Henry rolled in next to me, crunching over the glass.
The black ooze of the dark entity fell after us like a melting waterfall, sealing where we had just come from, oozing in on the floor after us—
But slowly, like molasses.
I got up, brushing the tiny bits of tempered glass off, being wary of the slow moving ooze, wiping the tears off my face. The mall was completely empty. Strobe lights flashed intermittently, and a stern, mechanical male voice looping a generic message over and over:
"Attention all Patrons—move immediately to the closest enclosed location. Avoid stopping in the path of automatic doors; serious injury or death will occur. Await assistance."
The message repeated over and over.
It looked like it too late for the message, anyway. We walked down the empty, wide mall corridor, each store opening sealed by massively thick panes of glass—more barricades than doors. It was eerie walking through an empty mall, the lights dim and making every corner and crevice a scary, veiled jump-scare waiting to happen. I looked above at the massive skylights, seeing them completely covered, like black tarp had been draped over the building.
There was a trail of dark liquid on the marbled tiled floor, leading out in front of us.
I took Henry's hand.
"I'm scared," I whispered.
He gave a weak smile, squeezing my hand back. Me too.
Then his beautiful eyes widened, shocked.
Ava! Why didn't you tell me? A... 'smile.' It's incredible, the feeling... I can't—
"Woah, okay, yeah," I mumbled, quickly pulling my hand away as my face burned hot with embarrassment. "Yeah, it's just a thing here, no big deal."
THAT wasn't a big deal?
Ugh—even now, here—I couldn't help but smile, playfully shoving him. It didn't matter, never freaking failed... he could just always make me forget where I was...
Only knowing that in that moment, it was with him.
He didn't rock the tiniest bit from my shove. The dark entity will awake soon, Ava, he said, as we started walking again. It's mutated and grown beyond anything possible—and it's separating... splitting.
Multiplying.
Well, that was a terrifying idea, at least.
We continued following the trail.
"You still haven't figured out how you're going to stop it," I said quietly as we walked.
He shook his head.
"We're probably going to die, aren't we?"
He didn't respond. The trail began to grow thicker, zig-zagging farther and farther back and forth as we went.
"Where do you think this trail is going?" I said.
He shuddered. The Nest.
Now that was a name I certainly did not like the sound of.
"It has a nest?" I asked, repulsed.
"Yes," he said, outloud—
Then pointed.
We were in the center of the mall—I'd been here once, the day it opened—less than a year ago. All of us, actually; Mom and Dad, Sean. We had walked around, much like we did when we were much younger, but that had been the last time we had been all been out together—
And even then, things weren't the same as they used to be.
I looked up.
Chairs were littered and scattered all over the place, thrown askew in front of the large stage set up in front of the plaza. I looked up, seeing a huge banner stretched wide across the high ceiling, proudly emblazoned with the logo:
AMERICA'S VOICE
And then my eyes widened in horror—
The banner wasn't the only thing hanging from the ceiling.
Long ropes of the black, gelatinous hung and down, stretched and pulled taut, like vines hanging down in a jungle—a bulbous, pulsating black sac the size of an exercise ball dangled at the end of each vine.
Oh my god, I thought, horrified. It's reproducing.
Clear drops of thick, mucous liquid slowly dripped and slid off the bulbous sacs. The air was hot and humid—and then the smell hit me.
I locked my throat muscles, hoping to hold back the vomit.
It's replicating, Henry said. That's why it's hibernating—gathering energy... before seeding even more of itself into your world.
"Well, how do we destroy it?" I said for the umpteenth time. "Now's the time for all that belief of yours to come through."
Tell me about it, he said.
I don't know why, but it made me chuckle.
"Don't happen to see any of those defibrillators around, do you?" I joked weakly.
Henry smiled—and that was good enough for me.
Wouldn't work anymore—it's learned how to convert your electricity into food. Nothing from your world effects it anymore... only me.
The black hanging tendrils began to thrum, vibrating like guitar strings as they hung suspended from the ceiling. The black tarp covering the skylight suddenly began to move, sluggishly swirling and undulating.
Oh no, Henry said, his eyes widening in fear. It's waking up.
The glass from the sealed store fronts all around us first began creaking. They bulged, bowing outwards—and then breaking open. But not by exploding... more like splitting and cracking like a shell. Black ooze slowly began to pour out of the store fronts, moving lazily like molten lava, filling the super wide walkways of the mall in all four directions around us—
Leave absolutely nowhere to run.
Nowhere to go.
Oh shit, Henry said.
I couldn't even respond—I was so scared, I had no idea what to do... because there wasn't anything I could do.
Except wait.
The sludge quickened its way towards us, rapidly speeding up like it was being pulled. I quickly turned into Henry's arms, pressing up close against him as he wrapped them tightly around me, the side of his face nuzzling against mine. I closed my eyes, and then the only thing I was aware of was the feeling of his body, pressed against mine, making me feel so safe and comfortable and forgetting what was about to happen.
"Ava," he whispered into my ear.
The sky light above suddenly burst, and the black slime poured down on top of us.