After Hours

Plop

Plop

Plop

That's all I could hear while sitting down on a wooden bench. A small puddle had formed not too far from where I was sitting above was the decrepit roof of the mall. It's once clear windows now smeared with green fungi and mold.

How long had I been waiting now, I wondered. Idly, I repositioned the grip I had upon the lead pipe in my hands. There was a time, I sought shelter in a place like this. When life still had meaning. People were earning money, shopping with their children, even eating ice cream.

But those days were long gone now. All that remained. Were the far and few between.

"God, where is she!" I yelled out. She should have been here an hour ago. I absently paced back and forth. Bringing the pipe to my head and banging it softly against it as I tried to think.

Then I heard it. Shuffling and creaking of an old door being forced open. It echoed ominously throughout the hall. I followed the sound to the east entrance and spotted them walking briskly past the Red Robins and the old Pizza Parlor, whose had long been missing.

"Where the fuck, have you guys been!" I yelled out to them. Sol, Vale and Arbor were there. Arbor shrugged while Sol put a finger to her lips to signal me to quiet down. Vale, on the other hand, was reinforcing the entrance once again and peeking through the windows to see if they'd been followed.

"I told you to hold up here till we got here. We are here now aren't we." Sol stated as matter a fact as she scanned the atrium of the mall. "There's no one else here? She asked.

"Ya, no one."

"Good, get your shit together and let's find this stash. Maple said she hid it somewhere."

"You weren't even looking for it while you twiddling your thumbs here." Arbor yelled out to me as he returned to the group.

"Where the hell would I even start, I thought Sol knew the location. I'm just the look out alright!" I yelled back at him.

"Useless prick." Arbor muttered beneath his breadth. I had all the rights to clock him then, but Sol gave me one of them looks and I held my fist in ball. I was imagining it smashing Arbor's skull against the cracked glass of a lingerie store and dragging his neck along to slit his throat.

"You two behave," Sol said tersely. She had a lot of patience for us, but what could she do this was her crew. Nothing more could be said about it.

"Hey guys, there's a map here." Vale pointed out. "It had been laying faced down upon the tiled flooring. It was one of those lighted up pictures, faint now, but it has the layout of the mall alright."

"Okay, now we are getting somewhere. You and Ember head down to T&T grocer and Arbor and I will take the other end by the food court. We convene here in hour or so, if nothing is found. We can't stay the night." Sol dusted off her hands after laying her fingers upon the old map and didn't wait for anyone to respond before leading Arbor down the corridor heading west.

"Why didn't Maple come by herself?" I asked Vale as soon as we were out of earshot from the other pair.

"Don't know, said something about needing an oil change."

I nodded. A bit peeved now that we have to sift through trash and try to find the payload she'd left god knows where. Vale was holding to a machete now, he wondered if she suspected something.

T&T

An ancient Asian grocery owned by Loblaws back when they were known as Superstores. Last place he'd thought he'd end up in the mall for sure. There were theft detectors at the entrance. Emptied out aisles and debris strewn all over the place. Grocers were the first to be hit by the mob. And it wasn't a surprise. Lots of food and supplies. Water. A lot one could ask for to keep their families mouths and bellies filled for a week.

"You think it's here?" Vale asked absently as she vaulted over the waist high barrier separating the self pay stations and the rest of the grocery.

"I wouldn't put it past her." He stated.

I followed suit behind her.

"Well you take the dried noodle aisle, I'll look over by produce. Meet back at the bakery."

"Sure, Sure..." I muttered.

I brought the pipe to bear and absently swatted at old emptied out boxes as I walked down the aisle. She said their be guns, food and medical stuff in a crate of some sort. Nothing fitting that description here, I thought. A lot of the aisles had collapsed upon one another and traversing each one was a bit difficult.

He ducked beneath old shelving and noticed something out of the corner of my eye.

"Vale?" He whispered aloud...

No answer.

He could have sworn he saw movement.

"Um, Vale?" He asked again. This time bringing his pipe to shoulder height. Readying it for a swing.

