The altar was hidden in a security guard booth at the far end of the bus terminal. I had another round of starter crates ready to, thanks to some minor achievements—Sit Tibi Zetta Levis from defeating 44 Expired, for example—so I dumped those in...

  [ A Burger Kong Takeout Box! Open this crate within 24 hours of receiving it to receive a piping-hot burger, or open it later to receive a Burger Kong Expired Box!

  Burger Kong: I'm Going Ape! ]

  "Nope." I fed it back into the altar, and mixed in my PvP crates to be rid of them.

  [ A Fragger's Co-Operative Veggie Crate! Contains an in-season offering from the Co-Operative's vegetable harvests. ]

  "Well, that's probably tastier," I said. "Everyone done with this?"

  "Yeah," Chaz said. "We gave most of our crates away anyway. Some of the others are trying to replace the cans Mike lost."

  Kara headed for the elevator. "Let's go!"

  We stopped by Level Three first. The elevator took us to the north corridor, just outside Dale's food court.

  "We should visit Dale once we've checked the roof," Chaz said.

  "I want to see what potions he's got," I agreed. "At least we're all connected now."

  We went up. The elevator dropped us off in the northeast corner of the central plaza rooftop.

  The space was lined with restaurants, now completely trashed. I saw no signs of life, no safe zone markers. There were places the survivors could still be: a cinema sat on the east side, extending over Gateway, and a big brutalist box of an office tower loomed behind the southwest restaurants. Corridors branched off to the east and west plaza rooftops too. For now, the sights above us were what got my attention.

  A massive concrete wall ringed the rooftop, hiding what lay beyond from sight. The blue sky had a thin, hazy vertical line to the south, with light and dark patches—the ringworld itself, racing away to astronomical distances. I guessed there'd be one to the north too, once we got away from the wall.

  I didn't like looking at that, but I had plenty to distract myself. In the middle of it all sat the graffiti-covered rooftop enclosure over the central concourse; I'd been wondering why nobody had kicked in its doors and climbed down, and now I could see why. An entirely new structure had been built over it, and a swarm of alien creatures were nesting in it.

  It looked like a tall, crooked transmission tower sitting on four poles, with a haphazard complex of treehouses lashed to it. The creatures resembled furry orange bats, with thick fleshy tails and a second set of long clawed arms hanging from their torsos. They had four eyes and sharp teeth on what looked like pterodactyl heads sculpted from memory by someone with a Gollum fetish. The smallest one was the size of a human, and they got bigger.

  The visible ones were currently repairing damage to the tower with materials scavenged from the rooftop below. Two of them were turning the remains of a car into some kind of bat feeder.

  [ MALLBAT, Lvl. 3 ]

  I looked back at the elevator. "Well, we checked. Dale time?"

  "Sorry, bro," Chaz said. "I think we gotta fight them."

  "We could always talk about your granddad instead," Kara offered.

  I nodded. "You're right, we gotta fight the bats. If we can get up there..."

  We started creeping around the enclosure in search of a way up. A lot of the bats were flying in and out of the upper reaches of the tower; we couldn't see what they were up to, but we could hear crashing and banging. Unfortunately, some of the lower ones noticed us.

  They screeched and started trying to drop building materials on us. Bricks and planks crashed against Lex's shield as we fired back.

  It was not an elegant battle. Lex and I did okay, but most of Chaz's throwing slices missed at this distance and Kara didn't have a ranged attack. The bats, on the other hand, had plenty of heavy objects to Home Alone us with. By the time we took out the first bad, the shield was already cracking.

  "Screw it, run!" I bolted for the cover of a nearby restaurant, the others trailing behind.

  "Ideas?" Kara asked once we'd safely hidden behind the counter.

  "I have some bows in Snakpak," Lex suggested.

  "Maybe get out the Cratepopper bow," I said. "It should give us some good arrows."

  "And don't you have a boss crate?" Chaz asked.

  "I do, but I wanted to save more Funbucks in case we get—"

  BOOM!

  An explosion rang out from above. The roof shook. We were spammed with notifications.

  [ LAIR CLEAR ]

  [ Killing Blow: GrindSetBonus

  Most Damage: GrindSetBonus

  Top Contributions:

  1. GrindSetBonus and Mall Monarch ]

  [ Participation Rewards: None

  Contribution Bonus: +1 Bronze Lair Crate ]

  [ Wait'll You See These Goddamn Bats, Man

  Clear a Mallbatz Lair.

  Reward: +1 Pest Control Crate

  Bottom Feeder

  Do the absolute minimum required to get Lair clear credit.

  Reward: +1 WARCRIMES Pillage Crate ]

  A swarm of dead mallbatz rained down outside, followed by a load of debris, one enormous bat with a single bulging green eye, and the car.

  We stayed behind the counter, just in case. A single tire rolled out of the rubble as a few the secondary showers rained down, and the pile was still.

  There was silence for a moment, and then the debris shifted. A purple-haired woman hoisted herself out and tumbled to the ground.

  "Shit! Ow! God damn it!"

