big clearance table of the stuff that was mostly shit. Then, using votive candles and little souvenir oil lanterns, they'd created a cooking area. Oh, it wasn't going to be patented by Kenmore. But it was enough to heat water to boiling for tea or coffee. It worked to heat up food from cans and cardboard packages.

"Dinner is served," Jay said when they had enough to feed the others. They used real (although cheap, as it was Dollarama) plates, bowls, cups, and silverware they got from the shelves. Jay explained, "We can wash it in the bathroom and reuse it. There's no telling how long we're going to be here. Paper and plastic is going to pile up after a few days."

Jay knew that he was probably being ridiculous. The army was going to save them tomorrow. Or the Walkers were going to eat them all tomorrow. And he was worried about trash building up in a corner?

He listened as Abby presented the inventory to Ronnie, saying, "It's done."

Abby explained about the availability of food. Jay hopped in saying, "I was talking to Jared. His mother taught him to cook, and I took classes at University. We'd be more than happy to fee y'all."

"Absolutely," Jared confirmed with excitement. He smiled, blushing at the realization that he'd jumped into that with a bit too much eagerness. Trying to be less conspicuously delighted, he clarified, "I mean, I don't mind cooking."

Jay confirmed Abby's concerns about a power outage. He suggested, "We can dehydrate much of what's in the coolers. My parents were big on dehydrating, canning, jerkeying, and such. We don't really have the actual equipment, but I think that Jared and I can get some of it done."

Jared's heart turned over when Abby misunderstood Ronnie's comment that they might not be in Dollarama much longer. He stepped closer to the object of his lust, saying, "I'm sure that we'll be fine, Abby. Someone, maybe us, will get rid of those things. And we're safe in here for the meantime, maybe even weeks if it comes to that."

He thought to himself about Abby, If I have to be trapped somewhere for weeks, I want it to be with you."

"Maybe we'll get to leave and go home?" Rose asked. She asked again with desperation, "We'll get to go home?"

Before Ronnie had a chance to warn Rose about the dangers outside, Jay quickly interrupted, "We'll get home. I'm sure of it."

"Maybe," Ronnie said, "But ... it's dangerous out there."

She talked about what they'd been seeing on the television and computer and hearing on the radio. "I ... I think we are safer in here for now ... until the government -- the National Guard and Army and cops -- get control."

"That's not going to happen," Kimmie stated without a doubt. "Those things out there are going to kill ... and eat ... all of us."

She turned away, not waiting for any of them to reply. Jay looked to Jared, who was eyeballing the young beauty as she headed for her makeshift bed. When the younger man looked back his way, Jay smiled knowingly. Again, Jared blushed, then looked to Abby to ensure she hadn't seen him ogling the beauty in the oversized tee shirt for sleep.

"Is she right?" Abby asked Ronnie. "Is there any hope for us? Or are we all dead?"

"We're not dead," Jay answered quickly. He looked between the others as he continued, "We're safe in here behind the gate. Those things aren't getting in here. We have food, water, shelter, and fire."

He waggled a finger toward one of the candles burning under a pot of water. "Those are the necessities in any survival situation. We'll survive in here just fine."

"What happens when the power goes out?" Jared asked.

Jay quickly said, "We'll adapt. We have flashlights and batteries. Lots of them. If it gets cold, which it will this late in November, we'll huddle up here in the backroom with candles and little lanterns."

He looked to Ronnie, asking, "You sell those battery-operated carbon monoxide detectors, right? I thought I saw some."

Jay got an affirmative answer and continued, "So, we burn candles and lamps until they run out. Then we burn paper or cardboard or wood and keep the air flow safe using the detectors."

He donned a big smile, saying with feigned joy, "C'mon, guys. It'll be an adventure. And it's not gonna last long anyway. The fucking army's gonna come sweeping through here killing all those mother fuckers in a day or two anyway. Then the bad shit really happens: we return to the Christmas shopping crowds again."

Jay looked about himself for positive reactions. He got a mix of responses. He moved on to something new. "I'm going to sit out front and keep an eye on things for a while. Like a watch station."

He looked to Jared. "You get some sleep, then come replace me at 3am? Set one of those alarms on aisle 4?"

Jared didn't hesitate to say, "Absolutely." He glanced to Abby, wondering whether she would be impressed with him stepping up. He flashed his phone to Jay, saying, "I have an alarm."

"Will that work if cell service goes out?" Jay inquired. He playfully patted his pants and coat pockets. "I know none of you will believe this, but I don't have a smart phone with all the gadgets and apps and stuff."

He was right: they didn't believe him. Jay just laughed, telling them that he'd never had an interest in such technology. Jared reassured him that the alarm would work. Then, he rushed out to get one anyway, just to be sure.

"I think y'all need some rest," Jay told them. "Go ahead. I got this."

 

[HumanBean]

Paul Granger with Paige Greer, at Rick's Outdoors and Sports

"We're going to be killing these things up close," Paige told Paul as she laid shotguns out across a gun case. "We'll want to use these."

Paul was very familiar with long guns of all sorts, of course. Not knowing them would have prevented him from getting this job. But, as Paige knew, his true passion was a weapon with a tension string: bows and crossbows.

Still, she was right. They were going to need shotguns. They would take down the Walkers without endangering any real living people in the background. The last thing they wanted was to pass a .30-06 round through a Walker and then through some mall employee in the shop behind them.

