Chapter 3: Loots, Looters, and Luke

CHAPTER 3: LOOTS, LOOTERS, AND LUKE

Coco called his girlfriend, Demy. She said she was on the 4th floor of the mall near Coco's office. She also had companions there, but they could not leave where they were because they had children with them and many infected people were wandering outside.

She sent us the address and which part of the mall she's in.

"Be careful children," Mama said then kissed Cole and me on the cheek (yes, Cole came with us because he said he didn't want us to be by ourselves alone in case someone stopped us), Chito (so that someone would be left in the car when we had to get off), and of course, Coco.

Uncle Jim came out of the house with us. He will close the gate as soon as our vehicle exits. We looked at Fred, who was in a hurry to get closer and bite us.

He had dry bloodstains on his face and his eyes were white as if he had a cataract, but it was severe. The expression on his face is like a mad dog that anytime, he will attack you. A part of his cheek was missing and the part between his neck and shoulders was also amputated.

"Old man, Fred, I give you mercy." Using the ax, Uncle Jim swung his blade. Fred's severed head fell to the ground with a thud.

(Author's Note: The term "I give you mercy" was from Z Nation. A TV show in America is mainly about zombies, and the show comes right after another TV show called Black Summer.)

I screamed at what I saw because we are not used to seeing such a scene every day, right?

Coco gagged and we hurried to leave when Uncle Jim told us to leave and that he would be the one to bury Fred.

Cole was driving and Chito was next to him. Coco and I are behind them.

No one wanted to speak. We just quietly made our way to the mall where we would pick up Demy.

"You have to have courage and be brave. We still have a lot to face like that, so we have to be strong," said Cole while driving. The three of us nodded in agreement.

We have not yet left our village, and there are already infected people scattered on the road. "Come on Cole, 3 o'clock." A woman was lying on the road with her hands raised. Her right thigh was gone and the road was covered in blood.

Cole avoided the woman and just kept driving. "Curse those drug addicts. They even spread the virus. Why can't they just hide in a cave?" said Chito.

"I can't even imagine that the zombie apocalypse will come true," said Cole.

My two older brothers kept talking there while Coco and I were just quiet here in the back.

"Shit," Coco silently sighed as he looked ahead of the car.

"Oh, shit," Cole and Chito said at the same time.

About a few kilometers from our car was the mob. The infected chased and attacked people who were not. You will hear nothing but the cries of people for help and the animal-like growl of the infected.

"No wonder no one came to Stephen Hawking's welcome event with time travelers back then at the University of Cambridge," I said to myself.

"Really? Did anyone come?" Chito asked.

"None. No one came. It's either time travel isn't true, or humanity is wiped out because of this pandemic."

Cole starts to drive the car again. "We have to live. We just need to be together all the time," he said.

"Chito, can you be alone here later?" Cole asked him.

"Yes," Chito replied.

"Okay, good. While we're upstairs, just let the car's engine turn on and lock all the doors. So when we go down later, we'll start to go right away. Get it?" Cole reminds Chito.

We arrived at the mall and when we walked through the front door, there were zombies scattered. There were security guards, office workers, traffic aides, a mixture of people who then lived professionally, but now seemed like mad dogs, mortals who are no longer alive.

"Are you ready?" Cole asked us.

We nodded and hurried inside the mall. Cole and Coco were in the lead, and I was behind them.

Coco gestured to the stairs next to the elevator. You can't rely on an elevator at this time. It may have led us to danger, so we decided to go up using the stairs.

I looked at the wall where the number 2 was written. Okay, we're on the second floor now. I lost sight of the number written when I heard Cole slashed the head of a zombie man. The man had a bite on his right shoulder and his white t-shirt was covered in blood.

Cole quickly kicked the man while pulling out the large knife that was buried in the center of his head. "Come on, hurry up," he said.

We quickly walked to the fourth floor, but in the round glass of the door, you could already see the horde of zombies walking around while staring at God knows where.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. All four of us felt nervous when a man who was still dripping saliva from his mouth turned around and hurriedly ran towards us.

My grip on the kitchen knife that I was carrying, tightened even more. "Prepare yourselves. Claire, can you fight?" Cole asked me as I nodded. Many zombies are running towards us.

When they pushed the two-way door of the stairs, Cole, Coco, and I started fighting for our lives.

Using the knife that I was holding, I quickly slit the neck of a saleslady who wanted to bite me. It doesn't affect her. I ran towards her then stabbed her skull forcefully with the knife I was holding. The zombie saleslady turned over and the dark color of blood flowed on the white tiles of the mall.

I looked at my brothers who were busy killing the zombies. Until later, a zombie guard approached me.

With the slash of the knife, I was holding on to his cheek. It was as if this zombie didn't even feel anything.

I stabbed the blade of the knife into his throat, then quickly pulled it out and buried it at the top of the zombie guard's head. He fell on the floor with a loud thud and red liquid flowed.

The headshot or the blunt force on the head is actually more effective than other parts of the body. It was tried and tested. Thanks, The Walking Dead.

We killed a lot more zombies and then expelled all the zombies that we could see. We were lucky because we took the guards’ guns as well as flashlights. Coco also took the handcuffs that were on their sides.

