Zombie Mall Read online

  YOU DIED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 131

  Use the cans in the food box as a weapon

  “I can still make it”, you tell yourself. You gather courage. You’ve never been much of a sports one, and your aim gives much to desire. But, is now or never and you have no other options, really.

  Dropping the box, it breaks spilling cans all over the place. You grab a few, and taking your shirt out you wrap a few on it. The heavy improvised bag is heavy and harsh, but you can swing it around like a club. At the scream of battle (you may have yelled “Geronimo”), you charge at the zombies cutting your way. The cans work wonderfully. You smash the first zombie, blasting his skull like a mature tomato. It seems that there is a good use for canned peas after all.

  Using your newly developed weapon, you swing the thing left and right. You knock down enough of them to clear a path into the truck. You run as fast as you can, and enter the cabin right on time. You turn on the engine and head on. The truck moves on, and then you realize… the habitat door is still open.

  You never leave an open door in the zombie Apocalypse.

  The truck makes it only a few meters before crashing into a wall. Inside the cabin, zombies enter through the habitat. They get you to the bone before the engine stops.

  YOU DIED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 132

  Walk away the shopping mall

  With caution and slow movements, you venture outside the lab. Zombies look at you but ignore you. Filled with excitement, this suit is your new toy. You fill like a diver exploring a coral reef (if that coral was murderous undead beasts). Step by step, little by little, you make it to the front gate and walk outside.

  The parking lot is full with zombies, packed like sardines against each other.

  “You’re in the dance already, so now to dance.” You speak under your breath. Your heart pumps strong. For a moment you fear they may hear it.

  It takes you hours of slow walking and careful contact avoidance, but you make it pass the horde, out of the fence, and into the park. Here the density of undead is minor, so you dare to speed up the pace. You’re on foot on the open road again. You forgot the map on the lab, but remember the general direction for the survivor’s camp. It will take a while, but you’ll make it there. One step at a time.

  YOU SURVIVED.

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 133

  Look for an entry to the mall

  The very moment you step outside the lab, you regret it. You are surrounded by walking dead. You fear the sharp teeth and grabbing bony hands on you at any moment. And so you wait, but it doesn’t happen. The suit works. Careful, with slow movements, you swim in the ocean of undead corpses, looking for an entrance to the mall.

  While most of the doors are closed from the inside, your hopes to find one open makes you try each one. While you struggle, the zombies around you begin to notice you. They stop in their tracks and watch at you, as if they don’t know how what to do with what they see. In a struck of bad luck, the knob gives in. You fall flat on your lower back, still holding on to the broken handle. Your suit rips. That is enough for your sweaty scent to announce everybody around that dinner is served.

  As they avalanche on you, you struggle to break free. It’s useless. They are so many. The suit breaks and exposes your flesh to the horde.

  YOU DIED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 134

  Move closer to take a better look

  Through the pallets, you move carefully towards the edge of the row. Eyes fixed on the leading zombies. The scene seems surreal. There is a clear argument between those two. At some point, the lab coat zombie jumps on the soldier and attacks him. The zombie soldiers behind launch an attack as well in defense of his leader?. You can’t believe your eyes…

  It is a zombie war down there!

  From this height, you also notice a hatch on the ground, close to where you are. It says “service tunnel”, and you could make it if you descend silently enough.

  If you… Go to…

  Come down and surround the battle Section 170

  Enter the service tunnel Section 171

  Section 135

  Climb higher and find another exit

  Talking zombies. If they can collaborate, humanity is doomed. This place has dark secrets.

  What kind of shopping mall is this?

  Quietly, you climb to reach the beams by the roof. You see a hatch within your reach. It may be hard, but is a way out into the roof. You stretch and with some difficulty manage to open the hatch. Not caring anymore about making noise, you huff and you puff until you open it. The zombies below gather straight under you, roaring, moaning, stretching their hands as if they could bring you down by the mere desire to eat you.

  As you climb out to the roof, you notice the zombies below are now silent. All of them, quietly, look up at you. The sight feels you with fear. You close the lid hoping the horror stays below.

  The gentle breeze relaxes you. The air is filled with the scent of ashes and rotten flesh. You wonder if you’ll ever have a normal day again. Even things that annoyed you before, seem dear to you now.

  You walk on the roof with care at first, testing that the tin roof holds your weight. On a side, you see the parking lot below, packed with zombies. None of them moves. They just stare up at you.

  If you… Go to…

  Look for a way into another building Section 172

  Find a way into a lower level Section 173

  Section 136

  Open the capsule

  Curious about what a “Solution X” looks like, you hit the “open button” without a second thought.

