Chapter 28

The Great Mall Adventure: Part II

Hours later, Ty was a walking pile of shopping bags. He'd lost track of the number of stores they'd gone in, but to be honest, they weren’t that bad—at least nowhere near the level of the first one. The rest had been a tad more normal, clothing and other “girly” stores that were similar to what would be in a regular mall back in the waking world.

His feet and arms ached—but he didn't care. A look over the railing told him they were on the fifth or sixth floor. Freedom was almost in reach.

He heard Anna laugh on the other side of the packages and bags in his hands. Ty used his face to clear a hole large enough for him to see through, curious as to what was so funny.

They were in front of a toy store, the first he’d seen in the entire mall. It's name was odd—“Zero-to-Eleven”—but he doubted Anna was laughing at that. He scanned the store and saw aisles of toys and games, the sight making him smile. Then the single customer caught his eye, his grin replaced by puzzlement.

It was a boy who looked to be about Ty and Anna's age. He was scared, casting nervous glances around the empty store as he made slow progress to the checkout counter. He had a box tucked under his arm, one Ty recognized even at this distance: a LEGO set.

The boy placed the box on the counter so carefully he might have believed it to be rigged with explosives. No one manned the register—in fact, there wasn't even a register to man. Only an empty counter, no sign of an employee anywhere in the store. Why was the kid so nervous? Was he going to try and steal it? If so, how come he put it on the counter? None of this made any sense.

Flaps on the counter top opened and a pair of mechanical hands came out, grabbed the box, and scanned the barcode. The price lit up on the front of the counter—thirty dollars—and the boy dug around in his pocket to retrieve the money.

“Not just yet,” an electronic voice buzzed from the ceiling. The boy jumped and spare change flew out of his hand. “You do not have parental supervision; a body scan is required.”

This must have been part of what had the boy so afraid. He threw his money on the counter, grabbed the box, and bolted for the exit. One of the hands darted after him, snatching him up by the forearm.

Anna laughed even harder now.

“What is wrong with you?” Ty spat in disgust.

Anna was shocked by the look on Ty's face and the tone of his voice. Ty used this to his advantage, dropping the shopping bags on the ground and dashed into the toy store. By the time she realized what was happening, Ty had already dragged her in with him.

“What are you doing!? We can't be here!” She scrambled back to the entrance, but Ty wasn't going to be yanked around this time.

He grabbed the nearest shelf, latching onto it so tight it might as well have been part of his body. If Anna wanted to move him, she was going to have to move the whole shelf too.

Then she started to do just that. She tugged in quick bursts, Ty and the shelf moving a few inches with every pull. Still, her progress wasn't fast enough to warrant Ty's attention—the other boy was still in trouble.

“Hey!” Ty shouted as he grabbed random toys off the shelf and hurled them at the robotic hands. “Put him down!”

They took the wooden train and plush monster he'd tossed like a champ, showing no sign they noticed the toys or who'd thrown them. They had full focus on the task at hand.

The right one fired the scanner, bringing it from the top of the squirming boy's head downward. When it passed his feet, the electronic voice said, “Scan complete,” as an ear splitting alarm went off.

Anna stopped what she was doing and Ty let go of the shelf, both of them snapping their hands over their ears to block out the whaling. The store's overhead lights clicked off and alarm lights popped out of the wall, engulfing the store in an eerie orange glow.

“We have to get out of here! NOW!” Anna screamed.

Ty tried to run for the boy, but Anna overpowered him, pulling him toward the exit of the store faster than he'd thought possible. They were there in seconds, Anna's foot right on the threshold. Her shoe pressed down, sounding another alarm, and a large metal gate came down from the ceiling. Anna yanked her foot back, narrowly avoiding it.

She pulled at her hair and slammed the gate with her fists in frustration, a pampered monster throwing a tantrum.

She reeled around to face Ty. “LOOK WHAT YOU'VE DONE!”

It didn't end there, her outburst continuing into a rant that was in a heated battle with the alarms to be more loud and obnoxious. Ty blocked out both of the two evils.

The right robot hand abandoned the scanner and helped the left restrain the apparent law breaker. The voice said something, that sounded like, “Standby for immediate detainment.”

Doors in the back of the store flew open with a bang, and a line of men swarmed out. The light from the alarms alone made it hard for Ty to determine much of their appearance. They were tall, wore white business suites, and their eyes... something was strange about their eyes. It might have been a trick from the low lighting, but all he could see was red.

Ty looked away from the approaching army and frantically searched his surroundings for a usable weapon. A toy lightsaber by his foot was the first thing that caught his attention. He picked it up, turned it on, and swung it against the ground. Unfortunately, it didn't actually burn through the floor—proving it was fake—but made the familiar whirring noise and a satisfying thud, demonstrating that it was sturdy enough to at least hit things while sounding cool in the process.

Anna was still ranting, yelling and waving her arms all around like a lunatic, paying no attention to the person she was chewing out. This was good—she wouldn't try and stop what he had planned.