"DETECTED ROGUE UNIT! DETECTED ROGUE UNIT!" A small pillar shaped robot rounded the corner. It had one red eye upon it's coned head which was scanning his environment. It was all green and had security written down the side of it. How the fuck was this thing still active.

Without hesitating, I brought the pipe down hard on the drone's metal head, leaving a massive dent. It shuttered backwards a bit before opening a compartment at it's center extending a baton with a taser at it's end.

"Oh shit," I scrambled backwards as it began to wheel toward me with it's extended arm.

"What the fucks, going on over there?" Vale questioned from what he assumed was the bakery.

No time to respond, I vaulted beneath the collapsed shelving to escape the bot. Only to get stuck half way through, my leather coat caught onto something.

I felt it then the small touch of the Tazer before everything was just PAIN! My body shuddered uncontrollably as the voltage made it's way through my body. I could of sworn I smelt smoke.

I couldn't have lasted more than five seconds, but I blacked out soon enough.

When I awoke.

Arbor and Vale were looking down on me.

"Well, I'll be he's still alive." Arbor lent out a hand to me. Which I woozily took.

Beside me was a cracked open security guard. Vale was scavenging it's innards for electronic parts. While Sol had her back to me.

"Did we at least find the stash?" I asked.

"Sure did. It was in the CIBC vault." Arbor responded. It was only then I noticed a repair kit strapped to each of their hips and a custom M4A1 held in their arms.

Sol turned to us then.

"We got to move now. It's nearly sundown."

We gathered the gear and made our way back to east entrance when we heard it. A loud blaring alarm that sounded like it covered the entire city. One of those air raid alarms you hear in movies.

"Shit, no way that bot was still tied to the mainframe." Vale cursed.

Sol looked through debris that had been used to block the east entrance.

"Fuck, they brought the army. About two squads 10-15 soldiers."

We all exchange knowing glances before. Arbor picked up another M4 and threw it in my direction. Without looking I grabbed it and hauled ass back down the atrium with the other three.

Thunk!

Thunk!

Thunk!

The sound of smoke mortars sounded in the distance as the mortars made their way into the emptied out mall. He didn't know how many hours they were here for now, but it was too long. They must've been alerted not to far from patrols by the fucking Security bot of all things.

Red laser beams began to pierce through veil of smoke leaving trails of empty air where I spotted the hooded soldiers who were heavily kitted with the latest gear.

I aimed down the sights from the bench I'd been holding up earlier and lined up my shot. Pulled the trigger, absorbed the recoil and blew off the head of one of the soldiers. As if well practiced, I retreated from my position as Arbor and Vale laid down heavy covering fire. Following suit on the opposite side of the mall corridor was Sol. She loaded her M4A1 with a grenade utilizing the under barrel attachment.

"Fire in the hole." She yelled out as Arbor and Vale simultaneously lifted their rifles and ran back to cover. This time I was laying down the covering fire. Beams of laser shots sizzled against the side walls as the soldiers missed crucial shots on us.

The explosion was massive taking out a coffee kiosk and like 3-4 of their men. Debris was mixed in the air with ebony smoke coalescing with the white still bellowing smog.

As Vale made to run past me. A lazer shot tagged her across her midsection severing her whole side. She collapsed in two pieces. Without a moment to mourn, I dragged her corpse back while firing against the encroaching soldiers.

"Ember, leave her." Arbor yelled out as he provided covering fire for me and Sol who was reloading her gun.

I couldn't.

Arbor ran past me grabbing at my shoulder but stumbled a bit before righting himself. A series of lazers flashed against his blast vest he just donned from the stash. The blows staggered him, but he returned fire with vengeance. I watched as Arbor went down. His face construed by molten heat. From a headshot he'd received.

Sol was captured.

I was surrounded.

Five soldiers all aiming their laz rifles at me.

"Do you surrender." One of them asked.

I made to raise my rifle in response.

Blasting lazer sounds echoed through out the mall.

Plop

Plop

Plop

The only sound heard for a moment.

One of the soldiers removed their helmets. It was a young man. He smiled and turned to his commanding officer.

"What Model do you think these four were?"

His commanding officer shrugged.

"Claude, GPT, Gemini what does it even matter. The tin cans dead."