Chapter Seven
Melbourne
Melbourne Mall
2200 hours
Alex moaned in pain, his head swollen. He knew he wouldn’t have made it through the gate; he did it because he had always been told that it doesn’t hurt to try. Boy, were they wrong. When he finally opened his eyes, it took him a moment to realize he had opened them at all. It was black. Very black, so much so that his hand was barely outlined two feet away. Looking what appeared to be up, Alex could see the moon through the glass windows on the roof. He heard shuffling next to him
“Well… how are we supposed to get out now?” Andrew whispered. The sudden darkness seemed to give everyone the chills.
“Well, it’s designed to keep everyone out, so I presume it keeps in just as well,” Martin responded. He felt for the floor and sat down against the metal bars.
“This wouldn’t suck as bad if I could see a bit,” Andrew replied. He wanted out fast. Everything felt like it was closing around him, and he couldn’t even see it. He felt claustrophobic during the nightfall. His body would respond to every noise with fear, and fear was just what he produced now. He started to sweat; adrenaline mixed with his blood to create a lightning fast agility and thought process. His vision became staggered and he started to breathe heavily. He felt like he was going crazy in the room.
Martin stood up, and slowly felt his way to his shopping cart. It was right where he had left it, about ten feet away from the metal gate. He reached down into the cart. His hand felt through all of his items he had “bought” until they reached the handle of the floodlight he had taken. It was already out of the package, and batteries were in it so people could examine the power of it.
“Alright, I found a light!” Martin lifted it, and pressed the large button on top.
The beam of light expanded outwards, revealing Alex and Andrew who were still on the ground. Alex had his eyes closed, and Andrew had his fists clenched tight, his eyes wide open, and his chest rapidly rising and falling.
“Hey mate, are you ok?” Andrew didn’t respond to Martin. He looked like he was in shock.
Alex looked over at his friend. He pushed him slightly, incase he was unconscious. Andrew looked over to him slowly, and then returned his gaze to the ceiling. Martin’s floodlight illuminated the small area in which they all where. But it didn’t show anything behind him, which scared Andrew. He felt like something was watching. He couldn’t really tell, all he knew was he needed to get out of here fast.
“Let’s go,” he whispered. Martin didn’t hear him.
“I’m sorry, what?” He leaned closer. Andrew quickly reached up and grabbed him tightly by the collar. He spoke directly into his ear.
“We need to GET OUT.” He hissed. Fear was taking over.
Martin pulled back sharply, and Andrew lost his grip on his shirt. He stumbled back and almost fell backwards when he ran into the cart. Alex grabbed Andrew.
“I don’t know what your problem is, maybe you don’t like the dark. But one thing is clear; you can’t get out of control! If you do that, it will only make things much worse.”
Martin rubbed his neck where the shirt had pulled. It was sore, but he would get over it.
“He’s right. If you only think of the dark, it will envelop and then consume you. I need you to stay calm. If you can’t do that, I don’t want you to travel with us.”
Andrew shifted his eyes back and forth quickly. He needed to get out, but at the same time, he needed friends. If he was left alone in the dark… he didn’t even want to think about such horrible fates. He had to cooperate. He needed to think of something less dark and threatening.
“Ok… but can we still try to get out of here?” He asked. He was still uptight and afraid. His heart was only now slowing down.
“Yes Andrew, but we need to find a way out first. And panic will definitely not be to our advantage here,” Martin slowly responded. “I am afraid deep down inside, also. But I can’t let that show here. If the world truly has ended, we need to work on fixing it. There has to be many more people to meet up with out there. Think about it. Three people all in Melbourne area. Was it a coincidence that we have all met up at the same time? I think not.”
Alex almost smiled. “I can almost see you someday as the guy on the podium with the speech that inspires a nation.” Martin laughed, “Let’s get to work.”
Alex followed Martin closely. He held the only light in the building. They were heading to the back of the store. The group had guessed that there would be some sort of staff entrance or utility closet that led to a way out. Andrew followed behind Alex, constantly checking the rear. He wouldn’t let anyone follow them.
Martin opened a door at the back of the store. As the door swung open, he swung the light inside to get a better look. It was a utility closet, not an exit. Not getting his hopes down, Martin entered and decided to look around. Alex and Andrew followed as close as they could. Martin shined the light at the ceiling, revealing a bare hanging light bulb. Attached to it was a long string. Alex reached forward and pulled it with a quick tug. The light flickered to life, Martin shut of his floodlight.
“Well, that’s convenient. At least the power to the mall is still working,” Alex commented. Andrew felt a whole lot better, and shut the door to the inside of the store. He felt better now, more relaxed. It gave him time to look at all the stuff on the shelf. Not much to look at actually. The shelves contained items such as cleaning utensils, construction tools, and much other not so useful stuff. Martin had his eyes on the door near the end of the small-lit room. He walked over to it and tested the handle. It was locked. He swore silently, and then walked back to Alex and Andrew.
“The door over there is locked…” Martin sighed. Alex looked at the door. It was made of metal, and the doorknob was located next to a keypad.
“Well, why don’t we force our way through?” Alex questioned. The other two looked at him.
