“Well time for some searching.” Otis said as he and Frank entered the paradise plaza.

They were greeted with a wide range of stores at every point of the plaza. One section of the plaza was incased by a structure forming a second floor. Sections of vegetation were scattered on the main floor as well as some sections of water just ankle deep. Frank quickly snapped a wide shot of the plaza as the matter of searching came about.

“If anyone’s here,” Otis began while pointing towards the other end of the plaza, “They probably barricaded themselves in Jill’s Sandwiches.”

“Well that flashlight isn’t going to help…” Frank began as he turned to Otis.

Coming up right behind Otis was a zombified security guard reaching right for him. Frank dashed forward and grabbed the zombie by its uniform tossing it towards the wall. It merely bumped into the wall before resuming…

“Errah!”

Frank watched as Otis gave a rather sloppy strike, but an effective one, to the zombie’s skull with the flashlight. The strike left a gash in the upper left portion of the zombie’s skull as blood began to trickle down the zombie’s face while giving a good sight to crushed gooey brain matter.

“Heh…not bad for an old man, eh Frank?” Otis commented while giving a chuckle, “Grab that poor fella’s baton because here come more of them.”

Frank turned to see the incoming zombies before crouching down to retrieve the baton attached to the fallen zombie’s belt. Gripping the baton firmly in his right hand and holding his camera in his left, he and Otis began a slow advancement towards Jill’s Sandwiches. They kept close while weaving between zombies only taking the time to dispatch one or a few if the situation was unavoidable. They were coming up on the fountain near the exit to the park and another set of stairs leading up to the second floor. Frank swung the baton striking a zombie with enough force to have part of its neck rip while Otis, who was fending for himself rather well, struck another zombie in the skull, but dead center this time. It was in that temporary moment of no immediate danger Frank got a good look at Jill’s Sandwiches. It had the standard large opening to accommodate the lines during a busy day, the registers at the counter, and various tables easily visible through the glass windows. However…there were no signs of anyone making an attempt to barricade or hold out in the restaurant…

“There’s no one in there morons! Now would you kindly get out of my shot now!?”

Frank and Otis turned their attention to sound of the voice, which lead their gazes to the second floor to see… a young man dressed in a blue collared shirt and a red vest with exaggerated erect brown hair. He appeared to be holding a camera as well with another hanging from his neck as well. Frank and Otis didn’t waste time as they made their way towards the stairs. They reached the foot of them and quickly made their way up as the zombies below staggered and tripped on their attempts to get up. They rounded a corner after traversing the stairs to be greeted with another restaurant. There were an array of tables and plastic chairs. The restaurant, including the surrounding area of the second level, seemed rather deserted of zombies, but distant moans made any hope of it staying that way diminish. The man in the vest was looking over the edge still while snapping a picture at the zombies below. As Frank and Otis approached him, he turned around only to stop dead in his track upon seeing them.

“Good to see someone else alive around here,” Otis commented before extending a hand, “Glad we found you, stranger.”

“Kent Swanson, photographer,” The man replied not shaking Otis’s hand and proceeding to walk around the two, “And if you excuse me, I’ve got some photos to take.”

“Hold on buddy,” Otis said while putting a hand on the Kent’s shoulder, “It’d be in our best interest to stick together.”

“Ha…. That’s a nice one old timer,” Kent said with a chuckle, “But why on earth would I stick with old geezers like you two?”

“Ever heard of safety in numbers kid?” Frank asked with a frown, “Plus, we could figure out what caused this.”

“Yeah, like anyone left in here is gonna know what caused this,” Kent replied with another chuckle, “Plus, the extra weight would slow me down.”

Frank just stood there with Otis as the cocky photographer began to explain how he was there just to take pictures rather than discover anything. Just as Frank was about to give up on the guy, he noticed a zombie had made its way around the corner and was approaching Kent from behind. Its movements and noises were loud enough that he figured Kent could hear it... He made an effort to say something, but Kent cut him off by going on how he was going to be the best with his artsy photos.

“And you know what separates me from the rest,” Kent asked as he waited for an answer.

Frank was about to take the silence as a opportunity to say something about the zombie, but Kent in a swift motion produced a pistol from his pocket and pointed it behind him before pulling the trigger. The gun went off and in a split second the head of the zombie was in tack and then in the next... the head burst in to bits and pieces of flesh that scattered in all directions. The body fell to the ground reduced to nothing but a pile of rotten flesh as bits of its head splattered on the right side of Kent’s face.

