It's been about a week since the outbreak. Jill and I have traveled from Kansas to Minnesota, met a few new friends, and even lost a wonderful place to live in that little amount of time. For me, being a six-year-old girl, it's hard to live in a world of the dead.
It was dark outside the mall. I was looking left and right and behind us in the parking stall, not to mention above us. Zombies or other strange creatures could come out of nowhere and get us. I look inside through the glass doors and see two girls staring straight at us.

"What are your names?" one of the girls asked, opening the doors, to let us in.
The other girl was looking around. She had a gun in her hand, ready to shoot. Not us, but them.

“My name is Natalie,” I giggled, “This is my best friend, Jill.” As we walk through the doors, I notice the place didn't even look dirty. Like a zombie had never touched it.

“Hi,” Jill spoke quietly. She looked nervous. I don't blame her. After our experience losing Zachary, it was frightening.

“I'm Mr. Sanders.”

“I'm Beverly.”

“My name is Rodney, and this is my wife and three…” I can tell that Rodney was sad, he had tears in his eyes. “I mean two kids Desiree and Shakina.”

I'm Hunter, and my sister's Madison” Hunter was proud to introduce himself.

“What's your names?” I ask.

“My friends' name is Bloom Reinhold, and I'm Jamie Jacobs.”

As we all enter the mall, Jamie locks the door and ensures the others are also locked. I look at the entries, I wonder if anything like the Cerberus could break those down.

“Watch out,” Jamie warned us.

Right after she said that an enormous metal fence with spikes facing the door came shooting down from the ceiling.

“How can a mall have those?” I asked Jamie.

“They don't,” she smiled. “I added them a few days ago, with the help of Bloom's mother Claire and my older sister Jessica.”

“That's clever of you,” Rodney was very pleased with the work, so was I.

“Are you all staying here in the mall?” I was surprised. How could an entire family occupy a whole mall? Wouldn't it be easier to use the hotels hooked up to the mall?

“Yes,” Jamie answered. And there are many more families here. I was the one who thought of making the mall a shelter for those who lost their homes.”

This made me shut up. But still, wonder about the hotel. There's got to be a reason why she chose the mall instead of the hotels. I can always ask them later. I look at people walking around the mall. I have a feeling they lost their home recently. We had lost our fantastic apartment in Saint Paul, and now we are also homeless.

Just before we started walking through the mall, a bunch of zombies showed up outside the doors. We were lucky we made it inside in time. That gave me shivers. I watched them for a little longer until Beverly pulled me away.

We started walking in the mall. There was an escalator leading down to a lower level. Looking like it must have been a water exhibit or something. I may have to check that place out sometime. Hopefully, there are no dead animals down there.

As we walk up one of the escalators, we go past many shops. Noticing many of them have been turned into little homes for families. Each one could lock themselves inside at night to stay safe, with the chain fences that come with the store. Clever idea, if you ask me.

Some homes have children playing and sleeping. Beds were set up on one side of the room, like a bedroom and a couch in another section as the living room. Some had televisions.

“Hey, look at that,” Hunter exclaimed, pointing at one of the families homes. What we observed was a few teenagers playing a video game on a television. It reminded me of the game system I had played with back at the house in Mantri, Kansas. Watching them play the game made me a little excited. I could play Minecraft with my friend JamGirl02 and maybe get through to my sister.

“It's not polite to stare in other people's homes.” Beverly scolded us.

As we walked, I noticed that Bloom was behind us. She hadn't spoken yet. This made me nervous, wondering what she was thinking.

The halls in the mall were gloomy. The only light available was coming from the families homes, or from the moon in the skylight. This gave us enough light to keep walking safely through the mall. I was glad it was that way. Zombies are attracted to light as much as smell and noise.

Even though we were talking, we kept it low.

We wandered through the mall and into a vast room, which looked like an abandoned amusement park. Well, it sure looked abandoned. Nothing seemed like it has moved for a while now. I would say about a week and a half. That's about as long as this zombie plague known as Isisraxtosa has been going on.

“Mom, we got some new arrivals,” Jamie said, stepping into a large store, or what used to be a toy store. A woman stepped out and greeted us.

“Hello newcomers, my name is Joslyn Jacobs,” she shakes our hands. “Welcome to… well, the Mall of America, but it's not much of a mall now. Come inside.”

We walked into the store. All around, you can find lots of toys. Some which were on the ground, with little girls playing with them.

“Don't mind my daughters. The toys keep them entertained.”

The grownups chuckled.

“I wondered something,” I spoke up.

“Are you wondering why we don't just put people into the hotel rooms on the sides of the mall instead of the old stores?”

“Um,” she was good. I'm guessing she has the question a lot. “Yes.” I looked down at the ground.

“We thought of that. But because some families have lots of members, almost everyone would get two to three or even more rooms per family. This way, the whole family is together. Plus, there is a backdoor if they get trapped. In a hotel, there is only one door.”

“You've got a point there,” Mr. Sanders agreed. “When we were in our apartment in Saint Paul, we only had one doorway out.”

“How'd you get away?” Jessica came out from behind us, which startled Madison and the twins.

“It was all because we were brave enough and fought our way out,” I said proudly, pulling out my Katana and swinging it in the air away from everyone pretending I was killing zombies.

