The clinking of glass was heard as the door was gently opened up. Excavation of a tomb came to Han's mind as he looked into the darkened interior of the mall. Such a location used to be a place of commerce and a sign of modern engineering, but now it was all in shambles after only one night had passed.

"A part of me feels like we shouldn't be going into this place," Jennifer commented, voicing what everyone else was likely thinking.

"But we'll need to gather gear and food in case something happens," Ruby commented.

"I agree with Han's big sister," Ivy said.

"You can just call me Jennifer, Ivy, you're friends with my baby brother," Jennifer said.

Han partially listened to what his sister and friends were talking about, trying to focus more on noises made by those creatures. With how quiet everything was, the lack of screams or gunshots, the idea of entering the mall seemed ludicrous. Such a stupid action was something seen at the beginning of a tv show season or movie, where things were going to get crazy very quickly.

"We should stop by the sporting store first and then swing by the food court. I don't think there are any other stores that we need to stop by at, but being inside of here as little as we have to seems like the best thing." his mom said to him. She was slightly ahead of him, turning her head back and forth to listen to any sudden noises.

"That sounds like a good idea. We should also make sure to grab some water bottles so we can fill them up at the food court." Han nodded his head at his mother's suggestion.

Looking behind him, he saw Ivy and Ruby next to his sister on one side and Harmony and Grace on the other side. His sister was having a pleasant conversation with the two girls, who were better compared to when they first found them. Jennifer seemed to be a natural at socializing and making people feel comfortable. In this type of atmosphere, the best skill likely wasn't sneaking around but keeping people at ease. Picking up a weapon was easy, but getting someone to open up took skills.

A sudden gasp was heard, causing everyone to look over. Grace had a hand on her chest and was breathing a little erratically. "I can't believe I jumped at seeing my own reflection," She nervously laughed and looked at the others.

"There's nothing to feel embarrassed about. With how little light there is inside this place, the display windows are just acting like mirrors, and seeing someone else inside this area would be frightening." His mother said to Grace.

All around them, the stores were abandoned and only hinted at the events from before that left them in such a state. A few shops even had lights that were flickering, the power grid still active. It was an odd sight, compared to the parking lot outside. Even though they were walking deeper into the mall, none of them had seen a dead body.

With their slow pace, it took all of them nearly half an hour to reach the sporting goods store. The entrance looked like the side of a cliff, with mannequins positioned to look like rock climbers in their gear. The shop hoped to attract people to exploring new experiences outside of their daily lives.

One by one, they entered the store through the opened doors that were still locked into place as if to greet potential shoppers. Such thinking was quickly removed once they went through the doorway and saw the chaos inside.

"Watch out, so you don't trip on anything," Han cautioned the group as he carefully stepped over a display rack with various product strewn across the floor. After crossing the obstacle, Han turned and reached his hand out towards Ivy as she followed him.

As she stepped over the obstacle, Ivy's foot stepped on one of the many boxes scattered about and lost her balance.

Han dexterously took her hand and used his other hand to lay it on Ivy's waist, pulling her towards him. Redirecting her motion, she moved towards his chest instead of falling onto the floor.

"Are you okay?" Han asked. He held her long enough to make sure that she regained her balance while noticing the feeling of her body against his.

Ivy had her arms around him, looking as if she was embracing him. She looked up, her eyes locking onto his. Her face reddened, and she said, "Sorry. I wasn't looking carefully enough."

"Don't worry about it. Just make sure you take your time. I don't want you to get hurt, especially when seeing a doctor is likely harder compared to before." He smiled.

Ivy slowly moved away from him, as he positioned himself to receive Ruby. Just like before, Han reached his hand out to her. If this were a couple of days ago, Ruby would have likely teased her friend, but Ruby was instead concentrating on her movements. Taking hold of his hand, Ruby successfully crossed over the display.

"Thanks, Han," She said as she moved towards where Ivy was standing.

With everyone else, they quickly went over the display but still accepted Han's assistance.

Proceeding down the central aisle of the store, Han looked around the large store. A large part of the store was in shambles, with clothing racks pushed over and shelves emptied of their boxes. Blood covered parts of the store, likely where people were attacked and turned. Once again, the store reflected the strange sight seen outside the store.

"It's been bugging me for quite some time, but where are all the bodies?" Grace voiced what he was thinking. "This mall was filled with people during the attack, as Ivy and Ruby had mentioned and obviously seen with the bodies in the parking lot, but this place is like a ghost town."

