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Sears is empty. Almost empty. There are clothes racks and things for sale but they're patchy, half-stocked. Shelves are more often bare than not. Soft muzak echoes faintly. You don't see any people.
You pass through the Sears without seeing another soul. Inside the mall proper there are two levels. The upper level looks down from an upper gallery on the lower, edges railed with glass. Many of the shops here are shuttered and dark. In fact, it looks like nothing in this spoke is open. Your boot falls echo on the tile, mingling with the faint music. You pass by an arcade. Of the two dozen or so machines inside, at least a third of them are unplugged. The attract loops play endlessly for no one. The carpet is dingy and dusted with crumbs and trash. There's no one inside.
"<span class="mu-i">Nemesis</span>."
You stop and the hair on the back of your neck stands up. You turn toward the voice, staring into the gloom of a darkened clothing store. The shutter isn't down. The store front is just open but it's obviously derelict.
"<span class="mu-i">Nemesis</span>," the voice hisses again mockingly. You haven't been called that since you killed Dad.
You open your mouth to challenge the voice when you lose the words. A figure steps smoothly out from the shadows. Human. Sort of. It wears a rotted band T-shirt and shredded blue jeans. It has no face, just a pillar of flesh for a head, dotted with crevices and darkened maws. Eyes? Mouths? Something else?
It croaks, long and slow and steps forward again, body shuddering. Wide, fleshy webbed feet press onto the cold tile of the floor. It drips with water, trailing clots of string algae from its limbs. Its hands hook into wicked claws which drip more fetid water. The flesh pillar sways side to side as it sweeps the air. It's searching for you.
You look both ways down the empty concourse of the mall. You are utterly alone. You and this thing.
"<span class="mu-i">Nemesis</span>," it croaks again, somehow detecting you. It lowers it shoulders and charges at you, webbed feet slapping the floor.
>Draw your knife and fight
>Draw your .22 and shoot it
>Run
>Write in
