"OH GOD!" I shouted out as I saw a massive shockwave approaching the Hanford Mall from outside through the glass doors and windows.
I, as well as several other people, took cover behind and inside my checkout counter, avoiding the shards of flying broken glass while millions of them shot out in every direction possible. While some of us were only mildly, the same could not be said for the other unfortunate souls who couldn't shield themselves...
Upon standing up, I saw several bodies on the floor. They had glass jammed into places that made my body shiver. As gruesome as the sight of dead men and women was, though, that was the least of my worries. Minutes passed as the few remaining shoppers and I confined in one another at what we had just experienced. Just when we all gained our composure, the four of us saw a disheveled man stumble into the now destroyed mall door from outside. At first, we were relieved that others had survived the explosion, but upon closer inspection, the survivors and I realized something odd. This man was wounded. Heavily wounded. He had large gashes all over his body, to which we would the man would be dead. What was even odder was his glowing blue eyes. Then, a disheveled woman with the same eyes stumbled in as well with more and more disheveled looking people soon following after them...
It was October 13th 2025, the day it happened. I was working my boring cashier job at Hanford Mall just as I heard a bus pull up to the entrance. I was just finishing checking out an older man who was flirting with me nonstop to the point that I kept my head tilted and eyes pointed at the counter when serving him. I inadvertently allowed him to view my cleavage, only furthering my irritation.
"Thanks for the treat, darling..." he said smugly to me. I rolled my eyes as he walked away.
"Thank you for shopping with us, Pervert..." I mumbled under my breath as the next customer approached.
Today just wasn't my day. I had gotten into a messy text argument with my best friend, Abigail Briarton, before my shift had begun because I flirted with the man she was crushed on. He was a scientist, and the farm woman knew I liked my men to be academics. As I ran up the next customer, I looked down at my smartphone as it violently buzzed on the countertop. I was hoping for it to be Abigail, but the message I sent to her was still on 'Delivered'. She hadn't read it...
"Fuck me." I thought to myself. However, an alert was overlapping my text message box as well. It was very urgent, too.
"NATIONAL EMERGENCY! UNIDENTIFIED ROCKET SPOTTED ABOVE NEVADA!" It read.
The blood in my 24 year old body went cold upon reading that message. Shortly afterward, my ears picked up the sound of the exact same alert on each of the shoppers' smartphones. I still remember the terrified look on all of their faces.
I immediately went to Google on my phone to see if this was just a hoax, but it wasn't. Not at all. Not only was there a rocket raining down on Nevada, Africa as well as Asia had reported the same thing in their skies, too! The entire mall and I had our eyes glued to our phones as we watched a live feed of the rocket in Nevada rapidly approaching the earth.
"Is this a terriost attack!?" A male shopper asked aloud.
"Or aliens?" A woman followed. "I heard in reports these rockets came from space."
"We can't know for sure." I said to them, eyes still glued to my phone. "The bigger question is, are these explosives?"
My timing couldn't have been worse. As soon as I said that, another alert was sent to all of our smartphones, and it sent a deep chill down my spine...
"ALL ROCKETS ARE NUCLEAR! EXPLOSION RADIUS UNPREDICTABLE! BRACE FOR IMPACT!" it read in large capital red letters.
Then, everyone in the mall heard an extremely loud boom just as we saw the rocket collide with the state of Nevada on the livestream. From that alone, I knew that all of the people living there were not just dead. They were completely erased from this planet. As for those of us in Hanford, Washington, we had to deal with the shockwave. It was so powerful that it blanketed Washington state in an ash covered mist that blocked out the sun after it devastated the shopping mall I was sheltered in.
In the present, the 4 remaining survivors and I watched on in confused terror as these disheveled and badly wounded people stumbled towards us with their glowing blue eyes. They did not speak at all. Instead, the small group was just moaning and snarling as they approached. I didn't know what was happening, but I knew in my gut that it wasn't good.
