City Square Mall was the trendy mall in the neighbourhood.
There you could find restaurants, supermarkets, beauty salons, sports and clothes shops, a gym, a cinema and even kindergartens. Basically, anything you could need for your daily life and leisure.
During this distressing moment, going to this mall would certainly not guarantee their safety, but at least they could find some supply to face their dire situation.
In the mall, some people were hiding in some corners while others were gathering provisions.
Contrary to what we could expect from this kind of circumstance, they were no riot. Most people in the mall, even if panicked a bit, were behaving well. Following the law was a thing in Singapore, this city was one of the safest in the world, and old habits die hard.
This was good news for the group as they were moving unhindered.
Reaching Decathlan, the store was empty. They started to gather supply by dozens. Nicolas told them to get clothes for a large group that could last several days. They did not know why they had to do that, but he said "I'll pay", and facing the determination in his eyes they proceed, not questioning further.
They divided to conquer. The guys were responsible for male clothing, the girls, female clothing. Alice, in bad shape, was in charge of guarding the baskets in the central alley.
Nicolas and Fred were alone when Nicolas said worriedly, "I think we should pay close attention to Alice."
"Take more running t-shirts," said Fred before answering, "Yes, she has lost a lot of blood. We need to bring her to the hospital."
"I think you misunderstood me, I did not have the chance to explain before, but what I saw while going back there was…" he made a small pause, "…disturbing". "Have you already watched a show or a movie about zombies?"
Fred froze, looking at Nicolas with sceptical eyes. "What do you mean by that?"
"I mean that what I saw is very close to these movies," Nicolas answered assuming Fred understood what he was talking about. He continued, "Alice got bitten, right? In general, in these movies, this is bad news! I am not saying it will develop the same way, just that we should keep a very close eye on her."
Fred started to sweat even more. He swallowed his saliva and said, "You're not serious, right? I mean, I saw those guys going crazy, but this is something different, this is," he paused, "a big problem?" Fred was not even sure about what he was saying his own mind not willing to work properly under the shock.
Nicolas took his smartphone, began to play a video and put it in the hand of Fred. He then went toward the middle of the store to give Alice his baskets and went to the back of the shop where all the sports items for archery, golf and cricket were gathered.
"What the...!" Fred was about to swear loudly and comment on the video when he realized that it was better not to attract attention.
Catching up to Nicolas, he started to whisper, "If this is true, we should get out soon, if one of these meteorites hit the mall, even if we survive the destruction, we will have to face a horde of this thing!"
"It is true, you saw the video. I agree with you, but it is not like we can predict where the meteorite will fall, so let's stick to the plan and wait for my friends. While they try to reach here, we will gather weapons, defensive gear, clothing, and food. We have to be ready!"
"What plan? Ready for what?" Fred did not remember planning anything and he did not understand where Nicolas was going with all this.
Even if they gather all this equipment, how they were supposed to fight against monsters in the streets? It looked well on the TV show, but right now he was more considering the scenes about those poor nobodies swallowed by a horde of crazy zombies than the ones where the MCs were surviving a bitter fight.
"I have just agreed on meeting Baptiste and some friends outside the mall. They will arrive soon. Then we will regroup with some other friends. And about the next steps, I am not sure if it is a good one, but I have an objective. I admit, this is a long shot, but this is the best thing I have in mind."
Nicolas was a bit unconfident saying it out loud. In a normal situation, this plan of his would just be crazy thoughts. On second thought, he realized this idea was crazy, even in this situation.
With a bitter smile, he addressed Fred, "I want to go to Tuas, there I know there is a small harbour for rich people. I want to "borrow" a yacht." He said the last words with a meaningful look.
Fred frowned hearing this.
"Let me finish," continued Nicolas, "my goal is to go to France by boat. My friends and family are gathering in a small village in the south. I think it will be the best place to survive this crisis. You can call your family from France to gather there if you want."
Fred's face was falling hearing Nicolas idea. "You're crazy! This is not a joke sailing from Singapore to France!"
"Shhhhh, Yes, I know," Whispered Nicolas in annoyance while using his hand to ask Fred to lower down his voice, "but by plane, it is a no go, and by car, it will be even worse." Nicolas made a brief pause and stare back at Fred very seriously, "Ok, this is not the time to argue. First, we pack everything up, find some food, gather with my friends, and then we can decide what to do."
Fred nodded, arguing here was not the right thing to do. He went back looting around the store with Nicolas, they were in a crazy "shopping" frenzy, filling big bags after big bags. Outdoor tools and clothes, body protections, golf clubs, cricket bats, bows and arrows from archery, even the UV long sleeve shirts were not spared. Everything that seems fit to survival in the wild and personal protection went in the bag. After filling a mix of six sports bags and hiking backpacks, they came back to the middle allay, where the girls were already waiting.
"What the hell are all of these? Are you preparing for war?" Exclaimed, Emmanuelle pointing toward the bow.
"Yes! Good question, what are you doing?" Lexie added with disbelief. "You still have not told us what you saw back there."
"This stuff is necessary and sorry I'll explain later, here is not the best place. Take all the baskets and let's pay," Nicolas led the way to the cashier.
When reaching there he realized there was nobody, feeling silly he whispered, "old habits die hard, I already knew I did not have to pay" Nicolas was mentally facepalming himself.
Fred was almost chuckling seeing Nicolas face. "Ok, let's gear up and go to the supermarket."
"But we need to pay, no?" Emma replied, she too had a hard time thinking about leaving the store without paying. Fred froze speechless. 'Indeed, old habits die hard.'
Recovering quickly Nicolas started to gather some stuff from the bags and gave some protective gear to Emma "No need to pay. Here, put this on."
The sets were composed of legs, knees, elbows and wrists protections used for skates or kickboxing, undershirts used for rugby or boxing, they were even flexible back protection used for horse riding. For the weapons he left them in the bag, just putting a hiking knife in his pocket.
For the helmet, they were way too much choice. He just told them to take one by themselves. So, they went around the store again.
Nicolas took two different helmets for himself, one employed in rugby, black, very flexible, light and did not impair the vision at all. The other one was for skateboarding. He put it on top of the first one. It was also black and covered most of the head.
After a few minutes, Lexie went closer to Nicolas.
"Bebe, what is happening? Why are we stealing all of this? I don't like it when you don't tell me what is going on." Lexie was restless.
Nicolas took her aside and whispered, "The situation is worse than you can imagine, if I tell you, you promise me you will use all your courage and stay quiet."
She nodded with worried eyes.
"I'll be honest, I did not want to tell you now because you might freak out, but it seems you won't give me a choice. Breathe deeply and don't say anything." Nicolas started to hug Lexie and continued "When I went back to the crater, I saw people coming back from the dead and acting like madmen. I think we are facing an apocalypse like in the movies."
First, Lexie froze, incredulous, then fear and shock appeared on her face. And finally, she started to shake uncontrollably. Nicolas kept her in his arms and said, "Yes, I know this is one of your worst nightmares, but it is not like we have the choice this time. This is not Universal Studios, where you can wait for me outside the attraction." Lexie started to cry silently.
"Are you good?" Emmanuelle was staring at them.
"Yes, she is just releasing the tension; we just need a minute."
A few minutes later, Lexie had calm down. She had a fierce look in her eyes; it was as she became another person. This was one of her particularities, most of the time she could behave like a little spoiled and cute girl. But when things get serious or in this case horribly dreadful, she could surge her mature side and survival instincts to face the storm.
It took them 25 minutes to gather all the equipment and gear up. They were now ready to move to the next step, gathering food.