Chapter 27
The mall’s corridors formed a byrinth, fnked by storefronts on both sides. Just like many abandoned buildings Jake had explored, the mall was rown with vegetation, with tall grass and roots emerging from the cracks in the floor and ivy vines sprawling across the walls.
As he navigated the maze of aisles, his eyes stantly sed the interior of the shoppier, looking for any threats. So far, he hadn’t entered any mutants in the mall—living ones, at least. Every now and then, he spotted dead creatures lying here and there, their bodies riddled with bullet holes. He sed every dead body he came across with his PDA, but every one of them was empty, having already been looted by whoever had killed them.
Jake perked up his ears but could only hear the echo of his own footsteps and the sound of gss g under his feet. He trod carefully, wary of the presence of other survivors in the shoppier—those who had arrived in the white SUV. From his previous enters with other survivors, Jake had learhat trust was a rare odity in this world. He had to be real careful. Despite not entering any living mutants in the mall yet, he knew for sure that there were more of them within the premises. The ser app on his PDA had indicated a signifit presenutants inside when he used it outside the mall. With both mutants and survivors lurking somewhere ihe building, he couldn’t let his guard down even for a sed.
When Jake reached the ter of the shoppier, he paused to take a look around. At the heart of the vast area was an atrium that had once served as a meeting and rexing point. The broken fountain sat in the ter of the atrium, all dried up. Green algae and dirt covered the empty basin, and the edges looked old and dirty. Around the fountain sat rusted benches. In the past, a dolphin statue used to adorn the ter of the fountain, a symbol of pyfulness and freedom, but now it y on the ground, broken and forlorn. Its graceful form, now chipped ahered, spoke of a time when the fountain was alive with the joy of visitors and the soothing sound of flowing water.
Jake looked past the fountain, and oher side of the atrium, he saw long-since brokeors that led to the sed floor. The open sed floor of the mall overlooked the first one. His gaze ran along the railing, but he didn’t notiything suspicious, and no sound reached his ears. Allowing himself to rex a little bit, he returned his attention to the fountaiiumerous dead bodies strewn about, not just mutants but also several dead survivors. He couldn’t pinpoint the exaumber of fallen survivors and mutants strewn around. The reason for that was that all the bodies were shredded to pieces. Torn limbs and ks of pulpy flesh y scattered all over the atrium. Whatever the hell happehere, it was gruesome. The uling sight that y before him was unlike anything Jake had witnessed during his days of survival in this harsh world. While he had grown aced to the grisly ses of violehe sheer horror of the se before him was beyond anything he had seen before.
Jake took another look around, looking more closely at the survivors’ dead bodies. He didn’t o s them to see that the pouches on their belts and tactical vests were still stuffed with spare ammo, untouched. The bodies hadn’t been looted, which meant that either all the survivors who had made their way to the mall got killed in the fierce battle he fountain, or those who survived the frontation had fled the se and had likely been too terrified to return to this pce. Whatever had happened irium must have instilled such dread ihey decided to leave the fallen to rest undisturbed.
Only it didn’t make much sense. From the look of it, the dead survivors were well-equipped, and as far as Jake could tell, all the dead mutants were walkers and leapers, which were the weakest types of ex-humans. Those survivors shouldn’t have lost the battle to a bunch of low-level mutants. When he sed the building with his PDA, he’d detected a few shamblers and whippers ihe mall, but this group of survivors should’ve been able to hahose threats as well. No, something else must have happened here. The gruesome fate of the torn-apart survivors suggested a level of violend ferocity that surpassed anything Jake had entered before. The sheer force required to inflict such damage went beyond the capabilities of even the most aggressive mutants he had entered. Even shamblers or whippers weren’t capable of that.
There could be only one expnation for what had happened irium. Carefully sing the area, he took a step closer to the fountain, and that was when he finally spotted what he was looking for. He immediately froze, staring directly at the empty spot a few feet above the fountain. Only it wasly ay spot—there was a magical anomaly h in the air above the basin. As his eyes fell upon the peculiar sight, a shiver ran down his spine.
Having entered various anomalies in the past few days, Jake khose phenomena could be really dangerous. He was also acutely aware that it was hard to detect them and that the difficulty of spotting anomalies increased with their level. While some anomalies could be visually identified, others remaiirely invisible, their presenly revealed by the uling sounds they emitted. There were even a couple of times when he entered magical anomalies that were not only invisible but also pletely silent. In such cases, deteg these elusive anomalies relied solely on their impa the enviro around them. For instance, he had oumbled upon an unusual sight in a building: scattered debris suspended several meters above the floor, seemingly defying gravity. Intrigued, he utilized his PDA to s the area, unveiling the presence of a magical anomaly responsible for this inexplicable phenomenon. So he could analyze and identify an anomaly with his PDA, but only if its level matched or surpassed that of the anomaly. And sure enough, to analyze an anomaly using his PDA, he o be aware of its potential presenearby, otherwise there would be no reason for him to s his surroundings.
The anomaly h above the fountain was extremely hard to detect with the naked eye. It appeared as a subtle distortion in the air, fleeting and barely noticeable. It materialized briefly before fading away and staying pletely invisible for a few seds. Had it not been for the grim sight of torn bodies scattered around the fountain—remnants of killed survivors and mutants—Jake would likely have never bee aware of the elusive anomaly’s presehe sequence of events became clearer to Jake as he pieced together the puzzle. The survivors likely entered walkers and leapers he fountain, unaware of the hidden anomaly h nearby. In the middle of their battle, they iently triggered the anomaly, and it killed them in a very gruesome way.
As Jake prepared to retrieve his PDA to analyze the anomaly, the ch of broken gss being stepped on echoed from behind him. He swiftly spun around, his gaze log on a figure standihe sed-floor railing. Whipping up his shotgun, he poihe on at the stranger, his finger poised to tighten around the trigger.
“No,” the stranger said in a loud whisper, raising his empty hands in the air. “Don’t shoot me, or we’ll both be dead!”
