Day Fourteen
Shay
Ba probably wonders where I am, why it’s taking me so long at the mall. I wonder where Preeti went. Was I supposed to watch her? She must be with her friends in Abercrombie or someplace childish. Nani went to get water bottles for us from the food court, Preeti just tagged along like usual. This cot isn’t very comfortable. Wait cot? Why am I on a cot? I really want lunch. I wonder where Nani went. Oh. She must still be at the food court. I never knew getting water took so long. Frozen chicken doesn’t taste good. This cot isn’t very comfortable. Wait cot? Why am I on a cot? Wetness on my face startled me from the dreamless sleep of the sick. It was blood. Too exhausted to wipe it clean, I continued hacking, coughing up blood from the depths of my lungs. Someone pressed a cool cloth to my forehead, but the cloth instantly warmed. My eyes fogged over again. I need Ryan. He could help me. He would save me like how he saved Ruthie. I need Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. Not his mean friends. Not Marco with his key card. I need Ryan. Ryan who saved me during the riot. Ryan who loves me. Nani would like Ryan. Ryan would like Nani. I love Ryan. Ryan. Ryan. The next time I awoke, it was the fault of my little sister Preeti, shaking me awake.
“Shaila? Shaila wake up! You can’t die and leave me all alone. I can’t lose anyone else.” Preeti screamed, shortly thereafter dissolving into tears.
“I’m awake.” I croaked from my prone position in my nest of blankets; even though the crazy senator and her evil henchmen rationed everything from beans to soap, my nest consisted of only two blankets in the cold night. Preeti held a mug of water in her free hand and wore a sleepless expression on her round face.
“Shaila? Oh THANK G-D! I thought I lost you for a minute there.” As she leaned in for a hug, I used what little strength was left in me to push her back, keeping her from touching me.
Scolding her I said, “Preeti Dixit, you know better than that. You’re not even supposed to be in here anyway, let alone hugging a patient.”
“But Shaila I already had the flu, I’m immune now!”
“Not so much,” I explained. “I overheard the Senator talking to the head doctor about some new strain that was released into the air, specifically targeting teenagers. I probably have the second strain, not the first strain of the deadly illness that you had previously.”
“That can’t be true. They said less people were dying every day now.” Preeti whimpered as she sank down into a sitting position against my cot.
“You know the Senator lies. And one of us has to stay alive to tell Ba,” I told her.
“But I need you to stay with me in the mall Shaila. I can’t be alone.”
Deciding to play the bossy older sister card, knowing it would get her, I said, “Well maybe I have to babysit you like before.”
“I was fine by myself before you came and got sick.”
“So go out there and be brave, and get back to the HomeMart as I told you. Don’t make me get up.” I replied.  Barely holding it together I waved goodbye, knowing it could very well be the last time I saw her. This simple mall trip with Nani and Preeti had been just for the sole purpose of feeling normal for once. I felt like a foreigner who still didn’t fit in. I should have never come. Lying here on a dirty cot in what once had been a J.C.Penny store, eating rationed slop, and patrolled by guards with stun guns made me feel anything but normal. With these thoughts I slipped back into a fitful sleep.

Ryan
A blinding light flickered across my eyelids and pulled me from a nightmare, only to wake up in another. A security flashlight. That was what the beam was. Security. SECURITY? It can’t be security. We were hiding in the very last of the cars in the parking lot, lying on the SUV floor. I punched Mike, and clamped a hand over his mouth to stifle the groans.
“Mike. Mike, wake up. Get up you idiot!” I whisper yelled into his ear. They were coming for him after all. After we escaped through the back service hallways, we were forced to crawl through an AC vent to get to the parking garage which smelled almost as bad as the team after a football game. A startling thought came to me: we would never get to play football again. We would never go out to Pizza Palace after a home game, sweaty and exhausted, and eat pizzas by the dozen, or play tackle in Drew’s backyard. Drew. Last I saw him he was coughing up blood on the floor. I missed Shay. She was the only good part about the mall. I hope she hasn’t gotten sick while I’ve been gone. I needed her. I had promised to get her and her sister out of here after I escaped, which proved easier said than done.
“Huh? Where are we Shrimp?” Mike said, but I hurriedly shushed him, pointing to the crisscrossing pattern of light beams on the roof.
“Mike they’re coming for us. Security will find us here.”
“I know, I’m not stupid, but you come pretty darn close.”
“Just shut up.” I responded. I had a choice now. I could turn Mike in, passing off myself as innocent, or I could run again, attempting to play a vicious game of hide-and-seek with multiple guards. But I couldn’t turn Mike in, he had saved me countless times. He saved me when I almost died from the flu, when we lit the boardroom in the mall on fire, and when we tried to escape through the roof. I owed him one. Or a million. In deathly silence we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited for the guards to give up, so we could spend another night in this hellhole.

