Nigel and Joseph stepped out of the room and realized the explosion had more damage than they expected. They covered their mouth and nose when the burned smell of the flesh of zombies filled the air. The room was still hot and the smoke began occupying and clouding their sight.

"We should go. That explosion may have saved us from these three, but not from the others, Joseph said headed out of the room.

"Who threw the bomb?" Nigel whispered as they walked through the alley full of clothes while anxiously looking around, trying to spot any zombies.

"I don't know. Whoever saved us probably ran away after making that much noise—"

A loud screech echoed and tore the silence inside the mall. They both turned around and their eyes landed on the zombies charging towards them. They have few hairs on their head, with skin paler than ever, and a malnourished body. In a split second, they sprinted away.

Nigel's body felt so light, like a feather tearing through the air. They climbed up the broken escalator, rushing to the second floor. They went inside the gadget store and headed to the backdoor that was luckily open. They went in and locked the door behind them. They stayed silent; breathing heavily through their nose. They waited and listened to any movements on the other side, but luckily, after a few moments of silence, there were none.

"That was close—"

"Hey," someone interrupted.

They turned around and saw a lad, along with the other three teenagers, pointing their weapons at them. One guy has a gun, two women have improvised spears, and the other guy has a machete.

"Are you infected?" the guy holding the gun asked.

"Do we look like we're infected?" Joseph asked.

"No...we're not infected," Nigel answered.

"Alright. Lower your weapons, everyone." He lowered his gun, tucked it on his side, and covered it with his shirt. His other three companions followed his order, they put down their weapons and surrounded them both.

"Who are you? How did you end up here? And what happened?"  the guy acting like their leader asked.

"I am Joseph and this is Nigel," Joseph answered. "We have a hideout a few kilometers from here. We're looking for a radio here but we're chased by zombies."

"We have what you're looking for. We have a radio." The guy looked at his companions, all communicating through glances.

"Have you called for help?"

"Since day one. But no one responds."

Nigel glanced at Joseph and right there he felt he was disappointed. Nigel began feeling hopeless, all their hopes of finding rescue slowly disappeared realizing they had nothing to save them.

"I am Derek," the guy with the gun said. He had dark brown hair and a well-toned body. "This one is Noah." He pointed at the tall guy with black and slightly curly hair. "This sweet girl is Era, my girlfriend. And this silent one is Czarina ." Era just smiled and Czarina, the girl wearing glasses waved her hand. "What do you know about this infection going on?"

"Given that the internet is gone and no one answers your call. The whole country must be affected by this sickness," Joseph shared.
Nigel cleared his throat. "So far, it was said that only the adults were affected by the sickness. So if you'll see teenagers and kids, they're fine."

"How about you guys?" Joseph asked. "What are you doing here?"

"We were looking for food. We have a hideout just behind this mall."

"By any chance, did you guys throw the bomb earlier? We were trapped in the fitting room and there was this explosion that killed the zombies."

"What? No..."

"So that was the explosion we heard," Czarina realized.

"There's a chance that somebody's out there."

"We should leave now. That noise must have caught the zombie's attention," Derek declared.

"Yeah. I think that's right."

"Let's go."

The thought of going out again scared Nigel. The zombies almost got them a few minutes ago and here they are, risking their lives again. But staying would also mean their death. If that explosion attracts nearby zombies' attention, then it's just a matter of time before the mall will be flooded by monsters hungry for flesh and blood.

His gaze shifted to Derek who was at the door. He heard the lock click. The silence was deafening, but his heart was beating so loud. He felt chills and he hid his shaking hands in his pockets. The door creaked. Derek slowly opened it and peeked outside. Nigel held his breath to prepare himself for the worst. When Derek continued opening the door carefully and his other three friends followed and stepped outside, he and Joseph also followed next to them. Every step was calculated. They were afraid to make any sound. Derek made his way to the railings of the second floor and looked down.

He quickly stepped back. He was distressed as he gestured a hand signal to the others. Nigel instantly got what he was saying after hearing the nearby guttural sounds; and that they should take another way. Derek led the way through the hallway with noticeable blood stains.

They chose to step on the cleared path, avoiding the debris, materials, or anything on the floor that could make noise. Until they reached the metal sliding doors of the elevator at the end. Derek with all his force slid his fingers in between the small gap in between the doors and separated the door, revealing the hoistway. Good thing it didn't make a lot of noise in the process. Quickly, Derek looked down to the roof of the elevator car on the ground floor.

"It's clear. Let me go down first," he whispered. He reached for the metal stairs mounted on the wall of the hoistway and climbed down. The women followed down next. Minutes later, while Noah was climbing down, Nigel and Joseph, who were both still at the doorway looked at each other.

"You go first," Nigel said.

"No. You go first."

"Joseph—"

"I insist. Just please go first."

"Just stay near me, okay?" Nigel surrendered. He reached for the ladder, jumped to it, and moved down.

Nigel was anxious. He immediately started moving. He held onto the cold metal bars and climbed down as fast as he could until a few seconds later, he reached the roof of the elevator car stuck on the ground floor. Joseph then followed and climbed down. Derek, on the other hand, slowly opened the escape hatch and peeked inside the elevator car.

Inside, the door was closed. Noah volunteered first to jump inside. With his machete, he inserted it in between the sliding doors and used all of his force to pull the handle to the right, causing the sliding doors to separate. But as the doors opened, Noah froze, dropped his machete, and then he screamed.

"Help me back up!" he pleaded as he reached out his arms for them.

Derek and the others quickly lent their hands and caught Noah's. Together, they pulled him back up but Noah was too heavy and the sweat of their arms and hands was affecting the tightness of their grip. Noah was crying, begging for them to pull him up until he began moving violently as he screamed in pain.

Nigel witnessed everything. He saw how the zombies flooded the elevator and feasted on the lower torso of Noah. He saw how they tore his flesh and bathed in his blood. Noah's upper body slipped off of the hands of Derek and the girls. And then they watched how Noah fell into the horde and disappeared as the zombies hungrily feasted over his flesh. Everyone was in shock. No words came out of their mouths as they watched the naked zombies pull the flesh, gnaw the bones, and drink the blood of Noah.

Joseph pulled Nigel closer and whispered. "We need to go now."

And they rushed to the ladder and quickly climbed up. Derek and the others, in fear of losing their lives in one of the most horrible ways, climbed back up to the second floor.