89.4 Zombie Radio

"Does anyone even know where the security office is?" I asked. This was the first time I had ever been to this mall, how was I supposed to know? I turned around and it didn't look like anyone had any answers for me.

"Well this is just great, we don't even know where this idiot is," I said. "How are we supposed to find him, if we don't even know where he is!?"

"Calm down Jessie, its going to be alright," Bob replied.

"How do you know Bob!? You don't! So don't tell me that, until you know!" I yelled.

"Jessie, just calm down, okay? Yelling isn't going to help us any," Layla said. "I know its not easy, but we have to stay calm."

"Whatever, let's just go find him. I just want to get this over with and finish shopping," I said. We started to make our way down the hall and I saw the sign for the next store. It was a big, lighted sign that read "The Armory."

"What's that store? Is that like a weapon store?" I asked.

"Yea, they have like knives, and swords, and that kind of thing," Lucas answered. "I got this!" Lucas held up a weird weapon that I didn't exactly know the name of, but it had a little spike ball connected by a chain to a wooden handle. I had seen them before, I just didn't know what they were called.

"Lucas, you are going to hurt yourself with that thing," I scolded.

"That's what I told him Jessie," Layla added.

"I'll be fine," Lucas replied.

"Would it be okay if I looked around in there?" Dalton asked.

"Let's go! I actually want to look too," I told him. We walked inside the store and started to look around. I noticed one of the display cases was broken, and asked Layla what had happened.

"Oh, Lucas over there decided it would be fun to break it with his new little toy," she answered. I looked down through the glass and spotted a beautiful dagger. It looked like it was made out of pure silver, and it was decorated with gorgeous amethysts and diamonds. I had to have it, I loved daggers, but I wasn't digging through the broken glass to get it.

"Lucas! Get over here! You're getting me this Dagger, because you just had to go and break this display case!" I yelled. Lucas came over with a guilty smile on his face and cleared some of the glass away with his foot. Then he grabbed the dagger and handed it to me.

"Here you go, sorry about that," he said.

"Its fine," I told him.

"Jessie! I think I found it!" Dalton exclaimed. I made my way over to where he was to see exactly what he had found. It was a long, thin sword with a steel ball on the end of the handle and sharpened on both sides. Bob walked up behind me and started to explain what it was exactly.

"Ah, that's what they used to call a "bastard" sword. See how the handle is big enough for one or two hands? That's where it got its name, because they couldn't say whether it was a one or two handed weapon," he explained.

"Okay, I don't care Bob, but Dalton, that is an awesome sword. Its totally you," I said. "I'm not calling it by its name though." Dalton picked up the sword and started to examine it.

"Well, in more recent times they just called it a long sword. I just think bastard sword is much cooler," Bob added.

"Well, I'm going to call it a long sword. You call it whatever you want," I said.

"Do they have maybe something that I could use to carry this around with? Like on my back or something?" Dalton asked.

"I seen some stuff like that over on that shelf over there," Lucas replied. Dalton made his way over to the shelf and started digging through the contents. It didn't take long before he had found what he was looking for. He adjusted the strap and slung it over his back.
"It looks good on you," I told him.

"You look like a fucking Lord of the Rings super dork," Trevor said.

"Wow," Dalton replied. I could tell he might have been just a little self conscious after that comment.

"Don't listen to that idiot, its nice," I said. Just then, the lights went out again. I had almost forgotten about the entire situation. This message was a little different though. It wasn't the same creepy voice from earlier. It was the sound of a girl's muffled screams. After a minute or so, the evil laugh started behind it, and then the message cut off. The lights turned back on and we were all left to wonder what was even going on.

"Okay, that was pretty fucked," Dean said.

"It sounds like he got somebody, but who could it be? The screams were definitely female. There are five girls altogether in our group. I'm here and Jessie's here, that means its either Roxy, Riley or that other girl," Layla explained.

"Its not Roxy, I almost guarantee you that," Bob said. "There's also that Celeste girl too. Aiden ran off with her, and there was only two of them."

"That's a good point," Lucas added. "I have a bad feeling about this whole thing."

"Let's just try and keep our heads," Carter said. "Whoever this is, is trying to scare us into doing something stupid."

