Seraphina's Revenge: A Rebirth In The Apocalypse Novel

Chapter 75: Oogie Boogie

The mall doors were locked when Noah tried the handle

Sera rolled her eyes. Did he really think that the doors being locked mattered right now? That we were going to turn around simply because they wouldn’t open?

She looked down at the ground beneath her boots.

"Fuck off," sneered Noah, moving around the shattered glass and stepped through the locked door.

While the government might be telling everyone to say in doors, not everyone was listening.

Registers were looted, the food court was overturned, and what was once a symbol of mindless comfort had become a wind tunnel of cold tile and half-frozen air. Posters curled off the walls. The smell of stale fryer oil and rot clung to every surface.

Alexei stepped through after Noah, his blade drawn, his smile a little too casual. "Lovely. Reminds me of Country S. Brings back childhood memories."

Elias was right behind him, his flashlight angled low even as the overhead lights flickered on. "Stick to perimeter shelves. Avoid the center atrium. If there are any infected left inside, they’ll be drawn to echoes."

Zubair gave a single nod and split left, rifle up, as Lachlan motioned Sera to follow him.

"Try not to get distracted by the skincare displays," he whispered, a slight smirk on his face. "But foundation is always important."

Sera didn’t bother to answer, only rolled her eyes at the smile on his face. Her boots moved silently over broken tile, her steps calculated and smooth. It was officially Day Three of the zombie apocalypse, and this was going to be the new normal... only the majority of people didn’t know that.

They were still listening to the government; they were still pretending that everything would go back to normal if they just waited a few more days. Instead, all the supplies were going to be taken by military-trained looters pretending to be a team. If anyone else was here, they hadn’t lasted long. Blood marked the corners, dark and old.

They moved fast.

Canned protein, dry goods, boxed milk, batteries, duct tape, knives, tourniquets, toothbrushes. Sera cleared the pharmacy aisle in under ninety seconds, filling her pack with blister packs and any antibiotics left behind. She even found some packs of hand warmers behind a box of latex gloves, and she couldn’t hold back the smile on her face.

They were going to need that.

The military team didn’t bother to speak as they went through everything with a precision that only survivors could achieve after multiple years.

Fifteen minutes later, they regrouped in the children’s section. While it might have once been bright and cloying, it was now dim and dusted with gray. Shelves sat toppled, dolls facedown in puddles, and a stroller was turned on its side, its wheels still.

"I got lighters," Elias said, dropping a pack of twenty into Zubair’s bag. "I also managed to get into the pharmacy prescription area. I have enough antibiotics for a few months, but it would be a smart idea to hit up some more. We don’t know how long we are going to be in this situation."

"Good," Alexei replied, barely glancing up. "Do you think if we give enough to the zombies dat they will just go away like a bad rash?" He was digging through a display bin that had collapsed into a heap of pastel plastic and shredded plush. "You know, people underestimate the strategic value of comfort items."

Sera raised an eyebrow. "Do I look like I need a teddy bear?"

"No," he said, pulling something up with both arms, "but this one looks like it needs you."

He held out the largest squishmallow she had ever seen.

It was ugly. No other word for it. Two feet across, lumpy, vaguely frog-shaped with zombie-green stitching and button eyes so black they looked like voids. Its stitched-on smile was crooked. One arm was slightly longer than the other. There was even a red heart shape thing sewn on its chest and a weird curl on his head like he was wearing a Santa Hat without the pompoms.

Sera stared.

Alexei tilted it slightly, deadpan. "Behold. The true god of this fallen world."

She took it.

She didn’t know why. Her arms moved before her brain caught up.

It was warm from his hands, faintly musty from dust. It squished under her fingers like memory foam soaked in too many regrets.

"It’s perfect," she muttered, hugging it against her chest. It took both arms, and a whole lot of effort. But the second it seemed to melt in her arms, her eyes lids lowered and the creature inside of her seemed to purr.

Alexei gave a pleased nod and walked past her without another word, humming something off-key as he went. Elias just blinked once at her, then went back to scanning the shelves.

Zubair was already loading out.

They left through the east service corridor. No zombies. Not yet. But the air had gone heavy. Cold. Like the world was holding its breath.

At the vehicles, Noah took one look at the thing in Sera’s arms and scowled.

"Really?" he said. "We’re looting for survival and you bring back a plush corpse with a smug face?"

"It’s Oogie Boogie," Sera said calmly, climbing into the back seat. "He’s a morale officer."

"You named it?"

"Of course."

Lachlan smirked. "Let her have her monster, mate. God knows she’s earned it."

Sera set Oogie Boogie gently in her lap, adjusting his crooked arms so they crossed over his rounded belly.

Noah shook his head and turned to Alexei. "You agree with them?" he demanded, waving his hand up and down like Sera was cuddling a package of TNT and not a stuffie.

"Absolutely," Alexei said. "She likes it. That means I get something special for dinner."

Sera didn’t look up. "Bear or deer?"

"Surprise me."

Noah scoffed and dropped a box of vitamins into the truck bed. "The world’s gone to shit and somehow I’m stuck with the Addams Family."

Zubair slammed the back of the Hummer closed. "Ten minutes. We move again before sundown."

The sky was already shifting. Pale light over rust-colored clouds. The air had that copper tang again, like metal and cold breath.

Sera leaned back in her seat and looked through the tinted window at the mall they’d just emptied. It loomed quiet. Still. Like a skeleton stripped of anything useful. There were no alarms, no motion, only a flickering LED banner caught in a static loop.

She reached out and squeezed Oogie Boogie’s round arm once.

It was warm, soft, pointless.

And yet—

Her creature stirred faintly, pleased.

Comfort is safety. Safety is control. Control is survival.

Sera said nothing.

She closed her eyes as the Hummer rumbled back to life and rolled forward.