Life After the Undead (Completed)

PART 13: Shopping Spree .3

Melissa's P.O.V.

Evelyn took us to Yorkdale Mall.

Easiest location, she had said. She knew the parking lot. It had the best option for stores. It had the easiest layout. And by easiest she meant, easiest way to lose a pack of zombies chasing you. It was basically a straight shot with several ways to get out.

Which was not the Yorkdale I remembered. I remembered always being lost cause the place was like a maze, but, then again, I wasn't really a shopping kind of girl. And when I did shop it was either online or at the outlet malls.

We all had our buddies.

Rebecca and Connor.

Jack and Godrick.

Me and Evelyn.

And at first it started out alright. Evelyn went through the rules. Again. Then we could separate as a group but we had to stay with our pairs.

We all had our own lists. I'm sure even Evelyn had her own list, but Evelyn's lists were in her head. They were also on her whiteboard but she never wrote anything down from it. She just always knew what was on it.

I was pretty sure she had a photographic memory.

I did not have one of those so I had a little piece of paper of all the things I wanted.

Like better running clothes and sports bras. Like better clothes in general. Better shoes, sturdier shoes, and boots. I really wanted badass boots. Like Evelyn's combat boots but better. I didn't need make up in this world, not like I was going out on a date, but I wanted it. You know in case of a rainy day. Then that meant I'd need a nice date outfit, a nice pair of shoes and some jewelry and a purse to go with it. I also wanted a better back pack, like the kind Evelyn had. Hers was always filled with useful things, I wanted a backpack just like that.

And of course I had Christmas shopping to do. I needed to swing by the book store to get something for Connor. I needed to go to either a designer store or make up place for Rebecca, maybe hit up a men's watch place for Jack, not that I needed to get him something and then... well... I was completely at a loss on what to get Evelyn. I figured I'd wander around the mall with her, see if anything piqued her interest and if it did, I'd take it when she wasn't looking.

But Evelyn wasn't really looking at anything. She kept looking around and over her shoulder. Firstly, there were very few zombies in Yorkdale. This, apparently, did not sit well with her. There should be more zombies, she had said. And all of us looked at her like she was crazy.

Why would she want zombies to be there?

But the inherent lack of zombies had Evelyn on edge. That should have had us on edge, but we weren't, or well I wasn't. Rebecca and Connor looked fine as they ran off to do whatever Rebecca wanted to do, Jack looked fine, which I knew because he was following me around, but Godrick... he had picked up on Evelyn's nervousness and had stuck to her side.

Which was probably how he ended up wandering off with Evelyn and leaving me with Jack.

I hadn't even noticed it at first, one minute Evelyn was beside me the next it was Jack.

I had been holding a new backpack. I kind of like the idea of a designer one but the one I was looking at wouldn't hold as much as Evelyn's. I turned to ask her opinion, fully knowing that she would tell me function over brand, and found him standing beside me. I looked him up and down and he just smiled at me and eventually said: "She's investigating a suspicious blood trail."

Well why the fuck would she be doing that? And how was a blood trail suspicious?

"Kay well which way did she go? Cause she's my buddy..."

Jack shook his head. "Naw we switched. She took Godrick as her buddy and gave me you."

When the hell had she said any of this because I hadn't heard her at all. Yes, Evelyn was like that with the others, but she was pretty good at communicating with me since the whole Ottawa incident.

I scowled at him he just continued to smile.

"Why are you even here?" I asked him because honestly I would have rather been alone than with him.

"Well cause rule number 2 is always stay with your buddy," he told her. "And besides, I figure the more time I spend with you the more I'll grow on you. AND if I spend more time with you I'll learn more about your likes and your dislikes which means I'll be able to surprise you with little gifts, or pretend to have things in common with you until I get what I want and am done with you."

You know, that started out super cute and then he circled right back around to dog. And it sucked, because, if Jack were a halfway decent human, with a real interest in me, he'd be my type. He had the bad boy leather look I liked, he was taller than me, I liked his shaggy brown hair and his sparkling eyes. The problem was he'd open his mouth and I'd get angry. It was like he was riling me up on purpose. But I wasn't going to rise to the occasion this time, this time I shook my head at him, and went back to my own shopping.

If I couldn't spot Evelyn after I finished my list, I was going to hunt her down and yell at her for leaving me with Jack. Especially when she knew how much I didn't like him.