"I find it crazy that in the zombie apocalypse, I'm more freaked out by the people still alive, than I am by the zombies themselves," Bob said.

"Who says it isn't a zombie?" I asked. "I saw a zombie that could talk."

"No you didn't," Dean said, irritated at my comment.

"Dean, if this turns out to be one of the talking zombies, I am going to punch you right in that big burn on your arm," I said. "And I think it is, that little girl set me up from the start. She had the other zombies hiding behind stuff, and waited for just the right time to bring them out."

"I really hope that isn't true Jessie," Bob said.

"Bob, I'm not lying, it happened," I told him.

"I wish I didn't believe you Jessie," he replied. "I wouldn't be as nervous about the whole thing if I thought you were making it up."

"I still think you hallucinated that whole thing," Dean said. "You were scared, and I'm sure the situation you were in made your mind play some tricks on you."

"I cannot wait to punch you Dean," I told him. "I might just do it anyways, even if I'm not right about this."

We left the Armory and started walking through the halls of the mall, trying to find where this creep who was sending these little messages was. I felt sorry for whoever it was he had kidnapped already. I didn't want to think about what they were doing to her by now. Who could it be though? I knew Bob was right, Roxy would never let something like that happen to her. That girl was as tough as they come. It had to be Celeste, Riley, or that Raven girl who never said anything. Was Raven even her real name?

"Stop," Bob said.

"Why, what is it?" I asked.

"I hear something coming this way," he replied. We all took cover at the corner of the wall. I heard footsteps approaching, and they were coming quickly. I set my bags down, and got ready to hit whatever was headed our way with my skateboard. Dalton touched my shoulder and got in front of me, his hand on the sword he had just found. What a sweetheart, he was looking out for me. The footsteps were right on top of us, and Bob whipped around the corner before I had time to think. He had his bat cocked back and ready to swing at whatever was approaching.That's when I heard a scream that was very human. Bob dropped the bat in mid swing.

"You guys had me going for a second there," Bob said.

"Sorry," said the voice from behind the wall. It was Aiden and Celeste. Well that eliminated Celeste from the list. Now it was down to either Riley or Raven.

"What the hell is going on around here?" Celeste asked.

"You're guess is as good as ours love," Carter replied. We didn't have time to discuss the current events before the lights went off again.

"Attention all shoppers," said the voice. "We have a very special guest this evening. Its someone I'm sure you all know."

"Somebody fucking help me!" the girl screamed. The creep just laughed and continued talking.

"Oh, she was so quiet up until now," he said. "I'm still here, and I'm still watching. I have a message for you. I'll leave you a gift, in the square, in ten minutes. One more thing, my friends are getting bored. They want to go for a walk."

The lights remained off and the intercom was still on. You could hear the girl start pleading with the freak not to do what he was about to do. Then there was a clear snipping sound, followed by one of the most blood curdling screams I had ever heard. The creep just laughed and then the message cut off. The lights turned back on, leaving us all to wonder what we had just heard.

"Okay, its official, I'm scared now," Lucas said.

"You're a fucking pussy," Trevor said. "Layla, stick with me, it will be okay."

I looked over at Bob, who didn't seem very happy after that comment. I think I was missing something here. From what I had observed, Trevor was a jerk. I could tell Bob wanted to hit him for something he said. I just wasn't sure if it was the Lucas insult, or the thing about Layla. I decided to try and calm him down somehow. I didn't want all the boys fighting each other, especially not during this. I walked over to Bob and lowered my voice so only he could hear me.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," he replied.

"No something is, its all over you're face. Just tell me," I said. He hesitated before he gave me an answer.

"Jessie, I'm gonna fuck that guy up. I can't stand him," he explained.

"Who, Trevor? He's a jerk, I know. Just let it go for now, okay? Wait till we get out of this place okay? We have to stick together," I told him.

"You're right," he said. "You're always right aren't you?"

"Yep," I said smiling at him. "Now let's go kick some bum!" I exclaimed.

"Alright, maybe I'll feel better after that," he said. "Thanks Jessie."

"Who do you think he has now?" I heard Dean ask. "And what did he mean by his friends want to go for a walk?"

"I'm telling you, its one of the talking ones!" I yelled. "His friends are probably a big swarm of zombies!"