"Pick me out something good and easy," he told her. Paige indicated some of the pump shotguns. He knew why, of course, saying to her, "Less likely to jam than the semi-automatics."

He watched as Paige removed the plugs from the shotguns most popular with duck and geese hunters. The plug was a wooden rod placed in the magazine tube to limit the number of shells that could be loaded at any one time. The idea was that it prevented a hunter from wiping out an entire flock of ducks as it flew overhead.

In this case, obviously, Paige wanted the plugs gone. Paul fully understood. He loaded up the guns she'd chosen for him. Then, donning a hunting vest, he filled the elastic shell holders on it. She mentioned the bandoliers in storage. Paul said, "You're right, they're still here. I know exactly where they are. I'll get them. How many do you suppose?"

Her answer didn't surprise him: get the whole box. Paul laughed. "Give me a minute."

When he came back, they talked about bows and crossbows. "Well, we saw that those things are attracted to sound. Maybe be load up some crossbows and put them where we want them. Then, fill some quivers with arrows and put them out there, too. I might be able to put down some of the Walkers in relative silence before the rest of them see me. Then, you can start blasting."

Paul couldn't help but laugh. "This sounds so ridiculous. Hunting Walkers like we're in some postapocalyptic tragedy."

Again, he laughed. "I guess we are in a postapocalyptic tragedy, aren't we?"

He asked Paige if she could kill a Walker. Her answer was immediate: "I'm sure I can.

She spoke of how the Walkers weren't people. They weren't even animals, she told him. Paul understood what she was saying. They were both hunters. The only difference between them was the weapons they preferred. She told him, "These things ... hell, they're toast."

Suddenly, they heard a noise they hadn't been expecting yet. Paige asked, "That was a person, wasn't it? Not a Walker? Could it be the Security guy already?"

"It's Carl, from Security," the man called down through a duct. "Can you hear me?"

With Paige's waved permission, Paul called up toward the ceiling, "Yeah, we hear you?"

They walked closer to the vent they'd heard Carl's voice through. The man alerted them, "Stand back. I'm going to kick this duct cover out so that I can get--"

"No!" Paul cut him off. "We have an access door in the overstock room. We never use it because I think it was put there for maintenance. But we have the key for it here someplace. I'll open it, and you can come down the ladder on the wall."

"Hold on," Carl called down again. There was noise that sounded like metal bending metal. The tip of something came through the vent. It was Carl's extended steel baton. It tilted, bending a vane on the vent cover. A moment later, a set of keys fell from the ceiling to the floor. "Key number 12. All the maintenance hatch locks use it."

"Nice!" Paul said, searching for the chain's location. Finding it, he hurried to the backroom. At the top of the ladder, he unlocked the clasp. He descended again as the hatch opened.

Carl came down carefully. He was covered in cobwebs and dust. At the bottom, he swatted them away and explained, "Some of those passageways never get used. I feel like I just went through a haunted house."

They shook each other's hands, made more formal introductions, then reviewed the security situation in Rick's. Once done with that, Carl said, "Okay, so, you already figured out what I need, and what you have to offer."

He looked to the multitude of guns already out and ready. "The priority is checking every exterior door and making sure they're closed. I don't know why the control board is showing these doors closed when they aren't. Makes no sense."

It was explained to him that Paige was the gun expert. He confessed, "I have to admit that I don't do a lot of shooting. And obviously, I've never shot the undead. I think that's what they are. People who have been bitten or scratched or infected in some other way. They die and turn into those things. They're calling them a lot of things, but Walkers seems to be sticking."

"What do we do?" Paul asked Carl.

"Where is your northwest corner," Carl asked. He'd gotten turned around while in the passageways. Honestly, he'd gotten lost a couple of times. He wouldn't admit that, of course.

"This way," Paul said. He began leading Carl toward the backroom door, saying, "The storeroom is along the west wall. There's a door in the corner. Is that what you're looking for?"

Carl explained that Rick's northwest storeroom door was about 50 or 60 feet from the exterior mall door that was blocked, reportedly, by a dead body or two. They reached the door with Carl grimacing. "I was hoping there was a window in the door."

He reached for the handle. But Paul quickly said, "Wait! The alarm will go off."

After the alarm was disengaged, Carl cracked it open just a tiny bit. He clenched his teeth together. He closed the door, whispering, "Good news and bad news. Good news is that most of the distance from here to there is open. No Walkers. Bad news is that there are at least 20 Walkers at the door. It looks like they're trying to get inside, but the path is blocked."

"So, we can get to them easy enough and start blowing them away," Paul said, "But we might not be able to free up the door."

Carl shrugged. The man was right, and he didn't have a simple suggestion on how to fix the situation. Maybe Paige did? (OOC: Hint, hint. Do it, girl! )

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kara Wilson, with Peter Jacobs in Family Resource Center (FRC)
10pm or so

"I have," Peter whispered to Kara after she asked him if he'd known she always loved her. "And you know that I have always loved you, too."

"I know," she confirmed.

Their mouths met with soft lips closed, a state that didn't last long. Even though she'd never told anyone and never would, Kara had learned French kissing with a female cousin during a vacation at the latter's house. They'd been 15 at the time, but -- as the touching accelerated passionately -- they'd felt so much older than that.

