Chapter Seven

(Tom's POV)

Dennis, Dipper, and me rode in the truck pass the town we were previously in, behind us we could see a few cars drive into the town. Thankfully they didnt see us at all. I sat down in the back of the truck with a sigh, my eyes look to see a smile in the mirror of the driver, it was Dennis's. "You happy we arent gonna die?" he asked giggly, "yes of course, those guys looked evil I mean they literally are a cult-". I stopped mid sentence and turned to look at Dipper, "you were in a cult??" I asked looking at Dipper like he was crazy. Dipper shrinks into his seat nervously, "Yeah I was, but I didnt want to be.." he said shaking a little. Dennis glared at me from the rear view mirror.

"Hey Dipper, it's ok. We both know you don't want to hurt anybody, from what you explained to us...B-back at the camp" Dennis struggled to get out, "We'd understand your eagerness to get out of there as soon as you could, I'm so glad you're here on this team with us" Dennis said giving Dipper a big genuine smile. Dipper slowly rose from his position in the seat and returned Dennis's smile, he looked back at me and gave me a small smile as well. Suddenly I felt bad for calling him out like that, almost completely forgetting his story of what they do to him.

"Hey I am uh, I'm sorry for going at you like that, I act before I think too much sometimes, I'm glad to have you in our team as well." His smilef widened at me, "Me too guys" then he faced forwards and sunk into his chair happily. Dennis then cleared his throat and began to speak, "So I still have to explain exactly what I am or what I might be" He said looking at Dipper for a moment before turning his attention back to the road. Dipper nodded his head and gave Dennis his full attention, "So basically I'm some kind of science experiment the government took to test on because I was viewed as disposable to them." Dennis said his hands gripping the wheel slightly, "Although I was a criminal, so I dont really blame them." he said, relaxing a bit from. "You were a criminal? What did you do?" asked Dipper, "I was a thief, and I had multiple accounts of a assault, in reality the only thing I really was, was a thief all the acts of assault were me defending myself" Dennis admitted. "Well you said something about special abilities right? It what your hand turned into bladed claw hook things?" Dipper said, "yep, I dont really know exactly what it is but I'm more then sure it's a result from the testing on me, the campsite is back that way where we came from." Dennis disclosed.

"Wow, can I see it more in action when we settle down in the next place?" Dipper said with eyes of admiration. Dennis smiled and nodded his head, "of course you can, I have no doubt theres gonna be at least a few monsters where were heading so it'll great practice as well" Dennis said with a smirk. "Awesome! I cant wait" Dippers excited energy radiated, and I found myself smiling as well.

Minutes passed and we had been driving for what felt like hours, the sun was starting to go down and dawn was almost upon us, I didnt want to find out if anymore special zombies like that yeller come out at night. I heard Dennis gasp and immediately looked up from my lap, he pointed to a town with one if his hands, and it looked to be in pretty good shape. "Yes!" I yelled excitedly, I could finnaly sit down comfortably, or as comfortably as you could get in the apocalypse.

Dennis began speeding up so we could get to the town faster without interruption, from a distance the town looked to be fine, but once we got closer that's when we noticed something was off. Looking closer the buildings were all clawed and crack In irregular but oddly similar patterns. It looked like and immensely sized monster had been here, the thought of something that big actually existing made my body shudder. I looked and Dennis and Dippers face to see that the feelings mutual. "Guys, dont be scared ok? Whatever this thing might be, if its here I'm sure it's not invincible, all we need to do is work together and we can get through this thing alright? We need to find a store" Dennis reassures with a sigh, pulling into the town we looked around and saw that being inside the city made the buildings look way bigger, almost lie walls towering over us.

"Do you guys have an off feeling as well?" I asked, feeling very perturbed. "Y-Yeah I do, Dennis?" Dipper asked, "Yeah me too guys, this seems like bad news but we definitely cant turn around, and we cant go around either and risk the chance of not finding another city, this is our best chance" Dennis sighed. I sunk into my seat, dread was taking over me but I tried to stay positive, we have Dennis, hes amazing he'll protect us from any threat he can. We drove around the town, people had obviously been through here because dead monsters with bashed skulls or holes in their heads littered the ground.