Joslyn gazed at me with my Katana.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk,” she said. This made me worried. It reminded me of the episodes of The Walking Dead, where the group went to Terminus and was asked to remove all their weapons. Things went bad. And ended up killing everyone there. And another time, when the group went to the little town of Alexandria, where they again had to remove their weapons.

“I held on to my Katana. I didn't want it taken away.

Joslyn chuckles, “Don't worry, little one. We allow weapons here. But keep them under control. No playing with them. Only one weapon on you at a time.” I look less worried. “By the way, nice Katana.”

I smile.

“Mommy, I'm tired!” Whined Desiree.

“Do you have any rooms for us?” Rodney asked looking at his sleepy girls, and then back at Joslyn.

“Of course we do,” Joslyn walks behind a counter and grabs a few old maps of the mall and hands it to both Rodney and Mr. Sanders. Beverly looked at it over Mr. Sanders' shoulder.

“First of all, to make it easier for us, we would like the names of all that will stay with us,” she looks at the Jackson's “I'm guessing this is your family?” She questions Rodney.”

“That's right, my wife Tia and two daughters Desiree and Shakina. I had a son, but he died earlier today.”

“I'm so sorry to hear that.”

“How come you always say Desiree before my name?” Shakina complained.

“That's because my name is first in the alphabet, and I am the oldest.”

“You are not the oldest. I am.”
The twins started arguing over and over at each other.

“Girls shut the hell up. Do you want the dead to hear you?”

That sure shut their yaps, which made me giggle.

We watched Joslyn talk to the Jackson's and then hand them something that looked like an envelope. Next thing we knew, they were walking away. Well, Rodney and Tia were walking, the girls were skipping.

As I watched them leave, Joslyn stepped over to us.

“I got a wonderful place for your family to...”

“My sister and I would like our own room.” Hunter interrupted.

“Oh,” Joslyn was a bit surprised. “I thought you all were a family. I am so sorry, but we can not have minors living alone.”

“Well, then we are not staying here,” Hunter grabs his sister and starts to walk away. “Come on Madison.”

“Wait!” Joslyn cried. “Don't go. I think I know of a way for you two to be separated, but still be near one another, in case anything happens.”

I was a bit confused and exhausted. Hunter didn't have any problem when he and his sister were staying with us at the apartment in Saint Paul. Why now? All I wanted was to get a place and crash for the night. I just hope that whatever Joslyn knows of, Hunter will like it.

“Each store has a storage closet, big enough to make into a bedroom. You can lock it from the inside if we change the door handles around.” Joslyn explained, “Would you stay if we do that?”

Hunter glanced at his sister and then back at us. “Okay, we will choose that.”

She hands us a folder with a key to the store we are moving into. I am not sure how she got the key, but it's pretty cool that she got it.

We are located on the third floor, north side, almost close to the food court. Jamie helped us find the location. That was good because Bloom took the Jackson's to their destination earlier, which is on the second floor.

When we got to our place, there was a family that lived next door to us. On this side of the mall, there were gates and a glass door. The neighbors' door was closed, and lights were off, so we were not able to get to know them yet. A cat was the only thing still moving around in there.
It was cool that they had a cat. I wish we had a cat.

Our new place is located in front of a food court, or what is left of a food court. I looked like it had seen better days. Chairs knocked over, and the floors looked like they hadn't been cleaned in a while. Maybe tomorrow, Jill and I could clean up the place a bit. Bring some life back into this mall. Perhaps after the whole Apocalypse is over, this mall will run better again.
Maybe.

When we got into our new living space, we noticed it was empty. All there were were a few beds.

“I guess we have to go out and find things to add to this place?” Jill said.

“Yes, just down the hall, past the ice rink and water park, there's an Ikea.” Jamie pointed out, “You can get things there tomorrow. But remember to bring your weapons with you. The Rotties may be there, so you might have to kill them.”

“Rotties?” I asked.

“Oh, that's what we call the dead. It's like what they say on the show...”

“The Walking Dead? They called them Walkers.” I chimed in.

“That's right. Are you a fan of that show?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Amazing,” Jamie scratched her head. “For a show that's been off the air for over a hundred years, it's still popular today?”

“They can't get in here, can they?” Beverly asked.

Jamie giggled. “No. We blocked them off at the Ikea entrance and the malls. You may notice some Skyway going over to the store, but it would be easy to kill them.” She glanced at my Katana. “But before you do go over there, remember to bring a group with you when you go.” She looks at her watch on her arm. “I better get going. Our security is still watching the outside just in case we find more people like you. Enjoy your stay at Hotel M.O.A.”

“Thanks for all the help bringing us here,” said Mr. Sanders. “Please thank your mom for us as well.”

“Will do.” Jamie helped, by closing the door. I ran over and locked it. I watch her walk away. I stepped away from the door, and Mr. Sanders came over to pull down the gate to secure it.

I looked around the room. There were three beds in the room and a couch. Make that two and a half beds and a sofa.

Because we made an agreement with Hunter and his sister, we helped bring one of the bigger beds into the other room. We also promised we would not open the door tonight, since they could not lock the door from the inside until they switched the doorknobs around.

Hunter and Madison shared the same bed in their room. Jill and I shared a bed with Beverly, and Mr. Sanders Slept on the small couch. Tomorrow, we can get a few more items to make this place more like home.

I am pleased to be in a safe place now. As much as I know, it's safe. But why am I so scared?

I drift off to sleep a few minutes later, but am wakened by a loud noise. A noise I never heard before, and I have no idea where or what it was coming from.