The kiss now with Peter accelerated quickly from a casual, closed mouth touch to a deeply passionate one with parted lips and dancing tongues. Kara's excitement level exploded rapidly; she lifted her arms to wrap around his neck as she pulled herself up the front of his body, clutching desperately at him.

Without even having to think about it, Tara pressed her lower body hard into Peter's own. One of her arms slipped down between them again, her hand grasping at his butt cheek, pulling them hard together. She was desperate to feel him against her.

"I want to be with you, Peter," Kara whispered between kisses. Desperately, she begged, "Please ... please. Be with me."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Abby (and the other Girls), inside Dollarama with Jay and Jared

Abby found herself smiling wide as Jay and Jared talked about becoming the group's chefs. She didn't know Jay enough to be surprised about this regarding him, but she would never have imagined such activity from Jared, who she thought she knew but, really, didn't.

Rose's hope that they'd all get out of the mall soon made Abby feel sad for her. She had no doubt that this was all going to continue to be ugly for some time.

Jay reassured them all that they were at least going to survive, even if they didn't get out of here. Abby glanced to Jared, thinking the same thing he was: As long as you're here with me, I'm okay.

Jared asked, "What happens when the power goes out?"

"We'll adapt," Jay responded. They talked about the supplies they had to work with, some very normal sounding -- candles, lamps, and such -- and some less; Abby didn't like the idea of burning paper, cardboard, and other things inside a mall.

Jay joked about when this madness ended, "Then the bad shit really happens: we return to the Christmas shopping crowds again."

Abby chuckled softly, and when the others looked her way, she explained, "I like Christmas. Yeah, I know: this is my first Christmas season in the mall. But I've worked retail during the holidays before. Plus ... I love Christmas. Nothing's gonna get me down--" She glanced toward the closed backroom door, beyond which was the store, the gate, and eventually the Walkers. She finished, "--'cept maybe those things."

Jay said he'd take the first watch, and Jared agreed to take the second one. After everyone began splitting up to finish what they needed to finish before bedtime, Abby slipped casually up to Jared's side. She whispered to him, "Wake me up at three. I'll stand watch with you."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Paige Greer, with Paul Granger at Rick's Outdoors and Sports

The three of them made their way to the door in the corner of the stock room that looked out on the outside door about which Carl was concerned. As Carl reached for the door, Paul quickly said, "Wait! The alarm will go off."

"I got it," Paige said, hurrying over to the door alarm control. It was placed several yards away behind a steel upright; it had been placed in such a way to prevent someone who shouldn't be opening the door from turning the alarm off before someone who should be opening it heard the alarm. She flipped the lever, saying, "Clear."

Carl peeked out, grimaced, and gave them the good news and the bad news. Paige had a solution at the ready; she took Carl's place at the door, peeked her head around to the parking lot, pulled back inside, and said, "I have to get my keys."

She ran off to her locker to retrieve her car keys, then ran up to the front counter to get the shotguns and a trio of pistols she'd prepared as well. She returned to the guys, explaining, "My truck is just a hundred feet from here. I looked. I can make it. I'll cause a distraction; the Walkers like noise, so I'll create some noise."

Kara looked to Paul with a knowing smirk; he knew all about her skills behind the wheel. To Carl she continued, "Once the Walkers have started thinning out away from the door, you two take care of it. As soon as I see the two of you coming back inside, I'll do the same. I'll pull up right out here, jump out, and get back inside. Easy peasy!"

 

[HumanBean]

Jared Taylor (with Jefferson "Jay" Johnson and the "girls" at Dollarama):

"I like Christmas," Abby told the others.

Jared couldn't help but smile. She spoke so innocently and sweetly. She went on to admit that she'd never worked a Christmas season in a mall. Jared had. He hated them. So much commercialism. So little love and peace.

"Nothing's gonna get me down--" she continued. She gestured in the direction of the currently unseen Walkers, adding, "--'cept maybe those things."

Even Jared had to admit to himself that the Walkers were worst than a Christmas Eve crowd in Gateway Mall. He mused softly, "Maybe this will go on long enough that we can skip Christmas altogether."

He saw the looks he received and chuckled embarrassingly. "That sounded better in my head."

They made their plans for sleep and watches. As Jared finished chatting with Jay, Abby stepped up close to him. "Wake me up at three. I'll stand watch with you."

"Are you sure?" he responded in whisper. "I mean, three in the morning?"

But Abby was serious. And, honestly, Jared would love to have the company. All these months of working with her with hardly a social word spoken between them. And it took the end of civilization as they'd known it to bring them close like this. He smiled, saying, "Okay, but maybe move your bed closer to mine. So that no one sees or hears us?"

One by one, everyone got settled into their beds. Jared initially laid on his side facing Abby. She was just barely out of his reach. Not that he had a reason to reach for her, of course. But maybe that would change tonight?

He didn't realize how exhausted he was until he couldn't keep his eyes open. He slipped off to sleep to the distant sounds of Walkers groaning and growling. If nothing interrupted him, Jared would sleep soundly until the cheap little alarm clock under his bedding close to his chest went off.

 

[HumanBean]

Peter Jacobs [with Kara Wilson in the Family Resource Center (FRC)]
10pm or so

(OOC: OOC link in case anyone wants to see it.)