"Do we even need that, Bro?" Coco asked him.

"We never know. It might be useful in the future," he said while shrugging his shoulders.

We quickly moved into the shop where Ate Demy and the other people were.

There were only three of them left. A woman, the age of Mom; a man, the age of Cole; and Demy. I looked at the man's hand and his white, blood-stained shirt. We looked at each other. I felt awkward, so I quickly averted my eyes from him.

"I thought you had kids with you?" Coco asked Demy.

"There were..." she said trembling. "There were two kids with us this morning, but their mother bit them."

"Where are they now? I don't remember seeing any children on the stairs?" Cole said then held me by the arm, keeping me safe and preparing himself for whatever that would happen.

We were all distracted by the sound coming from the adjacent clothing store.

The male stranger stood up as the elder woman grabbed the end of his shirt. "It's fine, Ma. I can handle this," he said.

He slowly approached the glass door of the K-pop merchandise shop where we were inside, to see the commotion outside.

"Looters."

At the time, he said that it was as if a light bulb shone on the top of my brother's head. We also got some power banks, mini fans, and batteries from the store. Coco and Demy also got cotton blankets with cartoon characters like We Bare Bears and Pororo.

"Do you want to come with us?" Cole asked the mother and her son.

The mother first looked at her son, then they nodded at the same time and took their respective bags.

We were about to leave the store when suddenly, a man carrying a grass cutter stopped us.

I laughed because Coco and I had the same choice of weapon.

"What are you laughing at?" the man angrily said.

My forehead furrowed. I was about to speak when Cole spoke before me. "Excuse my sister, bro. She didn't take medicine today," Cole eases the situation.

The man laughed like crazy then looked at us one by one. I noticed that he looked at Demy and me for a while and then smirked as if you thought his ugly face made him look good. "Let's barter. Food, guns, and ammunition, in exchange for your women."

My brother's grip tightened on my arm. I'm nervous. My chest pounded so hard.

"Bro," Cole chuckled and spoke disbelievingly, "that's not a good joke," he said laughing.

The man gritted his teeth in annoyance. "I'm not kidding, bro. We've cleared the gun shop there on the Roman Highway. You won't find anything like this here," an idiot who was with him said arrogantly.

"Do you really think we will exchange my sister and my girlfriend for your guns? How confident are you?" Coco said, annoyed.

"Then let's see what you got!" The man pulled out his gun and fired at us.

To my surprise, someone pulled the back of my shirt, and we avoided the bullets of the crazy man's gun.

"Give me your gun." I was surprised when the man with Demy spoke because he was suddenly whispering here behind me. I could feel the awkwardness of our position because he was hugging my waist while my back was on him. I could feel his hot breath on my neck, and I was suddenly embarrassed because he might have seen the hair at the back of my neck grow.

I quickly handed him my gun that I had gotten from the guard earlier and handed it to him.

He stood up and fired at the mob one by one.

It's like a scene in a movie where the men fall one by one on the ground as if they are a cast in an action film.

The man looked at his mother and at me, then threw the empty gun on the floor.

"Wow," I said, dazed. The man looked at me and smirked as if he was saying 'Did you see that?'. Somewhat annoying but true. He was cool when he killed every single one of the looters, but his arrogance annoyed the hell out of me.

"Airsoft is one of my son's pastimes. Especially when there are no flights and long weekends," said the woman next to me.

I never spoke again. Cole called me to help him retrieve the two bags that the looters had brought earlier.

"Where are we going? Our house will be safer. Mom and I are the only ones living there," he offered. "I'm Luke, by the way," he introduced himself, offering his hand for a handshake to Cole.

Cole shook his hand, "I'm Cole. This is Claire, that is Coco beside Demy. We also have a house which we think is the best place for us too. Where is your house located?"

"We live at Southville Residences. We are the first of the few families living in the subdivision. I'm pretty sure there aren't too many infected in that part yet."

Their offer was a bit tempting because we would not have enough food for all of us first. Secondly, our place is not safe because there are many adjoining houses and our place is at risk of looters like us, who may also be looking for stored food and some equipment.

"We'll talk to our mom and our uncle first," Coco said while holding Demy's hand as they approached us.

"Okay. We'll follow you. I'll take my car in case you don't know the way home." Luke pulled out his car key. "Come on, Ma."

Holding our guns, we looked like young scouts walking down the stairs where we had come from earlier.

We decided that Coco and Demy would go straight to the car, while Cole and I would get some loot and supplies for all of us.

Luke and his mom were with us inside the supermarket. It is also chaotic here while everyone is busy getting canned goods, water, and food that can be stored.

We each held a bag and filled it with food, napkins, and whatnot.

As we were about to get out of the exit of the supermarket, a young zombie blocked our way.

The child growled and stared at us sharply.

"Find peace," Luke shot the child in the forehead with a gun with an improvised silencer. He wrapped a thick cloth around the tip of the pistol he was holding that served as the silencer for the pistol that he was holding.

I'm impressed.

His mother couldn't stand what she saw. She vomited on the side before we continued down to the first floor where Chito, Coco, and Demy were waiting in front of the mall.