Squeaking and sounds of footsteps echoed around them as they walked down the hallway of the mall. Though they tried to stay silent as they continued from the outdoor store, the lack of sounds that would typically be heard was absent. There wasn't the sound of the janitorial workers pushing their wide dry mops or the whirring of the floor buffer that was heard in the morning, that could still be heard when there wasn't people shopping. What was worse was the time they were inside the mall, currently, because there should be crowds of people going about their business. Parents talking with their children or teenagers gossiping with their friends should have been the norm, but instead, the silence was what greeted them.

Their packs made quiet rustling noises as they walked, the synthetic fabric making the typical shushing noise. Each of them had nearly a full pack on them, filled with various outdoor supply gear that they would need once they left the mall.

Turning his head, Han took a sip from the tube near his face, feeling the water slide down his throat. He was glad that the store had bottles of water available for them to fill their water bladders with. Instead of taking the bottles, they filled the bladders considering the ability for the bladders to reshape itself, unlike the plastic bottles. They also filled up the metal containers full of water, though the water didn't need to be sanitized.

Han was surprised by how well the packs distributed the weight they were carrying. Even though it was a lot, he didn't feel the need to utilize his abilities. It felt like he was carrying a backpack for school.

"Even if we don't find any food at the food court, we should be good for quite some time. Once we reach the university, it'll be a good idea to look at their cafeteria to find any supplies." Grace said. She was at the head of their group, making sure to look out for any danger.

Based on what Han had put together, this was likely the first time that Grace was in a situation that demanded her trained skills as a police officer. With the way she took charge in the store with showing them how to use the equipment, Grace likely began to think of herself as someone that others depended on.

"How are you doing, mom?" He asked.

"I'm doing fine. Being able to get these supplies has made me feel better like we can survive this whole ordeal." She turned her head towards him and smiled.

"You look a lot better, mom. I feel like you're looking more energetic, compared to..." he trailed off thinking about a certain someone.

His mother placed a hand on his shoulder, sighing and said, "Han, your father wasn't always like that. I remember when we met in high school, your father was a kind man. You may not believe me, but he was someone that made me happy." Her expression changed as she remembered past events.

"I shouldn't have let him treat you like that," Han said. A part of him felt guilty of allowing his father to abuse his mother. He had the ability to stop it but had gotten used to not interfering with events.

Pulling him closer to her, she rested her head on his, saying, "Han, you're not the one at fault. It's not the child's responsibility to step in and solve the problems of the parents'. Sometimes... You just keep thinking that someone is going to change, even when they don't even know that they're doing anything wrong."

"Should we try and stop by..." Han began to say.

"No. I may be a horrible person for saying this, but my responsibility is to my two beautiful children. Your mother will likely be scorned by others about not going back and seeing if your father is okay, but I'm not risking the two of you. Just because we haven't run into any of those creatures doesn't mean that they're gone." Her words sounded harsh, but on her face was determination about protecting what she thought was important.

Han was quiet after hearing his mom's words on the subject. A part of him was happy that she was able to get away from such a negative environment, but another part of him wondered what kind of consequences would come out from her actions. Looking into her eyes, he said, "I'll protect you, mom."

She gave him a smile that seemed like the one she only used for him and said, "I know."

------

As they walked for what seemed like forever, Ivy's voice sounded out. "It's the place we used to hang out!"

In front of them was the series of uneven blocks that he and his friends used to enjoy spending hours on while they talked about various unimportant topics. Seeing the artwork made him smile, thinking about how different everything was back then.

"We should be near the food court," he said to the group.

"Do you think any of the places have food we can eat?" Ruby wondered.

They all had gone without food for a while. Instead of eating the food at the store, Jennifer had suggested they wait until they see what the food court was like. All the food items were designed to last a long time, so would be valuable for them.

"I'm sure that there will be some food we can prepare," Han said.

"Maybe Star and Moon will have some food so that we can have some of their burgers?" Ivy added.

Looking at the group, he could see many of them thinking about the various foods they wanted to eat when they arrived at the food court.

Grace looked back at them and said, "We should try to eat as much as possible. Carrying around these packs is a lot of work, so we'll need the energy."

"At least I won't need to watch my weight," Ruby said.

"You were gaining a little weight," Ivy commented.

"You bitch!" Ruby said, playfully pushing her friend.

The mood of the group was comfortable, making the walk feel a lot shorter than it was.

"Do you think anyone else is okay?" Jennifer asked to the group after they passed by the stone artwork.

Instead of answering her question, everyone kept walking as if not wanting to think about such things. Han understood that going through this was difficult and made worse by the lack of death seen aside from what they saw in the parking lot.

Rounding the corner, the group saw the entrance into the food court.

"We're here," Han said. Turning to everyone, Han reminded the group, "We've been lucky, not seeing any of those creatures but remember that this isn't a safe environment. Stick together. If there's food, we'll try to figure out what to do from there."