"We didn't see what happened outside of the clothing store, but with the number of people that were shopping inside...," Ivy's voice trailed off.

"If a large number of people didn't escape, then..." Jennifer began to say.

"There are a lot of those creatures," his mother finished.

"But the million dollar question is where are they?" Han said out loud.

Only silence seemed to answer their questions, making the eery feeling increase. Han half expected a noise off in the distance be heard by then, signaling the part where they run for their lives as they are chased by a horde of zombies. He didn't know if their real-world outcome of hearing nothing but their breathing was any better.

"We should quickly get the stuff," Ruby said after they had been standing around for several minutes.

"You're right. We should focus on what we came here to do." Han agreed.

They moved towards a sign marked "Hiking." On display was a variety of backpacks and hiking packs on display, ranging from the casual stroll through the forest to the hardcore travel through the forest hike.

"You can never go wrong with a Star and Moon pack, to get you through the untamed wilderness! We can guarantee all our products will meet your varying needs and get you through your journey! Each of our packs is protected by our Star and Moon guarantee and lifetime warranty! Be sure to ask one of the many associates if you have any additional questions! Star and Moon, creating new worlds!"

The loud voice caused all of them to turn towards the source quickly. Its words echoing through the store. Once they realized that it was an advertisement, each of them relaxed. Looking at the video display playing the typical images to garner the customer's interest, Han saw Harmony frantically trying to get the sound to turn off.

"She must have walked too closely to the display, and it sensed her bracelet," Ruby murmured.

Even with the loud noise, the mall still was apathetic towards them. There were no rustling of footsteps or groaning of a zombie horde. The sensation of feeling like they were the only ones inside of the mall gave a false sense of security, which Han made sure not to let it influence his judgment.

"I'm sorry," Harmony said after the voice stopped.

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure that we'll all make mistakes in the near and distant future." Han tried to reassure her.

"Yeah, Harmony," Grace tried to cheer up her former coworker.

Harmony nodded her head, looking depressed at doing such a dangerous act and putting everyone in danger.

Jennifer was standing still, looking as if she was trying to hear something. When their mom was about to say something, she raised a finger to indicate she needed silence. Everyone saw her stern expression and waited. Everyone tried to hear what Jennifer was trying to listen to, but there wasn't any noise to listen to. Seeing someone concentrating so hard made everyone become anxious, especially in a situation where a foreign sound could indicate approaching monsters.

The time that passed was nerve wracking, but eventually, Jennifer shook her head and sighed. "I thought there might have been a noise, so I was seeing if I could hear anything." Seeing everyone sigh in relief, she said, "Sorry for the worry, but I thought it was prudent to be cautious all things considered."

"Don't worry about it, Jennifer," their mother said. "We should have been more careful, and I didn't even think about the possibility of the device attracting any unwanted attention."

Hearing Jennifer's words, Han made his way towards the displayed backpacks on the wall. "We should probably take a pack for each of us. Depending on what we find, I think it's a good idea that we try and evenly divide everything in case we're separated." Han suggested to the group.

"I think that's a good idea. Each person needs a certain number of gallons of water and food, so having one person carry all of that would be unreasonable. I'm sure this store has some snacks and ration kits for hikers." Grace mentioned.

Grabbing a pack that had a metal frame, he inserted his arms into the shoulder straps to get a feel for it. There were several places he could pull on to tighten the pack to fit him better. A belt near his waist helped to steady the frame, likely so it wouldn't bounce around as he walked. Clipping together straps across his chest, he tightened it and walked away from the group. Walking back and forth, Han made some small adjustments, so the pack was positioned correctly.

Heading towards the group, Han saw that each of them was doing something similar to what he had done. Grace was helping everyone to wear the gear properly.

"How does that feel, Jessica?" Grace asked his mom.

"It's a little tight across the chest," she commented.

"You can pull on that plastic tab to loosen the strap, like how I did with Harmony," Grace explained.

His mom carefully pulled on the tab and sighed in relief, likely not feeling as constricted. "Thanks, Grace," she said. "How did you learn all this stuff?"

"Even though the guys tried their best in putting me into a corner, there were some training I was required to attend. One of them was being a part of a search party, which took place at the national headquarters. That's where I was taught some basic things, though nothing as great as hiking and surviving in the wilderness." Grace said. "It would have been nice to have a father that supported my life ambitions and teach me more about camping and survival skills, but I guess we have to deal with the cards we're dealt with in life."

"Grace, how do I get out of this?" Harmony asked as she tried to escape from the pack that was now tightened to her body.