The kiss that Peter had dreamt of for more than six years finally arrived. It was simply magical. He was tentative about it initially. Not because he hadn't kissed women, of course. Hell, he'd had a dozen kissing girlfriends, four lovers beyond that, and a fiancée beyond that. But this was the kiss that had been at the heart of nearly every masturbatory fantasy of his life.

What began softly and sweetly was soon passionate and even erotic. Peter was actually very surprised at how quickly and eagerly Kara joined the embrace of their mouths. He'd presumed (correctly) that she'd never kissed a man before. He'd heard stories that teen girls learned to kiss with friends, cousins, even sisters. But he'd always wondered about the validity of those stories.

Besides, he doubted that Kara, with her Bible-thumping father, would have even kissed a girl. Boy, was he wrong, not that he knew that. She'd gone much farther than that even. It was a story that he would love to listen to if ever she got bold enough to share it with him.

As the kiss got much hotter, Peter suddenly felt Kara's hand grasping one of his ass cheeks. He giggled into their kiss, pulled back the slightest amount, and whispered in a feigned chastising tone, "Kara!"

But his true response was to let his own hands venture down from her upper back. One stopped at the small of her back. With her stretched upward to kiss him, the flesh there was exposed. Peter let his hand caress her, then slip up higher. It stopped only when his thumb touched the strap of her bra.

His other hand did as Kara's had. It clutched a firm, round ass cheek, pulling her up and into him. He felt her press harder into his lower body. Suddenly, Peter was well aware of his erection as it was smashed between their groins conspicuously.

"I want to be with you, Peter," Kara whispered between kisses.

At this shocking declaration, he pulled his head back to look her in the eyes. She begged, "Please ... please. Be with me."

Peter kissed her passionately again, then whispered, "Are you sure, Kara? I mean, today. It's been emotional. Stressful. Are you sure this is what you want right now?"

He couldn't believe that he was questioning this. He'd wanted to fuck Tara for more than six years. And now that she was begging him, he was second guessing her?

 

[HumanBean]

Paul Granger and Carl Henry (with Paige Greer at Rick's Outdoors and Sports)
About 10pm

Paige explained her idea to the men. Carl didn't like it. "No way, not a chance. That's crazy."

"Why, 'cause she's a woman?" Paul asked the Security Supervisor.

Carl hesitated before responding. He looked guilty. That was exactly what he was thinking. "No. No, not at all. That's just dangerous. Too dangerous, doncha think?"

"My truck is just a hundred feet from here," Paige continued. "I looked. I can make it. I'll cause a distraction; the Walkers like noise, so I'll create some noise."

Kara looked to Paul with a knowing smirk. He only shrugged, confirming her confidence. "She can do it. If anyone can, Paige can."

He held the bow out that he'd had in his hands when they came back here. "I can cover you with this. It's quiet. Quieter, anyway. I probably won't draw any attention, but I'll keep the Walkers off you if any see you."

Paul looked to Carl again. With total confidence, he said, "She can do this. Trust me. Trust her!"

Carl was hesitant. But he didn't have any better ideas. He peeked out the door again toward the mall entrance. "If you can get most of them to follow you out into the parking lot, Robin Hood and I can handle the door."

He looked between the two and nodded. "Okay. Let's do this."

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Kara Wilson, with Peter Jacobs in the Family Resource Center (FRC)
10pm

OOC link for reference and profiles


"Are you sure, Kara?" Peter asked after Kara begged to be with him. "I mean, today. It's been emotional. Stressful."

She couldn't help but laugh, saying, "I know that."

He needed her to be sure of her. "Are you sure this is what you want right now?"

As she smiled to Peter, Kara backed away, then turned and hurried to the door of the room where the children were sleeping. She looked at each of the six, then quietly closed the door and gestured Peter her way. She weaved through some desks and tables used by the employees, volunteers, and visiting parents and parents-to-be.

Kara stopped in front of one of the couches in the waiting area, her attention pulled to the windows by an exception loud Walker growl. What was happening out there was horribly disturbing, but looking back to the approaching Peter, Kara was determined to push through it to finally get what she'd wanted for so long.

Sweeping her magnificent head of hair to her back on both sides, Kara's magnificent bosom became so much more displayed to Peter's view. She wasn't finished showing herself off to him, though. Pulling the hem of her tight-fitting, spaghetti strap tank out of her jeans, Kara crossed her arms at her waist, took hold of the top, and swiftly and cleanly pulled it up and away, revealing the black, lacy, pushup bra that so wonderfully showed off her D-cup breasts.

Unless Peter did something to slow or stop her, Kara would reach to her waist again, this time unbuckling, unbuttoning, and unzipping her jeans with the intention of stripping down and sitting to strip them off after she'd disposed of her casual boots.

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

Paige Greer, with Paul Granger and Carl Henry at Rick's Outdoors and Sports
About 10pm

(OOC: If you are reading this, I originally used the character name, "Kara" on accident. That was a mistake that I think I have now fixed. If you see "Kara", below anywhere, think "Paige".)
Paige was tickled to hear Paul defend her when he thought Carl opposed her doing as she'd suggested because she was just a girl. He told the Security Supervisor, "She can do it. If anyone can, Paige can."

Carl gave in, telling her, "If you can get most of them to follow you out into the parking lot, Robin Hood and I can handle the door."