“Nothing stands in my way,” He said with a smile before holstering his pistol, “That’s what.”

Frank could feel a wave of nervousness flow over him as he kept it from showing.

“I could give you some pointers, old man,” Kent said as he wiped the pieces of flesh from his face while motioning to Frank and his camera, “I’ve got time.”

Frank lowered his eyebrows as an annoyed look began to creep on his face and he was ready to storm off in more important matters.

“Well we ain’t got time for no lessons,” Otis stated while Frank controlled his filling anger, “Have you seen any people around among the living?”

Kent let out a sigh with a ‘tsk tsk’ as he pulled back on his ego for the moment.

“If your so hell bent on finding someone then fine,” Kent said before moving past them towards the railing he had previously been at, “See the other end of the park?”

Frank and Otis walked over to the railing and peered through the large glass windows far from them. They were able to see the park and the zombies occupying it. At the far end appeared to another section of the mall with a glass windows and door entrance.

“I came from food court to here since the gate from the Entrance plaza is closed,” Kent explained, “It was completely clear of zombies. If anyone is alive…they’re probably cowering in there.”

“Thanks…” Frank replied before he and Otis turned around to exit the restaurant, “Now if you excuse me, I’ve got a story to find out.”

They rounded the same corner before coming face to face with zombies, whom had finally made up the stairs after their fallen comrade from not long ago. Frank and Otis got their melee weapons at the ready as the first zombie was in range. Frank swung his baton striking the zombie in the side of the head before shoving it towards the ground. Otis had struck one in the side of the knee causing it to falter and nearly fall over. Otis took the moment of temporary immobility and struck the zombie right in the temple.

“Let’s take the stair well behind the sports shop,” Otis exclaimed as another zombie took the fallen one’s place, “Come on. We’re gonna get nowhere here.”

Frank pushed aside an oncoming zombie before turning back to follow Otis. They passed the sports store in question seeing a hallway leading to the stairwell. Frank was eager to get a move on, but as he had made a ways down the hallway, he realized Otis wasn’t with him. He turned back to see Otis round the corner holding a baseball bat and a golf club in his hands.

“Take this,” Otis said before tossing the bat to Frank, who caught in in a free hand, “It’ll do better than the baton.”

Frank turned around to head for the stairwell while putting the baton under his belt. He noticed Otis fumbling with something in the pockets of his coat. He pulled a hand out along with a small white golf ball.

“What?” Otis asked after noticing Frank’s look, “Never know when you need to practice your back swing.”

They descended the stairwell before coming out near the bathrooms on the main floor. They kept close once again weaving through the zombies, but this time zombies were dispatched more effectively with the new found melee weapons. They were able to make their way towards the doors leading to the park leaving a trail of carnage behind them. Frank held the door open as Otis quickly exited the plaza while Frank moved for his camera. He placed his bat on the floor and quickly zoomed his camera up to Kent, whom was still standing by the railings. Frank focused in and quickly snapped the picture of Kent with a frown on his face. Frank proceeded to scope up the bat and exited the plaza himself.

The situation hadn’t improved in the slightest for Applejack, Burt, or Aaron. They were still pinned down as their attacker didn’t let up an inch.

“Alright…I’ve got an idea,” Burt announced after another pattern of the same noise rang out, “We need to get to the wonderland plaza, but we need some way to distract…”

Right when Burt was about to finish his sentence, Applejack heard a groan followed by a belch. Their attention was turned to the counter in the middle of the section. They heard shuffling across the ground before another creature fell forward out from behind the counter right on his face.

“If you need… a distraction…” The creature began with another belch, “Gil Jimenez…is your ma….an…”

Applejack watched Gil try to get to his feet in a rather intoxicated manner, which reminded her of Big Macintosh when he had too much apple cider…

“Get down you drunk...” Burt exclaimed loud enough for Gil to hear him, not wanting to draw any more attention than already present, “Don’t you hear that psycho taking shots at us?”

Applejack just watched in amazement as the drunken Gil managed to get to a crouch before standing up. She also took notice to the green bottle he was holding.

“Ahhhh….who harms a drunk….i’m shit for…*hic* use anyway,” Gil said as he started to move towards the stairs while taking a swig of the bottle, “If I die…I’m goin’ out drunk and singin’….”