  The capsule lashes out a warning noise. Streams of steam poor out on each side with a hissing sound as the lid opens. Light flickers. The room becomes clouded with steam. You can barely see anything. The shape of a man-like figure emerges from the capsule. You can’t make out the details. It groans, yells in a menacing manner. If he can’t see you that well, you may have a moment to do something, if you are going to do anything at all.

  If you… Go to…

  Attack first, make questions later Section 174

  Step back, out of the room and think what to do next Section 175

  Section 137

  Investigate around

  Before touching anything, better to look around, find out as much as you can about this place. An office labeled “Command” holds many papers spread over a conference table. You gather them up and piece together an incomplete story. There are reports of virus, an alien lizard-man, a hibernation project, a fortified safe city and an asteroid. The whole thing makes no sense to you. The one dossier that gets your interest is a project call “deep sleep”.

  As you read, you learn the project plans to put the people in suspended animation for 1000 years. After that time, they expect the zombie plague to be over, and the internal mechanisms in the machine would have cleaned up your blood of any trace of the virus. According to the report, there are hundred of thousands of locations in operation around the world. The dossier also talks about a place in this lab with capsules for the lab personnel.

  Another note talks about a secret escape route, in case all goes south and the zombies make it into the lab.

  If you… Go to…

  Search for a deep sleep capsule Section 176

  Follow the escape tunnel Section 177

  Section 138

  The next morning…

  This was the best night sleep you had in weeks. As the sun beams hit you straight in the face, you wake up. You can’t believe your eyes when you find yourself surrounded by a group of soldiers and a woman in a lab coat, studying you up close.

  “Good morning. You are the first survivor we
find in months. Each week we come here to pick up any one who made it.”

  The woman is excited. She talks about a rescue operation, but is too much information at once. Honestly, the idea of getting out of here and into a safe zone keeps you pump up. All that you care, is that you are safe.

  Moments later, you find yourself in an helicopter, flying on the way to Eden, where human civilization still exists.

  YOU SURVIVED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 139

  Noises in the night…

  Carl

  You are under attack and must fight this monster. If you win, keep reading. If not, find the You are dead page at the end of the book.

  The upper torso of the teenager manager gets to you while falling asleep. You react on time to get rid of it before he gets a chunk out of your leg.

  Waking up to being attacked by the teenager zombie manager of a popular fast food chain is not something you experience every day. Good for you, you survived.

  Come daylight, you explore the food court. You find flyers instructing survivors to stay put inside the mall, until rescue parties come. Placed in a wall, a counting down clock announces the next rescue party arrival. It’s only a few days ahead.

  Deciding to stay put, you scan the area for any left over zombies that may disrupt your stay. The mall is so big that you restrict yourself to this area. Here you have food and shelter. You are confident to survive until help arrives. Still, it’s so boring…

  If you… Go to…

  Stay put and wait Section 178

  Check the movie theater Section 179

  Section 140

  Spend your days in the food court

  Thinking that you can live in this place for as long as needed, you stop counting days. Sometimes you spend hours looking through the windows, hoping against hope to see any other survivor to come in. But days go by, and you are still alone. You talk to the tree, and it talks you back. Not with words, but by opening flowers, growing fruits, shedding leaves when it disagrees. Your mind begins to slip away… and you know it. It is not good for people to be alone. Loneliness hurts like a knife.

  Every day the crowd of zombies grows, little by little. Sometimes a zombie gets pushed into the branches of the tree, and powerful vines tears it apart. But today, the horde reaches critical mass. They howl and moan more than usual. You stand in front of them, at a safe distance, when suddenly they burst in like a river of death flooding the hall. The tree tries to protect you and wraps you in its vines. It lifts you up mid air, but the horde piles up and they reach you. They trump over the tree and pull you down. In despair you try to break yourself free, but they are just too many. In seconds they eat through your entrails. Your desperate screams of pain vanished down the corridors of building, to be heard never again.

  YOU DIED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 141

  Device a plan to expand the tree

  You tend to the tree, and make it grow. When you get tired of eating the strange fruit, you raid the fast food shops for cans or anything else that could be eaten. It works for a while, but as the crowd of zombies grows in the corridor, you fear they may overflow the place at some point.

  You find some carts with wheels and improvise several flower pots. Then, plan some tree saplings and watch them grow. In matter of days, they reach a good size. Then, you venture into the corridor pushing one of the carts towards the horde. As you suspected, the zombies retreat. One ventures inside the perimeter, but you dispatch it. You use his flesh to feed the saplings and make them grow even faster. Little by little, you move the perimeter further and further away. Over the course of weeks and months, you plant enough saplings to walk freely here and there. Taking care of so many trees is taxing, but you are happy. As nature reclaims the building, you truly create a safe zone where you can live. Some days, you venture out to hunt a zombie or two… your trees need food.