"If my theory is correct, he has Raven," Layla said. "He said she was quiet up until that point. We all know Riley would have never shut up if she got kidnapped, and I've altogether ruled out Roxy. I think she would have used at least five more cuss words before that message ended."

"Okay, well we have that. Now, where is this square he was talking about?" Aiden asked.

"I know it, its in the middle of the mall. There's a big skylight, a fountain and a huge ring of stores. We've only seen maybe one forth of this place so far," Dean explained.

"Well lead the way Dean," Bob said. "Everyone stay on your toes, If this bastard's friends show up, we need to be ready."

We started to follow Dean down the hall, and to the square. I could see the skylight Dean was talking about from where we were, and that's when the lights when out again. It wasn't as dark this time, because of the sunlight coming through. Just like always, the intercom switched on, and that creepy voice started echoing throughout the mall.

"Attention all shoppers, your gift has been delivered," it said. It was a short but chilling message. When the lights came back on, we ran into the square to see what exactly this "gift" was. Something told me it wasn't a new pair of shoes. When I seen what it was, I nearly threw up. I might have actually done it, if I had more in my stomach. This was maybe the one time I was glad to be starving.

The "gift" was Raven's headless corpse laying on the top of the fountain. The waters of the fountain were dyed red with her blood, and her head was lying at the bottom on the ledge. The closer I got, the more gruesome details I started to notice. Whoever did this took the time to cut all of her fingers and toes off. Bob walked over to the head and took a look at it. Her eyes had been sown shut. It was clear that she died a slow and painful death. There wasn't time to cry now. I was starting to get used to people dying around me, and I knew the creep watching just wanted me to be scared. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"There's a note in her mouth," Bob said as he pulled it out from between her lips. "It says: My friends are on their way."

"Fuck this!" Dean yelled. There was something coming from down the hall, it was in a hurry to get where we were too. I looked over and was pleasantly surprised to see everybody else headed our way.

"Shit ya'll I told you that's what that shit was gonna be!" Kwame exclaimed. "Didn't I tell ya'll mothahfuckahs? I have seen too many mothafuckin' horror movies to not know this type of shit! I'll be next too, since I'm mothahfuckin' black and shit."

"Wasn't Raven with you?" Bob asked. "What happened?"

"Shit, I was over here trying to holla at old girl, and this dude was busy writin' shit down or whatever. So I don't got a mothahfuckin' clue how it went down. Shit, I didn't even notice she was gone till the mothahfuckin' lights went off the second time. Girl's so fuckin' quiet and shit," Kwame explained.

"I'm sorry, I was a bit absorbed in my journal, and stopped paying attention. I'm just as to blame as he is," Gabe said.

"We don't have time to point fingers, she should have been more careful," Jack added.

"Its like I said, every man, woman and child for their fucking selves," Roxy said.

"Well, I guess nobody knows where this security office is now do they?" I asked. "We should split up again and go look for it. I think we'll cover more ground that way."

"That's a good idea Jessie," Bob replied. Just as he went to say something else, he was interrupted by the familiar sound of approaching zombies. We all readied ourselves for the coming fight. From what I could tell, they were coming from two directions.

"Bob! Cover that side and I'll take this one! Everyone else, just get in the middle and fire at anything that looks like its trying to kill us! And for the love of God, don't shoot anybody in the back!" Jack yelled.

It didn't take long before they were close enough to fire at. I stood behind Dalton, who still had my gun. As far as I was concerned, he could keep it. Everyone with a gun got in a line, shoulder to shoulder, and shot into the attacking horde. After everything had gone down, Jack, Roxy, and Bob moved down the halls and finished off everything on the ground. I decided to help out and bash a few in the head with my skateboard. It felt good to take some aggression out.

"Well, that seemed almost too easy didn't it?" Jack said. "Where were these sons of bitches hiding? And why didn't they come out earlier?"

"Does anyone believe me yet? The guy watching is a talking zombie! They have some sort of control over the other ones!" I yelled. "He probably set it up this way!"

"I think you're right Jessie," Dr.Grant said. "You've seen one of these before?"

"Yea! It was this creepy little girl with a black mark on her head!" I exclaimed. "Nobody really believed me then, but I'm telling you, this is the same thing!"

"I believed you Jessie," Brock replied.