She laughed at the Robin Hood comment; she'd often called him that and other names, from William Tell to the Norse God Ullr to -- mostly when she was angry with him -- Genghis. She promised Carl, "I can get them out there. No problem."

She stepped into the doorway again, peeking toward the mall entrance. The overhead lighting of the mall's exterior had been upgraded a couple of years ago, accomplishing two opposite things at the same time. First, the candlepower of the now-LED lights was three times what it had been previously. And yet, because of the hoods over top of the lamps and the motion detectors that turned them on with any movement within 100 feet, there was far less light pollution. People living in the neighborhood were finally able to enjoy the night sky like they hadn't since the mall's construction years earlier.

Under the lights, Paige could see that none of the Walkers at the mall entrance seemed to be looking this way at all. That was the good news. The bad news revealed itself very quickly when Paige slipped out the door, turned left, and found the parking lot in full illumination due to the movement this direction of more than two dozen Walkers.

"Paul...!" she said in a concern whisper as she unslung one of the shotguns with one hand and waggled the second one in the direction of her ride. She waited until he emerged with his bow and spotted the danger before telling him, "I'm gonna stay on my line ... no zigzagging ... so feel free to shoot those fuckers without shooting me on accident."

Paige paused just long enough for Paul to get set, then ran as fast as she could directly toward her pickup. The Walkers didn't seem to pay her any attention until she was almost right upon them. Ironically, the very powerful flashlight she'd brought with her didn't seem to affect the Walkers in the way Paige had hoped; shining it directly into their faces, she'd hoped to blind them, but either they were attracted to the brightness itself or that brightness didn't blind them at all.

Later, Paige would find herself wondering to herself whether or not the Walkers had normal Human vision; could they see better, worse, now that they were undead? Some of them did see her coming and immediately turned at her. She was barely forty feet on her way before she encountered the first real danger. Having told Paul that she wouldn't zig or zag, Paige slowed to let him take the shot; if he failed to take out the Walker, she would duck and move just the barest distance to her right to avoid grasping hands.

There were only five Walkers that Paige really had to avoid before she reached her pickup. Ever the hunter, she drove a lifted Ford F-250 4x4 diesel that looked older than its three years. She pushed the appropriate button on the fob to open the door, unslung the shotguns, tossed them inside, and leapt into the driver's seat. She turned the key to warm up the glow plugs, then lowered the windows and watched the Walkers as they closed on her. She wasn't worried about them getting her through the window because of the truck's height from the ground.

Ironically, she was very wrong about that. A Walker that had come up at her driver's side from the rear of the truck grasped at the window opening, trying to climb, and somehow got a food onto the sideboard and began rising upwards. Paige screamed out in a terror she hadn't experienced yet, leaning toward the passenger side to keep out of the Walker's reach should it get its hands inside.

Suddenly, though, an arrow entered the Walker's skull, thunking into the metal of the truck back of the window. The creature went limp and started falling away from the truck; his skull rode along the shaft until the it finally escaped the Walkers head. While the monster fell to the ground, the arrow remained stuck in the truck's body, something with which Paige already knew she and Paul would have words when this was over.

Movement to her right revealed yet another Walker stepping up onto the sideboard. Paige snatched up the shotgun on top of the stack of weapons, aimed it one handed at the intruder's skull, and pulled the trigger. The gun kicked awkwardly in her hands, the explosion amplified inside the vehicle, despite all four cab windows being opened. The effect of the powerful 12-gauge round was undeniable, with the majority of the Walker's head exploding away out into the low light of the parking lot.

Paige grimaced from the combination of explosion, kick, and horror, shook it off, and looked about for other dangers. There were more Walkers closing on her, but Paige wasn't going to wait for them. She revved the engine loudly to get more attention, then shifted into gear and shot the big Ford forward with a roar.

There wasn't that much distance between her parking space and the mall's sidewalk, though. Paige caught a Walker in her headlights just ten feet short of the curb. Sticking her head out the open window, she hollered, "Hey! I'm driving here you stupid fuck. Get up on the sidewalk where you belong."

(Continued in part two. Sorry, I couldn't stop. )

 

[MarieDavisRPs]

(Part 2)

Paige was very happy with and proud of her old pickup. Sure, three years wasn't old, but the wear and tear through which she'd put it hunting, fishing, camping, and more had made it look ten times older than it was, despite the care she gave it. Suddenly, a smile spread her lips as she saw some of the nearer Walkers turn her way.

Pressing the horn button and holding it, Paige slammed down the accelerator and shot forward, slamming into one Walker, jumping the curb, and hitting two more that were side by side coming her direction. With an almost maniacal tone, she laughed crazily as the Walkers bounced off her bumper and grill or fell to the ground beneath the lifted Ford.

Paige felt the left front tire rise over something that squished horrifically. She slammed on the brakes, stuck her head out to look, but couldn't really see the thing -- the Walker, obviously -- that she'd turned into roadkill. Again, she laughed loudly, pressed the horn button, and hollered out the window, "Come on, you fuckers! I'm right here! Come'n get me!"

She shifted into reverse and again slammed the accelerator to the floor. The 4x4 was in 2-wheel drive, of course, and the lower weight over the rear wheels when backing so hard caused the traction to decrease; the result was that both tires started bouncing on the now-flesh littered pavement as the truck shot backwards with increasing speed.

