Mall Rats Return

[Jack]

Eciov

My neck was beginning to ache from looking at this person, that person… Tally decided to skip the cafeteria chaos leaving Andy behind to listen for the both of them… Good luck with that Tally, is that drool I can see? Just kidding but it was clear Andy liked the human body, all of the lumps and bumps… But he wasn’t no perv! A loveable monkey?

Since the mall of the living dead saga was revealed, Lex has just apologised to the not-so-dead Zandra.

(OOC: all this reminds me of the days of Sunset Beach).

I am fixated, it seems big bad Lex might have changed over the years… Much nicer, softer and I can’t believe I am saying this but also looking quite handsome. What’s happening to me?

I grab Dawn’s hand. “This place is bonkers eh?” Her eyes pop out of her head and she nods her head frantically. Will hears and I can see his mouth twitching fighting back the smirk. I crank my neck to check on Sal and Dee, motionless.

Upon turning back, Zandra isn’t having any of Lex’s apologies. I feel bad for the guy. He doesn’t flip like the old Lex would have done which is nice to see. Instead he walks off.

Moments later Callan and a Mall Rat that I remember enter. I squeeze Dawn’s hand and utter, “I want to run and squeak I know her. Gel is her name, aka Barbie. Such a sweet and kind ball of energy but has a brain like a sieve.” I wave at Gel as Callan leads her to a table. Gel looks like a deer in headlights. Dawn bites her lip, but Will can’t control his twitching anymore and bursts with laughter rather loudly from what I had said.

I look at Andy and nudge him. “Close your mouth, your catching flies.” He says nothing and scowls at me. Andy’s mouth wasn’t even open, I was being silly. Dawn, Will and I were like kids in the playground. I knew now I had to keep my lips sealed otherwise I might be the next one to feel the wrath of Zandra…

Andy then turns to me and says, “My head hurts, I think Lex might be ready to combust…” Andy then swings in his chair and says to Alice, “Alice, you have to go after him!”

Andy might seem like a rampant rabbit, but he and his sister were kind souls and had changed for the better, just like Lex perhaps? I was itching to greet Gel but I was going to leave the ball in her court… I am going to stay as quiet as a mouse now until I am spoken too.

@Trudy @Patsy

[Patsy]

Gel:
They’ve been here for five winters? thats some time! Its longer then I spent here! Im surprised to see a dark haired male walk past me, Id known that face anywhere! Lex! I open my mouth to say Lex but he has already passed. I hear Callan say I’ve got this and I nod my head slightly.

A man who calls himself Luc motions Callan over to him. I sit down at the table as I try to study the others to see whos there. There are some familiar faces, Salene! I know her face, but there is something familiar about the girl whos whispering to some other person. I watch her before I see an another familiar face, could it be Lottie? The other girl has to be Mouse, she was always whispering with the red headed guy, Sammy. Im about to stand up again as some guy bursts out laughing, causing me to change my mind and sit back down.

[Salene]

Lex

After yelling for god knows how long to get rid of the rage and anger I am feeling towards Zandra and her word I drop to my knees, I HAVE to go back, I knew this wasn’t going to be easy, I didn’t exactly have many fans… Why would they not be wary of me now… I have my head down and grumble to myself… Sure Zandra is hurt, understandably so, but we were kids, what the hell did I know about life, resuscitation, everyone around us was dead and I didn’t exactly have perfect role models, I was in and out of boot camp because of my self distructive behaviour… Jesus doesn’t she think I feel shit, that I’M angry, she has been alive all this time and NEVER came back to tell us… I get up and turn, I look at the sewer entrance and then away, the direction of the woods and stream…

“God, I guess I’m a glutten for punishment”

I grab my bag and head back down the sewers and back inside the mall…

[Salene]

Salene

Lex storms out after he tries to talk to Zandra, sure he deserved some of what she said to him but I can’t help feeling a little bad as he must hurt too knowing his actions were what destroyed her… Ecoiv leans round Dawn and says something to Will, then she speaks to Andy, then back to Dawn… A woman comes in… Ecoiv tells Dawn who it is…

