When Your Hope Is Gone... Just Hold On.

None of this was making any sense. I have been trying to call Mr. and Mrs. Galloway for a long time and neither of them are answering their cellphones or their house phone. I bit my nail nervously as I sat by myself. Everyone was restless. Jesse was pacing, Linzi was sitting with the girl who still barely spoke a word.

"Nail biter too huh?" My head snapped up and my eyes connected with Joe's.
"Just when I'm nervous." I said and wrapped my arms around my knees.
"Mind if I sit down?" He asked.
"Spots all yours." I answered as I scooted over for him.

We sat in an awkward silence as I bit my bottom lip and started to zone out again. I looked around at all the people. Most were talking amongst their friends and family all sitting in our own areas. I just decided to sit alone because I'm usually like that, by choice, and because I didn't really know anyone.

"Do you have any siblings here with you? Friends? Family?" He asked. I looked at him and shook my head no. My eyes stayed locked with his.
"I'm alone." I answered.
"Do you live here?" He asked.
I bit my lip as I shook my head no and looked away.
"I'm sure whoever you're staying with is fine..." Joe tried to comfort me but I just shook my head no.
"I came here to bury my friend and now if I even make it out of here, I might be burying them too." I spoke softly. I looked down at my converses as a tear escaped my eye.
"I'm sorry to hear about your friend. That must be tough." He spoke genuinely.

I didn't want to talk about this. I didn't want to cry infront of a bunch of strangers. I hated crying in front of friends and relatives. I'd feel awkward crying in front of people I barely know.

"Why are you here? Do you live here?" I asked to change the subject. My eyes reconnected with his stunning eyes.
"Touring. Well... We were." He said and leaned his head back on the wall.
"You're in a band?" I asked. Then it dawned on me. "Wait... Jonas?" I asked and he smiled as he laughed a bit.
"Yeah." He replied.
"Sorry, I guess this whole thing didn't even make me notice." I replied.
"Nah, don't be. Kind of feels good to feel normal for once. Not having people jump all over us." He replied. I nodded and wiped away the tear stain.

"So how old are you?" He asked.
"17." I answered.
"19." He replied. "So is your full name Annamolly or is one a middle name?" He asked.
"Nope full name." I answered honestly.
"Its a nice name."He smiled at me. Something inside of me felt different. It was happiness. Something I was starting to forget. He could make me smile and laugh. I knew I would become good friends with him throughout this... disaster.

We became silent and everyone elses conversations filled my ears.

"We'll never get out of here."
"We're going to die."
"What's out there?!"
"How will we survive?!"
"What will we eat?!"

I keep trying to tune them all out but I'm not being too successful at it. I sat up straight and sat with my legs crossed. I played with my fingers as I looked down at them.

"Do you think we'll make it out of here alive? Any of us?" I asked.

Joe kept his head and back leaned against the wall with his arms crossed around his chest. He was silent and took a deep breath in.

"I sure hope so." He replied.

"Joe..." I turned my head to the sound of the speaker and saw Nick and Kevin coming toward us. Joe sat up straight and Kevin and Nick sat beside us.

"Whats going on? Do they have the mall secure?" Joe asked.

"Yeah. Linzi is positive about those doors. She said they are solid locks and a lot of them. The only thing we have to worry about is the front doors and a possible side door. Linzi thinks that one should be pretty secure too though." Kevin replied.

"What about the metal gates that come down to cover the front doors? Have they tried those?" I asked and they all looked at me.

"Linzi said they haven't worked in years. They never bothered to fix them because they never had a problem with thieves in a small town I guess. Or it apparently never phased them." Nick explained.

"Oh, sorry. Nick, Kevin, this is Annamolly. Annamolly this is Kevin and Nick." Joe introduced.
We exchanged "Nice to meet you"s and smiled.

"Alright so what about sleeping arrangements?" Joe asked.
"As far as we know all they have said is the second floor." Nick answered.
"Which is smarter because in case of them breaking in we can just hope that they are too dumb to use stairs." Kevin added.
"So... Are we seriously talking about zombies here?" I asked.
This is something I honestly can't grasp.
"Look for yourself..." Kevin responded.

I gave him a curious look and slowly stood up. I walked cautiously towards the front doors and looked through the cracks of some of the benches. I feel as if I'm watching a horror film. This is a nightmare I can't wake up from. There were zombies walking around out there and by what it looked like, there were more coming.

"Its the sickness the news was talking about." Linzi said as she came up beside me.
"You think it is a disease. Doing all of this? Destroying these people?" I asked.
"Maybe they were tested on. I don't know, but something isn't right about this." Linzi spoke and I nodded my head in agreement.

"Everyone we might as well go to sleep. We can't do anything right now. Lets all head to the second floor, pick our rooms, and we can close the gates to keep ourselves safe." Jesse called out to everyone. Everyone began to move with him. Chatter filled around with people. I can't believe they are going to trap themselves.

"Are you crazy?!" I shouted and everyone stopped moving and looked at me. "What happens if these zombies do break in?! Shouldn't we have someone guard or something?" I exclaimed.

"If we are all upstairs and locked inside the stores we won't have to worry about it. Haven't you seen the horror films? They're not smart." Jesse said and people began to agree.

"And if they aren't dumb? What if they can climb these stairs. Are you really willing to trap yourselves like rats and make the chance of survival go down?!" I asked.

Murmurs of people started to fill my ears. I don't know exactly what they are saying, but I have a feeling they are taking what I said into consideration.

"Then what would you have us do? Have people stay here on guard and if they break in have them killed?" Jesse asked.

I bit my lip and looked at the ground. I guess I didn't think of that, but I just can't find myself trapping myself like a rat.

"What about the security room?" Joe said. We all looked at him and I gave him a thankful look for helping me out. He gave me a small smile in return.

"What about it?" Jesse asked.

"Well... We only have what? 10 people here at a max? Linzi how big is the security room?" Joe asked.

"Its pretty big." She replied.

"Would we still have access to the mall for any supplies needed or anything in case of them breaking into the mall?" He asked.

"Well... We'd probably have to seal the doors just in case, but there are the vents we would be able to use incase of needed to go inside the mall." She informed.

"Then instead of locking ourselves upstairs to our death like Annamolly says. Also instead of losing people who are guarding incase of a break in like Jesse said, why don't we all go into the security room where we will know we are safe, have resources, like the cameras, and be able to sleep peacefully." Joe said and I could feel the tension and worry from people around me begin to fade.

No one moved or made a sound. Everyone just took in Joe's words for a moment and thought.

"Linzi, could you lead us there?" Jesse gave in. He knew it was our only way for survival. She nodded without a word and headed up the stairs.

"Everyone follow me." She spoke and everyone began to follow.

I stood there and watched as everyone made their way up the stairs and took in a deep breath. Joe came over to me and smiled as I smiled at him.

"Thanks." I spoke.
"For what?" He asked.
"For helping me out. I felt pretty ganged on." I said and laughed a bit.
"Don't worry about it." He replied.
"That was a really good idea about the security room." I answered.
"It was the first thing to pop into my head. I guess it was the word "security" that gave me the idea." He said and I gave a short nod with a smile as he started to walk up the stairs.
He walked about half way up the stairs before turning. I didn't realize I wasn't walking.
"Hey, we're falling behind. You coming or do you want to stand there until the zombies get you?" Joe smirked and I quickly ran after him.

I am not going to become zombie dinner... Eck.