In the Darkness

The floor of the mall was dusty, but there was no trash. This made Airon wonder if it was just because this place was abandoned or something else. According to the common sense of all the places long before the end of the world happened, a mall outside Atlanta city should have no survivors today, but that doesn't matter and now this place should have been a mess considering the chaos at the beginning. 

But curiously there are no items scattered anywhere in this mall, just some dust, this makes Airon feel a bit strange. Because he heard the news and was away for a while in the early days of the chaos, people were shoplifting very frequently. 

After the initial observations he put away his machete and raised his rifle, Airon shined his flashlight on the ground, but found no footprints, even so there was something strange Airon was the only one who felt it, but for now he ignored that strange feeling and continued walking while his eyes scanned the surrounding places. 

Most of the departments in this mall on the first floor are electronics, and there are some restaurants without any movement inside.

Even so, Airon still reminded the people behind him to be careful: "Let's first look to see if there is anything in the restaurants, it might be useful to have a look." 

Some people in the group moved on and occasionally saw something interesting and put it in their backpacks. This is probably the only benefit of the last few days, it doesn't matter if there is no money to buy things, you can take whatever you find. 

After a simple walk around, no one found too much food, but they found some condiments in various restaurants, which made some of the group very happy, and then they started to go up to the second floor. 

Everyone soon noticed that from the second floor on, there were more clothing stores, and Airon also noticed the sign above. The mall has only four floors and most of the second and third floors are clothing departments, so everyone started from that point. 

Looking one by one carefully, they all found in the stores of the clothing departments a lot of winter season. 

Opening several large bags that they prepared in advance, they all began to take clothes and put them inside the bag. This he could have ordered from the comfort of the prison from his people in Atlanta, but he also didn't want to send others if he could do it himself. 

Airon moved away from the main group and together with Daryl began to go through the next clothing departments one by one. 　　 

After looking in about five or six stores, Daryl suddenly said, "Have you planned your next trip yet?" 

Hearing the hoarse voice next to him, Airon turned his head and looked at Daryl. He was a bit stunned to hear that question, but he understood the meaning and thought about it for a moment. 

"Not much, after going to the shelter at the University in Georgia, I don't know where to go especially. But we could discuss it when the time comes. After all, a lot can happen until that time, right?" 

Daryl nodded silently and then said, "I consider that we should first gather the survivors living in the wild. Although they will be in small numbers, these people are the most special if it comes to survival." 

Airon also understood what Daryl meant, so he immediately said, "Thank you, after our first somewhat chaotic encounter I must thank you for supporting me!" 

Daryl's expression became a bit unnatural. He wasn't good at dealing with these situations. He just turned his head and pointed to a nearby apartment. 

"We have to search separately, I'll go there!" 

"Alright." Watching Daryl move forward, Airon could tell he was slowly changing which was a good sign.

Airon, who was looking in the direction Daryl went, but watched a movement forward which puzzled him a bit and he called out softly, "Daryl, wait!" 

Daryl stopped in place, but when he turned around, he saw that Airon had raised his silenced rifle and the black body of the weapon reflected slightly in the flashlight's light.

"Bang!" 

The next moment, Daryl only felt a burst of shrapnel fly out to his side, and in a few more seconds a figure fell behind a trash can not far from where he was standing. 

"Ah! Boom!" 

Daryl was surprised by this change, he quickly raised the crossbow in his hand and aimed it in front of him quickly, looking at various places where people could hide. 

The rest of the people reacted quickly, quickly drew their guns and ran this way. Even if the shot was from a silenced weapon, the sound of gunfire was evident. 

Seeing that the guy who was shot not far away was still rolling on the ground, Airon stood there without changing his face, showing no intention of stepping forward to check if there were more people. 

Daryl also slowly retreated, this time he was really helpless due to the fact that he wanted to quickly move away from where Airon was so as not to have awkward conversations, so he didn't notice that there was someone hiding not far away, but what he did notice is that the other party should be good at doing that! 

Until everyone rushed forward, a group of people quickly became defensive and Airon finally started walking forward. 

With slow steps, following Airon's movement, the rest of the people also moved forward, maintaining a formation and finally reached the person who had been motionless so far on the ground. 

"Ahhhhhh! I've been killed, my body is getting colder and colder, mother, I couldn't survive..." 

Looking at the boy who was screaming exaggeratedly in front of him, Airon said coldly, "Stop pretending, I know the bullet didn't hit you and only scratched you!" 

Before he finished speaking, he saw the person on the ground stopped struggling and then slowly stood up, this is a white man about 6'6" tall, with a black hood on his head, you could see him only his eyes and nose, he was not a figure that hinted to be a strong man, you could even say he was too skinny. 

At this moment, he looked at Airon and the others in front of him with nervous eyes and consciously raised his hands, 

Airon looked at the guy in front of him, he could feel a dangerous aura from him, this guy is definitely not simple if he suddenly stopped shouting! 

Daryl was the most annoyed among several people, he whispered to him in a bad tone, "Who are you, why are you hiding there, what's your purpose?" 

The other party looked as if he had been scared all this time, he raised his hand and stammered, and there was even a tremor in his tone. 

"Me, I'm, I'm, I'm Jose! Me, I was just, I was just sleeping in that place before your beast of a partner shot me!" 

Daryl raised his crossbow even higher, stepped forward and put the crossbow to Jose's head, and asked sharply, "Do you think we're fools, that you were sleeping in a trash can?" 

Jose was so frightened by Daryl that he went limp and immediately sat down on the ground, put his head in his hands and said in a crying voice, "What I'm saying is the truth! I didn't lie to you, I'm so tired. You don't know how long I was looking for a place free of walkers, I just went up to the second floor to rest, don't kill me, I'm too old to die." 

Daryl looked at the situation in front of him and was a little unsure, he turned his head and looked at Airon next to him, but he heard Rick, who was next to him, suddenly speak. 

"Where did you come from?" 

Still holding his head, Jose said in a slightly teary voice, "I came in through the back door, the door was open, I just wanted to get in and find a place to rest, that's all grandpa." 

Airon suddenly put his gun away, his tone softened a lot and he said to Jose on the ground, "Take us to see where you came in!" 

He then turned his head to look at Rick and pointed to the large bags of clothes behind him, "Rick, take the others to continue with the clothes thing, and then load them in the car first, Daryl and I will go over there to take a look." 

Rick hesitated a bit, but nodded as he looked at Daryl and Airon, then called for the others to follow and continue what they were doing. 

Reaching out to pick up Jose who was on the ground, Airon secretly motioned for Daryl to keep his distance, then patted Jose on the back, motioning for him to lead the way. 

The weeping Jose walked toward the stairs and Airon chatted with this new friend, "Jose, is it hard to be alone?" 

Perhaps because Airon has always been relatively gentle, Jose finally stopped being as nervous as he used to be when he spoke. He nodded slightly and explained, "I used to live not too far from this place. After all that virus shit broke out, my wife, parents and kids were infected and then I stayed in this place until then." 

Airon patted the other person's shoulder reassuringly and said in a slightly apologetic tone, "Sorry!" 

Jose quickly shook his head, expressing that he didn't need to apologize, and then pointed to a corridor in front of him and said, "It's here, that's where I came in, turn around and there's a door that leads to the back of the mall!" 

"Come on then Jose!" 

After hearing Jose's words, Airon quickly walked to the corner and Jose suddenly showed a strange smile.