Paige felt a Walker bounce off the tailgate, then a second one crunch under the passenger side tires. She skidded to a stop about a hundred feet out, watching for a reaction from the Walkers at the mall's entrance. She smiled as she realized that her plan was working. The entire herd seemed to be turned her direction, fighting to be the first ones to get to and eat her.

She looked for Paul and Carl and found them beginning their portion of the plan. Still, there were a lot of Walkers in the parking lot, and every single one of them was a potential risk to the men. Paige threw the Ford into forward, looked for more Walkers, and -- using one hand -- turned the wheel as necessary to turn this way and that, running Walkers down one after another and sometimes a pair, trio, or quartet at a time.

Paige was having fun, but glancing to the weapons at her right, she realized that they were all going to waste laying there like that. As she slowed the pickup down, she grabbed a semi-automatic Browning, flipped it over, stuck the barrel out the driver's side window, and rested it through the frame for the oversized mirror. Then, combining the turn of the wheel and the manipulation of the stock of the gun, Kara began blasting Walkers. The gun was a 12-gauge loaded with double-aught buckshot, so when she did hit her target, it jerked backwards and nearly always fell to the ground.

After she'd emptied that weapon, Paige grabbed a second one and repeated her attack. She would look around herself as she did to both see where she was specifically and whether she could see the men doing their job. When Paige was on her fourth shotgun, she suddenly realized something about the Walkers she'd hit: they weren't all dying, even when she'd hit them square in the chest from as little as ten feet.

She stopped the truck and took a moment to look about herself. There were at least a dozen Walkers now silent and still in the parking lot; another dozen or so were twitching about but not presenting a walking danger to her. And yet, Paige had shot far more than that. She'd taken a minute at one point to reload a couple of the shotguns from the bandoliers she'd brought with her. There should have been far more victims of her rampage.

A Walker was approaching her directly from the right. Paige aimed the shotgun at its head, then lowered her aim to put the buckshot through its belly. The Walker jerked hard enough to drop it awkwardly to the ground. And yet, as if nothing had happened to it, the creature rose back to it feet and continued her way, growling hungrily as its hands reached out for her.

Paige put another double buckshot through it, then time higher in its chest. Again, this toppling backwards, the Walker hit the ground. And again, it struggled as if disoriented, rolled to it frontside, and stood again. Even in just the illumination of the overhead lights, Paige could see the Walkers back blown out, its guts beginning to dangle out behind it to the ground.

"What the fuck...?" she hollered. A sound to her right alerted to her to a Walker at her passenger's side. She lifted the Desert Eagle she'd brought with her for close encounters and pulled the trigger. This particular weapon was only a .44 Magnum, not the .50 caliber weapon of which most people related when speaking of the Desert Eagle, and yet it still nearly blew the Walker's head clean off. She looked back to the seemingly immortal creature to her left again, this time putting a round through its skull. As it dropped and finally went still, Paige said, "That's more like it."

Realizing the trick to bringing a Walker down permanently, she slammed the accelerator down again and aimed the Ford for the sidewalk near to the mall entrance. She hit a couple of more Walkers on the way to stopping with her driver's side to the position of the men. She didn't know whether or not they'd discovered the secret yet, so she hollered, "Headshots! They gotta be headshots to kill them!"

Peeking back toward the parking lot again, Paige saw a whole new herd coming their way; she could see at least 20 more Walkers, which meant that there were probably two or three times that number. You see one rat, she thought to herself, there's another ten you don't see.

Seeing that the guys seemed to be doing fine on their own, she shot the truck back out into the parking lot again. In between emptying the guns into the heads of Walkers, she loaded the guns and instead ran over the creatures. Paige had stopped having as much fun and was beginning to find it boring, almost work. She frequently looked back over her shoulder to the mall, looking for the signal that Paul and Carl had accomplished their mission.

Suddenly, another of the powerful flashlight from Rick's began flashing on and off, telling Paige it was time to come back. She swung the truck back toward the store-room door, ready to call it a night -- when suddenly, there was a nasty sound in the engine compartment, followed by the engine leaping on its mounts. The engine gave a last horrific jerk and ground to a very quick stop.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" she spat out. "What the fuck!"

As Paige looked out the now-blood covered front windshield, she saw white steam, then gray and black smoke rise up in all directions. She knew exactly what had happened: a Walker had gotten up into the engine compartment, probably after having been run over, and got caught in the fan and belts.

Suddenly, Paige began to panic. She looked toward the mall, finding herself farther away from the mall than when she'd started her destruction derby. Even though she didn't immediately know it, she was almost a hundred yards from where she was supposed to park at the end of the mission. Scanning the parking lot around her, Paige immediately made out at least two dozen Walkers, some of them within ten or fifteen yards.

Quickly, she raised the windows, which thankfully still had electrical power, then reloaded each of the weapons; it took almost two full minutes to inject the remaining shells and check the clips on the Desert Eagle. By the time she'd finished, the Ford was surrounded by more Walkers than Paige could count. She was suddenly scared deep to her core, dreadfully fearful that this was the end for her. She looked back toward the mall again -- thankfully she was aimed directly toward Rick's -- and, desperate for help, began flashing the headlights with one hand while honking the horn with the other.

