Gavin Blairse, A 6'1Thin but athletic Park ranger and hunter stuck alone in the off season during the fog at camp.

Andrea Watts was partners with Artrex Leywin whom she affectionately called "Arty" as private investigators. Andy and Arty found themselves both at the mall at virtually the same time, she was about one day out behind him. Once reunited they immediately began investigating the mysteries of the mall, now together. They established a small office and they started working "the case" at the same time helping around the mall and attempting to gather as much information as she could. Andy had a panic disorder from previous trauma and rarely slept. She was constantly asking questions and writing in her notebooks. Certain people stood out to Andy right away and she knew they were more than capable. She loved Jazz, Kid, T, Jack, Mikki, but most importantly she loved Arty. When Kid lost Jazz and Arty saw their love and Kid's loss, he immediately proposed to Andy and confessed he'd been in love with her for the past two years of their partnership. Andy accepted and they celebrated for one whole night. The very next day...all hell broke loose. Deaths everywhere...more and more and more and finally Arty...dead over a USB that a drone dropped to Jack, Erik, Artrex, and Andy on a rooftop. Jack took it and told Andy and Arty he'd go through it with them. It never happened because of Hell Day in the Crossroads Mall. And Hell Day...ended with a broken Andy trying to help put out a mall fire and when she got too close, she burst into flames. Andy is now with Arty and they are free from the daily death and Crossroad Mall ...a literal hell on Earth.

Ex Marine Medic turned private investigator of the age of 31.He used to have his own private office in Louisville taking odd jobs and searching for the wanted and escapees almost like a bounty hunter. The man had a weird upbringing of an only child with his parents dying at the age of 13. He went into a lot of different boarding schools and wound up spending most of his time working on himself and eventually joined the marines in combat as a medic, later leaving due to his rebelliousness and nosiness, nearly landing himself in Prison. After opening his own practice he later hired an assistant who would later help him out very much on his new ventures.

When the mist started he has lived moving house to house using up what he could find and keeping quiet only fighting when he needs to. He than saw a few people roaming around a mall with the lights on and decided to do some investigating himself and also to meet some more people and find out more secrets....

After holding out for 6 days in the abandoned autoshop, waiting and waiting for help to arrive after he suddendly found himself alone in the workshop, with no recollection where's everyone

He managed to contact Grace using jury rigged police radio from wrecked pickup and just had to hold the post

...And so he did, until the barricade fell after one too many assaults and he couldn't push back the centaur

Now gone, back to playing Shadow the Hedgehog :tm: with the devil himself, his feeling not that of regret or anger for being left to fend for himself

but of hope, hope for others that they make it out, end this apocalypse and remember him and maybe, just maybe at the end of it, there will be someone to pick up where he left off his work

Cheesey...yes, but thats just how he was...

RIP PFC. Carl Milton Winters 1st Engineering Combat Bridage US Army

19th Jan. 1998 - 29 November 2023

Erik died doing something good for a person he hardly knew- he went out at night with Grace to save George Sewell, who had gotten stranded alone in the neighborhood nearby to the Mall.

They got there without much issue, but things went wrong swiftly as while they were looting a house, an alarm was sprung which would in turn attract a large horde of spikeys, spiders and all other kinds of monsters.

Erik and George retreated inside a house, and defending it for a time, but eventually they left, and while walking the street, he was rushed by four monsters, all of a different kind. Erik was separated from George, and tried retreating to get a shot, but after a bite to his body, he was slowed down enough to be swarmed by the rest of the horde.

He was pushed to the ground, and killed swiftly.

He rose just as swiftly, as one of the runners, ready to hunt down his former comrades.

No words....can describe the mysterious sword swinging Mia and the incidents that lead to her demise. She suffered two fatal bites from a large purple beast resembling a dinosaur. Her wounds were tending to promptly but she was rapidly losing blood. The dressings soaked with blood very quickly. She changed them once, more blood. When the gang headed upstairs under Kid's orders, Mia noticed her nausea getting worse. She was rapidly declining in health and by the time the doctor came with an antibiotic, it was too late. Mia's last words were "Goodbye my friends" as she bled out on the floor. Mia had royal blood and because of this, she maintained a certain regal dimeanor. She fought with honor and integrity. She only lived for slaying the beasts of the mist. She did not enter the mall to make friends or find love, she entered the mall to paint her swords with the blood of her enemies.

