Day 1: Death Knows How To Dress

Jason looked over the map Megan had given him, and wow, that was a lot of places he could go, plus they were all divided into their respective plazas:

* Grand Mont Plaza.
* Dark Horse Plaza
* Saint Michael's Park
* Pink Flamingo Plaza
* Children's Heaven
* Black Card Plaza
* Bar and Restaurants
* Spring Plaza.

—Well, Megan told me that what I needed would be in Spring Plaza... Now I'm in Grand Mont. The quickest way to get there is to go through the park, but it's infested...

Jason climbed down from the roof of the shoe store and walked through the aisles of the plaza. The first thing he did was go to a sporting goods store to try to find some gear to protect himself. First he changed his shoes for a more comfortable and sturdy ones, and sealed his feet and part of his leg with protectors, and fastened them with black straps so that if he got bitten, at least they would tear off the strap and not his skin. Jason also brought shoulder, arm and elbow pads with him.

—I've never played soccer, but I think I look pretty good like this.

Said young Jason as he put pads on his legs as well, and grabbed a baseball bat. Jason got a backpack to include all the material that could be useful.

—Now let's go.

Jason prepared to go to Spring Plaza. As he walked, he saw a nauseating scene. Some of those strange people were still eating the remains of other civilians, in fact they were so focused on eating that they were ignoring Jason, as it seemed to be a higher priority to eat and eat until their stomachs burst.

Jason took determined steps. He saw the blood splattered walls, the human remains, the belongings that were scattered on the floor... what hurt him the most to see was a pink stuffed rabbit.

—Apparently the dead don't discriminate... death doesn't discriminate... right?

He decided to keep the stuffed animal by putting it in his backpack and continued on his way. Spring Plaza was far from Grand Mont Plaza, so the walk would be quite long.

Then the Walkie-Takie rang. Jason pulled into a ladies clothing store and answered, as he didn't want to be overheard by them.

—Megan? I'm just leaving Grand Mont, and I'm heading to Dark Horse Plaza. Is something wrong?

—I want to tell you that Nikolai found some bandages in the bag of one of my co-workers, with some water from the carafe we managed to clean her wound, it was like, a lot of blood, but she started screaming and we needed to get rid of it faster.

—She's alright?

—No, she's not... she's screaming "Rocky" and saying horrible things to Nikolai, she's blaming him for this Rocky's man death. Something happened?

—Yeah... but I'll tell you later.

—Oh damn, she's hitting him...

—! Shall I go back to the safe zone?

—Yeah... but not now, Nikolai's handling her... I asked him if he needed any help but he said no. I was also calling you about something else. There's a girl trapped in the women's dressing room of the HER Ladies' Store. She's in the Dark Horse Plaza, and seeing that you're so close, maybe you should help her out.

—Does she look hurt? Is she in danger?

—She's alone... she seems a little unwell, she's trying to get out but she can't. You should check on her.

—All right. I'll see what I can do.

Jason already had his first assignment. HER was on the second floor of the Dark Horse Plaza. He went there very carefully to avoid being alerted. Due to the amount of dead people, Jason broke the glass of one of the billboards advertising a new movie, which attracted the attention of some zombies.

—They seemed to be attracted by the noise... nice...

Jason seemed to have learned a new skill to get their attention to his advantage. He walked carefully over to HER, and saw that the store was in a real mess. It struck him as odd that some dresses were missing from the mannequins.

—Apparently dead people dress fashionably.

—Hello? Is anyone there? Help!

Jason approached the voice and saw that there was a single closed door in the dressing room that was repeatedly moved because they were trying to open it.

—Hello? Just open, you piece of crap! Why don't you open when I... DAMN IT.

—Are you all right? —Jason asked the woman, as he saw a way to unlock the glass door as it itself had been jammed from the outside.

—Hello? Oh my God... Thank God! I've been stuck here for a long time and... and the door won't open. Do you think you can help me, please? I'm so afraid of breaking the glass! I've tried to climb the sides of the dressing room but I just can't!

—I think the door jammed on its own... I don't think there's a way to open it as such.

—There's no way to open it then? To be honest I don't quite remember how I got here...

—Oh, I see, I see what happened here. Apparently someone destroyed the lock on the door, that's why it can't open properly. The door lock is... jammed. Looks like someone locked you in here on purpose.

—What the fuck? They fucking did what? Oh God! But I'm in here... How exactly do you plan to open it?

—I have to find a way to ***break it down.***

Jason's walkie-takie started beeping.

—I see through the cameras that you're having trouble, Jason. The door won't open?

—Not at all, Megan... someone put the civilian in here. Can you see anything from her position?

—She's a short woman, she can't reach the sides and she's got nothing at her disposal. Jason Do you think you can reach the sides of the wall?

—Actually I could, with some help.

—Jason, mate. You're in a clothing store, aren't you?

—Yeah, Niko. What about Ashley? I heard some screaming...