Applejack saw Gil disappear down the stairs and into the attacker’s view as she waited for the worst. She could hear Gil singing some tune through his belches that she made out to be:

Down at the end of my bottle

Down at the end of last call

Slipping right off the throttle

Singing my ode to beer and all.

She had feeling in her gut it would soon be silenced….

.

.

.

.

.

“….you gonna kill me?” She heard Gil’s drunken voice ask, “…i’m nothing but a drunk…come on…just shoot…am I not worth your time…”

“Crazy drunk…” Burt commented before shifting himself to a crouch, “Come on. While we’ve got this opportunity. We'll cut across to that other restaurant and run like hell for the wonderland plaza.”

Applejack followed Burt and Aaron over to another set of stairs still hearing Gil’s drunken ramblings as more belches started to overtake his voice with a mixture of sobs. They came right to the edge of the stairs with a good view of the other restaurant’s stairs.

“Ready…?” Burt asked as it was now or never, “Go!”

All three of them dashed from their hiding spot and ran for the Wonderland plaza, as Burt had put it. They kept their pace up weaving through the new restaurant before descending another set of stairs. They turned around the corner and rushed towards the open corridor in front of them. That’s when the pattern of noise rang out. They had just made it to an enormous area when Applejack heard Burt let out a violent scream. She came to halt to see Burt on the ground holding his leg with blood flowing right out. She rushed over with Aaron and quickly tried to help Burt up before….

“HEY! I’M TALKING TO YOU ASSHOLE!”

Applejack turned to see Gil tossing his bottle right at the attacker which made direct contact despite his drunken state. Then it happened in a swift moment…. the pattern noise rang out and Gil was on the ground…lifeless…

“Come on!” Applejack shouted as Aaron had finally gotten Burt up in support before they both made their way into the Wonderland plaza.

Once they were out of danger’s way, they didn’t have time to rest as the zombies had set their sights on them. Aaron was helping Burt apply pressure to the bleeding wound as the situation grew worse.

“Hey, take the bat,” Applejack heard Burt mumble out while holding the bat out to her, “you’re gonna have to take care of these things…kicking them won’t get us much farther.”

Applejack bit down on the grip holding the bat in her mouth as she started to wonder…

“Ehhh…damnit,” Burt mumbled again, “What the hell was I thinking?”

It was about that time a zombie had made its way over to the trio. Applejack didn’t show any hesitation as she tossed the bat up with her mouth while getting up on her hind legs. She used her front hooves to grip the bat as she moved into a back swing then right into a forward. The bat made contact with the zombie’s side sending it onto the ground before sliding across leaving a trail of blood.

“Not bad for a farm pony,” Applejack asked with a smirk.

“Not bad…” Burt commented before frowning, “So how are you gonna get past all those others coming this way?”

Applejack quickly scanned the area taking Burt’s words to thought hoping to find something of use.

“Wait here,” Applejack said before pushing the bat over to Aaron before taking off further in the zombie infected plaza.

Weaving in and out of zombies, she passed several stores and a play area filled with toys. She stopped in place once she caught sight of a light blue cart being pushed by a large zombie. She was about to buck kick the thing when she noticed pipe…a lead one at that. It was stuck in the various holes of the cart as Applejack formed a daring idea. Normally she wouldn’t even think of killing anything let alone another pony, but given the circumstances…. She ran up on the zombie and kart’s right side taking one of the pipe’s ends in her mouth and pulled the pipe out of the cart. It was just about the length of the baseball bat but slightly heavier with a portion protruding towards her right. She dashed forward before spinning and driving the end of the pipe right into the back of the zombie. The end penetrated the skin and exited through the other side going through one of the holes in the kart. She retracted the pipe quickly before turning her head to drive the pipe into the side of the zombie. She used the new found connection to pull the zombie away from the kart and toss it away letting the pipe slip right out now blood covered. She gave the kart a good buck kick sending it back the way she came. She spun around and took off after the kart. As the kart started to loose momentum, she spun around in a leap while giving it another kick before returning to her run. A zombie eventually got in her way on her pursuing in which she turned her head while keeping her pace. She felt the end of the pipe make contact and dig into the zombie taking it off its leg but slowing her pace. She swung her head around giving the zombie enough momentum to slide right off. She kept the kart on a roll before giving it a good kick towards Burt and Aaron.

“Heads up partners!” She mumbled through her clenched teeth as the kart made contact with the wall.

“Alright…we can work with this… Aaron,” Burt said while taking the bat from him, “Set me in the kart.”

