The whole stage was set for Zain, and if he wanted to get out of this situation, he would need to give the performance of a lifetime. The only thing was, like most who would do this for the first time, Zain had gotten a bit of stage fright.
Mr Clark removed the tape, and now all eyes were on him to hear his explanation about what he was doing in the parking lot.
'I...I don't know what to say...how do I get out of this situation.' Zain was nervous. He tried pulling his hands, but he could feel that his strength wasn't enough to break free from the ropes.
His life at the moment was at the mercy of the people in front of him, and the way they were looking at him, it was as if they had already made their judgement even before knowing the whole truth.
"Speak up then!" Clark said, stepping closer. "I guess you don't have an answer. Don't you know we're teachers, Zain? We know when someone is guilty, and the fact that you can't say anything proves your guilt. This means we need to decide what to do with you.
"Should we kill you? Throw you back outside? Or just leave you here to starve, so you don't eat anyone else?" Clark then got close to Zain and looked directly into his eyes. Now up close, Clark noticed his eye colour was quite strange and even seemed somewhat hollow, which furthered his suspicion.
"If it was up to me, I'd smash your head until I was sure you couldn't get back up, but then these people behind me would think I am the monster here," Clark whispered, walking back to the others.
While Clark turned around and walked back, Zain made eye contact with Kelly. Although she had saved him before, there was something inside him that thought she would save him again. However, after a few seconds, Kelly looked away. Her hand was clutching her other arm.
'I'm sorry... I want to help, but after seeing that, and thinking about your file...I just can't.'
The group discussed for a while, and it looked like they had come up with a decision. Then, Clark started to pull out the duct tape once again.
"Don't do this!" Zain finally spoke. "I was just trying to help you, I was trying to help you all, and this is what you do!" When speaking though, rather than words of fear, it sounded as if Zain was angry at them for making this decision.
"You're going to mess up. You're doing the wrong thing, trust me!"
"Just be quiet," Clark retorted as he brought the tape close to his mouth. Zain looked toward the teenager since Kelly wasn't being helpful.
"Kid, remember the job I gave you. If you want to live...Keep doing it!" Zain shouted. He wanted to say more, but his mouth was already tied up, and his words just turned into incomprehensible muffles.
With the help of all of them, Clark then checked the knots once again and called the others over. Everyone then lifted Zain's chair and moved him to the back room close to the freezer section.
There was a supply closet where the staff put the cleaning equipment and trash. The room wasn't the largest, but it was effortless to put Zain in the middle with a single light bulb above his head.
Everyone left the room, and Clark was at last to shut the door.
"It seems the decision was to lock you in here for now, but don't count on us letting you out."
'F*ck!' Zain wanted to yell out. 'F*ck, f*ck, f*ck. You screwed up, Zain...just like you always do, just like back then. I screwed up this time too. F*ck!'
He tried to calm himself, but his anxiety increased, and even his mind went blank for a moment. He knew the longer he stayed here, the lower his chances of survival were.
[Body Functionality: 84 Percent]
----
Clark quickly returned to his post as if he was doing a regular job, while the others were left feeling slightly uncomfortable with what they had done. If they couldn't sleep before, they surely couldn't sleep now.
While left in their thoughts, though, a certain teenager named Cody was thinking about Zain's last words.
'I saw the video and what he did, but I still feel that Clark guy is more dangerous. I don't like the fact that he's forcefully bossing us around as if he owns the palace either. Anyway, what did he mean by telling me to keep following Ben? I've lost track of him for a while. The last place I saw him was heading towards the Butchers, and when I told Zain about this, his reaction was quite strange.'
Thinking about this, Cody found himself heading towards the butchers' section.
'Was this his hint? To check what's going on in here? What did he mean if I don't keep an eye on Ben, we would all be in trouble?'
Approaching the counter, Cody soon noticed the door behind it was slightly open. He narrowed his eyes and slowly stepped towards the door. He then pushed it with one hand while the other was already holding a blade, ready to react to whatever was inside.
However, once the door was open wide enough, Cody saw something that made him grip around his blade harder. He slowly walked forward, and he found his feet stepping on something wet.
The whole place reeked, but he didn't have time to focus on that as he followed where the pool of liquid was heading, and this liquid wasn't water. After he took a few more steps, a body appeared directly behind a devoured cow carcass.
'What... Why is Barbara...dead?'
----
In the control room, Clark whistled while keeping an eye on the cameras. After what he had done, he was in a bright mood, but suddenly his whistling stopped, and he leaned toward the monitor with a frown.
"More guests?"
----
Just outside of the supermarket, two young men stood next to each other.
"Are you sure he would go here? Wouldn't there be a crap load of Zombies inside?" Buke asked.
"I'm sure. This is the most likely place he would go to." Skittle replied.
*****
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