Inside and Despair (1)

David sat helplessly with his back against the wall. His clothes were covered by blood. His fatigue is running out. He looked at the door he barely barricades with furniture around him. His eyes were weak. Slowly, his vision became blurry and soon, his consciousness is no more.

Before he lost in his sleep -he thought-, he tried to remember how did he end up like this. He remembered when they walked through that door. The light from the outside only illuminates a small area near the entrance of the backdoor of this mall. Beyond that, shadow conceals everything in the room. There's no window at all and that gives claustrophobic feeling into it. It was only worse because the air in the room was foul with the odor of rotten flesh. The only moment those foul odor came out of the room was when they opened the door and it still leaves some of it behind.

However, David tries to ignore all that odor and start to go inside the room cautiously. He turned on and pointed his flashlight to the front. He moves near the walls hoping that he would find a light switch but all he saw was holes. His step is like a ninja, quiet. Other's tried to not make any loud sounds too.

While darkness and claustrophobic feeling are apparent, there is one more thing that made him feel uneasy. It's the silence. It was too quiet. He can't even hear any living things like rodents. The only sound in his ear is now their footsteps and the air flowing to the entrance door -and that air brings the foul odor from a door ajar.

He had a bad feeling about this. He knows that something happened behind that door. He flashes it to see any reaction. Nothing comes out of that door. After nodding with his friends, he continued to the door and peeked inside. His eyes widened while his hand covering his mouth and nose. A pile of corpses was stuck in the narrow corridor. However, he finds that the corpse was not of a Zombie. It was human corpses.

'We should fall back,' he thought.

He couldn't risk poking into the corpse just to see if they are really dead. If one of them rises from the dead, the other would be triggered to rise too. Then, their instinct is to call the other and soon David would be outnumbered. That means they are doomed.

Suddenly, Jay hissed and whispered, "don't you think the corpse is a bit weird?"

David answered the question with a look of confusion. Then, Jay pointing at the corpse. Then, David realized something. Most of them were empty. It's like they were eaten from the inside.

"Guys," called Derek from behind, "I guess we're f*cked up."

David and Jay looked behind. It was on this moment they knew, they're screwed up. A swarm of man-eating cockroaches emerges from holes in the wall. The number of cockroaches was just too much that it blocked the exit way. It is swarming like water or a wave. Now, it is moving towards them.

"F*ck, this way!" David almost broke down giving up when he saw the cockroaches swarm. But, somehow his will told him to move. So, he commanded his team to go through the door ajar.

They run through the corridor. But then, a loud bang heard from behind. David takes a look for a brief moment. Cockroaches started falling from the ceiling. He started to run faster followed by Jay and Derek. Twice he almost fell because of the corpse that was in their way. Slowly, the cockroaches swarm were catching up with them. David can see how a pile of the decayed corpse disappeared in an instant after the swarm devour it.

Now, he just runs. He didn't know if he will survive or not. At the end of the corridor was a door. That probably leads to the mall. There is no time to think. The only purpose in his mind now is to get away from this swarm.

The swarm is devouring every organic thing in their way. It was a wave of a thousand cockroaches stacking on each other while hunting its prey. It was one step away from catching their prey when all of a sudden, a door blocked their way. David and his team managed to get into the door in time and close it. They held the door for a while ensuring that the swarm couldn't get through.

"That was too close," Jay sat and laid his back on the wall.

"I thought I would die there," Derek said while breathing heavily.

"Good to see you guys okay." David looking at them while his hand holding the wall to help him keep standing.

"What the hell was that? I've never imagined we would ever see a swarm of a f*cking cockroaches. And to make things worse, those cockroaches are a f*cking cannibal" Jay stood looking at the door.

"Me too," replied Derek.

"Keep your voices down," asked David after realizing their voice is too loud. "Let's look around to see if there is a safer place to talk."

Both of them nodded agreeing with David. He equipped his flashlight again and started to flash it into the room. He turned and suddenly a force pushed him made him fell. He struggled on the floor with a zombie on him trying to bite his neck. He wanted to scream but he knows that will only make things worse.

With a swing, Derek smashed the Zombie's head. It was now lying on David. He thanked Derek while trying to stand up again. That moment became David's prove that they should move now. If he didn't try to turn around, he would've been bitten.

They prepared themselves and then slowly proceed into the darkness. Despite being huge, this place was quiet. After looking at the shelves around, they realized they almost arrived at their destination. Looking from how many wrench and tools around, they are in the tool section. Now, what they need to search is the food section.

They move slowly, but suddenly they hear many growls heard in unison. They stopped and flashed the flashlight into every direction.

"Don't say that there is a horde of zombie after a swarm of cockroaches!" exclaimed Jay in a whisper.

They are frozen in that place. Their eyes meet each other to seek confirmation. Should they go find the food or try to search for a shelter. They couldn't decide. But suddenly David gives them the eyes that said, "we are going to do something crazy".