"Tis a blessed thing,

When my claymore swings,

It warms my Lion's Heart!

I dream of home,

Where the bagpipes drone,

Oh, to be born a Scot!"

Aleksander Lex, The park ranger turned monster slayer went on a rampage after the mist started and all of his campers have slowly gotten eaten turned or killed. He found his new trusty Stryker shotgun and blasted his way through all he could with no one left he hopped in the jeep and drove off Pissed and full of rage gunning down whatever he can, he made his way through the forest from out in the country towards Louisvillle only to see more destruction and death. He than seen the Lit up mall deciding he'd see if there were any survivors there as it'd had been weeks since he'd seen a live human being. Finally he pulled up in his Jeep ready to Kick ass and Take names and save some dames!

Mikki Castigliani was always a punk ass bitch. Born with an attitude problem and little else to her name, a life of petty crime was easy to fall into, pickpocketing and burglary being her preferred methods for easy money. Originally from Staten Island, Mikki made her way south due to several outstanding warrants in the Tri-State area and settled into town when she didn’t have the cash to catch another bus. There, she made friends with other local scum bags, finding camaraderie in the dirty basements and half remembered parties. She started dating Chase, a biker and bartender. The pair had plans to take off together, to execute a small series of thefts and ‘retire’ far away, but it wasn’t long before Mikki got pregnant. So they moved into a little apartment, welcomed a baby girl named Scarlet, and tried to be normal.

However, old habits die hard. Whenever Mikki was in need of money, usually it was just easier to lift a purse here or slip into a window there. And it was one of those times on the day everything went wrong. Leaving Chase and Scarlet at home, Mikki went to hit a large house several towns over. While she was pulling cash from the safe, Chase called her, voice urgent when she answered. Something was happening. She had to come home. Sounds of chaos in the background. Scarlet crying. Chase yelling. And then nothing. Only more sounds of chaos, this time not through the phone but on the street outside.

Mind reeling, knowing something awful had just happened to her family, Mikki panicked and locked down the security system of the large, fancy house. The fear kept her there for weeks, not moving even when the owners of the house tried to get in. Fuck ‘em, she thought. But when she ran out of food, she was forced to leave and make a desperate trip to find other survivors.

Kelly tried to get along...not sure the mall folks appreciated her sense of humor or her silliness. Right after Jack hit Tim with the car and broke his leg, the next morning Tim radio'd there was a massive breach. Kelly tried to help him but was poorly armed and couldn't defend him from the hordes of beasts and charging dinosaur looking monster, so she ran and hid knowing they got Tim, the only one who stopped to talk to Kelly. Losing Tim devastated her and she felt responsible. She failed to defend him but when others awoke, she tried again. This time, she got attacked badly and had profuse bleeding from a neck bite. Hoffman and Jack patched her up enough to get upstairs and the other mall folks cleared the mall and fixed the breach. Kelly met Aleks then and was glad to meet someone else who took the time to talk to her. Most of the mall folks only seemed to care about business...guns and monsters killing but all Kelly wanted was to have fun because deep down she knew she wasn't long for the world. After a cop showed up wanting to leave the mall with Hoffman's body, Kelly pretended she wanted to go but really all she wanted to do was run. She made it out past a gas station then into the woods, she found a tower but nearby was a swarm of beasts waiting for her. So she decided to make a dash for it and failed...

Sky Hess was a POSER, She knew it and so did everyone else in the roach's but that never mattered to Kate. Having been kicked out of her private school for fighting Sky was forced to instead complete her GED, now a highschool drop out she had little motivation in life beyond the next party. One Drunken night out on the town She met Kate and was offered a spot and with nothing else in her life accept an absent father and an empty McMansion Sky eagerly accepted. Eventually with Kates encouragement she went back to school to finish her CNA training and spent a few years as a caregiver for a woman named Pearl. Now the Mist is here and Kate is gone.

