Geoff North - How the World Ends

Michael ate the chocolate-coated ball, wishing he’d grabbed something without burnt almonds mixed in. “I hate almonds.”

His sister pointed to the pile of loot she’d carried in her shirt, now spread out over the floor. “There’s caramel center ones in there, a whole bunch of them.”

He found them and devoured six straight away. Amanda kept up with him—treat for treat—tossing the wrappers down into what remained. She drank from one of the waters and burped into her arm. It left a lip-smeared impression made of chocolate on the skin. “Slow down,” he said, “try and save some for later.”

“Look who’s talking.”

“Seriously, we might get sick. You want him to hear us puking our guts out?”

Amanda slowed down. “I think the music stopped playing because he left. I think maybe he went to another mall to kill more people.”

Michael didn’t like the idea of that, but he hoped it might be true. He sipped his water and prayed the monster had moved on.

“Did you hear that?” The candle light danced in her terror-filled eyes.

Michael wiped chocolate from his mouth with his shirt. He shook his head.

Amanda crawled on her hands and knees towards the office door. She pressed one ear up against the cool metal and whispered. “Thought I heard someone coughing.”

Michael was beside her seconds later, straining to hear beyond the suffocating silence of their hiding place. “I can’t hea—”

A woman’s voice called out. The children jumped back from the door as if it had suddenly become electrified.

“What… what did she say?” Amanda asked.

Michael shook his head. “I didn’t hear it all… something about God and pulling the freaking trigger.” Amanda’s brown lips started to quiver. Michael rubbed her arm, tried calming her. “We can’t just sit here. We gotta take her by surprise—if she has a gun, we have to stop her before she even sees us.”

He didn’t wait for a debate. Michael unlocked the door and started back through the storage room. Amanda blew out the candle sitting on the desk, and followed after him. He started pushing the swinging door into the store outward, and she yanked at the back of his shirt. “Don’t! She’s with him… she’s with Roy. ”

“We don’t know that.” He kept going, wishing once again he’d taken something from the office to use as a weapon. The butter knife was essentially useless against a gun, but it would’ve been better than nothing. Even the empty raspberry jam jar might have made a difference. There was a box of rubber balls on a shelf in front of him. He plucked a red one out, and peeked around the aisle. A black shadow was moving towards them.

“I’ll lead her further back into the dark,” he whispered. “We’ll get that gun out of her hand before she can get a good look at us.”

“Don’t be stupid,” she pleaded. “It’ll never work.”

Michael ignored her and tossed the ball into the advancing shadow. He watched it roll away.

“I’m not fooling around here,” the woman’s voice called out. “I killed a man this morning with a knitting needle, and I’ll kill you, too.”

Amanda squeaked and pulled her brother back. They pushed through the storage room door as quietly as possible and waited. Michael saw her mouth the words, she’s going to kill us . He whispered back to her. “No… I won’t let her.”

There was a small rectangular window set in the door five feet from the bottom. The twins were too short to see through it, so Michael watched, and waited for any change in the dull stream of light. He would make his move then; he would kick at the door as hard as he could, and he would grab his sister and run. We’ll go left—through the sportswear store… we’ll get out of this place and run all the way home.

He didn’t get the chance. Amanda lunged at the door and reached through. There was a clatter—something made of metal hitting the floor. Michael reached with his sister and grabbed at the arm she was scratching. They pulled the woman through together.

“Don’t hurt us,” Amanda screamed. “We have chocolates and water! We can share!”

The three bodies tangled in a twist of fighting limbs. The woman grunted. “Let go of me.” They crashed over the big pink dollhouse and fell to the floor in a thrashing tumble.

Michael found his sister in the gloom and pulled her away. “Back to the room! We gotta get back to the room and lock ourselves in!”

They made it halfway back and the woman yelled. “Wait! Don’t run away, I won’t hurt you!”

Amanda hesitated, and Michael kept pulling her. “Don’t listen to her, she had a gun.” They made it to the office door, and in his panic Michael forgot it pushed out instead of in. The momentary struggle was enough to let the woman catch up to them.

“You don’t have to hide from me. I meant what I said. I won’t hurt you.” Her short hair stood up in spots like grey, spiky nails. She was covered with soot and ash, and her dress was in tatters. She looked like a crazed homeless person, but her eyes were sane enough. She approached them carefully, and held her hands up. “See? I didn’t even know how to use that gun. I took it… I was carrying it for protection, that’s all.”

“You said you killed someone with a knitting needle,” Amanda countered. “Said you’d kill us, too.”

Her head tilted to one side, and she offered them a weak smile. “I didn’t mean it. I was just scared… like the two of you are scared.

“Did you see Roy?” Michael asked.

“Who’s Roy?”

“He killed our Mom and all them other people. He had a gun, too.”

Amanda’s fear was giving way. “She doesn’t know him. She’s just like us.”

The woman looked back towards the front of the storage room. “One man did all of that?”

Michael got the door into the office opened. “This is where we’ve been hiding since it happened. You better get inside before he finds us.”

“My name’s Angela.” She bit into one of the truffles and sat in the chair behind the desk. “What are your names?”

“I’m Amanda, and that’s my twin brother, Michael.”

“Your mother… was she the only one you were with? Was your father in the mall?” They nodded and then shook their heads in unison. “Do you kids have any idea what happened? Do you realize what took place outside of here?”

Michael answered. “Our Dad was always watching CNN. It was terrorists. They probably came inside the mall with bombs strapped to their chests.”

“It wasn’t terrorists, Michael, at least not like all that awful footage you saw on television. I’m afraid this was much worse. The bombs were much bigger… they went everywhere, hit all the cities. Everything’s gone.” Angela didn’t want to scare the children any more than they already had been, but she needed to let them know the entire scope of their problem. They wouldn’t be able to simply leave the mall and start over. They no longer had a home to return to.

They didn’t seem overly surprised. Michael spilled the accumulated wax from his second candle onto the floor. The scent it let off had made the office smell nicer, like fudge baking in an oven. But even that pleasant aroma didn’t fool the children to what waited beyond the confines of the four walls around them. “I kinda figured it was worse outside. I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want my sister to get any more scared.”

Amanda looked at both of them. “Just ‘cause I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t handle what’s happened out there. Quit treating me like a dummy, dummy.”

“Quit calling me that.”

“Both of you stop,” Angela said. The children listened, and she felt relieved. The three of them would have to stay together, and paying attention to the only adult would make things easier. “Tell me more about Roy.”