“Oh no” I playfully groan under my breath

“Sal?” Dee asks as a whisper

“Barbie bubble brain” I whisper

That’s not what I called her by far but she was like a barbie doll with the memory of a goldfish… I can’t help remembering when Ellie and Jack told her the mall had bugs and she thought they meant headlice, they meant elecric bugs set by Mega… She was a muddled mess, maybe an annoying pampered princess, she had a good heart, she was soft and kind… Suddenly Will busts out laughing, he has held it in for a few minutes as Ecoiv and I both commented on Gel… For a minute she seems like she may leave again but sits when Will starts laughing…

“Stop it” I whisper

He looks at me with the cutest grin on his face, I can’t help myself and find myself giggling along with him, I’m not sure what I am laughing for but it seems contagious as Dee starts to laugh at me…

[Zandra]

Zan

I don’t react to Lex walking out, I wasnt here for him, and hopefully this will be over soon and it will be like it never happened.

I pass a smile to Danni before turning to see Gel coming through, she looked quite overwhelmed though I cant say I blame her.

I nod in agreement with Danni and then Luc, this isnt seeming as friendly as it could have possibly been. I couldnt help but wonder what was going to happen from this point though I knew one thing for sure, I was starving “Maybe we should start with food and then make decisions from there, with all the traveling people have been doing food will probably help us focus” I suggest to the others.

[Salene]

Lex

I stride back into the mall and back to the cafe, I hear Zandra talking about food, and the guy sitting with Dee and Salene, laughing…

“You think this is funny?” I ask him as I drop my bag to the floor “Because I don’t find it funny, we all get called back, people getting threatened and no body will own up to why… I’m sick of this shit and I want to know what the hell os going on”

“Wow, no” The guy says, putting his hands up “I was laughing at some thing Ecoiv said”

I glare at him, then around the room… I get people are angry because of things that happened in the past but we all need to get over it and move on… I decide to stay away from Zandra as much as possible, it’s obvious she isn’t going to let things go even after all these years and my apology…

“Lex, why don’t you sit down” Salene says softly “As soon as we know whats happening we can all go back to our lives”

Grumbling, I pull a chair out and plonk myself down on it, my arms crossed defensively across my chest…

[Jack]

Eciov

After such a heated moment, it felt good to laugh. The Serpents do a bit of a reintroduction and Zandra suggests food like nothing had just happened and ignoring other Mall Rats she would have known. I wasn’t going to do the same although I had just said in my head I wouldn’t speak until I was spoken to. This cafeteria felt more like a zoo especially after Lex bombarded back in. I had to say hello to Gel, I could see she was out of her depth and took the oppprtunity before round 2 kicks off. Whose next? Salene and Ryan? God I hope not for Salene’s sake…

I make my move over to Gel. I crouch down infront of her. “Hey you. It’s Mouse. Need a hug?” I best not confuse her with my new name, not yet anyway…

@Patsy

[Zwenja]

Tally

I listen horrified as Zandra and Lex throw things at each other. Hell… Had they always been like that?

I can see both sides. But then again… It’s past. If you want to live on, you have to let go of negative feelings. Negative feelings… They don’t help. They slow you down. Andy and I… We left the negativ behind us. And we did that well. We had a good life. That I fell for an idiot…well…its a thing that can happen. Won’t happen again. Learnt from it.

I see then Lex storming out…Callan walking past with another woman. I don’t kniw her, I am sure if that. I would remember her. She’s stylish. Oh dear… I am curious how Zandra and this woman will act around each other. Either they built a fashion and styling front or they scratch each other’s eyes out over a piece of clothing they both like…

Okay that is naybr taking it a bit far, but actually I have seen such things happening. Just have to wait and see.

I sigh and get up “I am sorry sweetheart. I need to go back in… I wish I could spare you that drama…” I hold Leo close and walk back in as they speak about food.

I cough to make them realise I am there. Back in the past I was a child. I did what the older ones told us (or more did not ) I never spoke up in the way of suggesting things. But now I am an adult. A mother. My brother and I lead a trailer park for years and learnt to be more then independent.

