Remainers

A Lost Child, Part 6

Caleb and Ella continued walking through the city ruins, passing by another incredibly large building. Ella took a look at the size of the building, then glanced at the large glass doors that served as its entrance.

"This probably used to be a mall," Ella remarked. "If there's going to be anything of value here, it'll probably be in this building."

Ella gingerly pushed open the glass doors, and they parted without resisting or falling apart. Ella walked into the building, scanned the area, then motioned for Caleb to follow her in. Caleb gingerly stepped into the mall and was surprised by the size of the building. It was the biggest building he had seen aside from the tower, but while the tower was largely empty and unadorned, this place still had furniture and decorations strewn about, though time had certainly caused them to decompose.

As Caleb marveled at the sight of the destroyed mall, Ella's attention was drawn by a large staircase leading down. "That's interesting. This mall had an underground level. Come on, Caleb. Watch your step."

Caleb followed Ella down the stairs to a long and dark underground hallway only a few feet below the surface. Ella took out her flashlight and illuminated the area, revealing a long row of shops and stalls left abandoned and neglected. Ella slowly examined each stall with the light and inspected them closely.

"A lucky find! This place looks fairly well-protected from the sun and heat. It's cool here even though it's the middle of the day. It hardly rains out here too, so there's little water damage. If we're lucky, we might be able to find something really good here."

Caleb nodded, even though he hardly understood half of what Ella was talking about. At the very least, he could tell that there was a possible treasure trove here, so he kept his eyes peeled for anything that might be worth taking along.

Despite this assertion, Ella and Caleb found little worth scavenging even from the myriad of shops contained on this underground level. Many of the shops were either clothing outlets (of which most of their clothes had already half-decomposed) or hobby shops containing curiosities that didn't contain anything worth looking at. Though Ella had hardly said a word, Caleb could tell that she was starting to get a little irritated at having not found anything of value.

As the two rounded a corner, Caleb caught sight of a particularly large shop that nearly took up the entire length of the hall. "What kind of store is that?" Caleb asked as he pointed it out to Ella.

"That looks like a music store," Ella replied, some slight surprise in her voice. "I didn't think there would be a store like this down here."

"Let's take a look," Caleb suggested. He was curious himself, and he could tell that the store had triggered some sense of nostalgia in Ella.

"We probably shouldn't," Ella replied, trying to put on a stern exterior. "We're only looking for absolute necessities, after all."

"It'll only be for a bit."

Ella looked hesitant, then sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "Only for a bit, okay?"

Ella followed Caleb as he stepped into the music store. Shelves upon shelves of jewel cases and colorful covers were placed all over the store, with occasional standees featuring musicians Caleb could not recognize even if he had remembered them.

"This place looks like a shop for enthusiasts," Ella remarked as she scanned the shelves. "Kind of surprising to see a place like this in a mall of all places."

As the two continued to look around the store, Caleb noticed a large array of shelves against the back wall of the store. Unlike the shelves, which held cases made of plastic, the shelves here held larger, thinner cases. Caleb pulled one out and glanced at the cover. It was a colorful array of colors featuring a surreal collage of faces and animals. Caleb noticed an opening and pulled out a large black disk from within the sleeve.