“This isn’t going to be easy,” she mused, and then stepped back to face the group. “Everyone take turns having a look, make sure you get a lay of the land.”
The group moved up two-by-two, all coming away from the window with concerned, pale faces.
“What’s the play here?” Eddie asked, voice tight.
Grace took a deep breath. “Same as we said outside,” she replied firmly. “We’re gonna fight our way across to the escalator, and then at the top, my team will go right towards the department store along with the sporting goods store team, and the decoy team will go left. I can’t see far enough that way, but you should be able to find somewhere to make enough noise and fall back somewhere safe.”
“Should,” Eddie replied dryly.
She shrugged. “You volunteered for that job,” she replied, waving a hand at him. “I know you’ll be able to figure it out.”
“Thanks,” he quipped.
“But there are so many of those… so many of those…” Joseph stammered, pointing shakily at the door. “How are we going to get even to the escalator?”
Grace took a deep breath. “They’re fairly spread out, and not in bigger groups than two or three.” She held up her crowbar. “Your best weapon is fists and shoulders. If you can’t knock them aside, barrel ‘em over. Don’t stop moving, or you’re dead. Don’t even go for kill shots, just focus on making a path for yourself. Hawk and I will take the lead, and we’ll try to move in a train, two by two, with the decoy team bringing up the rear. Questions?”
Aly raised her hand with the tire iron. “What if we trip or fall?”
“Get back up fast,” Troy replied dryly.
Grace nodded. What else was she supposed to say? “Let’s go,” she said, and turned towards the door.
CHAPTER FOUR
Grace waited until the door was clear about ten yards on either side, and inched it open, slipping through. She held it until Hawk passed it off, and then darted forward, stabbing a ghoul in the face as the others bustled out into the mall.
She knew she was breaking her own rule of not going for kill shots, but she was confident that she could take the time as she waited for the group to catch up. The door clicking shut and the sound of the corpse falling alerted some of the nearby ghouls to their presence, and then the chase was on.
Grace and Hawk moved forward side by side, stabbing and shoving zombies as they went. Sounds of struggles and grunts echoed behind them, but she couldn’t afford to look back to see how her team was faring. They had their instructions, and they had to follow them—she needed to focus on moving forward.
Halfway to the escalator, a pack of four ghouls tore towards them, with a fifth straggling behind, a lot slower than the rest. She didn’t have time to ruminate on how No Name had reported that some of the zombies were slowing down, and that if that was the case, why not just wait for them all to slow down?
She and Hawk moved as one, lowering their shoulders to barrel into the first two ghouls to get close. They drove back the duo into their brethren, tripping them all up.
Grace did glance over her shoulder this time, unsure if they should leave the ghouls here for their friends or not. Aly screamed as she kicked a zombie in the chest, and Joseph cowered behind her, waving his tire iron wildly at another.
Grace grunted and knelt, stabbing efficiently at the fallen zombies. Hawk shook his head and took one out too, and then leapt up at the fifth shambling ghoul, giving it a hearty shove back into a few runners to slow their progress.
Grace darted for the escalators, finally seeing a clear path, and skidded to a stop at the bottom, whipping around to defend the area until the rest of the group could catch up. Troy, Eddie, and Aaron reached her first, and they formed a perimeter around the foot of the escalators.
Aly and Joseph tore over, hot on Hawk’s heels, while Leo smacked down a few ghouls and sprinted to catch up.
Grace turned and spotted some zombies staggering down the escalator towards them, on the left side. “Stay right!” she cried and began the charge up the stairs. The zombies weren’t very steady on their feet, and began to fall, all flailing limbs and snarling mouths as they tumbled down the stairs.
One managed to grasp on to the center median, slowing its descent, and swiped at her. She smashed down on its skull as she went by, and though she wasn’t sure she killed it, at least it was out of the way.
A few steps from the top, a zombie tore into view, launching itself off of the second floor towards her. She lashed out, holding her crowbar with both hands to push it back, grappling with it as she braced the bar across its putrid throat. She wrestled it to the side, trying to throw it over, but it was too strong, and had the high ground.
Hawk reached over her shoulder and smacked it in the head, and though he didn’t drop it, it faltered enough that she was able to shove it over the side, plummeting to the first floor below.
Grace took the last few steps quickly, emerging onto the second floor. She immediately dashed to the right, lowering her shoulder and barreling into a zombie right by the balcony railing.
“This way, fuckers!” Eddie whooped, and his weapon echoed as he smacked it along the railing.
Grace didn’t look back as ghouls converged, tearing towards them from the department store. She trusted Eddie to do his job, and she needed to focus on the doors.
Hawk was next to her then, swinging and smacking. It seemed easiest to shove