Applejack turned around ready to dispatch any oncoming zombies as Aaron worked to get Burt into the bed of the kart.

“Alright let’s get this freak show on the road then…” Burt said as he kept the bat close and elevated his injured leg onto the front side of the kart, “Aaron, you push…you pony... keep those things off Aaron.”

“Sure thing partner…” Applejack mumbled through her clenched teeth, “You know where you’re going?”

“Well there’s a pharmacy in the supermarket of the north plaza….over there” Burt said while pointing to the other side of the plaza as Aaron got the kart moving towards the zombies, “We’re gonna need to take care of this wound. Bastard nicked me good; fortunately I’ve managed to control the bleeding…infection however…er…is another story.”

Applejack nodded as she kept alongside the kart for the run towards the other side of the plaza. They passed the rest of the stores and the play area Applejack had seen earlier while dodging or dispatching zombies along the way before passing a giant pink bunny statue. Just past that was a large corridor with stairs leading up into another area. Knowing the kart wasn’t going to make it up the stairs, they stopped at the foot of them and Applejack took guard as Aaron got Burt out. Aaron proceeded to give Burt support off his leg before they were clear to start up the stairs. The ascent was painfully slow as Aaron put more effort into his climb with the added weight just to keep up with Applejack. Once they reached the top they were greeted with more zombies in a narrow corridor leading to what appeared to be another open area. There also appeared to be another entrance in the farthest part of the area.

“Damnit….Aaron… quickly get the kart,” Burt ordered with dread in his voice at the sight before them.

Applejack scanned the area in front of them noticing a zombie chowing down on a dismembered leg. An idea popped into her mind before she dashed forward while turning her head in a way that aimed the end of the pipe towards that leg. The pipe’s end pierced through the dismembered leg like a pitchfork as Applejack yanked the feast right from the zombie’s mindless attention.

“Dinner’s served!” Applejack tried to shout but came out as a mumbled before charging into the zombies catching their attention.

Just as she had hopped, most of them were following her and the food on a leash drawing closer to the open area and clearing the way. She took notice of structures of metal with stacks of wood on them much like walk ways. She noticed a portion of it suspended high above the floor as she directed herself towards it. She titled her head leaning the end of the pipe onto the ground as she used a hind leg to scrap the bloody limb off the end as she eyed another one. She proceeded in the same manner of sticking the limb and returning to the same spot. After several trips, she had formed a small pile of limbs which was drawing a crowd of zombies from all directions. She waited near the pile with the pipe as the zombies drew ever so closer and closer…

The moment they were upon her, she broke out moving towards the closet part of the structure getting on top of the wooden walk way. She moved up it before leaping up to another level of the structure before getting to the portion just above the pile of flesh. She set the pipe down before using her front hooves to push the piece of wood next to the one she was on forward. She managed to slide it off the structure a ways before gravity took control. The wood titled forward and tumbled to the ground slamming into the heads of the zombies below while crushing a few beneath its weight added with the fall. She turned her head to see Aaron supporting Burt as they were making their way into the area. Applejack picked up the pipe once again and descended the structure in the same manner as she had gotten up. Once on the ground, she ran over to join Aaron and Burt while defending them as they were making their way over to the green entrance of the supermarket, as Burt had mentioned before. Aaron was the one to get the door this time for them enter.

“Pharmacy door… should be over there,” Burt mumbled as tried to keep off his injured leg.

The interior of the supermarket was composed of several aisles of food and stands with baskets filled to the brim. The floor was a black and white diamond pattern and reflected the light shining from above. The trio made their way across the supermarket taking notice of the absence…of zombies… They didn’t trust the situation for its face value, but Burt’s injury was in top priority. They passed the row of aisles and several stands before coming to a pair of metal doors.

“Hopefully these are unlocked,” Burt said as Aaron used a free hand to give the doors a push finding they were, “Come on.”

Applejack followed the two through the doors to a very narrow corridor that made a sharp turn to the left. Just as she heard the doors close behind her, she heard something...the sound of something… metal…rattling close by and then fading out.

Author's Note

I was hoping to get this chapter up early this week, but hopefully to eliminate any grammar mistakes. I took a few days to go over the chapter before posting it. Hopefully a majority of the mistakes have been dealt with, but if there are any still in there. I'll take care of them when I notice them during touch up or if made mentioned in the comments. Also thanks for reading everyone.