Even though their faces showed the excitement they were feeling, Han's words helped to jolt them back to their reality. Grace looked at him and nodded, knowing that his words were needed with how everyone forgot about their present situation.

As they approached the arch with the words "Food Court" lighted up in neon lights, their senses were on high alert.

"It's just like everyplace else," Harmony whispered.

Only a few tables were correctly set up, most of them flipped over or on their sides. Chairs were strewn about, some of them look like people had sat and then urgently stood up to cause the seat to flip back.

Looking at the food stores, blood was painted over the counters and walls. The smell of rotting food hovered in the air, from the food that was dumped onto the floor. As they went deeper into the food court, a wet sticky sound could be heard from their footsteps.

Han looked down and noticed a large pool of soda and blood that lay across the floor and partially dried.

"This is gross," Ivy commented as she looked at the sticky pool of partially dried liquid.

Following the flow of liquids, Han saw that one of the counters had several juice machines that fell to the floor and emptied out their contents.

"Are those footprints?" Harmony said, interrupting everyone's thoughts about getting around the mess.

Their eyes began looking around the pool, trying to find what Harmony had pointed out.

"Those do look like footprints," Jennifer said, agreeing with Harmony.

Near the back of the pool of soda and blood, there was a set of footprints.

"Do you think this is from yesterday?" his mother asked.

Grace shook her head. "If this was from yesterday, there should be more than a set of footprints before the soda had a chance to dry. The fact that there's only one means that these were made recently."

"The question is whether they are friendly or not," Han said. His eyes following the path of footprints that seemed to go deeper into the mall.

"Han, I think we should consider this individual as being friendly considering there seems to be only one set of footprints. They're likely just trying to get some supplies or looking for their friends." His mother said to him.

"That's probably a good idea. We have enough on our plate to worry about some random person, so let's just move towards the stores that aren't completely soaked in blood." Han agreed.

"No... Tell me it isn't true...," Ruby said in a depressed voice.

"What's the matter?" Ivy asked her.

Ruby simply raised her arm and pointed towards the source of her despair.

When everyone looked over to see where Ruby was pointing her finger, they also realized what had happened. Unlike the other stores that still had their lights on and entrance open, Star and Moon and Star and Moon East had their lights turned off and their gates rolled down.

Walking over to the two stores, Han's group saw something on a screen next to the two stores. There was a sign that read, "We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we'll be closed until further notice. We hope that you'll come back and enjoy our wonderful food when we open our stores again. We look forward to creating a better day for you."

"Are they kidding?! How in the world are they closed like this, when all the other food stores were open!" Ruby yelled and slammed her fist on the metal gate. The sound echoed throughout the food court, making everyone, including Ruby, flinch. She looked back at everyone and said, "Sorry."

"It's understandable that you'd be frustrated," Han smiled at Ruby. "Just don't make this a habit, especially when we're trying to avoid attracting confrontation. He raised a hand and stroked her hair.

"Yeah, Ruby. I know that you're crazy about the company, but in this type of situation it may not be a good idea." Ivy lightly smacked Ruby's arm jokingly.

Metal scraping against the floor was heard off in the distance, causing everyone to freeze.

"What's that sound?" Harmony asked, sounding frantic.

"I think we may have attracted the kind of attention we didn't want," Grace said, a clicking noise indicated her pulling out her gun.

"Hopefully, the attention we attracted is going to be affected by bullets," Han said.

Grace didn't answer Han's comment, likely hoping for the same outcome.

Slowly, the sound of the metal scraping became louder and was soon followed by a banging noise as if something metal was hitting various objects.

All of them looked to where the noise was coming from. Now they could hear numerous footsteps coming towards them. By the sound of the footsteps, there was more than a couple of people walking towards them.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Ruby said, the fear seeping out of her voice. Her voice became choked as she understood the sounds coming towards them was because of her actions earlier.

Han reached out to her and caught her arm to drag her closer to him. Making sure she was behind him, he said, "No one is blaming you, Ruby. We'll get through this together." Looking over at Ivy, he nudged his head to indicate for her to do the same.

"I hope you're not expecting us to hide behind you, baby brother," Jennifer said. "I wouldn't be much of a big sister if I just hid behind you."

"You look after your baby brother, Jennifer. Mommy won't let anyone touch her kids." His mother said in a savage tone. She looked like a warrior queen, ready to tear apart anyone that went after her children.

Minutes seemed to flow by like molasses, but soon they saw a large group of men and women. They were holding various types of weapons, a few holding shotguns, and knives. A man wearing sunglasses and a sports coat appeared to be leading them.

"What do we have here?" The man grinned at them, opening his arms wide in a welcoming manner.

"We don't want any trouble," Grace said while pointing her gun at the man.

