All the kids gravitate towards the fountain, overcome with a subdued babble of curiosity. I can hear the smirks and snide remarks behind me and I don’t have to turn around to figure out that it’s from those uniform geeks that had passed by me earlier. Another figure stands beside me, he grins awkwardly as he tries to sneak in a glance at me. I feel really stupid being here. Like what’s the point of all of this? Why are we all crammed up in a mall?
The excited murmurs die down as a boy with a blonde buzz cut and thin-slitted eyes swaggers out from behind the stone lady and stares confidently at us with his hands on his hips. There’s something off about the way his eyes glint. I can’t tell if he’s being smug or patronizing. Two more figures crawl out of the woodworks to join him from the erected marble confines of the fountain. The one to his right is a girl who has eyes so far apart she looks like a fish and the other one is a high cheekboned oily haired boy with the same glint that the buzz-cut boy has. The lefty seems a bit more malicious though.
Despite their pompous stature, all three of them seem to have this Scandinavian look. It doesn’t surprise me, Palvalla is covered with them so it wouldn’t be a stretch to say some of them migrated to the downtown area as well. The fish-faced girl and the black-haired boy start muttering to themselves. It sounds muffled and slurred so I’m guessing they’re Danish. My money was on Norwegian for some reason.
“Hello friends, my name is King and it’s my humble pleasure to welcome you to The X Zone—”
“You mean La Azteca,” shouts a boy that the kids here call Emerio. “It’s a mall, not an X you dolt!” A scattering amount of faces snigger contentedly.
“Well what’s labeled on the ground then?” shouts a Latino boy within the same group called Sergio.
“Guys shut up! Let the man speak,” says the kid with the torn eyebrows. I wish I knew his name. After all, it’d probably be more important than ever now to start making friends. So I’m really straining to pick up and remember some names
A sheen cuts through King’s slitted snake eyes. “Yes, you’re right this is a mall. But for the purposes of this assembly, it would best be preferred to call it The X Zone. The people you see next to me are Ingrid and Avander, they will be your guides—”
There's a hissing pause, almost as if King was expecting some kind of reaction. The sporty boy has a really uppity deep voice, kind of like he was in Uni and was top in his class but he cheated his way to get there. I’m not so sure if I like him.
“Yes—the reason as to why I brought you here. Well, it’s apparent, isn’t it? To survive. You see, things aren’t going to get better. Matter o fact, it’s going to get much worse, if we don’t stick together. Every man for himself doesn’t work in this type of apocalypse. Those zombies—”
“Eaters,” says the Asian girl with the swords on her back. “They’re called Eaters now.”
“Right, those Eater out there are real and numbered. There are rules to all of this and if you don’t follow them you’re going to get chomped out there. Starting with One: Stay in groups. Never go at it alone, otherwise, you’ll be at a complete disadvantage in terms of manpower and sneak attacks. Two: Always stay armed. This doesn’t just go for weapons. It’s food too. You don’t wanna starve before them Eaters have a chance at you, it’ll be too easy. You also need to be stealthy and be aware of the noise you’re making that’ll attract them. Take it away guys,”
The next two advices are torched down to Avander and Ingrid.
“Three,” says Avander, “Know your enemy. Know where they’ll be situated so you can save your skin before you have to. Also, know how they work as a collective so you can outsmart them and efficiently kill those bastards.”
“Four, no romance or any lovey-dovey crap in the apocalypse. It’s a distraction and an instant death wish. If someone you’re attached to dies, that person is going to indirectly drag you along with them and we don’t want that,” says Ingrid. “The goal is to stay alive as long as possible and preserve the human race. Is that clear?”
Almost everyone nods their heads or murmurs nervously.
“And five,” says King, grinning, his snake eyes shining most maliciously. “Run.” The three of them seemed to have said it simultaneously.
“Now how about we do some introductions?”
We all get into a wide babbling circle. All the kids look at each other nervously. The pair that are in their uniforms are smiling smugly with their arms crossed. They honestly could’ve blended in with King’s crew. There are about eighteen of us including King’s trio and I can honestly tell how this is going to play out.
King swaggers into the middle. “It’s simple. You just step into the center and tell us your name, what area in Phoenix you’re from, and what’s motivating you to stay alive.”
A few kids scoff, and I don’t blame them. I feel like I’m in primary school again. But then again, It would be helpful to pick up some names without having to hunt for them,
“I’m King, I’ll be one of the guides here along with Avander, and Ingrid. I’m an Arizonian native and have been living in downtown Phoenix my whole life. I’m also half Danish. Why am I still alive? Because death isn’t an option and there’s good in life if you just look real hard. I can’t give up yet.”
Avander goes next. He's actually half Danish and half Norwegian and he carried a heavy accent. Avander's accent was basically the same as King’s and so was Ingrid’s. She mentions something about history but I'm not really paying attention). All this time I’m just looking around to see who’ll go next. I see Front Teeth boy still staring at me, almost fixated on me with bleary eyes. Has he even blinked? Ok, he probably hasn’t been staring that long but it sure as hell feels like it. Go away, I’m not interested in you.
The Asian girl with the katanas is next. She’s got a cantankerous stroke and doesn’t seem to be afraid to get into a good fight. Maybe I should stray clear from her. “I’m Caracao—”
“Cara-what?” mutters Emerio. Sergio shrugged.
