A Day At The Mall

A crash gathered the shopper’s attention. A disheveled man was attempting to untangle himself from a clearance rack of last season’s fashion.

“…ran right into it…”

“…well I’ll be…”

“…let’s go over there…”

The overlapped mutterings were strangled into silence as the man freed himself, and ran towards the back of the mall yelling, “They don’t bleed! They don’t bleed!”

Tess and Elliot looked at each other. Wide eyed shock instantly dissolved into contagious giggles until Elliot went silent. Looking past Tess, he stared in disbelief.

Tess heard a gargling sound mixed with swishing thumps. At the front of the mall were hundreds of figures, all moving towards them with shuffling gaits. Even at that distance, she could see they were covered in gashes that didn’t bleed.

Shoppers scattered, like so many ants.

Grabbing Elliot’s hand, Tess said, “Stay with me! Cookware has weapons!”

Together they ran towards the escalator.