This isn’t about any crazy stuff of the past. It’s about the here and now. “Andy and I did come across an old…broken farm…” I look shortly to Alice, so she might realise its her farm I talk about “There were wild growing potatoes, carrots, some other vegetables. We took as much as we could carry.”

I scan the table on which those who had food with them dropped their share.

“There is butter, fish, bread… That can go well along a hearty vegetable stew. I am good with soups and stews. I’ll be happy to cook one up now…”

I do a quick headcount “It’s an easy but filling meal… It is enough for such a big group and can also be warmed up if there are left overs…”

I shrug and wait for their reply. Inside I pat my shoulder a little. At last no one can say I am some waste of space. I wink at Andy…

I am somehow relieved to realise Lex must have returned while I was busy speaking…

@Danni
@Zandra
@Andy
@Sabine
@everyone else

[Danni]

CALLAN

Heading over to Luc I move to sit down but before I can there’s more ruckus and then someone is coughing. So far, I’m not that impressed with the majority of the mall rats, but luckily some seem to have their heads screwed on, Tally, I think that was her name, starts talking about what they have to make a meal. ’Sounds great,’ I comment after a moment, ’just one problem, we won’t have enough electricity for that so you’ll have to have a fire up on the roof.’ We regularly cooked on the roof so there was a set up up there although I knew some of the mall rats had claimed the roof as their sleeping space so god only knew if they’d moved things.

’Realistically, we have enough electricity for the lights and one short, hot shower a day although as numbers grow that may change. We don’t have the electricity for lots of cooked meals, and we can’t afford to waste what we have.’ I wasn’t trying to be negative, I was grateful to Tally for offering to make a meal but at the same time we couldn’t afford for the electricity to be spent all at once.

’In terms of security, I think we will need to station people at the grille and sewer entrances, and any other entrances you know of that we may not have discovered. Since we’ve been here there hasn’t been any major threats…. Apart from you.’ again, I wasn’t trying to be a jerk but we’d had it good in the mall until the red letters appeared going on about the mall rats.

As I’m talking I notice Bekah and Alix returning, both carrying boxes, ’looks like we’ve got some more bread, and vegetables, so that can go towards dinner and any left overs for snacks.’

I pause for a moment looking around at everyone, ’I get that this is an emotional situation for you all, obviously some reunions you weren’t expecting…’ I glance at Zandra who seems to be radiating anger more than anything else, ’but you’re all here for a reason, so let’s use that common ground to help us survive this… experience.’ It was obvious some of the mall rats were going to be a handful but hopefully once everyone had calmed down and processed the situation it might be easier to contend with.

@Zwenja @Zandra

[Zandra]

Luc

I listen to Callan as he speaks and dont hold back my grin when the girls come back with more food, I was more then ready to eat.

Turning to Callan “We will need to spread security out between us all” nodding in agreement with his security decision before looking at Tally “How much help do you want with food? I know some people hate others trying to help when cooking so we dont eant to get under you’re feet” I glanced towards Jaz who just rolled her eyes, she cooked a fair bit of the time and hated people in the way.

“Oh before we forget, the is a huge storage room next to Red’s room” I say motioning to Zandra “There is alsorts in there so free feel to take a look and take whatever you need”

[Zwenja]

Tally

I nod to Callan explanations. “No big deal. The place where we come from didn’t have running electricity at all. We all cooked outside our trailers on open fires…when Andy and I lived here there wasn’t lots electricity…”

I am actually bewildered even by it. Luc asks who and if I need and want help with the cooking. I look to Salene and Dee “Maybe you both could help me? Together we can carry the food up and share watching Leo… Oh and Alice and Lex have been the malls security chiefs for a long time… They sure have useful knowledge…” I add in an afterthought.

@Danni
@Zandra
@Salene

[Danni]

DANNI

Lex and Zandra really had a way with words, they didn’t hold their punches although Lex did apologise which was big of him. It took a lot to admit you were wrong, no matter the situation, although ‘sorry I buried you alive’ was probably not quite going to cut it. I remember when he married TaiSan,’ I murmur quietly, more to myself than anyone, that had been when things in the mall had gone completely to hell. My attention drifts for a moment I remember the minutes of happiness in the mall, and then how they were always shadowed by something or someone… Salene, Ebony, Trudy… I take a moment to return my thoughts to now, I couldn’t blame Salene for her actions towards Bray, he was a ladies man… and had no regard for the women around him, looking back I can’t help but wonder if he somehow led her on… as for Trudy, if that witch turned up I’d have something to say about it, and it wouldn’t be pretty, red letters be damned.

