*JASON POV*

"Will we come back alive from this clean-up mission?" Is the only question I could ask as the Jeep moved towards our location. There were only 8 people in the Jeep excluding the driver.

I could only look out of the window as my question went unanswered. The rundown buildings and zombies on the street were by now a common sight for us soldiers who go out for clean-up or scout missions after the disaster hit us unexpectedly.

My name is Jason, a normal soldier in the base camp near Evergreen city. My passion for 'fighting for the nation' brought me to become a soldier. I was hoping to retire in a few years as I was already in my mid-thirties. But not everything went according to plan.

The apocalypse hit as I was doing my regular rounds around our military base like always. The moment I could hear our general giving out orders, I knew something went wrong. But I never imagined the things I saw in fictional movies come true.

By the time we moved into the city to 'rescue' citizens, most of them were already zombies roaming around the streets, attacking survivors who didn't turn into those monsters yet. The next few days went by without any proper rest for us as we continued to look for survivors as well as build our own base in the city.

We continued to do the same work over the next few days until we found some peace. A temporary base was successfully built in the city. It was near the place where the privileged lived in the city. It was a nice place with mansions and a large amount of free land we used to build shelters for the people.

Today was another run. Even after doing a few clean-up missions with the squad during the past few days, I still felt something was wrong with this particular one. I couldn't place a finger on the problem and brushed it off as the Jeep came to a stop.

Taking a deep breath, I clutched my gun and took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Being nervous was never a good sign for life and death missions like these.

"Alright, boys let's go. As explained earlier, our mission is to search the mall. According to the scouts, yesterday there were survivors hiding inside. The camp sent us to confirm this and if possible save them. Let's go." Whispered our captain into the silent jeep.

All of us nodded as the door opened and all of us started to get down and moved according to the plan. I and my partner quickly held our guns up as we shot the zombies nearby while the others made their way towards the alleyway. We had to take the emergency exit to get inside instead of going to the front.

I watched as my shot went right through the zombie's head and gave a nod to my partner after seeing the empty street. We quickly followed the team inside. We slowly went into the alleyway and into the open door.

Closing it behind us, we gave a nod to the captain, and we continued inside the corridor. The mall was small, as it was only two floors. According to the information we received, there was a high probability that the people were in a kid's toy shop above.

There was only a movie theatre and a good court with toy shops to the side on the first floor, making this search relatively easy. We made it across the hallway and stopped at the captain's signal as they checked the situation outside. I kept the rear looking out for any unexpected counters.

Signaling to us that there were only 15 in the central area of the mall, all of us nodded. The captain gave out a signal as we ran out into the hallway, clutching our guns tight and positioning them to shoot on sight. 15 was a relatively low number for a fully trained 8 member squad.

Shooting down one of them, I turned towards the other and started firing. I looked to the side and saw most of the zombies were down and finished it.

"Alright, it seems like the numbers are few. Let's push towards that hallway where the staircase closet to the shop is at. Be on your toes, we don't know from where or when these things might spring right at us." Whispered the captain as pointed towards the few zombies making their way out due to the noise from the stores and then towards a hallway.

Nodding towards him, we made our way towards the hallway while slowly shooting a few zombies which were too close for comfort. We successfully made it into the hallway and continued towards the staircase.

Checking if the staircase was clear, we continued up. The captain sent out a signal to stop and gave another towards the soldier nearest to the door leading into the hallway on the first floor. The soldier gave a nod and slowly opened the door to check for zombies.

He signaled us about the zombie situation and after getting a confirmation from the captain, we slowly made our way in. I was still at the back checking for zombies. Slowly backing towards the hallway, I turned around as the rest started shooting.

I didn't wait and followed them, shooting the few zombies which were behind us as we made our way towards the toy store which was right around the corner.

Reaching the end of the hallway we noticed there were many zombies roaming around unlike below. We could not go head to head against those numbers and the captain signaled us back inside.

"Listen up, we can't fight those numbers. So should we continue or not? I can't guarantee we will come back alive if we do. I do not want to risk your lives because of the decision I am making. Our camp is also not in a situation to lose soldiers. So let's vote and decide."