We spotted a humongous mall that stood out from all the buildings, we thought we'd check it out and see what's going on inside. No doubt there'd be alot of zombies but we had enough energy to hopefully clear them out as much as we could. We parked in the parking lot directly outside of the mall so it'd be easy to get to the car, I honestly hope we didng plan on staying in here because it would be super easy to get ambushed.

Stepping out of the car, Dipper pulled a gun from his pants, "Are you any good of a shot?" I asked Dipper. "Y-yeah, while at the cult they trained me so that I could actually protect myself so I'm a decent shot" he said nervously smiling. "Ok good, then we can both cover Dennis if it comes to fighting" I stated, walking after Dipper and Dennis into the mall.

Once inside, we closed the mall door behind us and were greeted with an eerie silence. I most definitely expected zombies to be here in this mall, so I thought there'd be some noise. "I dont trust this at all, it's way to quiet" Dennis voiced my thoughts out loud. "Me too" Dipper and I agreed. We walked behind Dennis closely, there was thick red liquid splattered across the dirty floors of the mall. The mall itself being huge, every part of the scenery made my sense scream bad news. We just need to find a mini store and hopefully get some more supplies.

We ended up on the second level of the mall, it was littered in different stores and restaurants. We went into a familiar gas station store called "Barket market". Inside we immediately got our bags and began filling them up, forgetting all about checking the store for zombies. We let our guard down, we were at fault for what happened next. Dipper was knocked to the ground, a viscous growl escaping something behind him. Looking up from my bag I froze, my heart beat became sporadic. Behind Dipper staring down at him with a hungry look ready to tear into his flesh was a Monster. We were to slow as it threw itself on the panic Dipper and bit his arm twice in two different spots.

Dippers loud screams filled the mall and before we knew it monsters were pooling out from different areas of the mall. I pulled my gun from its holster and Dennis's eyes went orange and his hands transformed into claws. I shot the monster dead in its head, it fell ontop of Dipper lifelessy. Dennis harshly kicked the zombies body off Dipper and it flew towards the register in the front of the store. Dennis was really angry.

He let out a inhuman growl before dashing towards the front of the store where the door was and clawing the zombies pooling into it. He cleaved through them one by one, creating a gory scene of blood until he made it to the door. He threw the door shut and grabbed a bunch of metal thick stands and threw them infront of the door. He then grabbed a metal pole and bent it through the door handles so it wouldnt budge open.

He walked back over to Dipper, still angry but quickly calming into a worry when he was reminded of the situation. Dipper was passed out, most likely from the pain, his skin turning grey around the bite marks meaning the infection was spreading. "No no no no please, we just got you little guy" Dennis worried, I couldnt move, I was frozen. So much happened so fast, I looked towards the door with dozens of zombies banging on it. How were we to get out? we cant jump from the windows either because we're on the second floor.

I began panicking slightly, hyperventilating and putting my hand on my heart. Dennis looked towards me and frowned, he slapped me hard with his normal hand and pointed at me. "Pull it together Tom come on, you cant start now. Dipper is bit and we have to find a way to get out of this damned store without getting bit ourselves." Dennis said his frown deepening, I held my cheek in shock, and jumped back to reality grasping the situation again. "Thank you, I needed that" I said smiling slightly at him. I looked around the store and saw a back door, ahead of it said exit. "Look" I pointed to the door, "it says exit, maybe theres somewhere we can go around the zombies and make it back outside" I said standing up. "Ok ok, help me carry Dipper, I'll get the bags." He said picking up our bags and putting all of them on his back.

I hurried to the door and kicked it open, looking down what looked to be a white hallway. There we no zombies so I ran back to Dennis and helped him with Dipper. We both began rushing down the hallways quickly before we ran out of energy. I hope we can find a way out....