Chapter 6 Escape from death. First night

First of all, I suggested that my group go to a large shopping center located nearby, literally a hundred meters from the river. There, in a five-story building, it was possible to hide from the terrible flying hunter, and besides, get food. I didn't eat all day, and neither did the girls, so it certainly didn't bother us to refresh ourselves. In addition to food, the mall probably had a lot of things we needed - from new clothes to camping equipment and tents for the road. Remained really unclear question of payment.

I assumed that I would not have to pay, but I had the money to buy everything I needed - not so much with me in cash, much more on a bank card. And by the way ... you need to withdraw the entire amount from the card, because in the conditions of chaos, the role of cash will increase. I saw ATMs in the mall, so withdrawing money was not a problem.

Everyone liked my idea of ​​going out for groceries and new clothes, and the girls were eager to get out of the dangerous open area as soon as possible. I assigned four girls to carry the stretcher, and I assigned two more to be responsible for controlling the sky. He himself went first, scouting the road. Someone had already managed to break the glass doors at the entrance to the shopping center, so we went in without any problems. And they stopped in indecision. It turned out to be quite dark in the building, but the main thing was that we were not alone here.

On the first floor, I knew it for sure, there was a large grocery department. And just from somewhere I heard drunken male voices and the sounds of breaking glass, and then a desperate female screeching cut my ears. The unfortunate woman screamed as if she had been brutally raped. Most likely, that is exactly what happened.

"We won't go there," I reassured the frightened girls. - We go to the left, there are escalators and stairs up.

The whole group quietly walked to the escalators in a chain. Escalators without electricity in the building did not work. Like the ATMs next to them. But I was already beginning to understand that there were no sellers in the building anyway, and we would not have to pay. We climbed up the fixed steps of the escalators to the third floor.

- We're here! - I pointed to the inscription: "Everything for tourism, hunting and fishing." "We all need to change our clothes to more suitable ones for the hike.

The girls immediately got excited, especially the three or four who tried to stay away from the main group. Indeed, some of them have long been required to change their clothes. Spending all day in a wrecked bus with no way to go to the toilet... They really smelled a lot. And although I delicately pretended not to notice the smells, these girls felt frankly uncomfortable.

The third floor greeted us with total darkness. Perhaps the lighting in the building was turned on somewhere, but I did not know the location of the switch, and I did not want to betray our group with bright light. Taking out his cell phone, he turned on the flashlight built into the phone. And although there was only a couple of percent left to charge the battery, we were provided with light for a minute or two, and this was quite enough for the upcoming business. First of all, I made sure that there were no windows facing the street in the trading floor, and the windows of the utility rooms were tightly closed with blinds, so that the flying hunters could not notice us here.

Using my phone's flashlight, I made my way through the maze of corridors, looking at the signs. Goods for cars. Fork. Again pavilion of auto goods. Automotive oils. Motorcycles. Scooters. Everything is not right! I returned to the fork and turned right. And here is what we need - goods for tourists! And as if as a reward for their efforts, numerous tourist lanterns and batteries for them were displayed in a glass case on display. Nearby was the pavilion of sports shoes. The shop was closed, but that didn't mean anything.

The window glass shattered from a strong kick. I took a lantern I liked from the shelf, uncorked it and put in the batteries. A bright beam of light illuminated the room. Cool! And just in time, because my phone turned off completely. Passing the lantern to the nearest girl, I asked to shine. One powerful kick, and a small hole was already gaping in the door. He hit a few more times, but it was not possible to expand the hole especially, there were strong boards everywhere. Okay, let's try this.

"I need a petite girl who can fit through this opening into the store. Are there volunteers?

I expected that there would be no volunteers, and they would have to be appointed by order. However, a girl with a broken nose suddenly responded. Just the one that I first rescued from the bus.

- I can get through here!

I praised the determined girl and belatedly asked her name.

- My name is Galya. Galya Gromova.

Galina really deftly squeezed inside, after which she asked:

- What to get?

"Firstly, Galya, take off those backpacks and hand them over to us. Then go to the next section and see women's sneakers, boots and boots that you and your friends can use.

I charged a couple more flashlights with batteries. One took for himself, the other handed over to the fair-haired nurse. The chubby nurse and her two friends stayed at the window to receive boxes of shoes, and also, on my advice, they took lanterns and batteries for them into backpacks from the window, knives, tourist matches and lighters, dry alcohol for kindling fires, hatchets, unbreakable dishes - everything that could be useful to us in the upcoming campaign.

With the main group of girls, I moved on. Inflatable boat. It's hard to drag, and they may not be useful at all on our trip. ATVs. Scooters. Cool, sure, but not at this time. And here is exactly what I was looking for - sports and tourist clothing and, again, shoes! And this pavilion was not even closed! I circled the hanging wealth with a beam of a lantern:

- Come on, beauties! Everything is yours!