"Brock, you believe anything a pretty girl says," Roxy added.

"Yea, you got me there," Brock said.

"Well, I say the plan sticks. Now lets split into two groups and go looking through this mall until we find this creep," I told everyone. "And let's hurry, because I'm not done shopping. Oh, and I'm not staying the night here either. This place is way too creepy for that now."

"Well, let's just keep the groups the same as they were before," Bob said. "The security office is probably on the first floor somewhere, so that's where we should start."

We all agreed to Bob's plan, and we split back into two groups. Before we left, the lights went out, and we all prepared for yet another message.

"Attention all shoppers, I hope you're all having fun out there. Me? I'm havin' a ball. But I think its time for the fun to come to a dramatic conclusion. All good things must come to an end sooner or later. I'm sure I'll be seeing you all real soon."

The message ended, only this time the lights didn't come back on. It appeared this creep's plan was to hunt us all down while we couldn't see. That feeling crawled into my throat, and I knew this was not going to be easy. We needed to find him, before he found us.

"Everyone stay close to somebody. If we use the buddy system, we should be okay," Jack said. After that, both groups went their separate ways. Bob pulled out a flashlight he had found somewhere earlier, and put some batteries in it.

"You finally got batteries for that thing huh?" Layla asked trying to hold back laughing.

"Yea, found them in the last house. Didn't want to make that mistake again," Bob replied.

"What are you two talking about?" Lucas asked.

"Nothing," Layla answered. There was clearly an inside joke here that they weren't letting us in on, but I didn't care. I was too busy watching the light in front, and praying to God I didn't see anything move in front of it. Eight people, a dog and one flashlight is not exactly an ideal situation. Nimel hadn't left my side yet, and I was relying on his ability to see in the dark to help guide me.

"Grab my hand Jessie," Dalton said. "I don't want you to get left behind."

"I won't Dalton, I'm not helpless, but thank you," I told him as I took him up on his offer. Why on Earth would I turn down that opportunity? We made our way a little further down the hall. Everybody stayed for the most part completely silent. All you could hear was the person in front of you breathing, and that made the situation more tense than anything. Nimel suddenly stopped walking and glared straight ahead. I stopped to see what was wrong with him.

"Why'd you stop?" Dalton whispered.

"Nimel stopped, I think he saw something," I replied. Just then, I looked up where the flashlight was pointed and saw something dash across the hall. I tried to warn Bob, but it was too late, whatever it was had already swatted the flashlight out of his hand. Bob yelled something I couldn't quite make out, and I heard the scuffle ahead of me. I knew something bad was going on, but I couldn't see what exactly it was. This was not good. He found us, or maybe it was just more of his "friends." Nimel didn't waste anytime in backing out of there. I was relying on him to be my eyes in this case, so I let him lead the way, and dragged Dalton along with me.

"Where are we going Jessie? I think we're going away from them," Dalton said.

"I'm just following Nimel," I answered. "He seems to know where he's going."

A few random turns later, and we were in a part of the mall I knew not many people ventured. There were TV's lined up on one wall, none of them were on, but I could tell what they were by the outline of them. We took a few steps in and I heard the door close behind us.

"Please tell me you did that Dalton," I said.

"I was going to say the same thing," he replied. Now it was clear, we had found the man we were looking for, but this was not the ideal situation to try and fight him. There was no way we'd be able to properly aim a gun at him. All I could see were outlines of things, and in the dark, everything starts to take human shape.

"Well hello there," said a voice from somewhere in the room. It was the same voice we had heard earlier over the intercom. Nimel started to growl at something, but I couldn't see what it was.

"Let's play a game shall we? I'm all by myself these days. All my friends are gone and I have nobody to play with," it explained. "I want to play one of my favorite games, its called hot and cold. I'm sure you've both played it before. You look around the room, and I'll tell you how hot or cold you are. The warmer you get, the closer you are to me."

"Jessie, do not let go of my hand," Dalton whispered. I nodded in approval, as I was too afraid to talk. Dalton took out his sword and I clutched my skateboard.

"Oh, that's a mighty fine sword you've got there. Maybe after this game, we can play medieval knights. That sounds like lots of fun. Your girlfriend can be the damsel in distress," said the creep. "Oh, and right now you're ice cold."

