First of all, I suggested that my group go to a large shopping center located nearby, literally a hundred meters from the river. There, in a five-story building, it was possible to hide from the terrible flying hunter, and besides, get food. I didn’t eat all day, and neither did the girls, so it certainly didn’t bother us to refresh ourselves. In addition to food, the mall probably had a lot of things we needed - from new clothes to camping equipment and tents for the road. Remained really unclear question of payment. I assumed that I would not have to pay, but I had the money to buy everything I needed - not so much with me in cash, much more on a bank card. And by the way ... you need to withdraw the entire amount from the card, because in the conditions of chaos, the role of cash will increase. I saw ATMs in the mall, so withdrawing money was not a problem.

Everyone liked my idea of ​​going out for groceries and new clothes, and the girls were eager to get out of the dangerous open area as soon as possible. I assigned four girls to carry the stretcher, and I assigned two more to be responsible for controlling the sky. He himself went first, scouting the road. Someone already managed to break the glass doors at the entrance to the shopping center, so we went in without any problems. And they stopped in indecision. It turned out to be quite dark in the building, but the main thing was that we were not alone here.

On the first floor, I knew it for sure, there was a large grocery department. And just from somewhere I heard drunken male voices and the sounds of breaking glass, and then a desperate female screeching cut my ears. The unfortunate woman screamed as if she had been brutally raped. Most likely, that is exactly what happened.

“We won’t go there,” I reassured the frightened girls. - We go to the left, there are escalators and stairs up.

The whole group quietly walked to the escalators in a chain. Escalators without electricity in the building did not work. Like the ATMs next to them. But I was already beginning to understand that there were no sellers in the building anyway, and we would not have to pay. We climbed the fixed steps of the escalators to the third floor.

- We're here! - I pointed to the inscription: "Everything for tourism, hunting and fishing." “We all need to change our clothes to more suitable ones for the hike.

The girls immediately got excited, especially the three or four who tried to stay away from the main group. Indeed, some of them have long been required to change their clothes. Spending all day in a wrecked bus with no way to go to the toilet... They really smelled a lot. And although I delicately pretended not to notice the smells, these girls felt frankly uncomfortable.

The third floor greeted us with total darkness. Perhaps the lighting in the building was turned on somewhere, but I did not know the location of the switch, and I did not want to betray our group with bright light. Taking out his cell phone, he turned on the flashlight built into the phone. And although there was only a couple of percent left to charge the battery, we were provided with light for a minute or two, and this was quite enough for the upcoming business. First of all, I made sure that there were no windows facing the street in the trading floor, and the windows of the utility rooms were tightly closed with blinds, so that the flying hunters could not notice us here.

Using my phone's flashlight, I made my way through the maze of corridors, looking at the signs. Goods for cars. Fork. Again pavilion of auto goods. Automotive oils. Motorcycles. Scooters. Everything is not right! I returned to the fork and turned right. And here is what we need - goods for tourists! And as if as a reward for their efforts, numerous tourist lanterns and batteries for them were displayed in a glass case on display. Nearby was the pavilion of sports shoes. The shop was closed, but that didn't mean anything.

The window glass shattered from a strong kick. I took a lantern I liked from the shelf, uncorked it and put in the batteries. A bright beam of light illuminated the room. Cool! And just in time, because my phone turned off completely. Passing the lantern to the nearest girl, I asked to shine. One powerful kick, and a small hole was already gaping in the door. He hit a few more times, but it was not possible to expand the hole especially, there were strong boards everywhere. Okay, let's try this.

“I need a petite girl who can fit through this opening into the store. Are there volunteers?

I expected that there would be no volunteers, and they would have to be appointed by order. However, a girl with a broken nose unexpectedly responded. Just the one that I first rescued from the bus.

- I can get through here!

I praised the determined girl and belatedly asked her name.

- My name is Galya. Galya Gromova.

Galina really deftly squeezed inside, after which she asked:

- What to get?

“Firstly, Galya, take off those backpacks and hand them over to us. Then go to the next section and see women's sneakers, boots and boots that you and your friends can use.

I charged a couple more flashlights with batteries. One took for himself, the other handed over to the fair-haired nurse. The chubby nurse and her two friends stayed at the window to receive boxes of shoes, and also, on my advice, they took lanterns and batteries for them into backpacks from the window, knives, tourist matches and lighters, dry alcohol for kindling fires, hatchets, unbreakable dishes - everything that could be useful to us in the upcoming campaign.

With the main group of girls, I moved on. Inflatable boat. It’s hard to drag, and they may not be useful at all on our trip. ATVs. Scooters. Cool, sure, but not at this time. And that's exactly what I was looking for - sports and tourist clothing and, again, shoes! And this pavilion was not even closed! I circled the hanging wealth with a beam of a lantern: