But where to lead a group of girls in the middle of the night? Unless to his home in a rented apartment. It's about a kilometer away from there. But first, it was necessary to make sure that the flying death did not lie in wait at the exit from the shopping center. I turned off the flashlight and went into the utility room to the blinded window. He pushed one strip aside with his hand, slightly opening the slot for inspecting the street, and ... almost cried out in horror! Literally ten meters from the window, a space hunter was moving silently along the building of the shopping center! I froze, afraid to move. A dark hull floated before my eyes with numerous short thin antennas and incomprehensible blotches, with matte black hemispheres protruding from the side with now motionless turrets...

Death moved in complete silence. And from this piercing silence it became even more frightening. The ship sailed past the window and out of sight. Very carefully, I let go of my hand, closed the blinds, and collapsed exhausted to the floor. I just nearly died! Slightly catching his breath and coming to his senses, he looked around the room and noticed that nearby on the pedestal was a power bank left to be charged - an external battery for phones and tablets. Apparently, one of the sellers left it to charge here in the back room, but left it in the turmoil of yesterday. I don't know when the electricity went out, but maybe there was some kind of charge in the battery. Yes, the light on the power bank was on. And very conveniently, a charging cord suitable for my phone was inserted into it.

As soon as I connected my phone to charging, a sharp call rang. I couldn't help screaming. Yes, nerves, nerves... Zhenya Oparev called. Wow, my neighbor survived all the chaos!

- Vitka, hello! Where are you? I just got from Moscow to our hut. Miraculously passed. Everywhere death and fires. Opened the door to the apartment, you are not. I thought already, the arctic fox has come to you. I saw a missed call from you, but there was no way to answer. But now a message has come that you are online again.

I told a friend that I was in the mall building and waiting for the alien ship to get away. And that three minutes ago, literally from ten steps, he examined him.

- It's a plague! We, too, could not stick out of the office all day, this creature circled around and killed everyone it noticed. Only at night I was able to get out through the underground garage. Well, how do you manage to jump out, blow here to the apartment. Everything is fine here. There is light. Oh, there is even hot water! We live!

“Okay, I’ll be there soon,” I promised, and hung up.

Looked again at the phone. Quarter past one in the morning, one percent phone charge. For some reason, it amused me that the weather forecast gadget continued to work, as if nothing had happened. In Shchyolkovo now +14 degrees, cloudless, it was expected + 26 in the afternoon, cloudy, no precipitation. Where did the phone get this data from? Nevertheless, the satellites were shot down, they wrote about it in the news. Although ... what's the difference now?

He sat on the floor for a while, collecting his thoughts and strength. I really wanted to sleep, I was attacked by a terrible yawn. Gathering his will into a fist, he resolutely got up and went to the girls waiting for me. All of them had already changed into clothes suitable for the campaign, which was very pleasing. Not all girls could find clothes in small sizes, so many schoolgirls had their sleeves and legs rolled up. But this is nonsense, at my place the girls will be able to hem clothes and fit them to themselves.

It's time to get organized. I asked the wards to line up in height. For some reason, this simplest command took three whole minutes to complete. For the first time I counted my companions. Lined up in front of me were twenty-three girls in camouflage suits in various shades of green, yellow, and brown. Another one, Liza Svyatova, also already dressed in a green camping suit by her friends, was lying on a stretcher.

“It's dangerous to stay in the mall building,” I announced to the crowd. “Soon, marauders will come here looking for all sorts of prey.

- People like us? one of the girls quipped at the wrong time.

I abruptly turned around and walked over to a short, grinning piglet. She seemed scared of me and stopped smiling. However, I responded to her comment.

“We are forced to behave this way, but we do not harm others. However, people are different. When there is no power and order, there is always chaos, violence and blood. Some people simply go berserk with impunity, and among these there are outright scoundrels. What can we hide, these sadistic rapists will consider your group of helpless girls as a rare prey with which they will want to have fun with their heart's content. So now we will try to leave the mall. We need to get back to the river, ford it and get to a safe place as quickly as possible.

– Does such a safe place exist for us, except for our boarding school? asked Lisa, sitting down on the stretcher.

I thoughtfully scratched the bridge of my nose and tried to answer the question in detail.

- There are various social centers, military units, police stations and other places where people are obliged to protect you on duty. That's just until it is impossible to understand which of the above works and where it is located. So now I will take you to my apartment. There are two separate rooms. One is mine, another guy lives in the other, but he is quite peaceful. There we will all wait out the night, sleep and rest, and then, with a fresh mind, we will decide what to do next. Are there any objections?