Break Free The Night (Book 2): Loss of Light (3 page)

              "Toss the keys?" She nodded towards the padlock key swinging from Emma's pocket.

              "You sure?" Her sister asked, eyeing her speculatively.

              "Yeah, I'm gonna be a while."

              Emma threw the keys towards her sister with a mumbled, "See you later then."

              The beam of light from Kaylee's flashlight swept the empty halls. Ahead was a maze of suitcases, in the center of which stood an escalator forever frozen. Kaylee made for the frozen stairs, following the promise of the sign hung above it. In a nondescript font, the black letters shone plainly on the white sign: Bedding.

              As she reached the top, she heard the last echoing squeak of Emma's sneakers against the tile floor as she disappeared back into the mall. Emma would pull and lock the security gate and Kaylee could undo it later when she was finished sleeping. A dozen beds, dressed in all the frills of shams and bed skirts and duvets were scattered around her, each sporting at least four pillows. She found the nearest one and collapsed.

              She turned her flashlight off with an echoing click and stared up at the dark ceiling. The bedding was soft but smelled of dust. Still, it was better to be alone. Without the light, the blackness pressed against her. She closed her eyes, watched the red take over her vision and then blinked them open. It was so dark, she might as well have had her eyes closed, there was no way to see through the gloom. So she kept her eyes open, staring at the ceiling, as she felt the waves of exhaustion sweep her up in their tide.

              It was a long while later that she awoke in the darkness. Her eyes must have slid closed at some undefinable point. She had no idea how long she had slept, but she felt better, felt focused. She stretched experimentally and she wasn't too stiff. She groped for her flashlight, knowing she had tucked it under the covers with her. With an audible click, the light cut through the dark. Across the opening in the floor from which the escalator rose, racks of lingerie caught in the beam of light, white and black and red and some ridiculous leopard print. She rose and began her shopping.

~

              Kaylee walked right into a pile of suitcases, crying out when she stubbed her toe. The pile she had knocked into tumbled over and she dropped her armful of clothing onto the ground. She pulled her flashlight from her back pocket and swept the luggage, looking for a sturdy backpack.

              She had no idea what time it was because, stupidly, she had let Emma walk away without first setting her watch. And without windows to see the sun, it was impossible to tell. But she couldn't hear any of the others and so she assumed they were still asleep. She found a pile of rugged looking back packs under a knocked over display of carry on Louis Vuitton and picked one out to stuff full of the clothing she gathered. It wasn't all for her, she took triple of all the necessaries, even having a little fun with the lingerie. She picked out a baby blue bra covered in cream lace in Emma's size that she knew her sister would hate. But it made Kaylee laugh, the sound ringing through the empty department store, so she packed it just to see the look on Emma's face when she pulled it out. Or Andrew's.

             
In addition to the clothing, fresh underwear and socks, long sleeved shirts and new jeans, Kaylee found a large selection of boots. She had several pairs, the laces tied together so she could sling them over her arm. She was both happy and sad to be ridding herself of her old sneakers. They were worn and comfortable, they formed to her
feet
so nicely, but they were also tattered and falling apart. She needed new ones, she knew it. But her sneakers had been with her from the beginning. All new clothes, new boots, new everything. Her city was behind her, no longer accessible. She fumbled in her pocket for her mother's medal and the padlock keys, placing them both carefully on the floor before she stripped her old clothing off and changed. She returned the medal and the keys to her new pocket, her fingers lingering over the cold, impressed surface of St. Jude.

              The lights overhead flickered and came to life, not all of them, some were shattered and others just seemed dead. But many hummed to life, causing Kaylee to squeeze her eyes at the sudden intrusion of light, the whine of the florescent bulbs loud in the stillness.

              She froze. Because suddenly, it wasn't the only sound.

              China smashed. Lenox, Wedgewood, Waterford, crystal and flatware, Kaylee heard them all shatter as they hit the tile floor above her. The floor on which she had just taken a long nap. Alone. She thought she had been alone.

              She wasn't now.

              Kaylee had no idea how they got in. They could have been here the whole time and just woke now when the lights flickered on, or maybe there was a door to the outside they had missed when locking the place up. But it didn't really matter, because someone was already thudding down the escalator, skidding into the suitcases piled at the bottom. Another fell after the first and then the rest followed, a mass of people stumbling and sliding and writhing over one another and towards Kaylee. She counted at least a dozen before she turned away.

              She hitched her bag on her back, threw the boots over her neck, and ran.

              It was easy to run now, now that the lights were on and she had had some real sleep, her lungs didn't ache and her chest rose and fell easily with the shorter, faster breaths she was taking as she paced herself. But she needed a good head start, not just because she could hear the feet slapping into tile behind her and not just because she knew she'd have to pause to unlock and then relock the security gate, but because, though at least one other person must be awake, somebody must have gotten the lights on, more of their group was probably fast asleep and had no idea the infected had gotten in. And if over a dozen were laying idle in this store alone, what could the rest of the mall be hiding now that the lights were on?

              Kaylee skirted around the perfume counter, digging the padlock key out of her pocket as she neared the gate. She was running fast. She knew that. But those chasing her weren't slow. Already she could hear the first of them, ones without broken feet or legs, knocking into a display of plastic watches and sending them skittering. Another moment and she heard the crash of the glass counter top as it was smashed through by the oncoming horde.

              Her hands felt slick and sweaty and the key felt coated in butter but Kaylee forced herself to ignore the noises behind her, made the stumbling and crashing and moaning and even the gnashing of teeth into a low, indistinct buzz. Because she needed focus, she needed to get that key into the lock and despite how fast she'd taken off and run, she didn't have much time.

              She fumbled it once, the key missing its hole and scratching down the side of the padlock and she swore in her head while at the same time mentally chastising herself, but then she pushed the key home, turned the lock, felt the click of the pins inside opening the locking mechanism and she twist it free of the chain.

              She had enough time to slither underneath, opening the gate only enough for her slender frame to squeeze under, and slam it shut again before the grasping bodies collided with the metal.

              She jumped back, did a strange version of a skittering crab walk before she slipped and landed on her bottom. She stared and she felt her mouth slide open.

              She seen infected before. She had lived in the constant press of them every day for the last few years. But these were so active and so close and reaching directly for her with gnashing teeth stained with old blood. The teeth weren't just yellow, they were blackened and brown, some missing altogether and just showing dark gummy holes where teeth had once been, but they all had sores in their mouths, dripping and oozing. 

             
But... How did they have anything left to bleed?

              It didn't matter, none of that did. They couldn't be her problem, these fathers and sisters and brothers and friends, they weren't hers and she couldn't take the responsibility.

              So she crawled forward slowly, slinked the chain back into place, and closed the padlock between two chain links. Then she got up, turned on her heel, and ran.

              The mall was one long narrow strip that jutted off at the opposite end in two diagonals, like the Y in a peace sign but with no circle. Macy's, where Kaylee had just run from, was at the base of the longest strip. Up ahead was the fountain, the center of the mall, and the main entrance doors. There was an escalator there and she could run up to the second level. She remembered Andrew pointing down one of the diagonal halls that split off the main section to indicate a mattress store. She could only hope the rest of her group was there.

              There was a crash ahead and Kaylee jolted mid stride, felt the spasm of panic shake through her as the collection of boots around her neck jumped on her chest. She turned her head to check the gate at Macy's. It was down and secure. But the bodies were still pressing against it, straining, and the metal grate flexed with their weight as arms, skin stripping from the bones, pushed their way through the thin openings in the metal. Up ahead glass skittered over the tile floor, spraying over the dusty surface and scattering around the base of the dried up fountain.

              The main entrance door.

              It had to be, nothing else nearby could scatter that much glass as quickly. Kaylee's feet felt glued to the floor.

              A moan sounded next, and then a ripping sound mixed with garbled cries as the infected pushed their way through the broken glass panels of the large entrance doors.

             
Move!

              She had to move forward. And she was glad she was fast. Because the infected were fast too. But she had to sprint, run right at them, because the escalator was just past the fountain and there was no going back. So she ran.

              The glass crunched under her boots as she streaked through, not even slowing enough to care that the shards could send her flying. She couldn't fall, she wouldn't, because falling meant dying. The scrum at the door saw her now, saw her sprinting right for them, and they moved with renewed vigor, already reaching and grasping for her warm body. She grit her teeth and pushed, edging past the closest one with only inches to spare and not stopping, taking the escalator stairs two at a time until she reached the top. The stairs wouldn't stop the infected; they'd plodded on, stepping on and over one another. But it would slow them. More were streaming in, ten at a time, and still more and more came until Kaylee couldn't have counted them all. She took off for the other end of the mall.

              "We got the generator-" Quinton shouted from down the hall, motioning towards her, but he broke off mid sentence when he saw Kaylee still running. "What's happened?"

              Kaylee allowed herself to take a huge, searing breath before shouting back to Quinton. "They're in!"

              Her muscles spasmed again when a shot sounded, the crack echoing and leaving a slight ringing to her ears.

              "What the hell!"

              Kaylee pushed harder toward the second voice, relief and fear waging equally. It was Emma who shouted, she sounded startled, but fine. For now. Quinton turned, racing back towards the rest of the group. Kaylee could see Jack and Andrew emerging from the mattress store ahead. Both looked startled out of sleep but with forced alertness.

              "How many?" Jack asked, directing his question to Quinton.

              "Too many," Kaylee gasped in return, running past them both, her eyes still seeking out her sister. "Emma? We have to go!"

              Emma emerged from a CVS, her front spattered with blood.

              "Emma!" Kaylee screeched, racing over to her sister. Andrew stepped in front of her, blocking her way, and when Kaylee tried to push past, he gripped her around her waist and hauled her off her feet. Kaylee felt her breath rush out of her lungs as Andrew's arms tightened around her middle, but her brain was so fogged with panic she barely noticed. She struggled against his grasp.