As if the gun didn't matter to him, he chuckled. "Miss, I don't know if you are aware, but that's a dangerous tool you're holding there. I suggest you put it down before you do something you'll regret. Women shouldn't be using those things in the first place." The man began walking towards Han's group as if to remove the gun from Grace's hands.

"I said for you to stay back!" Grace yelled at the man.

Ignoring Grace, the man grinned and said, "And what do we have here?!" He turned to look at Han's mom. "Miss, you are fortunate to run into my group of friends. This is a perilous time, and a lady of your beauty shouldn't be running about." Motioning to the group behind him, he said, "If you come with me, I'll make sure that you're taken care of."

Several of the people behind him snickered at his comments. A few of the men were openly ogling his mother's body.

"Stay away from me, you disgusting creep!" His mother snarled.

"Boss, seems like we have a feisty one here," a tall man commented. His arm was wrapped around a woman, who grinned at the man's words.

"I think you might be right, Jim. I think it may be a good idea if you take a few of the boys and assist the ladies in coming with us." He looked sad as he said, "I would be heartbroken if anything happens to such ladies out there. They could leave this place and stumble across men with ill intentions."

"Don't worry, Boss. I'll make sure that I'm extra careful." The tall man moved forward, carrying a large metal pipe. "Don't worry, babe. I'll make sure that you get to know how safe you'll be with us. We have several women who joined our group, and they'll tell you how great it is to be with us, instead of by yourself. You never know when those creatures will be back."

Han could see the sweat dripping down the side of Grace's face, as her hands shook. Her trembling hands let him know that she wasn't ready to shoot someone in cold blood, even if it was in self-defense. He began to take a few steps forward so that he could deal with the man.

"No, Han, stay back!" His mother yelled at him.

"What do we have here? Is that your son or boyfriend? He looks a bit young to be someone you're boning, so he must be your son." The tall man grinned. "It's been a while since I've been with a mom. I bet your husband doesn't even treat you properly."

Han's eyes flicked towards movement behind the group in front of them. Due to the darkness, he wasn't able to get a good look, so he was curious as to whether it was one of those things.

"I'll shoot if you make another step!" Grace tried to intimidate the tall man with her weapon. Her cracking voice was a dead giveaway at her current mindset.

The tall man raised both of his hands up in the air, making an innocent expression. "There's no need to be scared. I'm just coming over towards all of you so I can help guide you towards a safe place." Tilting his head to the side, he said, "The man behind me in the suit is the owner of the mall, and he has a safe place on the upper floors where those creatures haven't reached. If you come with me, you'll have access to food and water." Slowly, he inched closer to them, making sure not to make any sudden movements.

"Please... stop...," Grace was crying at this point. Being a woman, she likely already knew what was in store for her, but even then she couldn't push herself to pull the trigger.

A figure running out of the shadow appeared and used a massive weapon to slice off the man's head.

The expression on the man's face was of confusion as if he was unsure what had happened as his head tilted to one side and tumbled to the ground. Like a marionette having its strings cut, the tall man's body slumped to the floor.

Before anyone in the large group could react, another shadow came rushing from the other side. This one jumped into the air and threw several objects. Each of the people holding onto firearms was hit at the base of their skulls.

Seeing that they were being attacked, several people in the larger group began to yell in panic. Several of the men who were holding weapons were about to rush the two figures, who were now standing next to Han's group with their weapons at the ready, but were stopped.

"Forget about them! We'll let those things get them!" the man with sunglasses yelled. "I won't forget this." He looked at them and ran off with the rest of the group.

Han's group were standing still, looking at the retreating group and then towards the two people. Both of them were covered in black, with black metal plates protecting various parts of their body without compromising their ability to move. In addition, the two were wearing some type of helmets that made their heads look abnormally long. They were both carrying massive looking swords. These weapons were nearly the size of their bodies and a lot thicker than typical swords.

"Who are you, people?" His mother asked.

Once the danger from the group passed, the two figures in black placed their weapons on their back. There was a slight clicking noise and their weapons hung there not looking like they were attached to anything.

The one nearest Grace lifted her hand and pulled off their face covering. A hissing noise was heard and brown hair came tumbling down behind the person until it reached their hip. When the mask was completely taken off, it revealed a woman that looked like she should be a model instead of fighting with a giant sword.

"Sorry about this, but we need to get out of this place now. The noise likely attracted those things." She explained.

"What do you mean? We didn't see any of them on our way through the mall." Jennifer asked, confused by everything.

"Yeah. That's because you guys didn't go into any dark and cramped areas. Those fuckers are sadistic pieces of shits and prefer to play with their food. If they hear too much noise, then they'll just come out from their hiding places!" She hissed. "Now hurry up before I leave you, people, behind."

As the woman and her companion began heading for the exit, Jennifer asked, "who are you?"

The woman looked back and said, "My name is Becky."