Day 1: Holly Molly!

—By leaving the rooftop and going down these stairs you will be in Grand Mont Plaza. I recommend you find some clothes or objects to cover yourself with. It seems to me that you could use one of the carts from the supermarket to carry more things, or have people with you who can carry items for you.

—That's what I'll do, thanks for the suggestion. Can you tell me where the clothing store you mentioned before was?

—Oh! It's in Children's Heaven. Children's Heaven is in the same building as Black Card Plaza and Flamingo Plaza... which is...

—I have to go through the park... to get to the other side of the mall...

—I'm afraid so. Spring Plaza takes up a whole building by itself and its located far away from your current destination.

—If I'm going to check out the pharmacy, it would help me quite a bit to have people with me doing it. I think I might need some help from the barricaded civilians. If there's anyone else there in your surveillance cameras, notify me, larger groups tend to be better.

—Right! I'll keep you informed about any sudden changes... and... Nikolai, right? Take care.

—Thank you, Megan. You too.

Nikolai prepared himself by going to the sporting goods store for gear to protect himself. His weapon of choice seemed to be a field hockey stick he found on a mannequin which he didn't bother much about stripping down and stealing its clothes. Nikolai had a muscular body that allowed him to adjust to the size of the protectors,

With a large outfit on his hands and with the necessary protection, he made his way to the entrance of the park. From the windows, which by the way were broken, he could see how there were indeed a large number of dead prowling the area, their slow and stupid movements made him think that they lacked any kind of intelligence, but their aggressiveness was quite high, as they attacked each other when they collided and it was unpleasant to see that they ate each other even if it was rotten meat they ingested.

Another detail was the parking lot, where there were multiple cars parked, some more prepared than others. Some of the cars were completely bloodied, as their owners were surely killed on the spot. Knowing what happened to Rocky, Nikolai had a shiver down his spine when he saw all the doors of one car all bloodied.

He was trying to find the car with the open doors and the biggest one, one with which he could get through the horde or at least get from Point A to Point B faster. He decided to leave, taking determined steps toward the parking lot of the park. The air was cold and the atmosphere nauseating, as it reeked of rotting flesh, this was interesting to Nikolai who believed that the state of decomposition of the corpse was accelerated once infected.

He opted to check the vehicles, one by one to see which was open, or which he could open. He found a Jeep that was unlocked and, fortunately, the keys were in the seat.

—That's it, baby, that's the way I like it.

Because he didn't want to attract attention, he took the keys for himself and put them inside his jacket. He circled the park until he reached those ends where there wasn't as much activity from the dead or, alternatively, groups of them, and approached any lone zombies that obstructed his path.

Nikolai grabbed his walkie-talkie to do something.

—Megan? Are you there? I made it to Flamingo Plaza. I had to go around the park to get in safely. Can you tell me what area that children's clothing store is in?

—Good morning, Nikolai. The children's clothing store is located on the first floor of Children's Heaven. It is located at store number A-456. Can you see it?

—I'll see it when I get there.

Nikolai hung up. Entering Children's Heaven...

Most of the dead people walking in it...

—God...

**Their little skinned arms.**

**Their little bodies taking awkward steps.**

**The way some of them by "memory" clung to other adult figures as if they were following them.**

—God... no...

He could swear there was no God.

Nikolai moved carefully so as not to alert the walking corpses. When he reached the second floor, he saw that it was the floor where the most incidents had happened, as there were also multiple games where the younger kids could go to have fun... or so they thought. Nikolai wondered what it would have been like for them if the moment of fun turned into a moment of terror.

How would those children react to their parents being violent and biting and hurting them no matter how much they cried and begged for them to stop?

Nikolai went to the boys' clothing store and saw that the entrance door was completely blocked by shelves, apparently those inside chose to block the way using everything they had at their disposal.

—Hey, is anyone here!?

Nikolai asked as he knocked on one of the windows.

It was then that an older woman came out, a short-haired lady who looked quite uneasy.

—We can't let you in! We're sorry! It took us a long time in erecting the barricades and...

She replied, in tears. She looked like she had seen or experienced something truly horrible.

It was not surprising considering the circumstances.

—I'm coming to rescue you! I know a much safer shelter than this clothing store!

—We're not going out! It's hell out there and we could barely get the barricade up! Please leave us alone!

—I won't leave without you! Please, come with me!

—We can't! Going on foot is too risky! My husband died out there! I can't risk my daughter too!

—Ma'am! Easy, easy there. Tell me your name.

—Holly! I'm Holly... Holly Jones.

—All right, Holly. I have a car in the parking lot at the park that I'll use to get into the plaza. I'll have to break into the store and break the windows using the van. Trust me, I have a safe zone with more survivors.

—How do I know I can believe you? People have gone crazy too!

—I came here because we saw you on the cameras! A worker at the mall saw you on them... She told me about another woman who accompanied you to build the barricades. That's why I've come to rescue you.

—Indeed... my daughter helped me to build them. I've lost everything but her, and I won't risk her anymore.

—Leave it to me! I want you to tell your daughter to get ready when she hears the rumble. Get in a safe area of the store, so we can avoid any damage.

—Okay! Okay... it's okay. We'll wait for you. —Holly walked away and ran to a room that appeared to be a storage room because Nikolai could see some boxes outside the door and a "staff" label.

Nikolai went back to the parking lot, taking advantage of the slowness of those dead men playing against them. When he saw the van he needed, he opened the door, looked to the sides and inside to make sure there was no danger.

—I don't know how many security measures and laws I'm going to break with this. —Nikolai started the vehicle, moved the lever and stepped on the accelerator. Soon those who approached him or were in front of the car were run over.

There was no time for compassion. Less for those little figures that approached him, unaware that that machine on wheels would be the end of them.

As soon as he saw the children's clothing store, Nikolai went straight into one of the windows to break it. He was already inside the store, but that in turn attracted more dead who were alerted by the noise.

As Nikolai honked his horn, Holly and another girl came out of the store.

—Get in the back seats! —Nikolai got out of the vehicle for the duo. Once everyone was inside, he had to drive. Holly felt nauseous as she watched chunks of flesh from people being run over get embedded in the windshield and, blood splattered on the windows.

—Once we get out to the park everything will be fine. —Nikolai took out his walkie-talkie and called Megan. —Everyone's here! I need you to help me activate the fire alarms away from Grand Mont Plaza, I have found the civilians.

—Okay!

Mother and daughter looked frightened and shocked at the way Nikolai showed them no mercy.

—Where are you taking us, sir? —Asked the younger woman, confused because she still couldn't understand the things that were happening in her town and how her life changed from one moment to the next without even having time to process it.

—We have a warehouse where you can rest. Our goal is to try to find as many civilians as possible so we can have a plan together about this situation and find an escape route out of Vallimorth. The police will not come to help us.

—Are the police aware of this? Are you from the police station? —Holly questioned.

—I'm actually a foreigner. I'm not from the city, let alone the police. All lines to the outside are dead. We can't contact anyone inside the city or outside. Is this common in your city?

—The only thing we know about life is the city, sir. We are homely people that the only thing we know is our land. No one usually visits us, it's really strange that we have foreigners or visitors... —Holly rubbed her eyes and checked her bag, to check what Nikolai said. She tried to call her contacts but the call wouldn't even go through.

—The current situation is too dangerous. There are more of these things outside the mall, they're practically all over the city. I don't want to know what will happen if they get out of bounds and start infecting everyone.

—Did this happened in other parts of the world too, sir? —Asked the daughter, dismayed that there was no safe place after all.

—No, we came to this city to visit the relatives of a friend. We lost one of us on the way, the dead killed him, they tore him to pieces... —Nikolai was not sorry, nor did he flinch at the mention of how Rocky died.

Nikolai entered Dark Horse Plaza, which was a place where products related to interiors, decorations, living rooms, bathrooms and bedrooms were sold. Holly watched through the windows as the dead walked by, sluggish, and fought each other to compete for the corpses that were so chewed up they were just bones with chunks of skin on them.

—Ladies, I recommend that you get ready. We are going to have to climb the stairs to the fourth floor of Grand Mont Plaza, where we will go upstairs to the Martin's Shoes store. We will enter the warehouses through the roof.

—The roof? —Holly looked at Nikolai quizzically.

—One of the entrances to the warehouses and stores was through the first floor of the Earotic music store, but we have sealed it off so that the only way into the secure area is through the roof.

—That gives me to understand that the zombies are too stupid to know how to climb... —The young woman intuited. —Now that I think about it, they are too stupid. They let themselves be guided by sounds, they attack each other at the slightest touch... perhaps if we could examine their behavior, we could form strategies to use them at our will.

—One of the strategies we have been using is that Megan, the employee, activates the fire alarms to transport them from one area to another. That's how we saved Mia, a civilian who was trapped in a ladies' clothing store. My friend had to break a pane of glass, but the zombies were such idiots that they ignored the sound of the glass breaking and followed the sound of the fire alarms.

—Interesting. This is good, at least it's nice to know we have some control over them. I've been up all night... I just want to get some sleep and know it's a bad dream.

—Believe me, it's not. I wish I could have stayed home too, but I'm here. We're almost there.

Nikolai stopped the vehicle at the steps leading to the second floor, and asked the women to get out of the vehicle and look around. They then made it to the fourth floor, trying to cautiously pass through the infested corridors. Nikolai had them go up to the roof first, while he was the last to go up, and after that he took them to the storage rooms after using the small elevator that led to the site.

When they arrived, the place looked depressing to them.

—A blue warehouse... with walls unpainted for a long time and boxes with things that have not been opened... I think I could stay here —The daughter answered, giving a sigh of relief.

—Thank you so much for rescuing us. We know we don't have anything to thank you with, but we hope our gratitude is enough to make up for it —Holly clasped her hands together and shook them back and forth in thanks.

—Welcome to the shelter! I'm Megan. Please go to any room you like. We have plenty. You look very tired.

—We are! We've been trying to survive for about ten hours, if it hadn't been for my mother and this handsome gentleman, I'd be dead. —The daughter replied, relieved to find more people alive.

—Good job, Nikolai! Jason is resting, and Mia fell asleep not long ago. Ashley just woke up and says she wants to talk to you. Maybe you should see her.

—She wants to talk to me? Ashley?

—Yes. I don't know what she wants to talk to you about. I suggest you talk to her and get some rest. I'll check the cameras and...

—Maybe you should sleep, Megan. You're doing a great job here.

—Do you think so, Nikolai?

—You single-handedly saved six people. You saved Jason, Ashley and me from being killed. You saved Mia from dying without knowing what was happening and now Holly and her daughter are safe because of you. Get some rest.

—I'll sleep in the surveillance room. Everything would be simple if I had a partner, he-he...

—I bet you do. Holly and company! Follow me, I'll take you to a room where you can rest. Do you need anything else?

—Nothing for now, thank you! We just want to get some rest and... try to understand the whole situation... —Holly nodded, smiling. —Nothing can get any worse, can it?

Can't it?