The familiar sound of a confirmation beep and a mechanical lock clicking open comforted Harvey as they opened the door and dashed into the service hallway, closing the door behind them to ensure there was some level of safety from what they’d seen outside so far. They moved quickly through the back halls, making their way to the second floor and peaking out of a door into the public walkways of the mall proper. There was nothing to see that they weren’t expecting, though the typical bright lighting that illuminated the walkways and store fronts wasn’t on. Instead, there was only the emergency back up lighting system, reminding Harvey of when the power had gone out during their first week working at the phone repair kiosk.
They considered continuing to stick with the employee only areas, as it would be a lot harder to be seen by anyone or anything else that might be exploring the mall. Their badge and code still worked, meaning they had almost complete access to the building, inside and out. They could even set up a small apartment here with enough time.
This place is too exposed, even with our badge, the Analyst rebutted. Anyone or anything else that ends up stuck in this place like us is gonna come looking here for supplies. Plus, what if something happens to our car?
Harvey nodded their head and mumbled to themself, “yeah, yeah, I make a good point. I’m still gonna have a look around, though.”
They needed to know what they had to work with, and if this mall was as abandoned as it seemed to be, then they wanted to take advantage of the near limitless resources they could access here while they could, before any theoretical fellow prisoners came by. They left the service door propped open with the attached doorstop, making sure that they wouldn’t need to scan their badge and enter their code to unlock it again during a speedy get away.
Walking along the elevated path of the second floor, Harvey’s head was a swivel, checking for any movement along the walk ways and in the stores. So far they hadn’t spotted anything moving, but they did notice that, as far as they could tell, every store was fully stocked, with some stores being even more notable in that they were more stocked than Harvey was used to them being. They began drafting a mental list of stores that they wanted to loot, ranking them based on priority of supplies needed, speaking out loud to help themself remember for later.
“So I know the craft store has that small section of raw building materials for the more intense DIY crowd, gonna want to visit the book store for something to help me sleep, I could even get a journal to write stuff down and keep track of this crazy situation. Oh! I definitely need to see what the Knife Store looks like fully stoc-“
Harvey paused as they reached their first destination: the food court. They clung to the wall and peaked around the corner to scan the large dining area lined with restaurant fronts, concerned that this might be the first place they found populated based on the familiar mix of smells of ready to serve food available. They could see the usual billows of steam from various warming stations that signified every restaurant was ready to serve up some delicious - and surprisingly fairly nutritious - food, but there was still no one in sight, employee or customer. Deciding not to address the long and still growing list of questions that they planned to write down in that journal they were getting before they lost track, Harvey headed directly for their favorite restaurant in the whole mall: Taqueria Azul.
They hadn’t had a lot of food growing up that wasn’t home cooked. Almost none, in fact, with the number of times they had eaten food from a restaurant before they left home countable on one hand. The first time they’d been to this food court - well, not this food court, but they knew what they meant - the sheer number of options to pick from alone had felt like they’d made it to a better afterlife than what had been preached at them growing up. Though that wasn’t saying much, considering… they decided not to consider any of that for now. Taqueria Azul had become their favorite as both one of the most delicious options amongst the cornucopia available, and the second cheapest option in the whole mall. The first cheapest was the donut hole cart, but they counted that option less as food and more as a consumable stim toy for the taste buds.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
When they arrived, the restaurant was as stocked as the rest of the mall, with enough food hot and ready to serve to cover an entire lunch rush and then some. Harvey hopped over the counter, not bothering to take the long way around, and paused to scan the food in front of them with greed in their gaze. They had always wanted to make themselves a burrito with the proper portions of ingredients- not that the workers ever skimped, it was more Harvey was always a big eater before having to pay for all their food. They weren’t about to turn down such a perfect combination of sustenance and morale boost.
We’re still in danger, here. Stop getting distracted and get to it. They didn’t speak out loud, simply nodded to themself in response.
The Analyst was right after all, Harvey wasn’t safe just because they hadn’t seen anything else in the mall up until now. They wasted no more time and began assembling burritos. They’d watched it happen so many times that they flew through the process and produced three properly proportioned burritos in as many minutes. They wrapped two of them in to go packaging and slid them into their bag then started eating the third. They’d always had the skill of eating fast. There was always something that needed done in life, now more than ever. They could feel the Analyst in their mind roll there eyes in disapproval, but didn’t say anything, the deliciousness in Harvey’s mouth too much for even their cynical side to truly argue.
About half way through the burrito, Harvey spotted a light flashing momentarily from the open air walk way, moving rather rapidly. They hardly had enough time to swallow their current bite when two figures rounded the corner and swept into the food court, gliding through the sea of chairs and tables with practiced ease. Two skeletons woven with sickly green glowing tubes and dressed in the mall’s security department uniforms scanned the area, flashlight beams darting from one potential hiding place to the next. It didn’t take long for them to spot Harvey where they stood, still behind the counter of Taqueria Azul with half a burrito in their hand.
The security skeleton whose flashlight beam happened to land on Harvey first pointed at them and opened its jaw. A voice that sounded like a mix of rattling and gurgling with a hint of squeaking thrown in attempted to speak, and it was only later that Harvey would discover it actually did say something, even if it wasn’t a language they understood:
“Crimes detected: trespassing, theft. Sentencing. Sentencing complete. Death.”
The screech of the second one that Harvey would only later learn was a response snapped them out of their fear freeze, and they turned and bolted back into the restaurant kitchen. While they had the least experience with the employee only areas of the food court, Harvey had enough foundational knowledge to navigate through the kitchen and storage sections and into the back hallways. Pausing the barest moment, they oriented themselves toward the nearest exit with one hand still holding their half eaten burrito.
A brief whiff of the still steaming food gave them an extra boost as they sprinted down the hallway, keeping to the outside of the slight curve to give them the best chance of spotting another security patrol early.
They spoke to themself even as they sprinted, still attempting to process everything as this nightmare went on,
“Oh, fuck! I’m probably going to have to fight those things eventually, aren’t I? This place sucks!”
Harvey used their spike of emotions at this realization as more fuel for their run while the analytical part of their brain began brainstorming options, trying to fill the Venn diagram of weapons they could find, and what they would be most willing to use.
The sounds coming from behind Harvey told them the security guards knew their way around the back halls and were smart enough to guess where they would be heading. That or the skeletons had someone - or something - monitoring the security cameras. Harvey never slowed, being grateful for the amount of food they had managed to eat as they reached the outside door and shoved it open. They didn’t look back until they were three cars deep into the nearest parking block. They caught the tail end of what looked like a quick sweep of flashlights before the security skeletons closed the door.
A small realization hit them and they looked down to see that they had carried their half eaten burrito the entire sprint out of the mall, and it was mostly intact.
“Hell yes! Look at me go. Gotta count the small wins.”
With a grin on their face they did a small dance where they stood, careful not to let anymore of the burrito’s precious filling spill out, then headed back towards their car to enjoy the rest of their meal in peace. The analytical side of Harvey’s mind pointed out that there may not be too many peaceful moments in the future, even as they continued to brainstorm the best ways they could arm themself. They decided to enjoy this moment that much more after coming to that conclusion.
