She almost laughed, the smile faltered. “And get your kids and go to Mexico. Mexico. Chase, do you realize how crazy that sounds? How impossible?”

I heard moaning. Groaning. We were not alone. Not like we had been for most of our excursion from one end of the mall to its center. Made sense the food court might be more dangerous. The smells. Probably drew them from all corners, like flies to shit.

“The alternative is giving up, Alley. Surrendering. I’m not going to do that. I can’t. You can’t either.”

“Because of your kids. I understand that. You have to keep going, keep moving. But not me,” she said.

“I’m not leaving you here. You’ll die. It’ll be a horrible death, Alley. Painful. If we end up going that way, then we go that way. You aren’t giving up this easy. Not now. Not while we have options. I won’t let you,” I said.

I watched her lip tremble. Tears pooled in her eyes. “When I say run, we’re running. Together. I’m not leaving you here. Got it?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

Had she disagreed, giving me any more problems, I would have left her. She just didn’t realize it. If she couldn’t toughen up, she was going to find herself on her own. She might think she’s tired, ready to quit. Once death faced her, I bet she’d run in the opposite direction screaming. No one gave in, gave up that easily when actually in front of death. No one. It went against natural instinct to survive.

“On three,” I said, smiling. “We got this, okay?”

“On three.” She knelt beside me.

I held a hand up, scanned as much of the mall as I could see. “I don’t see anything.”

“I hear them.”

I nodded. “I have a feeling when we round that corner; they’re going to be there.”

“So the plan?”

“We run past the Burger King, toward the restrooms, and here’s the thing – we try the security office door. If it’s unlocked, we can get in; lock ourselves inside if we’re chased.”

“Is that a good idea? Locking ourselves in there?”

“That’s if we’re being chased, and it’s unlocked. Otherwise, we get in, grab what we can. Flashlights, radios, weapons, and keys. That’s the main thing, keys.”

“And if it’s locked and we’re being chased?”

“Fire exit doors are right there. We just go out and keep running until we’re not being chased anymore. Got it?”

“On three,” she said, again.

“Yes. On three.” We counted together.

On three, we stood and ran.

We passed the Cookie Place, and Burger King, ran down the short hallway that led to both the restrooms on the right and stopped at the security door across from them. We did not need to turn to see that zombies ensued. Lots of them. Thankfully, slow runners. About the only break we’ve had so far.

I grabbed the knob and twisted. The door opened. Second break. We entered the postage-stamp sized office and closed the door, and squatted down. The room was mostly windows. If the things didn’t see us enter, they didn’t need to know where we were. From the floor, I scanned the room. A radio charging base was on the counter. Three of the five radios were missing. Two were left, and hopefully, were fully charged.

“Flashlight,” Allison said.

I followed her line of sight. It was long, looked solid, like it might be filled with six D batteries. It could serve two purposes. Light, and as a weapon.

Staying low, I tugged on cabinet drawers. They were all locked. I didn’t see guns anywhere. Which made sense. Now. The guards probably had to supply their own weapons. The mall wasn’t going to stockpile an armory. I shook my head, discouraged.

“Help me find keys.”

“What kind?”

“Keys. Any kind,” I said. “You take the flashlight.”

She carefully reached up and took it off the counter. “It’s heavy.”

“You can use it to bash a zombie’s skull, okay?”

She nodded. “The radios?”

“We’re taking those, too. But right now, keys.”

Checking anywhere that wasn’t locked inside a drawer, we came up empty. No keys. That was a strike. I really wanted a vehicle. I had to kneel to reach the radio charger. As I removed the two radios, I chanced a look at the windows and almost vomited.

They’d been quiet. Maybe just watching us. Like they were at a zoo, and we were animals in a display. At least ten zombies, hands and faces pressed against the glass. Bile and blood and filth scummed up the windows.

“Okay,” I said, sitting on the floor next to Allison, our backs pressed against the door. “We’re kinda screwed.”

“Why? What?” She said. “They’re all out there, aren’t they?”

I nodded.

“A lot?”

“A lot.”

Allison turned on one of the radios. It squawked. Chirped. Then static hissed through the tiny speaker. She depressed the button on the side. “Hello, anyone? Hello?”

When she released the button, more static. She spun the top knob, switching channels and repeated her greeting.

“Maybe they’re short wave. Reach out only a mile or so?” I said.

“What do we do, I mean, how are we going to get out of this room. It feels like a coffin now.”

It did feel like a coffin. I felt claustrophobic. Tried to control my breathing. Unless these things got bored, we were literally trapped. Stuck in place. Making a run for it would never work. There were too many. And they held the advantage being on the opposite side of the door.

A loud bang sound. Not like a gunshot, but as if something crashed, fell over. I snuck a peak, kneeling. “Well, that got their attention,” I said, sliding back beside Allison.

“What’s that mean?”

“The things, they all looked to see what the commotion was, too. Some even wandered toward the sound.”

Alley smiled. “They did?”

“Don’t get all happy. A few left. The rest--they’re still right outside this office.”

“Nah. I got an idea. Watch this.” Allison crawled toward the counter, reached up and came back with a microphone on a stand. She held down the button on the base, and started shouting. Her voice echoed throughout speakers hung in the mall. “Anything?”

I looked at the window. “You’ve got their attention. Thing is, there’s a speaker right outside here. Think there’s a way to isolate what part of the mall gets the transmission?”

“The switchboard?”

I went to where she had retrieved the microphone. The small switchboard had levers that were labeled. There were stores, and sections--north, south, west, and east. This might work, I realized. J.C. Penny was the biggest store, opposite the food court. I toggled the switch, and nodded at Allison.

When she yelled, it was too loud. The creatures outside the security office banged on the glass, and walls. “A little softer,” I said. The things weren’t going to investigate noise far away, when she made enough noise to hold their interest right here.

Allison turned her back, hovered over the microphone, and tried again. It was perfect. While I heard her voice out in the mall, I barely heard her, and I sat right next to her. I looked at the switchboard, and found the volume knob. I turned it up. “Keep going,” I said.

I turned to look at our visitors. Most were gone. Not all. But most. I tried not to make any eye contact. I felt like that might engage them. I don’t know if that mattered, or if they just smelled our life. I wanted to do as little as possible to have them attracted to us. Right now, avoiding eye contact was about all I could think to stop.

“They leaving?” Allison said.

“Yeah. Don’t stop.” I closed my eyes. Kept them shut and didn’t move at all. I tried to control my breathing, taking slow shallow breaths. Inside my head, I counted to sixty. When I opened my eyes, they were gone. The remaining few zombies had left. “I think we’re clear. Don’t stop. Not yet.”

I chanced a look. The last of the zombies left the area, entering the food court, a compound fracture at the ankle left the foot dragging behind with each pull of its leg.