In the right corner of the room, a man exclaimed, "Call the police." Manager Kim replied, "I already did, but the phone lines are congested. Due to the swarm of zombies downstairs, people were in a state of panic. It took some time for everyone to calm down because we could still hear the screams coming from downstairs."
From the restroom next to us, a loud noise was heard: "Bam." The silence was universal. The sound came back, "Bam." "What's that sound?" Manager Kim said the man from earlier instructed him to go check it out. Manager Kim shouted, "No," and as soon as they began to argue, I heard a yell while I was attempting to maintain my peace with Manager Kim and the man.
We all noticed the panicked woman who had just yelled out, indicating that she was frightened. Curious to know what had caused her reaction, we all turned around to look. There, we saw a man standing near a dead body, with blood stains all over his clothes. It was immediately evident to us what had happened. The reason for everyone's fear was not because of the infected person, but because they were afraid of the man standing there.
After everyone had calmed down as a result of what had happened, murmurs could be heard in the background, and people started flinching around him.
Unexpectedly, Manager Kim drew me aside with the group, where they were debating how to eject him. Are you two insane? He simply kept that infected away from us. I voiced my confusion by asking why they wanted to do it. The gentleman from earlier claimed that they were infected with the flu or a virus. "he committed a homicide.", "So you want to eject him? You guys are attempting to murder him. He has you guys in fear. You are ejecting him because of this. Have you ever witnessed someone being struck down and rising back up like they do?" I ask.
They all started arguing out of nowhere. Suddenly, he turned to face me and said firmly, 'I'll leave.' He held out his hands to me and looked deeply into my eyes. I was so shocked that I accepted his hand without thinking. Manager Kim called out my name, clearly telling me not to go, but I ignored him and turned around, saying with a smile, 'Let's go.'"
We waited by the door, preparing to leave. He fixed his gaze on me, and I nodded in agreement upon realizing his intention.
We opened the door quietly, trying not to make any noise. Inside the mall, we saw infected people scattered throughout the place. To create a distraction, I suggested throwing something to catch their attention. He nodded and grabbed the bat he had, then threw it at the nearby stall of apples, making a noise that lured the infected away. We took advantage of the distraction and quickly left through the door.
"Mommy, I'm hungry," I heard a lifelike singing baby doll under my foot. We looked at each other in shock. I slowly turned around and saw that I was drawing unwelcome attention to myself.
Without any warning, he suddenly grabbed my hand and urged me to run. We both started sprinting towards the car. "Keep running. We're almost there; just a little bit more," he said breathlessly, still holding onto my hand as we made our way to the car. Thanks to the help of my manager, who kindly lent us his car keys, we were able to make a quick escape.
As they reached their car, the man driving told Sara that the people who had done something to him would die anyway, so there was no need to apologize. He then revealed that one of her colleagues, who always argued with their manager, had been bitten by a zombie. Sara was still processing this information when the man introduced himself as Jaydon. She realized she had not known his name before and introduced herself in return. Jaydon nodded in acknowledgment and continued to drive ahead.
Manager Kim was having doubts about his decision to allow Sara to leave in the way she did. While he was contemplating, he heard a growling sound, similar to the one made by the monster downstairs. As he turned around, he realized that the man who often had disagreements with him was infected.
When Jaydon hastily stopped the car to avoid hitting the woman who had jumped in front of it, she cried out, "Help me, please help me!"