"I'm going."
"Sam, it's too dangerous."
"They're all going, why can't I?" Samantha asserted frustratedly white pointing fingers at the volunteers.
Nick wears the strictest face he has and places his palms on her shoulders, sighed then said, "No, you're not coming."
"Why not?"
"There's no debating it, no room for negotiation, you're staying right here." Nick reprimanded her, something he doesn't often do. Samantha was startled by Nick's intense expression and took a step back, but Nick remained unwavered, "Alright, arm yourselves." He instructed the volunteers.
It's not a lot, they simply armed themselves with kitchen knives of different sizes, there was only so much that they could get their hands on after all.
"I have a favour to ask you. Keep my daughter in here." Nick said to the man earlier who apologised for refusing to join his team of volunteers.
"Stay here, please, he wants you here, I would know." The man advises Samantha, who was infuriated at the moment.
"Thank you. Alright, we exit through that." Nick said pointing towards the door at the back of the store, it's the door that leads to a hallway that connects every store in the shopping mall, usually used for deliveries.
Nick and his team headed out without looking back, which made Samantha, whose hand were held tightly by the man earlier grit her teeth in anger.
"Let go of me." Samantha shakes the man's hand off.
"No, you're not going."
"Who are you to decide that?!"
"Your father decided that."
Samantha looked around the room, indeed there was no way for her to go to her father now. The whole room of survivors owes their life to Nick, they will undoubtedly follow his instructions and keep her here. Which means the only way she could still possibly get a chance to escape, is to convince them.
"My dad wanted me to stay here because he wants me to live."
"That's right."
"Well then, what's wrong with me wanting to go out there because I want him to live."
"Beca-"
Before the man could get a single word out, Samantha cut him off, "He wants me to live, he's risking his life but not mine. But what makes him think I can still live the same if he died out there? You would understand that the most wouldn't you?"
"...I wouldn't be able to live the same without my daughter either."
"And your daughter won't be able to live the same without you. It's selfish to even think she can. I'd rather die with my dad than to live in a world without him. Any objections?!" She asserted with a glare towards the entire room of survivors surrounding her.
The man didn't retort, murmurings can be heard around the store. Samantha noticing that no one was showing any intentions to stop her path, stepped towardsthe hallway.
"Wait." She was stopped on the way as her wrist was grabbed by the man.
"I agree. I can't live in a world without my daughter. Although, I have no problem to be the selfish one and die." He said with a firm gaze into Samantha's eyes.
They stared at eachother for a second, and then,
"HARH!" In a swift and smooth movement, Samantha pulled the man down by his own grip on her wrist and flew a knee straight up to his chin with furious force, knocking him down in one go.
Thump
The man fell down. The crowd was startled but none came forward.
Samantha has a black belt in taekwondo, that wasn't very difficult of a task for her. After that she shot the crowd one last glare before storming off to the hallway to her father.
Initially she walked with confident steps, but after noticing the large amount of identical doors in the hallway, her steps became gradually sluggish and eventually stopped.
"Where is he?" She asked herself, before noticing a line of blood stained footprints on the ground, only the right foot though.
He, Nick, a few moments earlier, exited through the first door in the hallway with his team of volunteered rescuers, back into the clothing department earlier with multiple storeys.
"Being dogs, their hearing is dangerously powerful. No verbal communication unless absolutely necessary, is that okay?" Nick whispered to his small group of people, to which he received nods as responses.
Before Nick advances forward deeper into the jaws of the hounds, he accidentally stepped over a dead corpse. Not a pretty one, one that's torn entirely apart with no resemblance of a human in it's appearance. It was just a pile of solid blood, that's what it looked like.
Nick stared in both fear and guilt, regretful that he wasn't able to save the body he's stepping on right now. He quickly removed his step from above the corpse after realising how disrespectful it is to trample on it, then gestured his team to move forward.
Advancing forward in the clothing store while looking around cautiously, Nick's field of sight was covered with a disturbing amount of blood and gore, he could even see how some people died judging by blood trails. For instance, the trail of blood spanning across the store originating from the fitting rooms, he could tell that someone hiding there was discovered and dragged violently.
After confirming that there were no survivors in the store, Nick gestured his team to halt their search, they need a direction to search for first.
They never exited the clothing department itself into the main walkways of the mall, they didn't have to, no one will be hiding there anyways. All they have to do is check every store using the corridors at the back.
"Where did you last see him?" Nick whispered to the teenage girl.
"Last I saw him, was where we woke up..."
Where they woke up is the most prominent area of the mall, there's almost no chance of hiding there, anyone standing in that hall can be noticed by people standing on whichever floors of the mall.
"Any specific directions he headed to?" There was a west wing, an east wing and a north wing for this mall, with the hall they woke up in as it's centre.
"Direct opposite of where I went, I was pushed by the crowd." They were at the east wing.
"We'll start there then, let's go." Nick whispered then gestured the team to move west from the corridor.