“Chase!”

I almost couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop. My adrenaline was surging through my body like crazy. I could feel it pumping through every limb. I hacked at the smashed head one last time, and the blade on the hockey stick lodged into the gash. I needed to step on its shoulders and pull with both hands to free my new weapon of choice.

Then I ran.

Chapter Fifteen

Greece Ridge Mall turned out not to be the sanctuary I’d hoped. Allison and I were now inside a mall with zombies, and no closer to saving my kids than we had been when on the road. There was no more time to kill. I needed to figure out how to get to my ex’s house, fast.

“We need to get out of here,” Allison said.

There had been a zombie movie I’d seen. People gathered and took refuge inside a mall. Maybe that had been part of the reason I’d thought to come this way. The weapons in the sporting goods store influenced the decision, sure. The difference had been that the zombies were outside the mall. Not shoppers and employees and . . .

“Mall security,” I said. “We need to get to the food court.”

“Security isn’t going to be able to help us,” she said.

We squatted by the Piercing Pagoda Kiosk. Right now, I didn’t see a single zombie in the mall’s aisles. Maybe they were all inside the various stores. Maybe the few we’d led into the sporting goods store were it. Wherever they were, I was thankful for the reprieve. I worked on calming my breathing, settling my nerves. “I don’t want security’s help. I want their guns. The keys to their vehicles.”

Arming mall security guards came not long after the town curfew. Teens under 18 were not allowed to be in the mall without an adult. It was meant to keep riff-raff to a minimum. Worked for a while. The gangs of teens had people 18 years old with them, and so by the mall’s own rules, could stay. And wreak havoc. And did in fact, wreak havoc. For some time, Greece Police kept a presence as well. Eventually, they needed to pull back. The town was too large to tie up officers patrolling the inside of a mall.

“But the roads. You saw how bad they were. We won’t get a mile in one of those pick-up trucks,” she said.

“Even a mile, driving, is better than a mile walking. Safer.”

She pursed her lips, nodded. She agreed. “Okay. The food court.”

When I had been a kid, this mall used to be two separate malls. A transformation took place in 1994. The two were joined. The extension that connected them was filled with additional stores, and at the center -- a huge food court was added. In total, the place took up over 1.6 million square feet. We were at one end of the mall. Had to go halfway, since the security office was located in the food court.

I lifted my head and peered around spinning displays of gold earrings and necklaces. I still did not see a single zombie around. “If we stay close to the center of the aisle, we have plenty of plants, and garbage receptacles and kiosks to hide behind. Looks like nothings out here, but we’re gonna move like the military, okay? I go, I check the area, and then you go -- moving past me to the next spot to hide behind. You check the area, then I’ll pass you and move on to the next spot. See what I’m saying?”

She nodded. “I get it. Like S.W.A.T.”

“Exactly. Like S.W.A.T.”

She had no weapon at all. I had the blood and brained hockey stick. I should give it to her. Would she be able to swing it hard enough to kill a zombie? Truth is, if I kept it, I’d have a better chance of saving her and me, should another attack occur. That was just a fact. Or was it that I just trusted myself more than I trusted her? No matter. I was keeping it. Decided.

I took out my cell phone. No new calls. I sent a fast text to my daughter: Daddy’s coming. Stay where you are!

“Anything?” Allison asked.

I just looked at her. “You ready?”

She let out a breath of air that made her hair blow. “As I’ll ever be.”

“I’ll go first. You see anything, don’t yell. Okay? No yelling.”

She frowned, clearly not happy with so much instruction. I wish she understood, while I hoped to get us safely from point A to point B, my kids were the priority. She had to concede to doing things my way. No questions asked, or I’d leave her ass behind. It was that simple. I didn’t want to have to say it though. I just needed her to know it.

“On three?” she said.

“What?”

“You going on three?”

I closed my eyes for one long second, avoided shaking my head. “On three.”

“One, two,” she said, and then silently mouthed, “three.”

I stayed hunkered forward and ran around and past a Pagoda, and stopped at the table and three 7-foot poster stands that promoted the fitness center near the movie theater at the extreme opposite end of the mall. The posters provided excellent cover. I could stand and be hidden. I didn’t. I stayed low. I did a 360 and made sure nothing saw my short sprint. Didn’t seem like anything had. My heart was racing once again. The calming I’d done earlier, forgotten. The blood was pumping fast. My cheeks felt hot.

Inside Burlington, I saw two zombies. They wandered aimlessly amidst racks of marked down clothing. They looked hapless, and bored, resembling live shoppers as far as I was concerned. They seemed preoccupied with absolutely nothing. I had not attracted their attention.

The last thing I needed was for them to see Allison when she ran. I spun around, looking toward the Sprint store, and Abbotts Ice Cream. The west aisle was clearer, best I could tell.

I tried to use my hands to explain I wanted Allison to run on the opposite side of the Pagoda--not taking the same path I’d used. I snaked my hand toward the right, and waved her on.

I saw it in her eyes. She had no idea what I was trying to communicate. None. I gave her some credit. What I did with my hand resembled bad charades. I kept at it. I used two hands to wave her in on my left side, and then shook my head, NO. On the right side of my body, I did it again with my hands, and nodded vigorously, YES.

She nodded. Thank God. She moved to the other side of the Pagoda, and then found me with her eyes. I looked all around, thought it was safe, and nodded with a simple wave of my hand.

Staying low, she ran toward me, and was about to kneel next to me.

The plan forgotten.

“Keep going, to the next area,” I whispered. “Go, go.”

Allison looked toward Burlington. I know she saw the zombies inside, because her eyes opened wider.

“Go,” I said. “Stop behind the next kiosk.”

She ran. I watched. I tried to see everything at once. When Allison stopped, sat, rested her back against the wristwatch kiosk, I inhaled deeply, and sighed silently. When she waved me to her, I shook my head. She had not scanned the area for zombies at all.

This was not going to be simple.

Chapter Sixteen

Somehow we’d managed to leapfrog our way from the Pagoda kiosk to a center aisle kiosk that sold electric cigarette kits. This time, instead of running past Allison, I stopped and dropped beside her.

We both were breathing heavy. Sweat rolled down her forehead. She wiped it from her brow with a forearm. “I’m not sure how much more I can do,” she said.

“We’re there. Security is just around the corner. Once we get into their office, we’re bound to find weapons. At least keys to one of their patrol vehicles.” I knelt, ready to make a break for it.

“It’s not what I mean,” she said. “I’m not sure how much more of this I can do. Running. Hiding.”

I shook my head. “So what? You’re going to give up? Just sit here and wait for one of those things—or a group of them—to find you? You saw them take down that guy in the parking lot, the people at work. You don’t have much of a choice. We’re going to arm ourselves and get out of here.”