These words caused a real sensation. Two dozen girls, by the light of a single lantern, rushed to sort out and right there, not even particularly embarrassed by my presence, trying on clothes. I myself walked around the hall, slowly choosing the things I needed. I took several sets of underwear, high army-style boots, a dark turtleneck with a closed neck, sweatpants and a jacket. On top of all this, the hunter's summer camouflage suit "Kamysh" and a hat to him with a mosquito net. I put a sleeping bag in a voluminous backpack, hung a roll of "foam" on the side. In the first approximation, I was equipped normally for the trip.

While the girls were getting dressed, I walked up and down the floor. He found it and, without the slightest hesitation, immediately broke the window with the clock. I chose and put on my favorite quartz shockproof watch with a compass and screen backlight. For a long time I was looking for something like a hunting rifle store. It seemed to me that earlier I saw such a store here near a large department with fishing rods and spinning rods, but now for some reason I could not find anything that looked like a firearm. I found only pneumatics and crossbows. Crossbows at first interested me, I even twisted one in my hands, but regretfully hung it back - cumbersome, uncomfortable and, most offensively, for some reason there were no bolts for the weapon. I opened several boxes and crates, but found no crossbow arrows at all. I did not go through the rest of the mountain of boxes and packages and moved on. Almost immediately I came across a whole rack with tents and stopped for a long time, choosing. In the end, he immediately chose five of the lightest tents of a dull color and with difficulty dragged this prey to the girls.

Meanwhile, in the clothing pavilion, the fitting and sharing of trophies had already escalated into a girlish fight with squeals and pulling out the hair of competitors, and therefore my urgent intervention was required. What is most surprising, the most controversial was the division of bathing suits, as well as flashy sports jackets.

- Are you going to the parade or to the beach? - I was surprised and even somewhat confused at the sight of lemon-yellow and ultramarine jackets of my companions. "You won't make it to the boarding school alive in such bright clothes, so take it off immediately!" We have to go around cities and normal roads, through forests and swamps, and at the same time we need to remain invisible to flying hunters. So choose comfortable waterproof shoes, loose clothes, take a set of warm clothes for the night, put on such camouflage suits over all this," I pointed to my equipment. "Besides, each of you needs a sleeping bag to keep you warm at night. I saw sleeping bags further along the corridor, but there are very few of them, not enough for everyone ...

My speech was interrupted by the appearance of a girl whom I left to collect things in backpacks. She was visibly scared.

"There was a man there. Wondering what we're doing here...

Having ordered the girls to stay here, I went to deal with the night guest. Near the backpacks scattered in the corridor and a pile of boxes with shoes, an unfamiliar large man of about forty really showed up. He was so drunk that he could hardly stand on his feet. But at the same time, he behaved defiantly arrogantly, shouted at the girls, insulted them and cursed through the word. At my appearance, the stranger raised his eyebrows in surprise:

- And who are you?

"I'm a shopkeeper," he lied without a drop of doubt.

- What kind of (censored) watchman are you?! I myself (censored) here (censored) watchman! And I haven't seen you before!

"Go sleep," I lightly pushed the brawler towards the exit from the floor.

- Don't tell me (censorship), watchman! Now how (censored) you! Come, (censored) to whom they say!

The drunk stepped forward and swung his fist, but I just took a step back. The drunken man lost his balance and almost collapsed, resting against the wall. I lightly pushed the enemy in the chest, and he fell on his back. And while the brawler drunk in zyuzyu was trying to get up, I took a folding knife out of my pocket and threw out the blade with a click. The peasant still managed to get up and now stared blankly at the knife blade illuminated by the beam of a lantern. The brute thought with obvious difficulty and stepped back, slowly raising his hands up. But at the same time he said threateningly:

- Upstairs on the fifth floor is my friend, Kolka. There (censored) a lot of my friends. But (censorship) Kolka has a machine gun. So, watchman, you will not live! You're a corpse, (censored)! Don't go anywhere. I'll (censored) be back soon! And, watchman, (censored) to you!

With an unsteady, winding gait, the thug headed for the exit, shouting curses mixed with curses at me. When he disappeared around the corner of the corridor, the frightened girls surrounded me:

"Victor, we need to get out of here!" Hurry to run before he returns with his friends!

I folded and put away the knife. My hands were shaking a little, well, I'm not used to such adventures. But in front of three defenseless girls who saw me as the only protector, I could not show weakness. Therefore, gathering his courage, he said in a firm voice:

- You have ten minutes. Take these backpacks, all your shoes and run to the others. You need to quickly pick up your clothes for the trip and have time to change.

I looked at the clock. Glowing hands showed twelve minutes past one. Something I strongly doubted that a drunk who was barely standing on his feet would wander to the fifth floor to call his friends. Rather, on the contrary, he will go down to the first floor, pour alcohol on his resentment. But even if he goes for help, his friends, most likely, are in the same drunk state and are unlikely to quickly gather. However, sooner or later, one should still expect the appearance of dangerous guests. And by morning, I had no doubt about it, the shopping center building would be full of marauders. It's night now and people are afraid to go out. But with dawn, residents will rush to the shops to collect food and things. Fights, stabbings and bloody showdowns will inevitably arise. So we need to get out of here before dawn.