After just a measly 5 minutes, in the distance, I finally saw what I had been going towards.
I slowly made my way to the edge of the rooftop and looked onwards to my path to getting in the mall.
As I looked on, it became brutally obvious there was no way I would be able to get inside, hordes of zombies were surrounding the building, the bulk were gathered near the entrance. I assumed the main entrance and the other entrances on the first floor were barricaded as the doors weren't even budging. I began walking from side to side trying to see if there was a way to get to the second floor. But before I could even think of climbing up, I knew I wouldn't be able to go anywhere with the amount of zombies surrounding the building.
Trying to think of a way to distract the zombies, I noticed they were particularly persistent. When I made my way inside the police station, the zombies stopped comparatively fast, but these zombies seem almost desperate to get inside... I wonder why? If I figured out why they are so persistent, then I could lure them away!
The more I studied them, the more confused I grew, there were a few zombies that kept scratching and banging on the door for hours, while others seemed to go up to the entrance and walk away just as fast, but weirdly, they almost never strayed far away, "What is happening??" I proclaimed, scratching my head in frustration.
I sighed and started walking in circles without the slightest clue of what was causing them to act that way. Soon an idea came to mind to see if I could make my way inside safely. I peeled off a rooftop tile and threw it near the zombies. The zombies momentarily turned to face where the sound came from before returning to what they were doing before. I knew it, I could get inside if I could distract them.
I spent the next twenty minutes peeling more and more rooftop tiles. I took as many as I could hold in one hand without them weighing me down, I had to be able to use them at a moment's notice. I placed them on the edge of the rooftop while searching for any way to get to the second floor.
After a while of searching, I remembered the emergency staircase on the other side of the building. I prepared to leave, putting my backpack in front instead on my back, putting most of the tiles inside the backpack, I figured that way they would cause less trouble. I saved the last three tiles and held them in my left arm as I slowly climbed down the ladder.
After a lot of struggle climbing down with one hand, I finally had reached the bottom of the ladder unnoticed. Before I jumped down and began to run, I threw the tiles far away to mask my jump. Just as the tiles landed with a loud, crashing sound, I jumped down. My jump had been disguised as I had wished. However, it was clear I couldn't stay here for long.
I began to run around the building, the tiles in my backpack were clacking loudly together, somehow, I had forgotten they made a sound when hitting against each other. As I turned the first corner, I saw a horde of zombies chasing after me... how could I have forgotten they made a sound when hitting against each other?!
Suddenly, with the pressure of being chased, everything seemed to slow down around me, my bag felt unusually heavy... a smile appeared on my face, "Originally, I took these tiles to use as a distraction" I said while pulling out two rooftop tiles "but I just realised another way I can use them" I proclaimed as I raised my right hand and threw a tile into a zombie.
I watched how the zombie dealt with the tile, and I had an unintentional side effect, the zombie that I threw the tile to lost its balance for a moment... I laughed.
I took five more tiles from my backpack and immediately threw them all at one random zombie. And just as I had hoped, it fell, and even better, the zombies behind it were tripped and a domino effect happened, only the couple zombies Infront of it were uninterrupted. Before I could throw more tiles at the zombies chasing me, I turned the last corner and I saw the emergency stairs. One zombie was quickly closing in, it would likely catch me before I would have the chance to climb the emergency stairs. I swiftly turned around and grabbed my taser, I quickly loaded the taser with a cartridge and turned around, to my horror, the zombie was within an arm's reach and was about to infect me.
I swiftly pulled the trigger and the zombie fell to the ground, I had no time to wait so I removed the cartridge very soon after, the next zombie wasn't much farther away. I began to run again and now I had reached the staircase.
Just as I thought, it was barricaded too. I grabbed the iron bars on the side and pulled myself up, placing my feet between the iron bars, I grabbed the top of the metal staircase and pulled myself up as the first zombie ran to the staircase.
Without a moment to waste, I began to run up the stairs, the bag felt heavy again, I contemplated leaving it on the stairs but decided against it as it was still important. Finally as I had reached the top, I was facing a door and to my relief, it had a window.
I pulled out the baton I had taken from the police station and began to whack the window. After a couple of swings, the window cracked and after another swing, it broke. I used the baton to clear the window frame of the excess glass before climbing in.
Finally, I was inside. I looked around for people but it seemed no one was here, I was sure that someone would be here, but it seemed I was wrong.
I began searching for what I could replace the window for some protection in case zombies somehow made their way up here. For the time being I covered it with my jacket, however I knew it would do little more than provide resistance for a couple seconds before being torn apart.
After putting my bag on the ground, I inserted a new cartridge into the taser and began to walk around the mall, hoping to find a grocery store, even a convenience store would be fine at this point.
At that moment, I and a woman along with her daughter noticed each other across the floor.