We're Still Alive(Book1)BEING REWRITTEN

Sixty-Nine

Paige trotted Cobalt around the quieter areas of the mall, where the they were less likely to disturb anyone. There wasn't as much room to exercise him as she'd like there to be, and they couldn't go too fast
without having Cobalt's hooves slip around on the hard floor. They started off trotting up and down an empty hall, and Paige rode him around later to find rugs or others things that would substitute. After that, she laid them out going down the hall so Cobalt could lope, although she didn't want to risk him trying to gallop. That was just an accident waiting to happen.
   After he got tired and started slowing, she walked him to cool him down. Then she let him loose to bother Avery and Ben as usual. Avery still wasn't into the idea of guns, even after almost two months into the apocalypse. However, she had taken an interest in a machete that had been picked up on a run, and she was getting better with every day that she used it. Ben played with the crowbar, despite Avery's protests. Jay just encouraged him.
   Paige laughed as she saw the little boy take a running start and attempt to jump onto Cobalt's back. Of course, he only bumped the horse's legs, but growing up with Paige, Cobalt learned to be tolerant. Paige walked over and helped Ben onto Cobalt, then clicked her tongue and had him follow her. Ben laughed the entire time, causing the few people not on watch to laugh as well.
   Cobalt's head suddenly shot up in the direction of the main door, and all except for Ben's laugh went quiet. Avery took Cobalt while Paige sprinted up the stairs to the roof. When she got there, Jay, Mica, Joe, and Casey were standing at the edge of the roof facing the parking lot. Waking over to them, Paige looked down to see the lot filled with three pickup trucks filled with armed passengers in the cabs and beds, a semi without a trailer, and two SUVs. Two of the pickup trucks had mounted guns. How they got them, Paige had no idea.
   "You said a week." Joe said into his handheld radio.
   "Things change." The same man from before answered. "Now, are you gonna let us in, or are we gonna have to take the place?"
   Joe glared down at the trucks. "Get Tom." He said to Mica, keeping his eyes on the sight below him.
   "Well?" The voice came again. "What'll it be?"
   "Just hold on!" He yelled into the radio seconds before Mica came running over, followed by Tom and Miles.
   "We want our place." The man said into his radio.
   "The mall isn't yours." Tom answered in a threatening voice. "And if you're smart, you'll leave right now." As he said it, Paige noticed that others had gathered on the roof with their weapons ready. But even with everyone fighting, she knew the other group would outnumber the eighteen still at the mall.
   "I guess we're taking it then." As soon as he finished his sentence, a gun went off and Tom dropped to the ground beside her.
   Ella screamed from somewhere behind her, and Joe shot down into the parking lot, taking out two people in the bed of a pickup. Paige barely had enough time to drop down to her stomach before the bullets started flying from both directions. She and Joe were both close to the roof's edge and crawled backwards. To her surprise, Jared was doing the opposite, crawling past the two of them to get closer to the edge.
   "Jared!" She yelled over the noise. "Back up!" He didn't respond as he reached his destination and started shooting down. Bullets landed near him, but he seemed oblivious to everything except for his own shooting.
   "Gather everyone downstairs!" Joe yelled to her. "We need to keep these guys out!" She nodded and crawled to the door, before running down the stairs. She noticed most of the guards had gone to the roof, leaving the mall almost completely empty. She ran ran down to the first floor, and was surprised to find no one by the main doors as she came down. She tried to remember who was supposed to be watching when the glass in front of her shattered and the posters along the windows were torn apart by bullets. Moving on instinct, she ran upstairs to the store that she'd been staying in with her group. Martine and Buddy were the only ones there. Martine spun around with his gun up, but stopped when he saw it was her.
   "Is everyone on the roof?" He asked, lowering the gun.
   "Mostly. I think there's still some in here, but I can't find anyone else." He looked like he was about to reply to her when the sound of more glass shattering cut him off.
   "What are you doing?" She asked as he stuffed a water bottle in his backpack.
   "I'm packing my stuff, finding anyone I can, and we're leaving. Hopefully to meet up with the others coming back from that base." He didn't turn away from what he was doing.
   "What? No, we have to protect this place. We can't leave just like that!" She argued.
   "I saw how many people were out there! We're outnumbered and they're probably making their way inside right now." Sure enough, she heard unfamiliar voices from downstairs. "Come on." Martine said quietly. "We can sneak around them and get to one of the trucks outside."
    She thought it over. She couldn't leave the mall, but could they really defend it? Then she remembered Cobalt. A horse would be an easy target for the attackers.
   "Fine." She answered hesitantly. "We can go out one of the back doors. I need to find Cobalt, so see if you can get the truck with the trailer. I'll try to find more people. Don't leave right away, only if you have to."
   "Hurry." He slung the bag over his shoulder. "And be careful."