Chapter Eight

(Dennis's POV)

Running through the backroom with Tom, we had an increasingly hot Dipper in our grasp. He did not look good at all, two big thick strips of grey painted his skin. We sped up running through this hall, it felt like it went on forever. Finally coming to a stop, a big black door with a peephole wasnt stood in front of us. I gently place pit down on the floor and quickly look through the peephole to see there was nothing there.

I ran back to Tom and Dipper, picking up Dippers legs and grabbing the handle to the door and pushing it open. We make it through and I looked around to see that we were in another part of the mall. All the zombie on this level were attracted to Dippers scream so they were most likely over there. I looked to Tom and saw that he looked warn, "I'm fine" He said, "let's just keep going and find a way back to the car", I nodded and we began shuffling towards the front of this nearby store.

Opening the door, I held it open so Tom could shuffle in and put Dipper on a table full of clothing. After adjusting him a little bit, Tom and I sighed and I took the moment to look around the store. It was a clothing store, tables full of soft looking clothing and amazing fashion. I looked around impressed with what they had, if the apocalypse didnt happen, I'd definitely come and shop here for a few items.

Tom leaned against a counter, he was completely out of breath from hauling Dipper around. I pat his shoulder and look at the disease ridden Dipper, barely breathing on the cloathed table. Both of the bite Mark's grayness had conjoined, taking up a humongous chunk of his arm. I'd never seen someone turn into one of the horrid things, I definitely didnt want to start with Dipper. "Tom, I'm gonna check the store really quick for anymore monsters, I need you to watch Dip. When i get back I'll tell you our next move" I finished, Tom nodded and sat next Dipper on the table, pulling out his gun.

I left them and began looking around the average sized store, they had changing rooms in the far back, racks of clothing in the middle, the tables of clothing we had pip on were near the front, and by the tables of clothing were the registers. I heard groaning from the far back of the room and looked to see a bloody mess on the floor, a monster that looked like it just recently changed was crawling around on the floor, it's intestines dragging along with it. It took notice of my presence and began crawling rapidly towards me, growling ferociously like a cornered tiger. I stomped on its head once it got close enough, putting it out of it's sad misery.

"Poor thing" I said to myself disgusted. I continued walking around the back and found that there are no more monsters in the store, the only one being the crawler. I jog back to Tom and see him watching over Dipper with sad eyes. I put my hand around his shoulder and pulled his head into the crook of my neck, "Hes gonna make it, I don't know how or why, but I just have a feeling he will." I said to Tom rocking him a bit. "Tom, I'm gonna need you to watch him closely while I go check out the surrounding area of this part of the mall. if they're no exits, we'll have to be sleeping here tonight." I said looking into Tom's eyes. He nodded and turned back to watch Dipper, I gave him one more firm squeeze before letting go and un-barricading the door. once I was out, I told Tom to barricade it back and only to come out if I come back, or if he desperately needs to.

I turned around and looked at this big side of the mall, A few monsters staggered around but it's nothing I couldnt handle. A side note, I now know that with these abilities not only do I have body augmentation, but I also have stronger muscles, agility(although I don't know how to fight better with it), and longer endurance. Maybe I'll find out what else I'm equipped with but for now, the only things in my arsenal are those very helpful factors.

Racing around a small portion of the big area, I cleaved most of the monsters heads off with ease, I am becoming extremely good at this. I felt myself become too cocky and turned a blind eye to what creeped from the corner of a un-flipped open store. A monster jumped out and pinned me to the ground, a few more following behind it. I struggled but eventually jabbed one of my bladed finger straight through the monsters head with ease. I stood up to fast, stumbling backwards in a clumsy effort to get away from the monsters.

They growled, chomping their teeth and swiping their rotting skin on their way to grab me. Their lifeless dead eyes and red retinas stared me down, a sudden intimidation flew over me and I began to get cautious. Doing my best to be swift I took out the first monster following behind the one that pinned me. The monster fell back against its friends, pinning them to the ground and I took the chance to stomp their heads out.

Once I was finish with them, I began walking around the area of the mall in search of exits, this time being more mindful of the monsters that could be nearby. I searched every corner, killing what tried to kill me and not coming up with anything else. After doubling back and checking twice, I concluded that there wasnt an exit on this side of the store. All this work made me exhausted and I needed to go back to the clothes store to make sure Tom and Dipper were ok.

Jogging my way to the store I saw a Dipper sitting up on the table he was previously laying on, the bite Mark's still on his arm but the gray was fading quickly. I knocked on the window and they both jumped but calmed down once they saw it was me. Tom un-barricaded the door to let me in. Once I was in I pushed everything back in place and ran up to Dipper giving him a big hug. "You has us so scared, I thought I'd have to blow your brains out or something Dipper" I said with a sigh, pulling away from him so he could get some space. "Wow, that's so w-welcoming" he attempted to be sarcastic, I laughed at him and looked to Tom who looks exhausted. That reminded me of the news I have to share.

"So guys, it look like we'll be staying the night in here then" I said with sad eyes looking at how they both deflated. "I know guys, but at least we have something comfortable to sleep on, and I doubled around this side of the mall and in the store, there should be no monsters that bother us." I walked to a table of clothing and sat on top of it, laying down and deeming it comfy enough. Dipper took one right next to me and Tom came to lay with me on the same table. I wrapped my arms around Tom and pulling him close to me, whispering good things into his ear before kissing the back of his head and drifting off to sleep. "Goodnight Dennis" I heard him say, "Goodnight Tom" I said back. I then let sleep take over me, slowly slipping into darkness.

:)