I've got something to say! It's better to burn out than to fade away!

My Name is Mark Allan Henry, and God has a plan for me.

I am the Dance Floor Killer.

The killing will not stop....

I walk among you.

As much of an asshole he sometimes was and argued with others, for right and wrong reasons, he did care and really wanted to help people off the mall, even if his expertise didn't prove to be nearly as useful

Its ironic really...just like with his brother, death came from least expected way. Not to the monsters, not outside but inside, by his fellow human being

At first, Jazz struggled to relate to anybody in the Mall, even those whom she had been closest to from before the Mist's arrival. First to challenge her and stand out to her was Kid Prinssi, whom she took a liking to. And from there, a friendship and romance blossomed that helped her slowly heal. The helplessness of isolation and her near-death experiences in fighting mist creatures alone had left her traumatized and filled with an icy rage. Her fury was only further fed by the stupidity and rudeness of other survivors who repeatedly gave her grief. And losing fellow Roaches Kate and Sky served to only wound her more deeply.

Healing. She dreamed of seeing the sun, and visiting the ocean again, and healing. Jazz and Kid learned things about each other and themselves as their relationship deepened, and they began to dream together of a new sunrise. The passion and compassion they gave each other helped them slowly heal. With Kid's help, and compounded further by her budding friendship to the mysterious "Interloper", Jazz began to blossom anew. From a flowerbed of rage grew a diamond warrior soul. She finally understood what she was fighting for.

Physically strongest of the Riverside Roaches, given her time in prison and training in MMA, it was still not enough to survive the ravenous hordes of the mist outside the mall. On a mission to press forward and gather supplies from strange outposts, her team was swarmed by hordes upon hordes of monsters, closing in on them from every side. Jazz flew into a frenzy when she saw Kid's life threatened, and fended off as much as she could to cover the retreat of her companions. She took plenty of the creatures down, but even with all her strength and fury, it wasn't enough to fend off the three "vampires" that latched onto her simultaneously, and drained her blood within seconds. She and Joseph Deagon died together in the mist, allowing Kid and Erik to escape back to the mall.

Her authentic katana, with "Samuel" etched into its grip, still rests in the parking lot behind the movie theater.

She joined the ranks of her fellow brothers and sisters of the Roaches in the great beyond. Though only mortal men and women, Jazz, like Kate and Sky before her, and Jack after her, displayed a relentlessness and fearlessness that would continue to feed the legend of their gang. The legend of a wolf pack, rough riders, reluctant heroes—carried on by the living, and immortalized by the heroes who survived them.

Goodnight, Jasmine Collins. The great dark of deep oceans awaits you.

Timothy Nathan Tanem, otherwise know as TnT, The Squire, or The Handy man. He always had his heart in the right place trying to help all he could but....that was his downfall. After checking to see if there were any creatures on the perimeter he's seen a breach in the wall and simply had to try and do something about it. Gunning down as many as he could before being latched on by a vampire he bled out almost making it back upstairs to quickly patch up his neck. Tim didn't listen to his friends...he didn't slow down he kept trying even with a fractured leg.

A fine man, an excellent CO some troops might say, man focused to carry out his mission given by the superior and yet, he still tried to care about the others

And what kills him? The mist? The monsters? An unfortunate accident? No.

A retired marine with an authority issue, unfortunate for him, other survivors did not appreciate him fragging the Captain

I simple food run is all he thought it would be. Lance, Liam, Linda, and Himself all set out. Durring the run, he looks behind himself and sees Lance get dragged down, ignoring all his cuts and lacerations he charges. That choice is what led to his demise. Liam was the only one to survive. R.I.P Lance Banner and Linda Swanson

Rebecca harbored secrets which she only shared with few of the mall's denizens, those few whom she had started to trust. Rebecca Byrne, wife of the owner and builder of the Crossroads Mall. She knew more about the origins of the mist and the horrors it had brought.