Tally volunteers Dee and Salene to help her with the cooking, I didn’t know either her or Dee but they both seemed willing to do what had to be done and that wasn’t a bad thing. Obviously they knew each other from before, although I did find it strange how quickly they had become a unit, almost as if they’d never actually been apart, like they knew each other all along. I can’t help but find it slightly suspicious, but maybe I was just reading things wrong.

Tally also comments that Alice and Lex were mall security and might be able to help, which made sense. ’Does anyone know anything about wiring and such?’ I ask after a moment, if I was home on the farm I knew Cam and Neil would be able to fix the grille in a matter of hours but they weren’t here, the thought makes my heart ache for a moment but I was here for a reason and maybe it would help me face my demons so I could go home.

[Salene]

Salene

I listen to the guy Callan I think he is called say about the electricity problems, I remember there are solar pannels on the roof and although efficient they never did produce enough to run the entire mall…

They say about cooking meals on the roof…

“I think we are all pretty much in the same place with cooking over open fires, I’m lucky that my home has an old brick barbeque that I can use”

Tally then ask if Dee and I can help, I look at Dee and giggle…

“Wooo no way” Dee laughs her hands up “I can peel and prep but no way am I cooking or going near an open flame… If you want a mall left”

Tally mentions Alice and Lex used to be security when the Mall rats were here, then Danni asks about wiring…

“Dawn and I are going to take a look at the grille, chances are it’s just come off the runners, cogs or pulleys, they are not electrical it’s all manual normally, hopefully with a bit of strength we can re sit it”

“Ryan used to help Jack all the time when the grille popped off” I say quietly looking at Ryan

“We would be greatful for any help” Will smiles

I stand and start to move some of the vegetables that me and the Everglades had collected it wasn’t alot but maybe we can make a big batch of stew and soup that just needs warming up over a few days… I look at Lex his face is like thunder as he sits with crossed arms staring at nothing in particular…

Dee and I start to move the boxes ready to take to the roof…

“Are there pots and pans up on the roof or do we need to carry them up with us?” I ask

[Trudy (The Supreme Mother)]

Alice

As the woman starts talking and Lex and Ryan respond to her the pieces fall into place.

So this was her, Zandra, alive in the flesh, the most perfect creature to ever walk this planet, or atleast, that’s how Lex used to describe her.

When she snaps at Ryan, I really wanna intervene, but before I get a chance she gets into an argument with Lex, who storms off in a way worthy of… well… Trudy…

Andy tries to make me go after him but I shrug. “Lex’ can take care of himself”

Cause honestly… right now I couldn’t care less about him. She has a fair point that he was an idiot for burying her alive, and in that, she is right, no matter how others feel about that.

Zandra mentions the food situation and people word vomit from there, telling these Serpents exactly who could do what. And from a look she gives me, Tally even throws my family farm in the mix.

And then she pipes up. Salene… saying Ryan used to help Jack…

For goodness sake… what’s she playing at?

Ryan is an amazing guy, but the times he helped Jack, had more to do with the strength to lift the grill while Jack worked his magic then anything else.

I get up, and stand next to Ryan, protectively placing my hand on his shoulder. If any of these so called ladies wanna hurt him, they’ll have to go through me first.

“The grill can wait. Right now it’s closed, and although that’s annoying, it also means no one can get in that way. One less entrance to worry about” I say loudly.

“The farm Tally mentioned isn’t close enough to reach before nightfall, it’s my families farm, and if anyone is going there in the morning, it will be me. Those who wish to come along, can let me know…Is that clear?!”

[Trudy (The Supreme Mother)]

Brady

As the storm around us calms down a bit, we slowly start to make our way to a hidden building in the distance.