“ –and I’m originally from Nevada. Why do I want to live? Because that’s what they would’ve wanted. I’ve lost a lot of important people in my life and it would be just careless and foolish to give up now. I know they’re in heaven, rooting for me, and I can’t let them down.”
The next people to go are Emerio and Sergio and their reason for showing up is because they needed a place to hang out. Why doesn’t this surprise me? They’re pretty goofy and annoying, and yet oddly relatable. Then it’s the kid with the machetes' turn.
“I’m Addis and I’ve lived in Palvalla all my life. Why do I wanna live? Well, what other choice do I have am I right?”
“Damn straight!” Emerio and Sergio cheer. I honestly wonder how they’re gonna make it through the apocalypse.
“I lost my brothers and I just don’t want to lose any more people in my life. You guys seem pretty cool, so I’m hoping to make some new friends.”
Two white boys with glasses stroll in next. Their names are Nolke and Wrigley. Wrigley is the chubbier one. Then it's a Russian girl named Maley who also wears glasses but hers made it seem like she's some obscure geek working for the demonic realm. She has that quiet don’t fuck with me vibe. She and Caracao should really form a league, it would be a harmonious unity of sorts. Following her is a square-faced Mexican girl named Alejandra and then the girly-faced boy whose name is Sloan.
“…and yes, that’s a horse. His name is Jet and if any o y’all hurt him I’ll be sure to pound y’all to king's country.”
Then it's the two pompous pair with the uniforms. They are still wearing their confident smirks. One of them is a boy and the other a round-faced girl.
The round-faced girl swaggers in first. She has gleaming black hair with a pink hairline and heavy eyeliner like she was a goth. I also get a sense that she and the boy are Latino as well.
She scowls. “I’m Avi and that idiot over there is my brother Canores. We’re from Upper Palvalla and we want to survive because what idiot doesn’t.”
Then it's Front Teeth’s turn.
“I’m Ashby and I’m also from northern Palvalla. I just want to survive because death isn’t an option for me.” He gives me a cheeky grin and steps out of the circle. I roll my eyes but surreptitiously glance at him. Afterward is a boy named Grant whose kind of dressed in the same athletic and pretentious way as Ashby. He’s also from northern Palvalla. It seems a bunch of snobs are from there.
The baton comes around to the second to last girl, Reyes.
“…I’m Dominican and have lived in Palvalla for as long as I can remember. I want to be alive basically for the same reasons everyone else has said.” A few people giggle. If so many people are getting away with these lazy responses, I might as well give it a go. My accent will probably make it unbearable though.
Finally, it’s my turn. I drag myself into the circle, with a rather bidding regret. All eyes are plastered to my face. I feel oddly mutilated and exposed. Lmao why’s this so intimidating?
Sergio starts to whistle. “Hello blondie.” I honestly wish I could un-hear that.
“My name's Leirre and I’m from Sweden. I recently moved to Palvalla a couple of weeks ago and umm…yeah. I’m sorry for the bad accent. I want to survive the zombie apocalypse because I feel like it’s just our human right. We have to fight back no matter what life throws at us.”
“Good answer Leirre,” says King approvingly. “All right guys, that’ll be it for tonight—” For it seems twilight is already falling upon us. “Tomorrow morning we’ll break up into groups to begin sweeping.”
“Sweeping?” Caracao asks
“Yes. It means to clear out zombies in order to take supplies. Supplies are imperative if we wish to survive. So until then, have a good night.”
The crowd scatters as the circle begins to dissolve. Most of us camp under the canopies. There seems to be sleeping bags under them. I stayed by the bench a little while longer, staring longingly into the purple sky. Then a stabbing obnoxious voice rings behind me.
“Your hair is really blonde!” cries Wrigley in a stargazed manner. The boy is about thirteen and a little bit too loud for my taste and apparently everyone seemed to think so too because they all stared at me. I violently flush. I honestly don’t like the color of my hair. I've always found blonde creepy for some reason. Like why’s it so bright? Even in the dark. I refrain from saying anything because I don’t want to draw any more attention to myself.
“I bet you enjoyed that, didn’t you mall girl?” Avi swaggers forward, followed by his sniggering brother.
“Now now Avi, let her have her moment of praise,” says Canores sarcastically. “We don’t want to get in the way.”
“Look,” I start, “I don’t want us to be enemies. Can’t we just—”
“Yeah, well me neither blondie. But your face really irks me.”
“Leave her alone,” comes an unwarranted voice. It's Ashby, uninvited, and swooping into the scene. Go away.
“Aww, you have a boyfriend mall girl,” Avi trills. Canores laughs, almost shedding a tear in his eyes. “How touching.”
“My name is Leirre, not mall girl.”
“Leave her alone, or I’ll make you,” says Ashby threateningly. Avi and Canores throw their hands up in mock surrender and then stride away cackling.
“Are you ok?” Ashby asks.
“I’m fine, can you go away?” I say, avoiding his gentle stare. I hate gentle gestures from cute guys. They’re duplicitous and backhanded. It raises questions in my head like are you just trying to get into my pants? What other girls have you treated like this?
Ashby carves a cocksure grin. “I guess I’ll see you later then.”
Maybe you will Ashby. Maybe you will.
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