Dalton started to slowly explore the room, and I stayed right by his side. Nimel followed and growled at everything he saw. He knew something was wrong, just as well as we did.

"You're freezing," said the voice. Dalton stopped and turned around and we started to make our way toward the security monitors.

"You're getting warmer. You're still cold, but you're getting warmer," the voice informed. Dalton stood right in front of the monitors and I noticed he was trying to see maybe a reflection of somebody or something in them.

"You're getting warmer," the voice informed. Dalton looked around and seen a little closet in the corner. He nodded to me, to see if I seen the same thing, and I nodded back. We started to make our way over towards it, and the voice once again updated us on our position.

"You're hot," it said. "A few more steps and you'll be burning up."

Dalton let go off my hand and clutched his sword with two hands. He walked over right in front of the closet, and stabbed into the darkness.

"Did you get him?" I whispered.

"I don't know," he replied.

"You're on fire!" the voice yelled. Just then, I felt something hit me hard in the side and take me down to the ground. I looked into the face of what had been messing with us this entire time. It looked like an old, balding security guard. His eyes were completely blank, and a sadistic smile spread from ear to ear. I held him back by the throat and could hear Dalton trying to find us in the dark. I would scream if he wasn't choking me and drooling blood all over the shirt I just got.

I fought with everything I had, but I was slowly running out of air. Nimel tried to get him off of me, but the creep saw him and knocked him aside. I could hear him whimper in pain. I felt something stabbing me in the leg, and reached my free hand down to see what it was. It was the dagger I had just picked up. I pulled it out and stabbed the creep through the roof of his mouth. Then I put my other hand on the dagger and used it to hold him back. He was still alive, and trying to kill me, but now I could finally get Dalton's attention, and help him find us on the ground.

"Dalton! He's right here!" I screamed. Dalton looked and finally saw us. He put both hands on the handle and swung at the creep's neck. The blade went halfway through and stopped, making the victim look like a reject Pez dispenser. Dalton kicked him off of me and took one more chop down, completely severing the creep's head from his body. It was finally over. I did what I could to catch my breath, and Dalton walked over to help me up.

"I just got this shirt!" I yelled. "Why do these stupid things always have to attack me!? Why can't they attack someone else for once!?"

"I don't know Jessie, but I'm glad you're okay," Dalton said. "Let's find the lights and get them back on."

I started calling for Nimel as Dalton searched for the lights. He came trotting over and licked my face before I could even see him. I was glad he was okay, and I was glad that stupid creep got what he deserved for hurting my dog. Dalton found the lights and flipped them on. The lights hurt my eyes when they came back on, but I had never been so glad to see them. I looked down at the creep's head. He was still smiling that creepy smile, the same dead look locked in his eyes, but something else immediately caught my eye. It was the same black mark that the little girl had.

"Dalton!" I yelled. "Come here! I told you it was true! Look! The black mark!" Dalton came over as quick as he could.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "It's like it's burned into his skull!"

"Wait till I show this to Dean! He thought his arm was sore before," I said. It didn't take long before Bob and the others found us.

"Look Bob! The Black mark! I told you it was true," I yelled.

"I'm glad you're loud," he replied. "It makes it easy to find you. Anyways, that scares me. Some of these things can talk and think? This is a fucking nightmare."

"I guess I believe you now," Dean moaned. I walked over to him and punched him right on the bandage covering his arm. He screamed in pain and I laughed with delight.

"That will teach you to think I'm hallucinating," I told him.

"Sorry, okay!? I believe you now. Jesus Christ you hit hard for a girl!" Dean yelled. I laughed again and then apologized for hurting him. It was fun messing with Dean, but I wasn't much for hurting my friends. It made me feel bad, but I knew it was the only way he would learn not to doubt me.

"Bob, what happened to you guys back there?" I asked.

"We got ambushed by some of this asshole's friends," he replied. "What happened to you guys?"

"Well, we followed the dog into here and this dude tried to kill us," Dalton said.

"He played the hot and cold game with us!" I yelled.

"That sounds freaky!" Layla replied.

"We'll catch up on the details later, let's just get out of here for now and find everybody else," Bob said. Nobody argued with Bob this time. Not even me, and I loved arguing with him. We needed to find everyone else, and get out of here... When I was done shopping.