Marco
I wish I could see his face now. Before, he had the upper hand with Mike and Shay. But Ryan hadn’t seen the last of him. He would be the victor. He had been there for Shay when Ryan wasn’t, and that had to count for something. Now, Mike had once again stuck with Ryan, escaping to the garage with him. But Marco was a beast now; rage and anger enveloped him and left him a badass version of the previous hateful Marco. As he ran through the back hallways, he felt a sense of power. Nobody could touch him or dare challenge a guy with a gun. Those were his last thoughts before everything went black.
…………………………………………..
When he regained consciousness, he was upside down in a trashcan, his gun taken away and his arms tied. Trying to wriggle out, the can fell, spilling an angry Marco onto the carpeted floors of what? The POST OFFICE? Why was he in the post office? A pair of blackened Nikeys came into view, along with a pair of worn leather boots.
“Punk. Yeah you. Get up,” Nikeys spoke.
“You respect us when you’re on our turf,” Boots began.
“Gimme back my gun and maybe we can talk then,” I reasoned.
“I think we will be keeping the gun for a little while. Now where was I? Oh right. Respect. Something you could benefit from. We heard a rumor that our little friend here had the missing key card. Didn’t we Kaylee?”
Nikeys, or Kaylee, said in the same childish tone, “I think we did.” Talking to me she said, “Now, you have a choice, we can do this the hard way or the easy way. On that note, do you have the key card?”
“I won’t tell you, but I might be inclined to join your little gathering of rebels if you were nicer, which would give you access to any door in the mall.”
“Well then I think we may have a deal here. You join us and swear allegiance, and we welcome you properly and give you back your gun, in return for use of the key card. Do you understand?” Boots ordered.
“You have a deal, and I understand your terms. First things first. Can you tell me your names?” I asked.
“Heath,” Boots said simply. “Welcome to our humble abode. The IMAX Theater is our home base, and the Sport Shop is our mission center where you report for recon missions.”
“I’m Kaylee as you already know. I am just as fierce as the rest of the boys, so don’t even think about trying anything with me. Got it? Okay.”
“Gun?” I questioned.
“Gun,” Kaylee said as she handed back my property. I would have to see how long I could stay with this bunch before continuing to look for escape routes. I told them I would be back by dinner to start a mission and returned to the service halls. I would hunt down Ryan, whatever it took. I would find Shay and get her out before he did, once again proving that I am better than Ryan. Shay would like me again, and I would avenge my grudges with Ryan once I saw him dead on the floor. I set off in the service halls behind the stores in the Stonecliff mall, ready for whatever came next.

Lexi
Hiding under the desk, my mom was still visible talking to a guard outside the doorway, although it was her loud commanding voice that gave her away. We had been hiding out in the Senator’s office, which she claimed was secured. She was starting to act more like my mom again, not constantly running off to committee meetings. Being trapped in a mall probably helped. I had just started thinking about how Dad was in the hospital and how secure that was when the Senator, a.k.a. my mom, ran back into the room. At the same moment we heard the telltale slam of a thousand people straining against the security barrier to the doors. It could only mean one thing. Another riot. G-d these people were so ungrateful. We give them food; they riot. We attempt to give them beds and somewhere to stay; only a couple of old ladies show up. We announce safety precautions so that the new strain of virus doesn’t infect healthy adults; they accuse us of manipulating the flu so that we can kill off kids and teens. Am I the only sane person left? I guess it was all up to me once again to stick out the next couple days by myself until someone showed up to help that wasn’t my mom or some untrustworthy security guard. Those stupid National Guards better let us out soon; otherwise even the last sane person- meaning me- might go crazy.
“Tough it out honey, we’ll get through this like we did the blizzard last year,” the Senator interrupted my thoughts.
“Mom, I can’t believe you just compared being locked in a mall with a deadly flu and unruly teenagers to a blizzard.” I complained. “But you were half right. We do have to tough it out. If not for us to live, then to represent the others who have died; and to find a cure so that the rest of us can live.”

TO BE CONTINUED