Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

We didn't notice it the first time we headed down but once we managed to double-back in the central area, what looked to be a chandelier in the shadows was actually several tongues almost braided with each other, coiling around the cables keeping the chandelier from falling down. Our breaths escaped our lungs and it took a considerable amount of energy from making noise when they were only a few feet away from us.

"What the fu-"

"Shh..."

Despite that, they looked strange or eerie because instead of their tongues hanging down, their main bodies were the ones dangling in the middle of the first and second floor. They were positioned in a way that they almost imitated the structure of the chandelier itself and the reason as to why they didn't move an inch the moment we went down the first time boggled our minds.

'The ones we killed weren't controlled too...'

Deadheads from the other side of the mall were still coming for us so instead of going through an idle pack of slurpers, we backpedaled and kited the ones approaching us. We carefully retreated back to where the climbing ropes were located as we made sure not to step onto the ones we already put down. We communicated with hush tones and hand signals but a simple deathly stare had always worked wonders.

"Don't take your eyes off it! Once it moves, start chucking a grenade or two!"

"What do we do after this?" Tatiana muttered as she came closer.

"We take care of everything until it slows down! As soon as it does, we poke the chandelier with a stick. Depending on how it reacts, we'll either make a break for the stairs or climb up using the ropes! Heads up!"

Stefan exclaimed with a hushed tone, "Poke a stick? What about the one in the middle?!"

"I just said- Don't worry about it! Let's take care of the problem one at a time!"

"Ah- I-"

Petrov pulled him back as I continued, "Stop arguing with me! Just retreat for now!"

I explained as best as I could because a small herd from the opposite side of the mall started coming after the initial clusters. To test the waters as fast as we could, I pulled out my TX-22 and emptied the magazine in their heads. Like the first batch we killed, they didn't rise up as they immediately fell down so my group instantly went after what remained.

Mikhail and Stefan immediately jumped ahead before Tatiana and I followed. I tasked Marina and Petrov with taking care of the bodies by chucking them off the roof, so they were weaving in between us as we slowly advanced once more. It was a simple game of going back and forth with the dead, narrowly avoiding and watching out for the threat in the middle of the mall.

Leathery flesh and viscous fluids were on the floor aside from broken glass and assorted knick-knacks but the total body count continued to increase with each swing or flash of light. Tatiana continued to use her sword by stabbing forward in quick succession while retreating at the same time while Mikhail and the rest used the time to pull out their handguns and start using literal guns compared to their arms.

Employees, owners, managers, students, families, elderly, and etc. What used to be people from all walks of life were now single-minded crooked figures getting killed for the second time. Their appearance suggested that they were in the state of decay far longer than the ones we encountered and the only silver lining was that none of them have turned to specials or even simple irregulars.

'They move slower too...'

The staggered steps, the simple growls, and the absent look with simple movements of its jaws were present.

I swung downwards to remove a third of the head of a biter wearing a musky holiday shirt. Part of its eye socket, jaw, ear, and cheekbones had fallen to the side before I followed through, removing its right shoulder completely. Its blackened gray matter or what was left of it just plopped to the ground like the rest of the bits inside its head.

My blade was cutting through them like butter but the issue was the blade itself getting dirtier by the second. Nevertheless, a simple flick of the wrist would remove most of them and it wouldn't affect the cuts even more if I continued to thrust. The only thing I disliked about doing it properly was pulling back after each thrust though there were a few ways to make everything flow like water.

Twisting my arm and applying a bit of force was the solution but going through bone as I entered their skull would require a lot more force. Pulling it out was the better solution and unless the situation called for it, I would rarely perform it without the proper wind-up.

I took a step back the moment a tall deadhead wearing a jersey swiped its lanky hands at me but before I managed to slice half of its face off, a knife went through the side of its ear. Tatiana pulled it out nonchalantly after it fell down then I saw Mikhail crushing a skull of a deadhead wearing a helmet into pieces. The hammer side of his weapon easily flew in a wide arc before crushing several heads with one swing.

Stefan finished some of them off with his knife but he decided to just help with hauling the bodies off the building. It was a short moment of realization as he discovered he wasn't needed so he made sure to be useful in someplace else where Mikhail wasn't present.

'Like a max character griefing...'

It took us a while to make their advance halt and it didn't take long before I managed to contact the ones on the roof. They were firing the whole time we were in a dance with the dead but a drone eventually flew over our heads, heading for the fucked up chandelier at the center. We decided to stay on the same floor so we'd have a better view compared to a screen.

-

*bzzt*

[Do I go slowly or?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Just go for it."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Sure...]

*bzzt*

-

Lois was the one controlling the drone and he started circling around it with a wide radius. After each loop, he would make the circle smaller and smaller right until it was about to make contact. Despite that, there was nary a response.

-

*bzzt*

[Bro… could they be dead already?]

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

"Fly lower, check the main bodies. You just flew around the tongues."

*bzzt*

-

*bzzt*

[Ah… okay...]

*bzzt*

-

It didn't take long before Lois followed my request but as the first few times, there was nary a response. My group even resorted to throwing bloody jawbreakers we found on the floor and it only made the dead below follow the noise when it landed at the bottom. The drone was eventually retracted and we continued with our initial plan. However, once we got to the proper distance, I bored a hole through their heads with a 5.56 before advancing any further.

The 2nd floor was in a much worser state than the one above and there were signs that the people that acted fast tried to barricade access from the floor below. A few have succeeded but sloppy work was done in a couple of them. That allowed the dead to reach the higher floors and not to mention the escalators were still working at that time.

The dead only needed to stand on them and they would be delivered to their meals.

We continued with getting through the side of the mall where the ropes were located but it was still a little unnerving to pass by the slurpers hanging by the chandelier. We know that they were dead but several bodies hanging out from the ceiling were still sending eerie signals. A few of us could still remember the time we spent inside the church of the cult we encountered though that was fucking worse than what we were seeing currently.

"West stairwell clear."

"This side too."

"The emergency exit?"

"Da."

"The escalators?"

"Da."

"Da 2nd floor is finally cleared."

"What the- did you just-"

"I don't know what you're talking about..."

"..."

"How about the first floor?"

"Hmmm..."

Despite our best efforts, it was impossible to block the entrance of the first floor unless our clearing group managed to reach us. The mall was still a few meters away from the edge of the bodies we piled outside so it would take some time. Nevertheless, securing a mall's resources from two floors was more than enough of an achievement for a day.

Aside from the canned goods that we discovered from several shops, cigars, booze, tools, medical items, and etc. were ripe for the taking. Aside from that, we managed to scrape up two .38 Specials, three Remington 870s, and a Colt 1911 from the guards we took down. The number of ammunition present wasn't as great because all we scrounged up were the ones in their belts.

My group was just looking at me before I gave the signal, "Yeah, go ahead. Take what you want."