Rey "Bugbear" Kerr, Mall Cop, Ch. 2
Rey crept through a movie theater, on the second floor of the mall. He scanned his flashlight over the empty seats, noticing a few things abandoned, likely as the moviegoers fled the erupting Cataclysm.
In one seat he found an empty military-style backpack, and shrugged it over his shoulders.
He was on a quick, short-range scouting mission. Charlott wanted to stay at the arcade, so he ventured out himself.
The top floor of the mall was much quieter than downstairs. He passed from the theater through a hallway to a clothing store, and from there reached a large chamber that was the upper balcony overlooking the large chambers of the mall.
He wandered into his favorite diner. It was empty, abandoned in the chaos while food was still on plates. He picked some untouched sloppy joes from a plate, and ate the remaining half of a tuna sandwich.
After looting some cooking tools, he left.
Next he entered a personal hygiene shop. He grabbed some scissors and a tailor’s kit, before coming across a cache of items left behind by some other survivor at the camping goods store.
The place seemed perfect. There was a brazier to set a fire, as well as some chairs. He figured he could dis-assemble the tables for wood to burn.
It was safe up here on the second floor of the mall. Better still, the camping store connected to the pharmacy by way of a rear service hall.
He checked all the exits of that hall, making sure the hallway and its connecting rooms were secure as possible. He closed some of the shop doors, protecting them behind strong laminate glass which the demons could not break.
He fought a demon in a billiards lounge, waiting for it to climb over the table before ambushing it using his extended baton.
Before long he was back at the arcade, where he had last seen Charlott. She was still there, standing in the theater hall, grimly inspecting the immobile corpses the two had killed an hour earlier.
Rey passed her a handheld game console he’d found.
“It’s safe upstairs. We can go through the service halls into a camping supply store. There’s some stuff already there, we just need to grab enough food and we’ll be good to go.”
“Alright. It’s just… I’m waiting for somebody here. Give me some more time, if they don’t show, I’ll come with you.”
“You seem capable of defending yourself. I’ll come back and check up on you in a little while. Until then, I’m going to start fortifying the camping store.”
Rey detailed the route to get up to the camping store, in case she needed to run there in a hurry. He then went to the arcade’s fridges, and took all the energy drinks, juice, and soda into his rucksack.
Then he went back to the camping store. Passing through the service corridors, he went to the pharmacy and found some aspirin. He ate them alongside some glazed tenderloins he’d picked up in a to-go box.
He picked up a messenger bag from a teen clothing store, and slung it around his shoulder. He also found some ballistic glasses, and put them on.
Rey fashioned a makeshift crowbar out of a pipe, and continued to search the mall’s stores. He was searching both for items, and for survivors he could help.
While passing a liquor store, he noticed that it had large wooden barrels that he might use to help distill water. Each was marked for 100L, which could be days or even weeks total.
For now, he’d live off of soda water and juice. He carried the barrel back to the camping store, and sorted his things.
He had a rich bounty of junk food. Sixteen bottles and cans of drinks, and a small amount of various snacks. He needed more substantive food if he was going to survive the week.
Rey peeked downstairs, to see how much busier it was in comparison. There were zombies roaming freely down here – plenty had fallen off the open balcony from the second floor above. Luckily, where he was stood strong laminated glass doors.
There were lots of them down here. They thronged the hall before the sturdy doors. Even though it was safe, Rey left spooked and went back upstairs.
It was almost empty upstairs, compared to the hell below.
Rey smashed a vending machine to take out twelve bottles of water. There was a huge amount of other sodas also available. The mall had a seemingly endless supply of deluxe foods, clothing, and everything a person could need. If he could properly fortify the second floor, it could become his kingdom.
Soon, he found his way up to the roof. There were a few store rooms up here, and Rey had to put some of the demons down. But he avoided getting hurt, leading them towards him as he backed away and struck them before they could retaliate.
He found some canned food, as well as a box with all needed parts for an RC car, and a hotplate.
In order to fortify the mall, he needed hardware. He couldn’t recall whether there was even a hardware store in this mall. He’d known for sure that he had worked at this mall for a year, but some strange haze clouded his mind…
Rey retrieved a hiking backpack, and a large tactical backpack from a store.
At last, he found some tools in a back area of the warehouses. There were things here that could help him work on vehicles, or do some heavy duty work to the mall. He loaded an acetylene torch, as well as a repair kit into his rucksack.
He found a dust mask, and put it on. Charlott back at the arcade was wearing one, and she was keen. He didn’t know if he needed it, but he wore it anyway.
In a clothing store, a group of zombies pressed against the doors. He knew that they could not harm him, since they couldn’t get through the door, but Rey didn’t like that they were on the second floor. He decided to lure them out, and get them to fall off the railing.
They were pushing through the mannequins when Rey opened the door, leading them out into the hall. He brought them back towards one of the gaps in the balcony, initially installed to help bring light into the lower layer of the mall for easygoing shoppers.
Now, the holes served another purpose. Rey was thankful, the holes now helped provide a huge amount of safety up here.
Reyes followed the mall’s chambers as he inspected it for dangerous stairwells to below. He found a place where the demons could get up, without being held back by a set of laminated glass doors. This was a problem. As he peeked through, the zombies below noticed him and began to climb back up after him.
If he didn’t close these gaps, over time the zombies from below would just come back up and find him. Maybe they’d find him while he was sleeping, or while he was injured or sick. He needed the top floor to be a safe haven, a place where he could live free of worry.
Rey led the ones that followed him right over to a hole, and made them fall back down below.
He still needed a hammer. With one, he could start to patch up the weak spots.
Rey continued to scavenge through the mall for useful things, and see whether there were any demons upstairs. It was looking more and more empty the further he went along.
He came across a survival goods store, with MRE’s and some martial arts manuals. He put on a kevlar vest and some tactical gloves.
Back at the camping store, Rey organized the things. Using some materials, he made a makeshift hammer that would be sturdy enough to take apart furniture and build fortifications.
Through nightfall, Rey worked on plugging a gap in the stairwell, using the power from his flashlight to rush the job. This would help prevent at least one of the entrances from being accessible completely.
Hearing thumping sounds from below, he finished the first wall before they could get up and in.
The noise was drawing attention from below, so Rey decided to retreat to the camping store for the night. He dragged a couch across the hall from a nearby teen fashion store.
At last, he dragged the shelves around in the camping store to make a sleeping area for himself. He’d checked on his fellow survivor Charlott, who’d decided to stay in the arcade for the night. Rey reminded her how to get up to the camping store before falling to sleep.