  Months go by, and other survivors arrive to the mall. Together, you further out the perimeter outside as well, planting trees here and there. As the community grows, and people venture to have families, you grow old and happy. A few survivors die of old age, but they don’t turn. The predominant theory is that the spores immunize people of the zombie virus, but nobody really knows. As the sun dawns on a new day, you close your eyes to feel the warmth of the sun, hear the children playing, and smile away.

  YOU SURVIVED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 142

  Examine the branchless trees

  You approach the grove of trees, careful not to fall into one of the many wholes in the ground. The trunks have grown from a few stories below, opening its way into the sky. It may have that what brought the roof down.

  The trunks have thin and thick parts, in a wavy continuation. They gently rock from one side to another. They are different from the tree in the food court, but the slimy surface makes you think that they may be relate. You inspect the closest one, walking around its trunk. One side is perfectly green, covered with multitude of protuberances. The opposite side, is yellow and made of a different substance. You touch it and the tree moves back a little, as if protecting what’s inside. You focus on the hexagonal pattern in the almost translucent surface. There is something inside, but you can’t figure out what it is.

  You check another tree. The trunk is smaller, yet wider than you. You can tell is younger. The green side is brighter, and the yellow side is almost transparent now. A quick pick, and you step back perplexed.

  “What the fudge is this!!”

  Inside of the tree, the silhouette of a person, floating in some sort of liquid, takes you by surprise. The expression in her face is of total bliss. Her clothe are but shredded apart, floating around in pieces. A vine comes closer to you and a puff of spores brings a new message:

  These are mine to watch over. It is my mission to keep them safe until the plague is gone.

  A second flower, approaches you and spells a strong batch of pollen on you. You feel dizzy and fall back. Gentle vines lift you up and grow a pod around you. And then, you fall sleep. You have dreams, many. You hear the others voices and talk with them. There are hundreds of survivors. You feel safe, waiting and dreaming the day when you all will come out again, to walk in the sun.

  YOU SURVIVED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 143

  Examine the glass room

  Walking down the path in this fairy tale woods brings back memories. Your father used to tell you stories of little girls wondering in the forest, and of siblings finding candy houses. You ask yourself why in all those stories only bad things happened in the woods?

  Your reach the glass building, dirty and covered with dust. Inside you find a bright room, set up as a medical facility. Counters by the sides still display bottles, test tubes, and other scientific equipment. Even here nature has reclaimed the floor and most of the furniture. In the middle of the room, a strange dentist chair still holds it’s last patient. And the sight freezes your blood and makes you hesitate for a second.

  You step forward, and take a closer look. It looks like a human figure, but it’s made of intertwined plants. It is hollow, with different flowers and tones of green and brown shaping organs and bones. It looks like nature tried to make a copy of a human using plants. As you move closer, flowers close up, and twigs tighten with a leathery sound. On its chest, under green fingers lays a book hold tight and dear. It is a journal.

  If you… Go to…

  Explore the room further in Section 180

  Read the journal Section 181

  Section 144

  Help the old woman

  You approach the old woman. She’s coughing, or so you think. You’ve seen her in the meeting yesterday. She was with the party that wanted to leav
e the place. A weird chill runs down your spine. You recognize the feeling. You had it many times before.

  The woman stands up, her white hairs falling on her face, covering her eyes. You step back. The woman jumps at you, with unnatural strength for someone her age. Your reflexes act in time to hold her hands away from your neck, but she’s fast. She bites you straight in the neck and pulls back, taking a chunk with her teeth. You fall down. She comes on top of you, biting your forearms down to the bone. She moves like a rabid dog, shaking her head violently sideways to rip apart more flesh. With your right hand you grab a tome of “War and Peace” and smash it on her head. The blow knocks her back, but she comes at you again and again. Through red fire and smoke you see more zombies attacking the rest. The last words your brain thinks about is: “sabotage”.

  YOU DIED

  If you… Go to…

  Start from the beginning Section 1

  Section 145

  Head for the exit

  Your first intention to help the woman dies out when you hear her moan. You recognize the sound. You’ve been running away from it for months. Before the old woman stands up, you pull the library next to her, pinning her under rows of books. She roars, and you can see for a moment her dead eyes watching you.

  Fire and smoke spread from end to end. You run with others towards the emergency exit. The stairs are a mess or people running down. The fire has spread from a lower level, so floor after floor the building is being eaten by flames. There is too many people in this tight space. It is only matter of time for something nasty to happen.