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Chapter Fifteen

MALLORY

M y feet are killing me, but the pain is a reminder that they haven’t fallen off yet. I have no idea how long we’ve been walking. I’m sure it’s been a few hours since the sun is starting to fall behind the trees now. We haven’t talked much this entire time other than asking for a pee break or Maverick making sure I’m feeling okay. I’ve been telling him I’m fine, but actually I feel like I’ve been beaten to a pulp. My legs, feet, and pussy throbbed in pain with every step. If he can see through my lies, he sure doesn’t show it. Eventually Maverick steers us through a set of trees, and we come out onto a road. A gasp leaves my mouth, and I drop Maverick’s hand to do a little happy dance in the middle of the road. “Finally!” I scream out into the void, twirling around in circles, and then it hits me that I have to look like a toddler right now. My cheeks heat as I stop and look over at Maverick standing at the side of the road; a smile is plastered to his face, his eyes twinkling in the sunlight.

“Don’t stop on my account.” He motions for me to continue, and with a laugh I do. I twirl and shimmy in the street like I’m on a Broadway stage, but my boots ruin my performance when I trip over them. Before I smash into the asphalt, I land in a set of steel arms. Maverick holds me up and grabs my hand before flinging me right side up and twirling us around in circles and then dipping me back down. The shock on my face has him belting out a laugh, “Didn’t think an asshole like me could dance, huh?” He pulls me back up, gripping my waist with one hand, the other one letting go of my hand and gripping my cheek. His lips smash into my own, and we get lost in our own little bubble again before reality crashes back down and we break apart. “Let’s follow this road and hope it leads to some kind of civilization.” He plants a kiss on my forehead and grabs my hand again, towing me along with him.

We don’t have to walk long until we come across a series of buildings. Maverick pulls us to a stop, his hand going to the gun tucked into his waistband as he looks around, making sure it’s safe. I peer around his back and let out an excited squeal, which has him spinning around and slapping a hand over my lips. We stare into each other's eyes; mine excited, but his are blazing with anger. I relax my shoulders because I don’t blame him for being angry right now. When he’s satisfied that I’m not going to squeal like a stuck pig again, he lets go of my mouth. “You can’t make loud noises like that, Mallory! We don’t want to attract any unwanted visitors if you catch my drift.” He says to me in an angry, harsh whisper.

“I’m sorry! I was just excited. We haven’t seen anything in over a week, let alone a mall!” Well, I don’t think this really counts as a mall, but it’s close enough. Several shops are spread out before us, ranging from clothing and food to hunting. We seriously hit the jackpot right now, and I can’t help but bounce on my toes. Maverick sets his pack at our feet and slides the hunting knife out of it and thrusts it out for me to take. “What do you want me to do with that?” I say in confusion as I roll the heavy thing around in my hands.

“I want you to take it and use it if you have to.” His words are ended with a roll of his eyes and the absurdity of seeing him do that has a giggle slip through my lips. “See if you can find some new clothes and preferably things that will hold up on our trek. No fucking dresses and skirts, Mallory. Make sure you find some good boots too. I’m going to head over to the hunting shop and see if I can stock up on ammo and other things we may need. Scream if something goes wrong, got it?” I’m actually surprised he’s letting me go off on my own, but also grateful for the alone time as well.

“I got it, sir. Thank you!” I whisper-shout, as I jog towards the nearest clothing store, quickly finding out it's only full of children's clothing. I leave and make my way swiftly to another one a few doors down. The door has been ripped from its hinges, lying broken on the front sidewalk. The window in the front is completely smashed, and I start to worry that this place has been ransacked already. I step gingerly over all of the smashed glass, and I’m greeted with the best thing I’ve seen since before this nightmare happened. Racks upon racks of clothing and shoes await me. Managing to contain my squeal of excitement, I start to rifle through the lines of clothing, pulling out various pairs of jeans, leggings, shirts, and sweaters. I make my way to the back of the store, finding a dressing room. A sense of relief and normalcy flows through me as I shut the dressing room door behind me. Setting the clothing on the little bench, I make quick work of removing my own clothes and putting the first outfit on.

The jeans are ripped at the knees and fit me like a glove, making my ass look even more perkier than it already does. The shirt is sticking to me like a second skin. I twirl around in front of the mirror admiring the outfit and then stop cold, remembering Maverick’s words to find functional clothing. With a sad sigh I take the outfit off and fling it into the corner. Looking down at my options I snag up a pair of leggings and slide them on with another T-shirt and hoodie. These fit almost as well as the other outfit, and look like I’m going to attend a bonfire after a tailgate party. I chalk this outfit up as approved, removing it, folding it up, and setting it aside. The last pair of jeans and shirt sits there staring at me. I know the shirt won’t fly with its low V-cut neckline, so I don’t even bother with it, but slide the jeans over my hips. They fit perfectly with zero holes in them, thank god. I squat down to test their flexibility, and I’m happily surprised that they fit and feel this good. I decide to keep them on and throw on the shirt and hoodie from the other outfit. I decided to throw both pairs of leggings into my pack. Sitting on the bench, I haphazardly put my clown boots back on before slipping my pack back onto my shoulder.

Tossing the door open, it bangs loudly against the wall behind it, making me jump. Determined to find another shirt and a new pair of boots, I turn to walk back towards the racks of clothing, but the sight before me makes me stop dead in my tracks. My heart jumps in my chest, hands going clammy as I reach to the side pocket of my pack slowly to pull out the knife. The sweat gathering on my palm almost makes me drop the knife to the floor, but I manage to grip it tight before it slips through my fingers. A small group of zombies had filtered through the broken doorway while I was distracted with trying on clothes. I do a headcount and come up with seven standing around in the racks of clothing. I have no idea how the hell I’m going to get out of this shit alive. I can’t yell for Maverick, or I’m going to alert them of my presence. So far they haven’t seemed to notice my existence here. I take a few cautious steps out onto the shop floor, and still none of them notice me. Clutching the knife in my shaking hand, I step closer towards the door currently blocked by the zombies. The closer I get to them, the more erratic my heart beats and the sweatier I get.

Somehow none of them have noticed me inching closer to them, and it truly boggles my mind. They were so vicious when they attacked Maverick and me, but now they are absolutely clueless to my presence. I sneak behind one zombie, and the stench coming off of him is enough to make me gag. The small noise makes another one of the undead twitch in my direction, but it’s like they’re looking through me. What the fuck is going on? I walk past another one, and now I'm in the middle of the clothing store surrounded by them. Looking around me to pick the easiest path out of this hellfest, I spot something pink hidden among the racks. I tug it out, and it's the sweetest T-shirt I’ve ever seen, adorned with orange butterflies. I peek inside and let out an excited gasp that it's my size! The gasp makes every zombie in here turn towards me. Several of them take a few steps closer to me, but then they turn around and start limping back the other direction. My brow furrows with confusion. I lift my shirt to my nose and smell it and then smell under my armpits just to be safe and wrinkle my nose. I definitely smell human, so not really sure why I’m not desirable to them, but whatever floats their boat. Clutching my shirt to my chest, I turn towards the door and decide I should just make a run for it.

“Mallory, DUCK!” The loud shout catches me off guard, and my head whips to the open doorway, Maverick standing there with a rifle in his hands. “Get the fuck down!”