"Hey!" A male survivor said to the group of wounded individuals who didn't respond to his words. "You guys need help?"
The poor man made the mistake of being in front of me and the other three survivors as we watched in horror as one of the disheveled people rushed him and tackled him to the mall ground. He was then bitten in the neck, letting out a bloodcurdling scream as his own blood sprayed out of the wound. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
"Jesus fucking christ!" A female survivor gasped as she began to fearfully back up.
The man was torn apart in a very gruesome display of what appeared to be cannibalism, leaving the now deceased man in a bloody pile of body parts on the shopping mall floor as the wounded man that ate him began to stumble his way toward us next.
"I think that dude is dead." A male survivor said as he and the rest of us began to back away from the approaching group.
"I think the corpse on the ground speaks for itself, moron." A woman responded with condescension in her tone.
After swiping my purse from out of my work counter, I reached in and pulled out my refurbished M1911 pistol and pointed at the man who killed the male survivor.
"STOP OR I'LL SHOOT YOU ASSHOLE!" I shouted at him while shakily aiming my firearm at his chest.
He was completely unfazed by my statement, still stumbling his way toward all of us at the exact same moderate pace. I then pulled the trigger, unloading one round into his heart. His body flinched, but he continued to move toward us...
"What the fuck!?" I said in fearful confusion as we all hit a wall.
"Like I said, guys... I think that dude's dead..." The male survivor reiterated, referring to the man I shot this whole time.
It was only after shooting that man in the heart that I knew what was happening. He and those disheveled, wounded people were not people. At least not anymore. They were now zombified versions of themselves. And very aggressive ones at that. So much so, the 3 remaining survivors and I turned to our left side and bolted up to the second floor of the mall, using the still escalators. Just as quickly, too, the undead began to run after us. Being the only one with a gun, I hung back and started shooting each zombie prick I saw to give the others a chance to find an escape. However, I realized that the remaining survivors were not armed like was and met an unfortunate demise...
While opening a fire escape door, I turned and saw the female survivor screaming at the top of her lungs as she was pulled down to the shopping mall floor and gruesomely devoured by a pair of blue-eyed zombies. The two men didn't even attempt to help her and ran through the door to save their own asses.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!" I shouted to the last two survivors while reloading my pistol and then shooting the two zombies consuming the deceased female survivor.
Before leaving the mall to go after those pricks, I gunned down the remaining group of the undead with well placed shots to the head. With the mall now empty, I found myself in the need to change my clothes and saw a clothing store mannequin with a very cool outfit: a green jacket and a white tank top with blue denim skinny jeans. I smirked, ripping the clothes off and very quickly changing out of my store uniform, which consisted of a white blouse and black pencil skirt.
Outside, I rushed out on the shopping mall with my M1911 pistol in hand. Looking around, I saw the two male survivors lying in the middle of the street as they, too, were deceased and were being eaten by zombies. However, a heavily damaged bus drove its way up to the Hanford Mall entrance and opened its flimsy doors. I quickly rushed inside of it, grateful to see other survivors. Or so I thought...
The vehicle was empty, devoid of bus seats, and was entirely automated by a male android in place of where the steering wheel would have been for a manual bus. While this was common place for our era, I was taken aback by the robot's appearance due to it having a decent portion of its synthetic skin handing off of its face.
"Welcome aboard! Please have a seat. Thank you for choosing Consolidated Coach Corporation Bus Lines. We know it is a big decision who you ride with, and we are privileged to have been chosen." The Android spoke as the bus' horn blared.
Shortly afterward, I felt the vehicle begin to move. Right outside, though, blue-eyed zombies began to come out of the woodwork to swarm the bus. As they attempted to climb through the windows, I picked up a knife from off the bus floor with my left hand and stabbed an undead prick in the head with it while I shot some another one with my M1911 pistol. This was going to be a very dangerous ride for me going forward to wherever in what was going...
Kiontre Miles
