Survival Of The Fittest And The Massacre That's Ensuing

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 10:28 am

Philip ran through the ground floor of the east wing of the Gateway mall where there are few stalls of gadgets and electronics stationed on the sides. There was another exit, opposite from where Philip originally entered to go into McDonalds

The exit leads to a drive-through and taxi stations. It also leads to the central wing of the Gateway mall, also known as the main building of Gateway Mall 1

He didn't try to exit and go towards the central wing, but he instead climbed a flight of stairs and escalators to reach a floor where rows of ATM machines are lined up across the wall with a protective glass surrounding it. He passed by a few stalls that sells shawarma, donuts, and belgian waffles

Further down the hallway is the entrance to the train station, where people can buy train tickets. People crowded in this place and they seem to interested and looked down the guard rails to see what was happening outside, especially since there was a loud explosion, loud noises that caused by car accidents, and audible screaming and shouting like there's a brawl or some sort

Philip took a mental note of the entrance of the train station. Instead of going forward, he took a right and finally entered the center wing of Gateway mall. People were running out of the mall from the glass doors but Philip pushed through the crowd and the crowd had no choice but to let Philip through because of his bulky backpack and the wooden katana

Philip was aiming the sheathed wooden katana forward to let the people know that he'll be passing through. Little did Philip know, the wooden katana was glowing inside the sheathe for some reason, but no light was escaping through the gaps

As Philip entered the central wing, he passed through a mini grocery store with a small bakery on the side, a pharmaceutical shop, and a famous coffee shop made of stars and bucks

People were confused as to why Philip was going the other way. Some of them wanted to stop him and tell him to go back the other way and some of them managed to call out to him

But Philip ignored them anyway

On the other hand, Philip had the choice to tell the people to go up instead to go down, but he decided not to tell anyone to lessen the casualties of people on the top floor and to not endanger himself or other people who's smart enough to go to the top floor

If the infected had a chain reaction of infecting people as everyone goes up instead, the top floor will be overrun and he will be trapped. His goal is to hog the entire top floor with only a few people that he could trust

The reason that Philip wanted to go to the top floor is because the main threat is on the ground floor. The logical solution is to go up instead of going down and avoid being bitten by infected as they exit the mall. The more people go downwards to the streets, the more they are prone to be bit and get infected

In addition to that, rather than just leaving the mall, a place that's full of supplies, food, and tools is way better than trying to escape wherever they can go, away from the infected

Little do these people know, there is a wall of zombies, creatures, dead people and dropped bags in the area around the exits and entrances of the mall

At the same time, as Philip is trying to climb up the moving escalators, he can hear loud screaming across the mall. This is a sign that infected has breached the mall

He didn't bother going around the mall and climb the stairs because his main priority right now is to go up as fast as he could, even if people are almost blocking him going down from the escalators

He was pushed and shoved but he didn't mind. They were panicking after all and their morals were thrown out of the window. It was survival of the fittest at this point, but Philip is clearly the fittest out of everyone as he decided to go up

All he could do is to twist his body and hope for the best he would fit through the gaps of the people coming towards him. Clothes are smooth and human skin are soft. He would manage to pass through everyone, especially the gaps in between people's necks and the area below their armpits towards their waist where he could fit his head

At this point, he pulled his mask down until his nose is peeking. He would save more energy by breathing through his nose rather than his mouth

He also took off his small backpack and carried it by the handle while he holds the katana on his other hand. He did this so that instead of the backpack on his back, where he wouldn't fit through the crowd at all, he would be able to pass his backpack under the people. As people step forward, he could maneuver the backpack back and forth so it would fit well between the gaps

With this method, Philip didn't have a hard time tranversing through the big crowd of people and he finally reached the third floor

Two more floors to go and he will be reacing the top most floor, the Gateway Cineplex

"AAAAHHHH"

"NOOOOOO!!!"

"PLEASE HELP!"

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

Screams, shouting, and cries could be heard throughout the mall and as soon as Philip was about to climb up the next flight of escalators, a mound of people started to build up on the end as people started to fall on top of each other

He abruptly stopped and looked at the mountain of people. He was dumbfounded by how this could have happened

There were ones who have instantly died, there are ones who are currently suffocating to death, and there are ones who have broken bones and joints. A pool of blood quickly formed and blood splattered everywhere

At that point, he just discovered how the mountain of dying people formed. The creatures that were rampaging outside of the mall managed to reach the third floor of the mall. They were tearing people's arms and biting them across their limbs and their heads. There were at least two creatures on top of the mountain and one other chasing two couples

The people that are at the base of the mountain started to wriggle their arms and growl. They have started to become infected while the people in between the mountain started to lose their will to live

Philip crouched deeply as he's intently staring into the creatures. He started to hide behind the glass railing to keep observing the creatures

"Fuck..."