One night, a deeply disturbed man of the mall, Mark A. Henry, stalked her into her quarters. While she removed her shoes and settled down to rest, he turned off the lights, and snuck up on her. Paralyzed with fear, she called out, but he offered no reply, and closed in on her with silent steps. She tried to run. The killer, however, matched her speed, and caught her with his hunting knife. She wasn't strong enough to fight back or escape him, for he had cornered his prey, and more lethal stabs swiftly followed.

Others discovered Mark to be dancing with her lifeless and bloodied body. They killed him in return.

Some secrets, she took to her grave. The rest of her knowledge now lived on with the survivors.

Liz was a complicated young woman. Might even say she was fearless. She did what she could to keep everyone safe built a camp, built another, added walls to the farm, fixed walls, doors, and cooked meals. She was a double-edged sword a blend of rage and love. When she over-heard Liam telling Kid about nukes and that Jack already knew...it devastated her. She almost killed all three of them for keeping secrets from the group of mall survivors, but she didn't. She was falling madly in love with Jack Jones and how could she kill the man she loves. She never had a gentle and kind man before in her life, only men who used and abused her. She adored his kindness and tenderness when they were alone, the way he protected her when they were outside the mall. When Mark killed Rebecca, it triggered something in Liz. She had killed a man once before for abusing a woman...that woman was Liz herself. After she was confronted by her fellow survivors about the secrets Rebecca told in her journal, she was distraught with guilt. Liz hated secrets, even threatened people over keeping them, and now she was guilty of doing the same. Unable to live with that guilt, she decided on a whim of emotion to go solo....to make it to the mansion and stop all this madness. She wanted to save her friends, she wanted to save her love, and ultimately to save herself. She headed south out of the mall following the road which was quiet....until it wasn't...hordes of monsters and undead surrounded her...she didn't even have time to pull the bomb she brought to go out in a glorious blaze taking the beasts with her... Liz is gone now...lost to the mist, gone but not forgotten...

Lena Porter was a dark and mysterious woman. She tried to warn everyone repeatedly of what was to come. Her words fell on mostly deaf ears. She then decided to reinforce a store within the mall and for awhile it served as a place of comfort and normalcy. One late night when she woke up in the fort, while all her commerades were sleeping, she decided to go for a jog and stumbled upon what she thought was a single Deadski (her nickname for the walking dead). Thinking she was safe in the mall she opened fire on the thing. It laid there still on the hardwood floor of a furniture store. When she turned around she was surrounded by them. She couldn't take out all five or six of them and was ravaged by the undead. She leaves behind a journal of her encounters in the mall. Rest in darkness for all eternity Nighshade.

Jenn suffered from panic attacks...bad ones. The mall taunted her with it's slow closing walls and tiny hallways. She missed being free to run. She braved several trips out of the mall but her final was the most horrific. Jenn was ravaged by monsters in an attempt to give her fellow mall dwellers another working vehicle. Sadly, in a desperate moment trying to flee the car and return to mall's sheltering walls, she accidentally left the car running. It is unclear whether it was the car running, her stealing it, or something else that drew the monsters to the door and ultimately to her demise.

Linda never recovered from the loss of her step son Jamie, she continued on as long as she could but it was a hollow effort. She is survived by her husband Jonathan Swanson.

Emma ...Emma...all she wanted was for everyone to work together for survival. She was brave. She went out alone ...she never made it back to the mall. She's free now with her best friend Britney.

Liam Crawford...a Medic, a Coward, a Friend, a Lucky bastard...

you could call him many things...despite his flaws, people seemed to like him, which till his death he never fully understood...maybe it was because he thought of himself rather low...

He helped a lot...saved ton of people due to his expertise as EMT in WPFD...and yet, people kept dying around him while he always managed to somehow escape death.

That was until the death came from the least expected place...

