Act VI: The Reality

A long time passed before the shadows in the mall began to lengthen.

Lilla emerged from the boutique, using a discarded metal clothing pole as a makeshift crutch, leaning her entire weight onto it as she dragged her twisted, bound left leg behind her.

Isha walked half a step behind. As they passed the corpse of the infected, Isha’s eyes fell upon the iron rod still protruding from its head. She stopped, her voice quiet and hollow. "You left your weapon."

Lilla didn't look back at the body. She didn't look at the rod. "I don't need it anymore," she said, her voice dead.

Isha’s gaze lingered on the neck of the corpse, where the half-broken wooden locket lay soaked in dark fluid. The little drawing of the smiley face was barely visible beneath the stains. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it; it was the last anchor to the world she had lost.

Lilla reached out, her fingers closing gently around Isha's hand, tugging her forward. "We need to go, Marry."

They limped out of the boutique, their footsteps echoing through the cavernous atrium of the mall. As they neared the massive glass exit, the shadows outside began to shift. Dozens of silhouettes emerged from the overgrown parking lot, drawn by the sounds of the struggle.

The dead slammed their gray, decaying hands against the thick glass walls of the mall, their faces contorting into aggressive snarls as they caught sight of the two living girls inside. The glass groaned under their collective weight, small fractures spider-webbing across the surface.

Isha stopped, her hand tightening around Lilla’s fingers. She stared at the wall of monsters outside, her voice dropping to a terrified whisper. "Lilla... I'm scared."

Their own reflections were cast clearly against the cracked glass—two battered, blood-stained girls standing against a backdrop of monsters.

Lilla looked at their reflection, then at the dead pressing against the barrier. Her face was set in stone, the last remnants of her youth stripped away.

"This is the reality now," Lilla said quietly.

Holding Isha’s hand tightly, she leaned onto her metal pole and forced herself forward. Step by painful step, they walked along the edge of the fracturing glass wall, moving into the unknown.

Step. Step.

The screen faded to black.

THE END