Philip exclaimed with alarm as he watched the creatures

If the people fell down the escalators and created a mountain, then it could mean that these creatures came from above

"But how..."

Usually, zombie apocalypses happen from outside and the public gets overrun

"Unless these creatures were planted, they came from the roofs, or a person transformed into that! Or I'm just overthinking it and they just followed someone through the floors and ended up here?"

But the most unusual observation that Philip had, these creatures doesn't look like the infected that's similar to the ones in fictional stories

He also confirmed it after he saw the people under the mountain turn into a normal infected, a zombie, a common looking one that seemed right and similar to the ones from stories and games

The creatures looked more monster like or some sort of aliens

They have elongated heads with two bulging red eyes and eyelids that seemed melting and mouth that could open very wide withh has sharp fangs and ragged teeth. The creatures doesn't have noticable nose and ears

The creatures are thin to the point that they are almost skeletal with rotting skin plastered over the bones, but their arms are muscular full of meat. Their arms has a wide range of reach and they don't seem to have elbow and wrist joints as they could bend their arms and hands all the way around

Their hands are bigger than normal and it could grab an average person's head fully until its fingers touch behind their heads

They also have legs that almost looked like grasshopper legs and this gave the creatures the hunchback stature

They didn't look like zombies at all, except for the obvious discoloration of their bodies that gives the impression that they are dead and devoid of life and the fact that pieces of their flesh are visibly rotten

If not for the people under them turning into infected, Philip wouldn't have known that they are a kind of infected, the source of the infection

"But there are too many of them... Someone must have deployed them while they were infected or it came from one primary source..."

At this point, Philip decided to carry along and move towards the other side of the mall, where another set of escalators are located. He just hoped that the creatures that he hasn't named yet won't be present at that area

Meanwhile, as Philip was crouching away as fast as he could, the dying people that were slowly losing consciousness that saw Philip kept cursing him because he didn't make an effort to help them and he just watched them die

While they were dying, these were the only emotions that they could get a hold off