—She just needed to unleash some stress. She hits hard, that's for sure! But she's better now. We talked about hit, lots of crying and talking...

—Right...

—There's nothing you should worry about. Trust me. So... you can't help the woman.

—Actually I'm trying to find a way to get the civilian out of here.

—I think the only way is to break the glass. It looks like fragile glass... although the impact could hurt her. There are clothes nearby, aren't there?

—There's plenty, like dresses and ladies' clothes.

—Try to find something thick, something the civilian can cover herself with.

—Do you think the curtains on the premises could work? I could take them down and help the civilian cover herself with them.

—Do it, do it.

Jason nodded and went to the outside of the room to remove the curtains, they were somewhat thick purple curtains.

—This will do. Hey! I'll put these over you, please cover yourself with them. I'll break the glass so you can get out, do you agree?

—I don't think there's any other choice...

The girl put the curtain on top, followed by another curtain to have two layers on top. She told Jason she was ready. Jason took his bat and smashed the glass in the door as hard as he could. The glass did indeed fall on the civilian, but the damage was less than expected because the curtain protected her.

Jason finished smashing all the glass on the lower side so she could get through.

—Are you done, honey?

—Ready! I´m done. You can uncover yourself and come out.

The woman pulled the covers off her and finally got out, very carefully. The sound of her heels crunching on the glass debris was... peculiar.

—Thank you so much! I thought I'd be in there forever. Do you know what the hell is going on? I've been stuck in there for hours and no one's come to help me. Definitely the service in this mall sucks! I'll talk to the manager real fast. The audacity of these people nowadays!

—Well, first of all I have to tell you that I have to take you somewhere safe. Something very horrible happened, and it seems to me that we are one of the few people alive in this place.

—Something horrible? Can you explain?

—We don't know what exactly happened, but apparently everyone has gone crazy, if you see me with blood on my clothes it's because I had to defend myself. Believe me, you must come with me to be safe.

—Why are you dressed like that?

—To protect me from their bites. Apparently there's an infection... or something, that drives people crazy. Please come with me, you'll be safe.

—This... this is kind of complicated. I didn't come alone, I came with my sister and... it's worrying what you're telling me.

The walkie-takie rang. It was Nikolai.

—Jason! I recommend you to come back as soon as possible. Tell the lady to come with you and that she can ask anything she wants once she's in the safe zone.

—Something very bad has happened... Right? Oh... All right. Mia... get a hold of yourself... calm down... yes... ah... now, now. Okay, I'll come with you.

—Please use this.

Jason handed the woman a broom.

—Use it to defend yourself. Please follow me and stay close, don't shout, don't make any noise... let's try to make the escort as good as possible for both of us.

—Okay, I'll follow you. Lead the way.

Mia joined Jason and, as she left, it didn't take her long to realize that the situation was worse than she had imagined.

—Wow, this is really a mess... What about all those people? Why do they look...? —Mia shut up as soon as she saw one of those men with his intestines hanging out.

—Don't look at them, don't look at them, Mia...

Jason and Mia walked very cautiously. Because Mia was wearing heels, Jason asked her to take them off.

—We may need to run. In heels you'll be easy prey.

—Oh, good, perfect... Can you carry them in your backpack, then? It's just that they cost me a fortune, and they're designer.

—Of course. I'll carry them for you. Now... let's move on...

Jason managed to lead Mia to the safe zone, using the shortcut on the roof of the shoe store, and then they reached the rooftop. She saw through the roof how some buildings around the mall were on fire, smoke on the sky, people screaming all over the city, even a big explosion that occurred somewhere close.

—Well, this is something... we definitely have a big problem here. Why hasn't help arrived? Have you called anyone?

—No one is coming to rescue us. We'll have time to think about that later... please follow me.

—All right... ah... and to think that yesterday I was having such a great time...

Mia finally reached the storage area and was successfully escorted to one of the rooms in the break room.

—My hero, thank you so much for getting me out of there! I definitely need to cut down on my drinking... by the way... could I have my heels back, please?

Jason handed the red heels to Mia and she lay down on one of the beds, completely exhausted.

—Very good job, Jason. You managed to save the first civilian. Maybe you should talk to her to get some information. I see you have cameras and things like that. Are you documentary filmmakers? —Megan asked, smiling.

—We came to investigate something special... How is Ashley?

—Much better. We were able to calm her down after she took a bath... but she cried herself to sleep. We don't think she was in pain from the removal of the crystals or crying from the pain itself... Do you know what's wrong with her?

—Her boyfriend died on the way here. She watched him fucking die. Can I ask you something, Megan?

—Yes, Jason?

—Do you think you can talk to her? You're a woman, and I'm not good at talking... so, please, if you could help her or talk to her just a little bit...

—I'll do what I can, Jason. You should get some rest, and maybe I might see something on the cameras again. Well done.

Jason looked to the side, where Mia was lying. It would be good to have some information.