  She was wearing yesterday's office clothes, now bloody and torn, with some Zettamall gear on top: sneakers, tactical gloves, elbow- and knee-pads, and a couple of daggers hanging from a belt. She wobbled to her feet, dusted herself off, and noticed us. She straightened up.

  "Oh. Uh... Are you guys okay?"

  I got out of hiding. "We're fine. We just got the elevator working and we wanted to check up here..."

  The woman hopped into the restaurant to talk with us. "Cool. We're all good here. I was clearing out this Lair so we could get downstairs. Oh, I'm Raven by the way."

  We shook hands and introduced ourselves. She seemed to be about our age, though like us the Events That Are Unfolding Currently were taking their toll on her. She seemed cold. Her irises were an unnatural electric purple.

  Kara practically sparkled. "You have Mall Monarch, right? I saw her at OddBotz selection! That's so cool!"

  Raven nodded and waved a hand. Her eyes flared, circuit patterns on her neck and shoulders glowed under her blouse, and a hologram loomed over her. This one was a haughty purple-haired woman who dressed like a sci-fi empress, though her crown was a shitty paper one like Khan's.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  [ < MALL MONARCH >

  Epic Fire Aug-Bot (Limited Edition) — Space Banshee

  Powers: [Solo Shopping], [Shopping Guide]

  +16 Free, +5 All Resistances

  The Mall Monarch is here to conquer the ZETTAMALL?! She tried once before, but her allies were seduced by the ZETTAMALL?'s incredible prices and values. Now she seeks the power to never rely on anyone else. ]

  She raised her sunglasses and looked down at us like she'd just noticed a dog slobbering on her heels. "Hey."

  "That's Mall Monarch," Raven said. "Don't worry, she's friendly."

  Lex stared, a little starstruck. "Cool..."

  I gave Mall Monarch what I hoped was a respectful nod. "How's she work?"

  "Defeating enemies makes my stats go up," Raven explained. "It's pretty great, but she doesn't play well with a group. So before you ask, I can't join your party."

  "What's Mall Monarch say about hanging out?" Kara asked hopefully, beaming.

  Raven's cool expresion briefly faltered as a hopeful smile flickered on her face. Then she coughed awkwardly and put her unflappable mask back on. "...I think I can. You want to see the others?"

  Raven explained what had happened before we left.

  When the invasion happened, the roof was crowded. It stayed open long after the rest of the mall closed, so as the stores downstairs wound down it was only getting busier. That meant a lot of survivors with full stomachs and table knives.

  There was more to the rooftop than the central plaza, too. To the west was the office tower, an arcade/bowling alley, the gym Lex came here for, and more. The east plaza rooftop was mostly a taxi stand, but at the far end was an axe-throwing venue.

  There were a few places that got dicey—a lot of cinema-goers didn't notice the shoplins appearing among them until it was too late, for example—but the overall result of the rooftop invasion was a lot of shoplins getting their bones obliterated.

  It got tougher afterward.

  "Those bats won't stop coming over the walls," Raven said. "We left them alone overnight, and by the morning they'd built that goddamn tower. Oh, we should get out of here before they come back."

  "But you soloed it," Kara said, as Raven started to lead us out. "That's amazing!"

  "Sorry if we messed you up by joining in," I said. "We attacked a bat right before the Lair was cleared..."

  Raven shrugged. "It's cool. I was fighting the boss, so it didn't count. Besides, I would've made the others fight the bats if there was an easy way up there. I only did it so we can go downstairs. The barrier should be gone now..."

  The enclosure had automatic doors in the sides. Raven marched inside triumphantly as they finally opened... though since the escalators were missing, the rooftop landing was basically just a walkway across the enclosure.

  Raven stared, then sighed. "...Or maybe I wasted my time."

  "You're fine," Lex said. "We left a Lair downstairs too long and it mutated."

  Raven brightened. "Probably for the best, then. Oh, you want this thing?"

  She pointed up. Another Furtyv Treasure Crate hung from a chain above our heads.

  "I don't like crates," she said. "I just buy straight from the item shop now."

  I reached up for it. "I won't say no..."

  "Can we see the item shop too?" Kara asked.

  Raven walked through to the other side. "Sure, but we gotta talk to the other survivors first and prove you're not a serial killer."

  I paused. "...Has that been a problem?"

  "I'm so glad you didn't say 'you too?'," Raven said. "But yeah, it has. Did you notice the sky's weird yet?"

  "We have, and we know why," Kara said. "We bought a tape..."

  "I haven't seen a tape, but we figured out we're on an alien planet," Raven said. "A lot of people freaked out about it, obviously. Then this other jerk got an OddBot that told him more about it, and he started killing people."

  "Wait." I looked at my hand. "Could you have told us the whole time? Because that tape player was expensive—"

  Khan's mouth popped up in my hand quickly. "I'm afraid not. I can discuss the information you've already been provided, but most of us are limited in what we can divulge during the tutorial."

  "Why?"

  "Because that tape player is expensive, William."

  I shrugged, filed most of us away for later, and turned back to Raven. "...Did he at least say why?"

