pavers was blackened and piled deep with ash.
They left the vehicles and horses at the far edge of the parking lot. There had been an undercurrent of excitement buzzing through the crowd all morning, a yearning to be indoors again, to see other citizens, but the council insisted on a break before they went inside, a chance to eat something and drink water. No one argued. Experience had taught them to take dehydration and hunger seriously enough that they broke their progress for a meal of kaysev, chewing methodically and with little satisfaction. The mothers coaxed the little ones to eat.Colton and Kalyan practiced tossing hard little dried kaysev chips into the air and catching them in their mouths, people good-naturedly cheering them when they managed a direct hit.
Still, the excitement and anticipation were palpable. When the meal was finished, the group hurriedly assembled and made its way through the parking lot, threading through the maze of cars. A few were parked neatly, as though their owners had come for a final trip to buy a sweater or a tube of lipstick, but many more were abandoned haphazardly, crashed into others or blocking lanes.
Nobody looked inside the cars. The smells had abated, but you never got used to seeing the decomposed corpses, the hair that was still styled the way it was on the morning they died, the leer of exposed jaws and teeth always making cadavers look cheerful and jaunty, in stark contrast to the horror of the eyes, which were often eaten away by parasites or dried to thin, flaking tissue.
But there were always remains outside of cars in places like this, people who waited until hunger or thirst drove them out of their cars, who made it a few yards or even a few hundred yards until they were set upon and devoured. These bodies-little more than skeletons, their clothing ripped from them and abandoned nearby-were the worst, and Cass and the other mothers held their children close and shielded their eyes from the sight of them.
Dor had somehow managed to get Sammi talking to him in the past couple of days, and though she didn’t look happy about it, she and the other kids stayed close to him. The girls who’d escaped the Rebuilders had remained silently loyal to him after they reached New Eden-Cass wouldn’t be surprised if Dor planned to protect them all. Other little cliques-Valerie and her friends, Luddy and his, Corryn and Rachael and the other kitchen staff-merged into one tight group as they neared the doors.
A hand on her shoulder, and there was Smoke, his cautious smile. “I’d like you to remain near me.”
Before she could respond, Mayhew leaped nimbly to the hood of a blue sedan at the edge of the cleared area. The rain had abated and weak sunlight forced its way through the clouds, and Cass had to squint to look at him.
All of this was already in place, of course, so he wasn’t so much asking permission as building consensus. Not so different, it occurred to Cass, from the way New Eden had been run. And Mayhew was good at it, too, playing on people’s fears; at the mention of the Beater kills the crowd seemed to press in on itself.
“Did they see the Beaters?” a woman called…maybe Cindy, Cass thought. “The ones who did it? Or the nest- did they see the nest?”
“I think they may be using a mechanicals shed for a nest,” Mayhew answered easily, keeping his voice in a reassuring, even timbre. “Makes sense they’re around, trying to get into the mall, since there’s folks sheltering there.”
“Did you talk to anyone inside?” Dor, stepping out from the crowd.
“Not exactly. We got a visual. There’s a, what do you want to call it, like a sunken lobby in the middle, bunch of coffee shops and restaurants, seating. There were about eight or ten people there, but Davis couldn’t get their attention from up here through the windows. That’s good glass, by the way. Solid as all heck, just needs some Windex.” He smiled at this joke, a gesture reminiscent of television.
“So maybe we should send in one or two people first,” Dor said, ignoring the few titters Mayhew’s joke earned, his tone making it clear he thought Mayhew was an idiot. “Before we risk our entire population. What do you think?”
Mayhew stared at Dor without blinking, and the people in the crowd looked back and forth from one to the other. Cass knew the popular opinion had swayed to Mayhew, but there was enough uncertainty that she knew the outcome hung in the balance between them.
“The way to risk lives is to keep standing out here, where there’s a known Beater threat,” he said impatiently. “Davis saw citizens, they were sitting together talking, eating, whatever. Just like you guys were doing a few days ago, just like I was, with my own loved ones, a few weeks back. Look, at least two of you have been here recently and confirmed that it’s a friendly group-”
“If you call two months recent,” Dor cut in, his voice rising angrily. “Things change fast. As I guess you might know, Mayhew.”
“And so I suggest we break into this door here and if nothing else, we’ll have a warm and dry place to let the kids run around a little,” Mayhew continued, as though Dor hadn’t spoken.
“You won’t have to break in. This group doesn’t lock their doors from the outside,” Dor said, disgusted. “The mechanical ones don’t work at all, but there’s a safety latch on the emergency doors, under the push bar. The Beaters haven’t had the dexterity to work them so they leave them unlocked so citizens can come in quickly. They only lock them on the inside.”
“So much the better.” Mayhew smiled, his expression chilly. He walked over to the door and ran his hand along the bar. There was a click and the door opened. “Okay, look, MacFall, if it makes you feel any better, I’ll go first. We can keep the women and kids in the back. Let’s just get in there, everyone can take off their packs, rest a little while we look around, talk to the folks.”
“Only a damn fool would go in alone,” Dor said, and strode to the door.
“Guess we’re two damn fools, then,” Mayhew said sarcastically. “But I appreciate the company. Anyone else?”
The Easterners stepped up, as well as a few others. The rest of the crowd murmured approvingly. Clearly the popular vote was for Mayhew. Again.
They entered single file, Nadir holding the door open. Inside, there was a faint hint of the smell that permeated every mall, Before, industrial cleaners and plastic and perfume. But there was also the shelter smell-notes of burned food, urine and bodies living in close contact with little opportunity to bathe.
Oddly, Cass found it comforting.
“I think you should carry Ruthie.” Smoke had appeared quietly at her side. “And stay in the back of the crowd, with me.”
So he felt the same as Dor and as Cass herself, that there was something off here. But she wasn’t about to stay outside without protection from the Beaters, no matter how long it had been since they’d swarmed in the area. She picked Ruthie up without a word.
“Hello!” Mayhew called, as the crowd walked along the broad hallway into the mall’s upper floor. The entire ceiling was made of glass and plenty of natural light filled the open areas. Many of the storefront windows had been shattered, the contents looted, but the debris had all been swept away and the mannequins and displays stacked against the walls, leaving most of the stores clear in the center. As they passed, Cass could see that many of the clearings had been made into homes; shelves held personal possessions, stacks of clothes, stores of food. Curtains had been hung to lend some privacy to the living quarters; posters and lamps and other merchandise had been moved into the spaces to personalize them. Other than the fact that everything was new, the atmosphere was not so different from the middle of the Box, where the employees made their permanent homes.
But where was everyone?
The group reached the rail overlooking the atrium. Just as Mayhew had described, there were restaurants with tables arranged in the center area, even evidence of a recent meal, dishes and cutlery on the tables-but no one was around.
“So where are all these citizens you were talking about?” Dor demanded.
“They were right down there,” one of the Easterners said, puzzled. “We looked in from that window up there, there’s stairs up there from the parking lot. There were at least eight of them before. Mostly women. Maybe they’re cleaning up, they must have a separate area for the kitchen-”
