21 A Child?
"We still haven't found a store that's opened yet, Dad. We might have to risk breaking into one," David said as he and Malachi stared at yet another door that had a series of padlocks on it.
This store was the worst they've encountered. The others they've seen only had a padlock or none. The reason they didn't break into the stores that had no padlocks was that, no matter how they did it, they were still going to end up making noise no matter how little.
They were looking for stores to take supplies, and being in an intense rush because of approaching zombies wasn't exactly what they wanted. However, looking at the amount of time they've spent looking around and the fact that Anna and Mia were still waiting for them made them start to focus on the more important things.
Although none of them spoke about it yet, Malachi and David knew that if things continued the way it was progressing, they'd have to break into any store they could regardless of the noise it caused. They'd just have to take the risk.
They had thought that because the crack in the sky event happened when the day hadn't ended yet, they'd be able to see an open store, but it appears that the people of this place had different plans.
Just as Malachi started to lose patience while going up and down the streets, he finally saw what he had been looking for. An open store, but there was something weird about it.
The store was quite huge and looked like a mini-mall. Its entrance had a double glass wall, and the mall had glass windows that allowed one to see what the store contained. The door was also wide open.
However, even with the absence of zombies around the store, Malachi did not charge straight in. He came to a halt and made a gesture for David to stay quiet.
Although confused as to why they hadn't started moving, David obeyed his father's instructions.
It was good news that there were no zombies around, but Malachi's instincts were telling him something was wrong.
He didn't know what it was, but his body felt uncomfortable the more he looked into the darkness of the store through its open entrance.
Concerned, Malachi decided to use his unique ability.
When his vision shifted, what Malachi saw through the darkness of the store made him shake slightly.
Malachi also discovered something new just now when he focused on the store building as a whole.
Malachi found out he could see through walls, and beyond the walls of the store was something that shook him to his core.
In the store, aside from the entrance, it was densely packed with zombies in every direction.
The store had multiple floors, and in Malachi's vision, due to the red light emitted from their chests, it seemed like the entire store was bathed in red.
Why is it like this, though? Malachi thought as he lowered his head to think, only to notice something else that caught him by surprise.
He had almost missed it, but below the store, there was a big basement. Malachi's unique ability penetrated the floor, revealing humanoid figures emitting grey light.
Grey light signified normal humans.
Are they the ones who attracted the zombies into the store? Malachi wondered before another thought crossed his mind.
If the people down there attracted the zombies, why are there zombies on the second floor too?
Puzzled by this strange situation, Malachi turned his attention to the second floor of the store. If his assumption was correct and the people in the basement had attracted the zombies, then it should only be the first floor that was overflowing with zombies until they spilled outside. So, why was the second floor also swarming with zombies?
Turning his attention back to the second floor of the store, Malachi ignored the stationary figures and the bad standing posture of the zombies that indicated they were indeed undead.
Malachi scanned the area for anything that stood out on the second floor.
It didn't take long for Malachi to notice something unusual.
On the second floor, his attention was drawn to a room.
In that room, he observed three figures emitting lights.
One was currently standing, the second figure was sitting on the ground, but there was something about the second figure that captured Malachi's focus.
While the figure that was standing and sitting on the ground emitted grey lights, the third figure was enveloped in a red light in the arm of the figure who sat on the ground.
Is that a child? Malachi wondered.
Unlike the people in the basement, the second floor had an individual who seemed to possess abilities like Malachi and David.
What made this group unique was the presence of a child among them, and that's what troubled Malachi the most.
"Tsk!" Malachi clicked his tongue in annoyance, as though he had no control over his reaction after seeing a child-like figure trapped on the second floor of the store surrounded by zombies.
Troublesome.