He dashed for the counter, raised his plastic weapon, and hit the metal arms holding the boy. A loud whack! was followed by a barrage of lightsaber noises, momentarily giving Ty a feeling of accomplishment. That feeling was shattered—at around the same time that the toy was—leaving Ty with little more than a broken hilt. The hands weren’t even scratched.

Ty threw the useless toy away. There were containers of smaller things near the counter; paddle balls, key chains, mini Nerf guns, and—oh, what was that?

Extra, extra, EXTRA long Yo-Yo! claimed the display. Ty took one and passed it between his hands, the rough shape of a plan formulating. A stupid one that had the potential to get him killed and probably wouldn't work. But it was all he had.

He pulled the yo-yo string out several arm lengths and stepped toward the counter, quickly wrapped it around the arms and twisted the yo-yo with the string, holding it in place. That was the easy, non-threatening part.

Ty stopped long enough to make sure that Anna was still ranting—she was—and then he spun around her, putting her between him and the counter. As he passed by, he tied the other end of the yo-yo around her wrist, pulled it tight, and hoped it would hold.

Anna stopped her shouting and cocked her head to the side, puzzled.

“Hey, Anna!” Her head snapped in Ty's direction. “You're a horrible person, you've been brainwashed, I have seriously disliked your company today, and I am NOT your boyfriend!” A pause. Then, for good measure, he added, “And your taste in clothes is atrocious.”

The world seemed to pause as Anna's brain processed everything Ty said. It felt like an unbearably long time to Ty, so long he considered repeating it all again. As he opened his mouth to speak, the world resumed and Anna's face revealed her immense rage.

Ty dropped to the floor, Anna's fist cutting through the air above him, pulling the string tight and ripping the metal arms right out of the counter top. The boy landed on his feet and dove out of the way as the machinery fell to the floor in a sparking mess.

Ty jumped to his feet and ran for the arms—he didn't even have to look to know that Anna was charging after him like a rampaging bull. He scooped them up—careful not to touch the ends that were sparking—and swung them like a baseball bat, nailing Anna in the face.

Between the sturdy metal and the electricity shooting out of the end of it, she crumpled to the ground, still and silent for the first time in this life. Ty thanked God for the miracle.

He ditched the arms and went to check on the boy, where he sat curled into a ball, shaking all over.

“Hey,” Ty put his hand on the kid's shoulder. “Are you all right? I'm not going to hurt you.”

The boy mumbled something, too quiet to make out.

“What?”

“T-they're... coming for me.”

Ty looked toward the back of the store, the men taking slow strides in a single file line. They were running out of time.

“Who are they? What do they want?”

The boy stammered and stumbled over his words in an attempt to answer, literate sentences far from his grasp.

“You know what? It doesn't matter. Stand up, I'm getting you out of here.”

The boy shook his head vigorously as Ty got him off the floor himself, taking him roughly by the arm. Ty stopped by Anna, knelt down beside her to make sure he hadn't over done it. He touched her wrist with two of his fingers, checking for a pulse. There wasn't one.

Panicked, Ty checked her neck, her heart—anywhere he had seen doctors check for pulses on TV and in movies. It was nowhere to be found.

Crap, did I really...?

An audible groan escaped her lips and her head rolled to the side before she grew still again. Ty said a silent prayer of thanks. He may have disliked this Anna with a great intensity, but he didn't want to kill her...

Ty picked one of the arms up again and it fell in two. He looked at the pieces he still held, astonished to see a head shaped dent in it. What was the girl made of?

A thought occurred to him and his eyes were drawn to the gate, to the girl, and back again. He scanned the storefront once more for a better option.

There wasn't one.

Was it wrong that he thought he was going to enjoy this?

He spun to face the boy, grinning, “I've got a plan. I can get us out of this mess but you have to trust me—and do exactly as I say. Can you do that?”

The boy grudgingly nodded. That didn't give Ty the biggest confidence boost, but it would have to do.

“Okay, first, help me untie this string—I think we're going to need it.”

It only took them a minute to remove the string, pocket the yo-yo, and get Anna off the floor. Ty lugged her and the boy over to the middle of the entrance, right in front of where the store's rows of shelves began.

The men sped up, into a runner's walk. Time was short.

Ty took a deep breath, “Okay. Grab my belt loop, do not let go, and try to keep up.”

The boy did as he was told, but he still looked like a deer in headlights.

“It's going to be all right. I promise,” Ty gave him a reassuring smile. Its effects were less than stellar. “Hey, what's your name anyway?”

“Ben,” the boy squeaked.

“Ben, I'm Ty—it's nice to meet you. Now, let's blow this joint, huh?”

He was still scared, but less so and Ty felt his grip tighten. That would have to do—there wasn't any more time for pep-talks.

Ty couldn't explain it, but the second he began to run, he was already at full speed, a pace that usually took him several seconds to reach. Ben only kept up by his grip on the belt loop, his feet spending more time in the air than on the ground.

“Get ready!”