  "Something about a mercy killing. I didn't really ask before I blew his head off. Just try not to look stabby, I guess..."

  The arcade sat between the central and west rooftops, across a corridor from the office block. It used to be a bowling alley, and some of the lanes were still there, but the rest had been torn out to make room for machines and claw games. The survivors here were taking advantage of the situation to play as many games as they want and help themselves to the prizes. Not gonna lie, I was jealous.

  Raven seemed to be in charge of the safe zone. A lot of survivors went quiet and stared at us as we entered, but if anyone had objections they kept it to themselves. She led us to the counter, where a Somali kid in the arcade's uniform was holding court. It was hard for anyone to be bored right now, but he was drawing deeply from his reserves of teenage apathy.

  Raven waved. "Hey, Yusuf. What'd I miss?"

  Yusuf just shrugged. "Same old, same old."

  "Cool." She hopped the counter. "I found survivors. Gonna borrow the mic."

  Yusuf moved aside as Raven flicked the microphone on. "Okay, everyone, listen up! The mallbatz Lair is gone, and we can go downstairs now. Here's some people from inside the mall to tell us about it."

  She pushed the microphone towards us. Kara pushed me towards the microphone. I glared at her. She winked. I sighed and took over.

  "Uh, hey. I'm Will." I wanted to tell them about the benefits of going downstairs, but I also kind of wanted to go bowling. It was distracting. "I guess I'll keep this short. The elevator works now, and both the food courts are safe zones. You can come downstairs if you want. If you want to stay here, I don't blame you. We can bring you clothes and food and stuff. Uh... one sec."

  I leaned away from the mic and towards the others. "What else should we say?"

  "The tape," Kara said.

  "Right." Back to the mic. "We also have some tapes that explain what's happening and what all the monsters are, if that's what you're into."

  Someone in the crowd raised their hand. "Has it made anyone, you know, murder?"

  "No. We had a guy try to hang himself?"

  "What's the bathroom situation?" someone else asked.

  "Pretty good. We had a shower setup but I think it's been occupied by the enemy."

  "Has anyone else tried to do a murder?" the first guy asked. "Sorry to be a bother, it's kind of been a problem up here."

  "Not in our group. There's some bandits over in Toys B. Goode, but they're not with us. Actually they're pretty pissed off at us."

  "Will stole a corpse," Kara said, loudly and helpfully.

  "For normal reasons!" Moving on. "Look, it's up to you whether you want to come or not. I'm just proposing an alliance here. We've got people, we've got supplies, we've got gear to spare if you need it."

  Kara leaned into the mic. "And we have a group chat that covers most of the mall! I can send invites!"

  The crowd murmured. They still looked skeptical.

  "We also have a guy whose OddBot makes juice," I tried.

  That got their attention. Even Yusuf looked up.

  "What kind?"

  "Orange, apple, apple-mango, and acai."

  Chaz cut in. "And tropical!"

  The murmurs turned positive. Even Murder Question Guy looked happy.

  Raven spoke up again. "No objections? Cool. Anything else?"

  One more thing. "Oh, we're looking for someone. Guy named Jerry. He was manager of the Gateway. Anyone seen him?"

  The silence was my answer.

  "What's he look like?" someone asked.

  "A little taller than me, big smile but it's a little off-putting... he probably would have shown you an old meme on his phone and explained it to you?"

  There was a general "no" vibe to the responses, with a dash of "Jesus Christ".

  Well, I tried. "Oh, well. Thanks anyway."

  "Okay," Raven clapped. "I'm gonna go show them the item shop. The sky should be clear, but if anyone wants an escort, I'll do it when I come back."

  "I can help with that," Hugh said, stepping out of the crowd with a hot dog in his hand.

  I blinked. "Wait, what the hell? What are you doing here, Hugh?"

  Hugh just smiled and took a sip of a cola cup, unconcerned. He was wearing some kind of jumpsuit with a complicated harness.

  "Bowling," he said. "I'm actually pretty good."

  I tried turning the question around and inserting it again. "How Did You Get Up Here, Hugh?"

  "Through the car park," Hugh said. "I went to my car, but I think the shoplins stole it."

  Chaz stared. "Aren't there like a million shoplins out there? And big wolves?"

  "An entire Lair?" Kara asked.

  "I snuck around the edges," Hugh said, tapping his jumpsuit. "And I got this guy!"

  [ < MALLSCAPE NAVIGATOR >

  Epic Metal Wear-Bot — Janka Robotics

  Powers: [Auto Hunting], [Positioning System] ]

  I stared at him for a full five seconds.

  "Okay, sure," I said eventually. "Well, can you help us out?"

  "I'm so glad you asked!" Hugh said, looking at his phone. "I've generated a lot of great ideas. Would you like a PDF?"

  "I'd love to see that, but after we get everyone downstairs. Could you help us with that?"

  "Sure, let me just generate a map..."

  Close enough. I turned to Raven.

  "Anything we should know about this item shop?"

  "That depends," Raven said. "How do you feel about buying from a shoplin?"