After a moment, she realized that this was only going to attract more Walkers. But without help from the guys, she wasn't going to survive this. Walkers were climbing onto the sideboards on both sides by this point, and one had fallen into the bed and was trying to get into the cab through the little window which Paige hadn't realized until now had been left open this morning.

 

[HumanBean]

Peter Jacobs [with Kara Wilson in the Family Resource Center (FRC)]
10pm

OOC link for reference and profiles

Peter began to think he'd screwed up. He'd asked Kara if she was sure that this was what she wanted. Then, she'd walked away. But she was only checking on the children and closing the door. His cock, still hard, twitched with anticipation. This is gonna happen. It is.

A moment later, Kara was stripping off her clothes. Peter walked slowly her way, watching as she shed her top. Her bosom was simply incredible, pushed up and in, creating a delicious cleavage. He was so entranced that he never even contemplated telling Kara to cease her undressing.

She reached to her waist, loosening her belt and jeans. The latter she pushed off her hips nearly to her knees. She wore a pair of conservative yet sexy panties, not a thong but not granny panties either. She sat and leaned forward to begin unlacing her boots.

"Let me," Peter said eagerly. He stepped forward, dropped to his knees before her, and began untying her boots. His gaze moved frequently between her feet, her crotch, her breasts, and her face. He couldn't figure out where he wanted to look. Each bit of her, except maybe her feet, added a bit to the twitching taking place in his pants.

Peter pulled one boot off, then the other. He took the end of one pants leg, asking, "May I?"

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: This picks up from a post a bit farther back, found at this link. The pic links in that post didn't work, so I have been sure to include them below for male and female characters.)

OOC link for reference and profiles.

.................................
​

Jefferson "Jay" Johnson and Jerad Taylor (with the Girls at Dollarama, particularly Abigail "Abby" Reed)

(OOC: This takes place later than what's happening near Rick's, but I didn't want to let these characters get lost in the mix. It's 3am at the end of this post.)

Jay didn't go very close to the gate after leaving the backroom. There were Walkers eating on a corpse out front still. There weren't any shaking at the gate, though. They'd all moved on toward other sounds or movements. He took a moment just to study the situation before crouching down and creeping forward.

Stopping behind a display, he used some decorative pillows and a stool to create a somewhat comfortable chair. From here, he could watch the dining Walkers from less than 20 feet away. They didn't seem to realize that he was there, and he had no reason to let them know he was.

Without realizing that he had, Jay fell asleep against the display behind him. He awoke with a start for seemingly no reason other than subconscious thoughts. He looked out into the still illuminated promenade. The Walkers who'd been eating on Roger's corpse had departed.

Jay rose quietly, looking for other eaters, finding none. He moved up to the gate to look on the remains. It was interesting what the Walkers had done to poor Roger. Jay knew a little bit about predators in the wild, particularly canines (coyotes and wolves). He'd studied them in university while contemplating a path toward a wildlife management career.

There was a definite difference between canines and Walkers. Coyotes and wolves would devour a prey's flesh and organs first. The soft stuff with lots of protein. But then, if food was short elsewhere, they would return to eat the bones. The marrow inside the bones and calcium of which they were created were important to their diet, too.

The Walkers, though, didn't touch the bones. Well, when they bit into a victim, they sometimes bit through the bones of the neck, chest cavity, or appendages. But they hadn't eaten any of Roger's bones. His skeleton was relatively intact. There was a bit of flesh and gristle still on them. But the Walkers had done a good job of stripping them.

Jay flinched at a sound behind him. He turned on a heel to find Jared coming out of the backroom. Jay looked to his watch. It was almost exactly 3am. He smiled to the younger man and gave him a thumbs up for punctuality. Then, behind Jared, unexpectedly came Abby. Jay suddenly felt awkward. Would the kid think that Jay's gesture was celebrating Jared coming out here at 3am to be alone with a beautiful, young girl?

Even though he hadn't meant that, as the two men passed each other, Jay whispered, "Nice."

Passing Abby, Jay whispered as he winked to her, "Make sure he doesn't fall asleep."

After that, Jay sucked down half a bottle of water and a crunchy granola bar before using the bathroom. Then he returned to the bed he'd made himself, eager for some sleep.

Out front, Jared and Abby quietly set their cheap little sand chairs side by side. They didn't go up as close as Jay had been. Neither of them really wanted to be in line of sight to Roger's remains. Jared whispered, "You didn't have to come out here, Abby."

He listened to her response. After a long moment of silence and forward staring, Jared said, "I'm sorry that you have to be in here like this. However. Well. I'm glad you're hear with me."

If her response sounded positive, Jared would venture to reach over and take Abby's hand softly into his own.

 

[HumanBean]

(OOC: Please note that my writing partner accidently used the character name Kara, not Paige. That happens sometimes when you're writing multiple characters. I'm sure that she'll fix it the next time she's online.)

Paul Granger and Carl Henry (with Paige Greer outside Rick's Outdoors and Sports)

About 10:30pm

"Paul...!" Paige called out just as soon as she stepped out the back door of Rick's to dash for her pickup.

Paul pushed past Carl, looking the way his coworker, friend, and lust interest was looking. It took a moment to see the Walkers in the shine of the overhead lights. He picked them out, one after another after another. Then, another motion-activated parking light turned on, revealing more Walkers. Another light. More Walkers.

