Day 3: Beauty and the Beasts

A long time had passed since Nikolai and Jason's encounter with the peculiar and persuasive Chris and Clark. After getting dressed again and heading to the cafeteria, it was no surprise to the two of them when Megan Knox approached them.

—Good morning! How are you? After what happened with Lawrence you must be a little... disappointed —Megan sat down next to Jason who was happier than usual.

—People come and go. If they didn't want our support then let them fend for themselves... but I guess you didn't come to talk to us about that. Did you find another civilian?

—I did... and I think this is a case of... something extreme. I found a girl in the ladies clothing store "W is for Women"... in Pink Flamingo Plaza. In the video I saw her trying to escape from two men but, for some reason they keep her prisoner in one of the fitting rooms... these men kill anyone who enters the store. She starts screaming and that attracts people's attention. I believe she might be getting people killed without knowing it.

Megan was stirring the hot coffee that was brewing in a red cup with a spoon.

—Anything else you can tell us about the woman? —Nikolai scratched his beard, imagining the scene.

—It's... weird, but she's in a full white dress, she's wearing heels and... I hope the stains around her body aren't blood. From what I can see she has her makeup smeared, so... maybe she must have been crying. To keep her from getting out, the men put a golf club over the door to bar it...

—What about the men?

—There are two of them. They have guns, they use shotguns... apparently they wait for people to enter the premises to kill them and steal their belongings... I have a feeling that the girl is kidnapped and somehow helps the men to attract more victims. Maybe it would be good to finish them off?

—Hmm... we'll need to maintain communication then. You have access to Pink Flamingo's cameras, don't you? —Jason crossed his arms, thinking about how to attack.

—While you were away we agreed that the power would come back on in two time lapses: one in the morning and one in the afternoon. By the way... Have you seen that girl, Bessie? She didn't just come with the animals... she brought different medicines and drugs from her place. Right now she is getting organized with Lilly and George because it seems to me that they are discussing something... I think it is imperative that you stop by to talk to them later... taking into account that they are our medical team —Megan took a sip of her coffee, really liking that hot sensation going down her throat.

—We don't know if she's working with them, but we'll find out. Now what I'm interested to know... Should we take people? With the idiots of Black Card Plaza it was easy to pulverize them because of the absence of light, but it seems that what favors these men is that, they have the windows in front of them and the sunlight enters through them... —Nikolai was still thinking about how to attack them.

—Maybe the answer is simpler than we think... Why don't you set off the fire alarm in the store? That way the zombies will come in?

—But what about the woman?

—I'm sure she'll be fine, Megan. You say they put a golf club in the door, right? If she's not stupid I'm sure she won't think of escaping....

—I don't find any other strategy more feasible than that... if men kill people why don't they help us kill zombies? Let's go to the cameras of the area.

The three of them went to the camera area and, there was Ashley Carter, just finishing taking some notes. There were a lot of notes in a notebook where she mentioned a sex, a number and a particular situation.

—What is this, Ashley? —Jason asked as he looked at the numbers and something that looked like "titles".

—These are survivors I've seen in my time here... I've given them a title, a location and a number of people along with their respective gender. The titles that are crossed out mean that the civilians have died.

—The girl in the trunk... An atheist who learned to pray... Why is "Garden of Eden" crossed out? —Jason looked at the titles rather curiously.

—This happened in Saint Michael's Park Gardens... there was a couple who were hiding on the roof of one of the coffee shops... but they eventually committed suicide when they shot each other. So you can find other titles crossed out....

Jason looked disappointedly at several titles:

"Underground," "Innocence Snatched," "Fire to Fire," "Water and Blood," "Living Dead."

—We were never informed about all these people... Why, Ashley?

—Because they decided to take their own lives, Jason... besides, you were too busy to go... not everyone can be saved, that's a reality we were willing to face when we decided to bring people to this place. Why are you here. anyway? —Ashley yawned and ate a piece of white chocolate donut.

—We came to set off an alarm at a clothing store... Remember that woman we saw at the clothing store? Jason and Nikolai think we should set off the alarm and let the zombies do the dirty work... however we don't know how dangerous it would be for the civilian and... —Megan paused, watching through the cameras as those men returned to murder another unsuspecting survivor who entered the store. —Forgive me God for what I'm about to do

Megan went to the control panel and, after locating the store number, activated the alarms.

Soon through the screen you could see how those men were panicking as they started yelling at each other not knowing where the alarm was. They did not have time to look for it since the zombies had been attracted by the noise and the guys started shooting at them with their guns, causing even more noise.

Everyone could see through the cameras how the men were fighting for their lives and, when they ran out of ammunition, they tried desperately to reload their weapons, but no matter how hard they tried, the dead kept coming. One of the zombies managed to bite the arm of one of the men, the one who looked younger while the other guy shot at the dead around him, managing to annihilate them but the only thing he got back was the body of the other man, who fell inert while blood gushed through a large bite in the area of his face.

No one expected the adult to grab his shotgun and, seeing he was being surrounded, kill himself at the exact moment. Megan turned off the alarms in the ladies clothing store and, set off another one on the far side of Pink Flamingo, making sure to get the zombies to an area free of civilians and, away from the store where the woman was.

—Jason and I can take care of this from here. If anything happens, just make sure you move the dead somewhere else, okay?  —Nikolai ordered sharply. —Now we'll have to get dressed for the occasion....

Nikolai left the room and went to his small room to proceed to change, meanwhile Slater remained in the camera area.

—We'd better get ready... we don't know how long that woman will resist... —Jason cut his eyes as the light from the monitor was hurting him.

—Jason... I'd like to tell you something... you see... the roof of these warehouses also has cameras and...

—Hey, Jason! Are you coming or what? —Nikolai appeared standing just outside the room, and when he entered, he looked Megan straight in the eye.

Smiling.

—What were you saying, Megan? —Jason turned to Knox but she remained silent.