J. Knoll - Zoe, Undead

"Do you like my shoes?" she asked suddenly, struggling for something to say to him.

He looked down at them and nodded. "Yeah, they look great."

She nodded back, biting her lip as she folded her hands behind her as she continued to grope for something to talk about. Social situations were not something she had ever been able to grasp outside of her family and she found this one to be very, very difficult. "Um… Uh…"

"Did you make it to the other end of the mall?" he asked suddenly.

Zoe shook her head and reported, "I didn't look upstairs on that end. Those people attacked me before I could get over there from the food court."

He glanced over his shoulder to the soldiers behind him and ordered, "Upstairs. Half the squad on one side, half on the other."

On the second level, the troops were divided up and moving at a slow, stalking pace toward the other end of the mall, their weapons ready and their eyes vigilant. While Zoe understood the gravity of what they were doing, other things were on her mind and she could not concentrate on the job they had ahead of them. Open store fronts were just routine and she hardly gave them a second thought until one of the soldiers stopped and trained his weapon into one.

"Sarge," he hissed.

The squad came to a stop and everyone looked that way.

Sergeant Morris advanced a few steps toward the open store front, staring intently into it as he and his men waited for any movement.

Zoe took his side and also looked, but she did not see anything in there. Her mind strayed again and she looked up to him, asking, "So is Tex your real name?"

All attention slowly turned on the girl as she stared patiently up at the Sergeant and awaited an answer.

"It's a nickname," he replied. Looking over his shoulder, he ordered, "Let's check it out. Stay sharp."

"I'll go," Zoe announced as she strode forward. "They won't bother me, anyway." This was less bravery, less looking out for her colleagues and more trying to impress the Sergeant.

"Zoe!" he hissed.

Looking over her shoulder, she assured, "I'll be right back. This store isn't that big."

She strode in and stopped to look around her, not seeing any movement, then she proceeded at a slow walk the rest of the way in. This store sold candles and knick knacks, little things that any girl would like to pause and look at, and she did as a display of little unicorn figurines caught her eye. She picked one up, then she looked to her side as she heard something move, a familiar shuffling sound of feet dragging. Slowly, she put the little unicorn back and turned that way, calling, "Hello? Any zombies in there?"

The shuffling stopped.

She neared the back of the store where there was a door that had a sign on it that read Employees Only and she paused. With that sign there, she was hesitant to go in for fear of getting into trouble.

Something moved right on the other side of the door.

Zoe simply did not know what to do, so she turned around and strode out of the store and right up to Sergeant Morris.

He stared down at her for long seconds and finally prodded, "Well?"

"I heard something," she reported, "but it's behind a door that says employees only. Do you think I can go in and see what's in there?"

He simply stared back for more long seconds, then finally raised his brow and assured, "Yeah."

"Okay," she complied as she spun around on one heel. "Be right back."

Not bothering to look around her this time, she strode right up to the door and turned the handle to open it, coming face to face with a woman who had worked there, a woman who appeared to be in her forties who wore a lacy white button up blouse, a flower print skirt that dropped down to her ankles and a necklace that looked like it was made of many, multi colored clear beads that looked like they were made of glass. Her skin was gray, her eyes were white with little black dots in the middles of them and were sunken in, and her cheeks were hollow and darker gray.

The two zombies just stared at each other for a moment. There was movement behind the zombie woman and it became clear that there was at least one more in there. With no expression, Zoe closed the door, turned and strode back out of the store, keeping her eyes low as she rejoined the soldiers.

Stopping right in front of Sergeant Morris, she looked up at him and reported, "Yeah, I found one."

The whole squad tensed.

"I think there might be another one in there with her," she went on. "They're in the back where the door reads employees only."

"Did they come out?" someone asked from behind the Sergeant.

She shrugged. "I don't know if they want to. The first one is just standing at the door so I closed it again."

Morris nodded and looked past her. "Okay, let's check it out." He patted Zoe's shoulder as he walked by and ordered, "Stay here, Princess."

She turned and watched Sergeant Morris and the five men with him as they stalked into the store, and she just stood and waited.

Gunfire erupted, very briefly. There were only a few shots, then silence.

Zoe watched as the soldiers returned from the store and she did not seem to recognize the stress in their eyes nor was she really interested in what had transpired. Her attention was fully on Sergeant Morris.

As he reached her, he motioned to the soldiers with him and ordered, "Okay, let's move out."

The search resumed and the other soldiers fanned out about six feet apart, but Zoe stayed right at Sergeant Morris' side. She still struggled for something to say to him and glanced at him often.

"Um," she finally stammered, "uh, so is Tex your first name?"

He smiled slightly, still scanning the area as he replied, "No, that's just a nickname."

"What is your real name?" she asked with an innocent tone.

"William Morris," was his brief reply.

"Why do they call you Tex then?"

"Because I'm from New York," he answered in a thick, southern drawl.

Her brow lowered and she looked forward again, then back up at him. "Um, what?"

"Kidding," he assured. "I'm from Texas." His smile faded as he added, "I'm hoping I'll get to go back there one of these days."

Zoe nodded and looked ahead again. Something reached her senses, that familiar, carrion scent and she stopped and breathed in deeply. It stank, should have, and she found herself wanting to seek it out.

Morris and the other men stopped as well and he turned to her, asking, "What is it, Kiddo?"

"Do you smell that?" she asked with a little grimace.

He tested the air himself, then shook his head. Looking to the men, he asked, "Does anyone smell anything unusual?"

Nobody responded.

He looked down to Zoe again. "What is it you smell?"

She took another long sniff, then replied, "It's like when you're in the car on the highway and you pass an animal that's been run over. It…" Her eyes widened and she mumbled, "Uh, oh."

Walking to the rail, she looked over the side and scanned the lower level. Something from ahead of them down there caught her ear and she looked that way, toward one of the major department stores, and her eyes widened.

The soldiers went there as well and all looked.

The doors to the department store stood open, and forms began to move slowly through them, hundreds of them! They were dressed as if they had come from all walks of life, a cross section of the undead populous that had converged on the mall, and they appeared to be of all different ages from children to the very old. They all moved with those jerky, unsteady steps, and they all moved in the same direction.

When Sergeant Morris noticed some of his people taking aim, he shouted, "Hold your fire!" They all looked to him and he went on, "We don't have the ammo to just spray and pray. We need to set up defensive positions. Helms, get on the horn and call back to the base. Tell them we have heavy contact inside the mall.