Grace walked over to where Harmony was turning every which way. Placing a hand on Harmony's shoulder, she said, "Just a sec, Harmony. You don't need to move around so much." Reaching the top of one of the shoulder straps, Grace used her other hand and caused a clicking noise to sound. The strap began to loosen and released Harmony slowly. "Star and Moon designed a convenient function to get out of their packs without having to loosen any straps." Once Harmony was out of the pack, Grace lifted up the pack and turned around to face them so they could see the straps. "Each strap has this mechanism, where all you need to do it squeeze both sides and reveal a switch. Pressing on the switch will cause a mechanism inside of the frame to slowly lengthen the strap." Carefully, Grace walked through the process and showed how the strap began to loosen. "When you need to put on your pack, all you need to do is press the switch again, and it'll slowly tighten the strap." They watched as the strap moved back to its original position and made a nearly silent clicking noise.

"That's not going to wear out, right?" Han asked Grace.

Shaking her head, she said, "This mechanism was heavily tested and is used by nearly all military forces around the world. At least, that's what the rep from Star and Moon told our group as he was walking us through the process."

Each of them tried to repeat the process they saw, surprised by how simplistic the design was. They were going to need to get used to these packs quickly so that they didn't get tripped up during an urgent situation.

Han found the experience to be easy after he did it a couple of times. Looking at the other packs from other companies, he didn't see a similar mechanism at the top of either shoulder straps. "I bet other companies lost a lot of market share when they came up with this," Han chuckled.

"They are priced a little higher than other companies, but the quality makes it worth it," Grace replied to Han's comment.

"I should have gone with a Star and Moon pack for my classes," Jennifer said. "I usually kept the straps loose, but I heard that it's terrible for your back. If I knew about this, then I would have forked over the extra twenty credits."

It was an odd moment of bonding in a location where many people had died in but was understandable considering the circumstances. They laughed at Jennifer's comment and forgot, for a moment, how empty the world appeared and the blood stains on the floor and various surfaces.

Ivy and Ruby looked like they were recovering well from their experience, causing Han to smile. Not wanting to disrupt their moment, he went over to a display that had water bottles of varying sizes. Han looked at the differing bottles while making sure to keep everyone in sight. A stack of boxes on the shelf at eye-level made him grin. On the box was an image of a bag on the back of a serious looking hiker with a tube that went over his shoulder. "Have water within range of a simple turn of the head," was written on the bottom. "Easily combines with all Star and Moon outdoor packs," was in the middle of a Star and Moon logo.

Han grabbed one of the boxes and looked at the description. The product was a water bladder, making it convenient to access water. "They do an excellent job of tying products together," Han thought looking at the logo. The benefit of these was how it could roll up and have a small footprint inside the pack. Each of them could have several in case something happened to the bladder, like a tear or a leak.

Taking each water bladder out of the boxes they were in, Han began shoving them into his pack. Grabbing a bunch of the large metal water containers next to the boxes, he also threw them inside. As he was about to toss the last metal water container inside, he noticed a sticker on the outside. "UV light to help decontaminate your water!"

Pressing the latch to pop the top, he did see that there were several small lightbulbs behind a protective transparent cover. Seeing if there was some kind of power source on the bottom, he turned over the container. "What's powering this thing?" Han murmured in confusion. Turning the container back, the light was on and creating a purple glow. There were a few bulbs that didn't seem to turn on, though he shrugged and ignored it.

"This must be powered by movement!" Han said. "That answers the question about access to clean water if we ever run into a stream.

Grabbing some other items that were displayed on a nearby shelf, Han then proceeded to walk over to the group. It seemed like they were used to the packs and were planning on what they needed to grab before heading to the food court.

"Han, we were about to head over to where they keep the outdoor food products," Jennifer said when she looked up and saw Han heading towards her.

"That's perfect. I found some items that can hold water." Han set his pack down and pulled out one of the water bladders and metal containers. "I guess Star and Moon made some accessories that go with the packs, and this water bladder can attach to them." Holding up the container he said, "This thing can not only be used to hold water but can also sanitize it which will be useful." Shaking the container and popping the top, he showed the purple glow. "The UV light is powered by motion, so we don't have to worry about needing any power cells."

His mom smiled and said, "At least the biggest issue is solved. Grace was explaining how much water we would each need, and I was beginning to worry about that. The bladders will be even more helpful with being able to drink while we are moving."

No one had mentioned what would happen if the plan to head to the university didn't work out the way they envisioned. A part of them was already thinking about having to leave the city and head into the wild.