“What do you have in mind?” Andrew asked. Alex shifted his gaze towards the tools on the shelves. He walked over to them and wrapped his fingers around a rather large sledgehammer. Taking the tool, he walked over to the door, past Martin and Alex. They both backed up, not wanting to get hit by the awesome power of the tool.
Alex pulled the hammer back over his head, and then released the power into the door handle. There was a very loud bang, but to no give. He tried again, this time the hammer hit the keypad. The coded number pad detached from the wall, and flew to the ground. Alex hit the wires where the panel had been attached this time, sparks flew from the hit. The door beeped for a second, and then slid open.
“Nice one Alex!” Martin applauded. “Now we can get the hell out of here.”
They all exited through the door, into more darkness. Martin pulled his cart through the door. He handed the light to Andrew. “Here take this. I need to push the cart to the car. Keep the light pointed in front of us, ok?” Andrew nodded quickly. It felt like a relief to be able to hold the flashlight. He pointed it ahead, revealing a water fountain, a staircase, and a map.
“I suppose we best find out where our car went too. We came out of that store a totally different way then where we came in.” Martin sighed. He pushed the cart towards the map. The wheels rattled loudly, getting rid of the horrible silence. The map was a typical “you are here” map. It showed a dot where they where, along with all the boutiques, food courts, and exits available to use.
“We came in here.” Alex pointed at the south entrance. “How do you know? Martin asked. He wanted to be sure that they didn’t waste any time. He had priorities. Getting lost in a dark spooky mall was definitely not one of them.
“I’ve been here before. We always use the south entrance.” That seemed like a good enough answer to Martin.
Andrew had been busy scanning the hallways around them for any movement. He still had that eerie feeling. He would never come to live with it in harmony. No matter how much he was exposed to the feeling, it was still pure evil to him. His light stopped on something down the hallway leading to the south entrance. Was that a plant? He squinted his eyes to get a better view. Martin and Alex were both looking at the sign still.
The object he was looking at was merely a silhouette at the moment. But it was an outline of what appeared to be a person. His heart started to race once more, and he was on edge again.
“Guys, what the hell is that?” he asked quickly. They both turned to look at the object. Martin looked closely. “That’s not a person, is it?” It was moving now. It was definitely someone. And it was coming towards them.
“Hello?” Alex called out. The person kept on moving towards them. He was about a hundred feet away.
“Please respond! Who are you?” Martin yelled out. The person’s face was now visible. It was a man; he looked to be about forty. His face showed a tired and blank complexion, his eyes stared ahead blankly. Maybe he was in shock? Martin slowly walked forward. Andrew tried to pull him back. “Don’t go to him! I think something is wrong!” He pleaded. Martin responded simply, “I know something is wrong. But nothing is going to be fixed if we just let the guy keep walking towards us. Back me up if something happens.” He walked towards the man.
“Sir, are you ok?” The eyes peered towards him. The pupils were tiny, and Martin felt the chills from them. He had a bad feeling. He was reminded of the incident Sami had talked about. The man walked towards Martin. His legs looked like they were having trouble lifting him up. Every step looked as if it was hell to take.
“Sir, can you please stop… I don’t want to hurt you, ok?” His fingers reached towards the knife on his leg. The traumatized man kept on coming, now only five feet away. He seemed to loom above Martin, a tough match in a fight.
Before Martin could say another word, the man charged forward. Martin couldn’t reach the knife in time and was struck by the rushing man. He yelped in a burst of pain. The breath was knocked out of him, and he fell to the floor. Alex rushed forward, but Andrew couldn’t move. His fear had been realized. Someone had been watching them the whole time. Alex grabbed the light from Andrew, and smashed it over the head of the man on top of Martin. It didn’t affect him whatsoever, and they continued to struggle. The crazed man’s hands tried to wrap around Martin’s throat, but Alex caught them just in time. He desperately tried to pry them away, but it was in vain. They wouldn’t budge from there position above Martin.
Martin thought through his options. He could let this asshole kill him, or he could try as hard as he could to defend himself. He took the latter of them and smashed his head against the other man’s. It hurt like hell, but it seemed to work. The man was stunned for only a moment, but it was enough time for him to push the attacker off of him. Martin scrambled up and grabbed his 4’’ KBAR. Grabbing it by the hilt, he screamed in a fit of rage and smashed it down into the assailant’s chest. He felt it sink in, cutting through the arteries and organs. The man screamed aloud for a moment, it was a horrible noise. Martin pulled the knife out, and smashed it into the heart of the man. His breathing became shallow, and then stopped.
Martin gasped for air and collapsed slowly on the ground. His rage was gone, and he was exhausted. Andrew came out of his shock and slowly started to walk towards the scene. Alex closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the man. He lay dead on the ground, cold and lifeless. He then looked at his friend. He lay on the ground, blood splattered on his shirt. Slowly Martin sat up and looked at his dead attacker. His arm reached towards the knife, and yanked it out. The sound of the knife being pulled out almost made Andrew vomit; it reminded him of smashing a watermelon or something like it. Martin slid the knife back into the sheath, and closed his eyes once more.
“Can we just get the hell out of here now?”Create a free website at Webs.com