Pollux saw movement from one of the clothing racks, and he picked up and ran before he had time to see what it was. He ran out onto the parking deck into the open night air. He frantically searched for an exit, but then decided climbing down one of the supports holding up the deck would be better. He checked the ground below to see if it was safe. Everything looked fine, so he started moving down the concrete column from the second floor to the ground. He landed down on the road, quickly trying to think of what to do next. Pollux skirted the perimeter of the mall to find a safe place to rest, and on one wall, he saw two dumpsters. Maybe they would hide his scent. He proceeded, not noticing Jaylin at all, and he sat down by one of the dumpsters. He was very short of breath by now, but now, he was pretty sure he had time to rest.
"God… they're everywhere…" he muttered to himself.
Jaylin saw the boy walk into the lot, breathing heavily. He doesn't seem to be infected. I guess I should try talking to him. The more the merrier, right? She shoved her laptop into her backpack before quietly walking over to him.
"They really are, huh?"
Pollux jumped back against the wall and muttered a jumble of curses, reaching to his side for his gun before realizing this was just a person, probably uninfected.
"Oh… you're… you're not infected," he muttered, pushing the gun back into its holster.
She let out a startled squeak as he jumped, but composed herself after realizing that he wasn't going to attack her.
"Correct. You're not infected either." Jaylin replied, adjusting the straps on her backpack.
"I wouldn't go in there if I were you," Pollux said, pointing to the mall behind him, "Place is crawling with undead. I was just in there to get a change of clothes and some food, but of course I had company. I was hoping for a place to sleep as well, but that doesn't seem very likely at this point."
He was still panting a bit, but was no more winded than normal after running for his life. Pollux wiped some sweat from his brow and looked up to Jaylin from where he was slumped against the wall.
"I'm Pollux. You are…?"
"Depends. Some call me Jaylin, others call me Amber Rose. Take your pick." She responded, suddenly aware of how bad she smelled. Well, I can't go to the mall to get more clothes. Looks like it's smelly clothing for me.
"Nice to meet you. So what are you doing out here? Do you have any goals? Family members you're looking for? Anything else? With things falling apart like this, it's dangerous for either of us to go alone. It would be great if we could find a common goal, and travel together, even if only for a while," Pollux continued.
He took off his jacket to cool down a bit, and this revealed tattoo sleeves up both of his arms. Pollux reached towards his bag and took a sip from his water bottle.
Jaylin leaned against the dumpster behind her. "I'm all for travelling together, and I'm just trying to survive. Should I be doing something else?" She noted the tattoos on his arms, wondering if they meant that he was dangerous.
"Surviving is fine. I wouldn't say you should be doing anything else. I'm sort of trying to find my mother, but I haven't been able to contact her, so I'd say I'm already pretty sure I know what became of her. However, I'm interested in how we can eradicate this virus more than anything. I want the human race to survive. As much as I want to live, if others can't, there's not much point, is there?" Pollux replied.
He saw Jaylin looking at his tattoos, but disregarded her. Most people were a little taken aback when they saw such a young man covered in ink and piercings.
Jaylin nodded at that last sentence, realizing that Pollux made a good point. "Well I'm sure that there's a cure to the virus. Would you happen to know what hospital would carry a vaccine? I might be able to search their database to see what documented vaccines they have." She paused for a second before adding on to her question. "You know, if that's what you want to do."
"I don't think there is one," Pollux replied, "That's the problem."
He placed his water bottle back in the bag, then stretched a little.
"Of course, that doesn't mean a vaccine can't be made. I've saved a few samples of the bodily fluids of infected people and zombies in some petri dishes and microscope slides. It would help if I knew someone who was better at lab research than I am. I'm alright, but it's not my strongest point. Plus, I don't have a microscope or any other technology."
She slipped off her backpack before sitting criss-cross on the ground. Jaylin took out her laptop and started typing away, her fingers flying across the keys.
"So you need the tech? I could probably get you a keycard to a research lab, but I don't think there are any around here. I do have to stick to my code of only hacking for good…but I suppose creating a cure for a worldwide virus counts as a good deed." She was silent for the next few seconds, focusing on her laptop screen.
"I guess. That's probably the best place to start," Pollux replied. "How are you going to find that though? Much less get me in?"
He glanced over at her laptop with curiosity.
"Well I'm hoping that I can find a research lab that's close, but the internet is being dumb." Jaylin complained, sighing dramatically after. "If I can actually find one I should be able to hack into their employee data base, if they have one, and you could pretend to be one of their employees. If that doesn't work, we could just make a fake keycard."
"There are plenty of doctors' offices with microscopes in them too, right? I'm sure most of those are cleared out by now," Pollux suggested, "If you could find one, that would be much easier."
Jaylin frowned. "Yeah, but those aren't as fun." She began searching for nearby doctor's offices and hospitals anyway.
"Here we go." She said after a minute. "This one says it's been closed since the virus started spreading in this area. It's a fifteen minute drive, but I'm guessing that you don't have a car."
Yo, I can jump in with my character being at the hospital if that's okay))
(Ooh or you could meet us on the way there because I don't know how long it will take to get there)
Jaylin frowned. "Yeah, but those aren't as fun." She began searching for nearby doctor's offices and hospitals anyway.
"Here we go." She said after a minute. "This one says it's been closed since the virus started spreading in this area. It's a fifteen minute drive, but I'm guessing that you don't have a car."
“No. I’m sure if we really wanted to, we could steal one,” Pollux said, “Otherwise, looks like we’re going on foot. Sorry…”
"I'd rather not steal a car for such a short drive." Jaylin replied, closing her laptop and putting it into her backpack. She then took out her phone and put in the location of the doctor's office. The zombie tracker she had been developing was on her computer but she didn't want to walk with her computer out.
“Okay. Let’s get on it, then,” Pollux said. He started to think aloud, “Maybe I can raid the hospital’s pharmacy too, while we’re there.”
"As long as no one's using anything in the pharmacy, that's fine." Jaylin replied, starting to leave the dumpster lot. "Now where did you say those zombies were? I'm not exactly prepared for any fighting."
Pollux pointed up at the parking deck’s second level.
“There were some up there, in the store. Then there were a bunch at the other side of the mall. I think we’re fine for now.”
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