"I'm gonna stay on my line ... no zigzagging...," Paige told him, "...so feel free to shoot those fuckers without shooting me on accident."

"I'll do the best William Tell impression I can, Paige," he reassured her. He notched an arrow using a bowstring release tool. It made aiming and releasing an arrow much more accurate. That was one thing Paul wanted right now: accuracy. He concluded his famed archer comparison with, "Thankfully, they're a bit bigger than apples."

He raised his bow, pulled the bowstring, steadied his aim, and said softly, "Go."

As Paige took off toward her vehicle, Paul released the bowstring. He wasn't using the most expensive bow sold by Rick's. He was, however, using the best one. Paul had used it in a competition just two years ago in which he'd taken 2nd place. That was out of 120 competitors.

The arrow shot out into the night at over 300 feet a second. That meant that before the bowstring itself had had a chance to cease its harmonic quivering, it had already passed through the skull of his target. The Walker dropped straight down into a lifeless lump.

Behind him, Carl whispered with awe, "Amazing."

"That's nothing," Paul whispered back. "Watch this."

He shifted a couple of feet to his left, notched another arrow, aimed, stepped a bit more left, and released. Again, the arrow disappeared into the night. Another Walker dropped. This time, though, the Walker a few yards behind it fell as well.

"No fucking way," Carl whispered."

Paul humorously responded with a Valley Girl tone, "Way. Compound bows. They're amazing."

Carl stepped closer, pointed out an index finger, and asked with concern, "Do you see--"

"Yeah, I see it," Paul said.

Paige had had to dodge her first Walker on her own when Paul had no shot. The three he'd killed hadn't really been an immediate threat to her. But her first serious threat was closing distance to her. Actually, Paige was closing that distance. Paul prepared another flight, steadied himself a long moment, then loosed the missile.

The arrow caught just enough light off its fletching feathers for Paul and Carl to see it this time. It passed within a foot of Paige's head before entering a Walker's throat. The creature's head jerked, and the loss of balance allowed Paige to fly by unharmed.

But as they watched, both men realized that despite having an arrow halfway through its neck, the Walker had turned and was trying to catch up to Paige. Paul murmured, "What the fuck? That arrow went right through its spine. It should be down."

"They're undead," Carl reminded him. "Remember what they said on the news. Maybe an arrow--"

Carl went quiet, then blurted out, "Holy fuck!"

Paul spun to see a pair of Walkers coming right at them from the direction of the door that they needed to clear. Both men jumped back a couple of steps in shock. Carl had set his weapons down on a big crate just inside the door, so he was unarmed. As he backed, he realized that he was only getting farther from the door and safety.

Then, Paul suddenly jumped in front of Carl and jammed almost half of the length of the arrow's shaft into the nearest Walker's eye socket. He grabbed Carl, saying, "Get inside! Go!"

The two rushed around the other unprepared Walker, into the door. They pulled it shut with a loud slam. As soon as they did, they simultaneously blurted out, "Paige!"

Paul turned to run for the store's sales floor, hollering over his shoulder, "Secure that fucking door!"

Carl set about doing so. Once done, he looked back, only to find Paul gone. He chased after him, unsure of what he was supposed to be doing. As he hurried, he was calling out, "What're we doing? Where're we going? Paul? Paul??"

Out on the sales floor, Carl eventually found Paul climbing a ladder that accessed some of the overstock on top of the wall of shelves. "What the fuck? Where are you going?"

Paul was too busy to answer. A moment later, Paul stopped at a window that looked out toward the parking lot. He turned away from it, then rammed his elbow into the glass. The window shattered. He looked outside, notched another arrow, settled, and fired.

Carl couldn't see what was happening. Later, he'd learn that Paul put an arrow through the skull of a Walker that was attempting to grab Paige through the window of her Ford pickup truck.

Paul hurried back down again, directing Carl back to the storeroom door again. They cautiously opened it just as a distant but distinct shotgun blasted. The sound bounced off the concrete walls of the mall, echoing several times. Walkers in every direction would hear the shot and begin turning that direction.

Paul should have been more careful about going outside again. But the shock concerned him. He leapt outside, looking toward Paige's truck. He could see the lump of dead creature near her driver's side door. There seemed to be another one on the passenger side. He smiled, murmuring, "That's my girl."

"This might not be the time to make this inquiry," Carl began with a curious tone, "But you and Paige. Is that a thing? Or--?"

Paul suddenly spun, raised his already notched bow, and let loose an arrow. Carl spun to find a Walker dropping just twenty feet away. Paul responded to the question, "Not the time."

Out in the parking lot, the loud engine of Paige's Ford roared. Paul grabbed Carl again and pushed him back inside the door. "We have to stay out of sight until she can get their attention."

What came next was unbelievable. Paige shot the pickup up toward the mall, hollering obscenities at Walkers, then running them over. Some of them bounced off the front of her rig. Others fell underneath where they sometimes were squished by the nearly-3-ton vehicle.

Paige laughed crazily, making Paul smile. He told Carl, "We went paint balling once. She laughed like that every time she shot me, especially the two times she got me in the ass."

Again, she laughed loudly, calling out, "Come on, you fuckers! I'm right here! Come'n get me!"

(I guess I need two parts, too.)