Akane and Logan moved towards the noise, already fully aware who they would meet. They walked slowly and calmly through the massive hallway before they turned the corner of the mall and found the main group of the movie stars. three men, two of which were armed with a shotgun and chromed out pistol. next to them were two women, one pregnant, who stood afraid and jittery as they glanced around the empty mall hallways. Akane whistled and the group who reflexively swiveled their guns in their direction. She put her hands up with a smile while Logan kept his pulled pistol aimed down but at the ready.
"Easy guys, were all living and breathing survivors of this fucked up mess" Akane smirked. The group held their ground for a moment before the two men in front lowered their guns. Logan holstered his pistol while Akane lowered her hands and walked over to the group. "Thanks for not shooting first guys, I'd rather not go out so soon in all this mess."
"No problem, how long have you been here?" the blood covered white guy in the back asked as he kept looking around the mall.
"Not too long, we just checked the first floor and found it was thankfully locked from the outside and after we knew that we killed off the few undead we could find before hearing your entrance" Logan said while stretching with his bat over his shoulder. The news of a safe environment visible calmed the group down as they knew they could relax for once. "We were about to check the second floor to hopefully find some keys to this place so we could secure the underground levels while we still have power and lights down there. why don't you guys take a break and rest down here, maybe clean off that blood, while me and my wife go check upstairs." The group nodded and Logan and Akane moved to one of the escalators that went up to the second floor.
"Why do you think they never showed these in the movie?" Akane asked while they stood on the moving stairs. "They kept taking the elevator whenever they wanted to go upstairs, yet never showed the escalators." Logan shrugged as he watched the second floor for the security guard who should be waiting for them.
"Maybe Snyder wanted to make sure the remake wasn't too similar to the original" he said while pulling his pistol again. "Plus the Elevator was a more controlled environment for camera and sound work." Akane nodded as they both made it to the top and found no guards to speak of. They looked at one another before Akane pulled her own gun and both started to clear the second floor looking for the three. It didn't take too long and they both snorted when the three guards were at the elevator having a standoff with the survivors.
"Really? and here I was hoping that we could still off the two pricks while the others were down stairs" Akane sighed and walked over to the two bickering sides. Logan was a step behind and when they were close enough, and in clear view of the ones in the elevator they raised their guns and Akane whistled again. The sound caused the guards to flinch and turn to look at us sideways as he kept his gun trained on the cop and criminal. "drop your guns, your keys, and slide them both to us pretty please." the main guard growled at the command and he tried to double down.
"You shoot me and I'll shoot them!" he said looking back at the ones in the elevator.
"you shoot them, and I'll shoot to wound not kill" Akane fired back. "Then I'll drop you off outside to have fun with the cannibals who are likely showing up as we speak." that had him hesitate as the Asian woman's voice held not a sliver of fear for the group, and in fact seemed almost hopeful he would shoot them. with the added threat of the two he sighed and dropped his gun, his lackey doing the same. This had the cop moving forward and grabbing his gun while the criminal did the same with the other guard. The younger one just stepped back and held his hands up hoping not to get shot.
With the guards disarmed and keys in hand the couple head down to the basement as the rest started to actually relax. A few, Ana the nurse and Michael the salesmen, wanted to come down and help but They didn't want to risk the two traumatized people. entering the sub parking guns out and lights fully on they cleaned up the hidden threats in the movie with ease before fully securing the area and taking up a tank of fuel. When they came back everyone was watching the news and saw how bad shit was getting.
"We need to let them know we're here" Ana said as she kept watching.
"Saw a paint store in the mall, I say we head to the roof and write out a big SOS so they know" Michael said while walking out to do just that. He was followed by the rest and the couple as it was better to help for now. heading to the roof everyone got to work while Akane and Logan both pitched in while taking stalks of the hoard slowly building up in the parking lot. When the job was finished they heard the crack of gunfire and saw the gun shop owner on his roof as well.
"Wait, is someone alive over there?" Ana said while Sgt. Kenneth checked with some binoculars he took from a store.
"Yeah, he says his name Andy and that he's alone" the Sgt. said with a frown as he worried about his fellow man. as he watched him Andy pointed at something and everyone turned to look at a military chopper flying past. The group cheered while Logan and Akane ignored the false hope and just watched the hoard continuing to gather around.
"Think that's enough?" Akane asked as she itched to start cleaning up the hoard. Logan though shook his head as he saw more slowly trickle in.
"No, I want a good chunk of the surrounding dead to show up before we get started" he said before spitting over the side and walked away. Akane whined as she followed but knew Logan was right for now. no point in starting too soon when they have all the time in the world right now. as the others grew solemn from their rescue flying away, the couple moved back inside to get started. The first thing was the book store that they saw on the first level. there they located how to books on most things they would need for the future. Hydroponic farming, engine repair, sewing, ect. were all in a lovely section that was about bettering yourself. With reading material in hand the two moved to the burger joint in the mall and got the grill and fryer going before they started cooking. as they did the others trickled back into the mall and hovered as they smelled the food being cooked.
"Don't just stand there waiting for people, order something so I know what to cook" Akane said before tapping her Golden arches hat with a giggle. "You think I wear this for the fun of it?" her sarcastic remark had everyone chuckling before they walked up and put in an order from the menu. as Akane flipped and Logan sliced ingredients the others started to just talk while they waited to eat.
While the couple already knew about who was what they still chimed in to keep everything flowing. Ada informed everyone that she was a nurse and wanted to give everyone a check up, while Michael chimed in that he was a salesman and that he would pick out the best Tv in the electronics store for us to use. Andre and Luda kept it sparse as their background screamed criminal, and the Sgt. just raised a brow as he looked down to his officers uniform. Another round of laughs came from that as Akane finished up the burgers.
"What about you two?" Ana asked when everyone was finished. Akane tipped her hat while Logan smiled as he slid burgers onto buns.
"Manager of burgers, fries, and a possible working ice cream machine" Akane said while turning off the grill and shaking the oil off the fires before salting them.
"handyman" Logan said as he plated burgers as Akane dished out fries with the orders. people came up and grabbed their food. As everyone ate, the two joined them while they started to study the books they brought. Logan had picked out the hydroponics first as he was already quite familiar with the subject after growing their small cannabis farm in the living room. he had already collected seeds from the vegetable stock in the refrigerator of the burger joint, and would be looking to the smoothie place not to far away for some fruits next. as he read he looked over and saw what his wife was reading. "babe?" he asked and Akane looked over. "where did you find the Kamasutra?"
Akane smiled as she kept reading. "There was an adult selection in the back of the store" she said while flipping the page. "were gonna be locked up here for a while hon, and you know how I get when I'm bored..." flashed of the past played for Logan and he had to sigh as he grew fearful for his manhood in the coming days.
"Hope that hoard grows fast" he mumbled out as he got back to reading. Akane giggled as she heard his comment.