Just before we get of the sand, I trip over something, lending face first in the sand.

pffff As I wipe the sand from my face, I notice my foot is stuck to something.

“Guess what I found… or better… what found me!” I call out to Patsy who’s a bit in front of me.

Triumphant I hold up one of our bags, it’s wet on the outside, but atleast it’s something.

I flung it around my shoulder and flinch. Ouch… that hurt.

Guess my shoulder is being evil again, must have hurt it in my fall. Awell, nothing I can do about it right now, it will have to wait.

Though our journey seems to take forever, we finally find our way to the building Patsy pointed out earlier.

It looks like an old fortress or something, who knows what it was used for.

The outside is covered in graffiti, and overgrown by plenty of plants.

It looks like no one has been here in quite some time.

After some searching we find a door. It’s closed, but lucky for us, the years have made the wood brittle, and we manage to break it open.

It’s a bit dark in here, but atleast it’s dry.

I wonder where this hallway will lead us to…

[Danni]

DANNI

Everyone seems to start talking at once, at least the topic of food holds their attention for thirty seconds. Tally agrees to make something and gives Salene and Dee a look asking for their help, I stay quiet as they don’t seem to want anyone additional.

Alice moves and I notice the way her hand rests on Ryan’s shoulder, I smile slightly at the sight of them, they looked comfortable in each others company, they way people looked after a lifetime together.

’Alice is right about leaving the grille for now, probably best to wait till we have a better plan…’ I hadn’t thought of that but it meant one less place we had to ‘protect’.

Alice claims the farm as her families, I remember it vaguely, we could deal with that tomorrow or another day, I was tempted to visit my dads office, but it had been so long…

[Zandra]

Kc

I looked at Alice “Hey Alice, I could come to the farm with you tomorrow and help you clean it up abit?” I offered, I’d prefer to be at the farm then guard duty if I was honest.

Though I wasnt going to say that was the reason why, if she thought I was just being useful she’d appreciate it more then using it as a scape goat… And I did know now that Alice was close to it she’d likely want to restore if she could.

[Patsy]

Gel:
Watching the people I’ve decided not to make a big deal out of anything. Besides it seems like my time going here has been wasted. Salene giggling and whispering to some pink haired lady, one should have thought that she out of all people would have said hi.

I put my hand into my pocket and I’m about to pull out a bottle when someone speaks to me. I lift my eyes and see the one I had been wondering about talking to me. She says she’s Mouse and asks if I want a hug. ”so it was you! I was wondering” i say with a smile to her, I leave the bottle in my pocket.

”you were just this tall the last time I saw you” I say shaking my head. ”give me a hug!”

@Jack

[Tribelover15]

Ryan

Hearing Zandra snapped hurt, I could understand where she was coming from but it still hurt. I looked down at the table and soon could hear her and Lex as well as other people talking. My head was spinning at that moment and then I hear Salene say my name, then it was the first time in a couple of minutes I look up and look over where Salene was.

I glance over my shoulder when I feel a hand on it, it was so comforting that I already knew who it was but I smiled softly up at Alice. I nodded my head agreeing with Alice, “When the time might come, I’m able to help but…I honestly just did more of the lifting stuff” I had never been the smart guy in the mall and that I did know. I had then depended more o my strength. It almost made me smile hearing Alice being who she always had been, fierce and fearless.

[Tribelover15]

Lottie

I sat by the same table as Danni and Zandra listening to everyone around, and the anger in Zandra’s voice among many things. Lex stormed out and others talked. I sat there with my eyes a bit round and shook my head a bit, I didn’t know everyone but I could sure feel the tension and the emotions that were flying around in the air.

"Yes, I agree on that too. I certainly don’t feel safe enough to let my guard down especially when we don’t know who or why. " I saw that Callen walked in with a girl and I narrowed my eyebrows for a moment as she looked very familiar then my eyes got a little bit when it hit me who it was. Gel?! holy crap she’s here as well?

“I don’t know too much about wiring sorry, but I’m good at finding stuff and getting it so let me know if there is something we need” I spoke up. Being around Ra and Jack I had learned a little but not much as I had been a kid and they had done more computer stuff.