Regret, envy, and hatred

Those were the last moments they could get a muster off until they became infected and started growling uncontrollably

~~~

Date: May 14, 2022 | Time: 10:33 am

Philip continued crouch running across the third floor. There are almost no one in the third floor as most people has reached the first floor

Stragglers was left behind stranded in the second floor because gutteral scream were heard from the first floor as a flood of infected overrun the entire first floor. Some were pinned down by the infected and they were bitten while others tried to fight back but they were surrounded

The stragglers then decided to come up to not attract the infected down below, but they were just met by the creatures. They were grabbed by the three creatures and pinned down on the ground. They began to eat their flesh and gouge their stomachs as they digged through their intestines to eat it

Eventually, the creatures left them and continued downwards. The eaten individuals wasn't left for dead, but they also turned into gutless zombies as their innards dangle down their stomachs

It was a sight that would make anyone regurgitate their stomachs

But of course, as Philip was passing through a fashion store that's full of imported clothes, he heard several screams of women

He peeked inside and saw the attendants of the shop being swarmed by three infected. There were six of them and they were running as three of them were holding each other's hands and wrists. The two of them held the shoulders of the one in front so they could catch up

Their makeups became ruined by the tears flowing from their eyes and sweat running down their faces

Of course, like cliches in movies, one of the attendants fell on the ground and the two infected pounced on her as they eat her left shoulder, back, and right cheek

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH~"

The attendant shrieked with full of pain that would make anyone's ears hurt

"JENIE!!!!!!"

One of the escaping attendants called out to the one that's being bitten, named Jenie, and tried to reach out a hand at her. But the other attendants urged her to continue and pulled her away as the third infected were approaching them

As usual, due to panic, one of them tripped on the clothes rack, which in turn she tried to grab on to one of the them, pulling her down to ground also

Because of this, the third infected reached the one who tripped and began to pounce and bite her on the waist

"GAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!"

The attendant held tightly on the other's legs as she was getting bit

"Let go!!! Let go!!!"

The other attendant tried to break free but her fingers was clutching hard on her legs to the point that she pierced her legs because of her long nails. Her legs began to bleed profusely

"Don't leave me!!!! PLEASE!!!"

"NOOOO!"

At that point, the tripped attendant began to growl while she's screaming for help. Her pupils became greyish and the veins across her face darkened

"PLEEEGGGRRRRSSS GGRREOOWW"

The other attendant's expression darkened and she instantly lost the will to live as she slowly lost consciousness from fear the pain of her legs being torn by the long nails. The fourth infected, which was formerly the fifth attendant, opened her mouth wide and bit the ankle of the fourth attendant

Out of the six attendants, only three of them survived in that scuffle

Meanwhile, the third infected already stood up after biting the fifth attendant and chased the remaining attendants

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!"

One of the younger attendants screamed as the infected went towards them, but at that point, Philip stepped in and swung the sheathed wooden katana on the infected that was about to pounce the attendants

"GROWL!"

The infected was hit by the tip of the sheath and fell backwards into several racks of clothing

"Go to the cineplex! Do not go down!"

Philip shouted but before he could finish his sentence, two of the attendants were already aiming for the escalators and they quickly went down to escape. The heels on their shoes were already broken and they climbed down as fast as they could

The younger attendant was left sitting on the floor as tears flowed from her eyes. Her legs trembled from extreme fear and she couldn't stand up

"God damn it!"

Philip didn't waste anymore time. He knew that his strike isn't able to kill the infected, so he quickly put his backpack on his back. There are four more infected that would come their way after all

"Hey! Hold this!"

Philip shoved his sheathed wooden katana towards the young attendant and he slid his arms behind her back and under her thighs

"Wah!"

The girl was startled and Philip began to lift her up in a princess carry. He still had some decency as he didn't forced the girl to stand up and run, even thought he's aware that she couldn't stand because of extreme fear. So, he decided to carry her on the spot

The girl was petite and relatively shorter than Philip. If he was around six foot tall, then the girl would be around 5"4' so she would be light. Philip carried her easily, even though he is slightlt out of shape from being a couch potato for several months

He then started to run towards the escalators on the other side and hoped for the best. Good thing that the infected aren't capable of running yet

"Please don't have any of those creatures. Please don't have any infected..."

Philip kept muttering and the girl slightly calmed down as she directly looked at Philip's eyes while tightly holding the sheathed wooden katana close to her

Philip had no reason to save the attendants but he chose to save them anyways. There was no special reason on why he decided to do so. It was because he just saw beautiful girls and he wanted to look cool at least once in his life

He never got the opportunity after all, even if he kept wishing for a robber or something and act as a hero in front of everybody

But in this day and age, those were but a dream. Granted that Philip wanted to look cool, but he also thought that it would be beneficial to have at least someone at the top of the mall

What if there was no one at the top floor and he is the only one who had the idea to go to the top most floor?

It was because he felt lonely. He also considered the possibility that none of his friends will be able to come. Not that he doesn't trust their capabilities of survival, he's just considering the possibility

But he had to admit thought, the girl on his arms, looked very pretty and he wanted to say to himself "JACKPOT"

He immediately dismissed of his thoughts because he thinks it was cringe, especially since they are in a serious setting

In addition to that, it may also be human nature to help the attendants. Since the attendants were only small in number, he had no problems helping them, unlike the people that were exiting that easily numbered over a hundred

He could also easily lead a few number of trustworthy people and he may have just picked this girl only because she was pretty

It also suddenly crossed his mind that what if this girl on his arms will be his female lead if this was a zombie apocalypse novel or some sort

'That would be crazy... But I would highly doubt it though'

But of course, he is also afraid that this girl would become useless, just like a certain pink haired ninja girl

He continued running through the third floor while passing a few stalls that has books and novels, eyewear, shoes, electronic appliances, and collector items such as expensive bags, watches, perfumes, and various more clothing stores

He then wrapped around the circular hallway, around the central terrarium with atmospheric seats and fine dining inside, and he arrived on a few restaurants that's empty. There was a restaurant with Japanese food, a house of pancakes, a milktea and boba shop, and a ramen house

He was tempted to go inside these restaurants and steal or eat the food because he rarley goes into these restaurants because it's expensive

'That's okay... I have a lot of cheeseburgers inside my bag anyways...'

Later on, Philip arrived on the other set of escalators, on the south side, and there was no one around, even infected or the creatures. There wete dead people though, maybe from tripping and being stepped on by a stampede or some other methods that Philip doesn't want to think about

Because there's no infected around, Philip took his time and boarded the escalator as it continued to go up

He passed by an exit that goes towards an overpass and bridge that leads to another mall towards the south, adjacent to EDSA. He didn't dare go inside since it's a long one way through

He took a mental note of that exit though since it may be useful. It goes above the Gateway Mall 2 or the New Gateway Mall that's still under construction

He just stood on the escalator until he reached the fourth floor. One more floor to go and he has reached the top most floor. The problem is, the cineplex is at the north side and he is at the south side. He has to go back through where the creatures came from above before, or go around and go to the secret path that he know of

As Philip's contemplating, the girl was staring at his eye the entire time and he could feel her gaze. He was avoiding looking at her to not make it awkward and just kept carrying her

For now, he took and his time and slowly walked. His breathing became stronger from exhaustion but he still maintained breathing through his nose. His mask is still on top of his mouth after all and he's still listening to music on his left ear