Ty held Anna out in front of him, closed his eyes, and tried not to think about what would happen if this didn't go as planned.

#

Anna's bones (or whatever this copy was made of) held as her body tore a hole through the gate with a grinding, metallic crunch. Ty opened his eyes and twisted his feet sideways like an ice skater; he'd learned recently that beginning to slow early was a wise choice when at top speed.

Even with his new foresight, Ty crashed into the guard rail and knocked the air right out of himself. He was quick to recover—likely because of how often it seemed to happen these days.

Ty looked back in the store, the men running now, the gate shooting back up into the ceiling to allow them to pass. To his left and right more men approached to block their escape... or so they thought.

“Remember what I told you about trusting me?” Ty whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

The men inside the store filed out, joining the ranks of their comrades. As one, they raised their hands, their pointer finger and thumb extended in a gun gesture.

Ben nodded.

“When I say so, jump over the rail.” Ty slipped his hand in his pocket. “Can you do that?”

“Y-yes.”

He saw now that the men did have red eyes after all, large laser lights that moved erratically through the air before honing in on the two boys' chests, flying around on their shirts like fireflies.

The tips on their pointer fingers swiveled open, preparing to release a very real bullet. It was now or never.

The yo-yo was out of his pocket in a flash and with a backward toss he sent it sailing over the rail as he shouted, “JUMP!”

Without hesitation, Ben vaulted over the side and disappeared from Ty's sight. He locked his legs on the rail and pulled back on the string, enough to support Ben's weight while being loose enough to let more out.

Behind him, the men fired, dozens of bullets whizzing right for the defenseless boy on the floor.

Ty bet his life on the assumption that what they fired were not killing rounds. Thankfully his gamble paid off. Multiple bullets hit without spilling an ounce of his blood. He would survive—but not unharmed. Whatever they shot packed enough punch to wrack his body with pain, jerking him against the bars with each hit.

He kept his grip on the string, letting it flow through his fingers until he felt Ben's weight leave the other end. Ty stuck his head between two of the bars and saw the boy land safely and head for the exit. Ty watched him for as long as he could, but he was soon lost in the collective chaos of the shoppers.

He tied off the string, knotting it the best he could; he would need it shortly. He faced the men, their fire halting. A few of them broke rank and headed toward the nearest escalator to chase after Ben. There was nothing he could do about them, but the ones that remained he could hold off for a while, giving Ben a better chance to escape.

Ty leapt before the men could raise their fingers at him again. He dashed forward, swinging Anna at the nearest man and dropping down into a slide. The man staggered back as Ty slid harmlessly between his legs and popped up behind him. He delivered a kick to the red eyed monster, bucking him over the railing and down to ground level.

The remaining men pointed their fingers at Ty and let the bullets fly. He used Anna as a shield, blocking the bullets while he swung her at the nearest man's legs. He toppled over, sending a few more of his fellows to the floor with him.

There was a break in the gunfire and Ty used it to take two large steps and lunge Anna forward. She slammed into the chest of the man in the middle of the group, knocking him off his feet and into the ones behind him. They fell like dominoes.

Two on the left and right still stood, aiming their guns and approaching Ty from the sides. He backed up, waiting for them to get closer. Their lasers moved to his forehead. Right before they fired, he swung Anna out in front of him. It appeared to be a miss at first, but with a yank of the handcuffs, her legs swung out and nailed the men in the face.

With that, most of his enemies were on the floor in varying levels of recovery. The few that remained standing rushed Ty in a group formation. Time to go.

He swung Anna back over his shoulder and jumped over the railing. Bullets, racing feet, and reaching hands gave chase behind him.

#

Ty thought he was home free.

The hand that snatched Anna's ankle out of the air proved him wrong.

He lost his grip on Anna and fell a few more feet. The handcuff dug against his wrist and brought him to a painful stop. One of the laser eyed men smiled down at the dangling boy, hoisting Anna back up. Ty frantically shook his arm to throw him off and, when that failed, he resorted to biting and karate chopping at the handcuff chain as a last resort.

The man took a handful of Ty's hair and carried him the rest of the way up, to eye level.

He leaned in close.

Ty raised a fist to strike back.

The laser's intensity grew to an unbelievable level, burning into Ty's eyes, into his mind—maybe into his very soul. He saw, felt, tasted, breathed, and thought red—the color overriding all of his senses.

The red consumed everything.

#

Objects formed out of the red ether, the vision of a room slowly taking shape. It was a small room, not much bigger than a broom closet. All it contained was a table with a young boy strapped on, as he struggled against the buckles that bound him. Ben.

Metal arms lowered out of the ceiling, like in the toy store—except these had very fine tipped, surgical pincers.

“No, no,” Ben stammered as they came closer, toward his face. “NO!”

His screams filled the room and the scene faded back into red. The last thing Ty saw of it was the pincers raised above the table, each of them clasping a human eye.

“You will be next.” Those words burned into Ty's brain; they were not his thoughts, nor were they spoken by someone else, they simply... appeared. A message from the man with the red eyes.