Last thing he saw being freshly reanimated corpse of Jim Barkley & Tail monster, pinning him to the floor

he lasted almost a month, with his brother, looking for a way to reach the mall after hearing from Cpt. Carver of his passing...to take his brother home

Leopold seemed entirely unphased by the supernatural occurrences. So long as they had some modicum of reality to them- a humanoid body, that of a sea creature or bird- he could fathom it. Most of what the Mist offered could somehow be justified in the Janitor's imagination. The evening the West Loading Bay was brutally assaulted by what the Janitor described as "A Bull and a Demon" was when he met his demise. Ever concerned about 'The Mall,' his concerns were well founded when a bull-sized spawn of satanic fury sliced through the loading bay garage door and three steel shelves as though they were melted butter. After alerting the mall, Leopold and Jack split on the upper floor. The last sounds of the Janitor were the emptying of a .45 magazine, a triumphant wallop, laughter, and then silence. The Janitor's corpse wandered the Mall. When he bled out, his arms, legs, and torso had each lost a dozen pounds of flesh. Behind him, the sawed off legs of the Demon. He was smiling.

The Janitor was humanity's civilized conflict personified. Civilized conflict is dead. Now exists only conflict for The Mall.

Jack Jones was only a man. After accident killing his best friend while working on one of his projects when he was in college, his family settled the charges. That was the last thing they did before disowning and cutting him off. Arriving at Riverside and meeting the Roaches was the first step towards a new family, so when the fog rolled in and Kate 'Spitfire' Mcdonald was alongside him, he thought he could pull through those first days as people turned to them, depending on them. Making the play to get Preston the RV that very first day was the first act he did for other members of the mall. Then Kate got bit. That was the first time he had to step up. Doing all he could to protect the survivors of the Mall took its toll on him. Having always been a poser he did what he had been doing since he lost his family, pretended to be someone he wasn't. Doing his best to hide his heart those first days, not sharing it with anyone for a time. The first person to put a crack in that wall was Emma O'Connell, but he couldn't allow himself to share with her. In his mind that's why Emma went out without him, she didn't trust him.... and time would prove her right to feel that way. The first deep notch, a tally to his failures.

Then Kate died. That was the first time he considered ending it all. Having failed to get to her in time, he resolved to follow her ideals and lead because neither of them trusted anyone else to put feelings aside for survival... an idea that would eat away at him as the bodies pile up inside and out. Seeing leadership around him die when he was saved by Jim 'Bulldog' Barkley, He began following a misguided idea of what leadership is. Learning of the Government's plan to bomb the state and the truth of the Mist from Rebecca, he now had secrets. Carrying secrets was something he was never prepared or wanted to do, but keeping the people of the Mall thinking that they had a chance was his priority, he did so anyways. The walls of his heart truly began to crumble when he met Elizabeth 'Liz' Harte. With a past as complicated as his own, the two relished in the company they found in the present. She brought a light and fire with her rage, something that inspired him to lead, even when leading meant he never was able to spend time with the woman he began falling in love with. One night when he finally was able to get some sleep in a room that she had made for them, in hopes of finally having a moment to each other, she was witness to the first murder within the mall. The subsequent interrogation and spilling of the secrets he had shared with her drove her to leave. He would never learn her fate, never tell her he loved her. Another notch, another person leaving him behind.

The Mall would not allow Jack Jones peace, as he began to believe the building taunted him. Seeing his want for love, a reason to care, and responding with death time and time again. What was now a shell of the man who led through more than a month, moving through the motions knowing that when chaos hits, he would move. That time would not last long as he began to lean on Tullulah Taheri, who had joined him and Kate those first days, and Timothy 'TnT' Tanem, a young man who rivaled him in his drive to lead and ambition to protect. While his words to Tim where that of only support towards his attempts to lead, his actions would only result in death. After running over and breaking Tim's leg in a car accident, the man was killed when he pushed to do his rounds... another notch, deep and to the bone. His death cut into him and the doctor deep. Being the sole survivors of the original camp that split off those first days, they shared in their trauma and losses together.

The Mist would give him blessings turned sour in the form of his fellow Roaches. Jasmine and Sky.... both finding their way to the mall and finding solace in each other and new companionship, but Jack was no longer the man they knew. As the kindred drums of death and love beat, Jack was hollowed out by their deaths. Sky was unable to be recovered, being torn apart during a breach... another notch. Jasmine was taken during what was supposed to just be a scouting run, ripped out of his hands and Kids'. The young man was smitten with his old friend, and seeing their love bloom and quickly wither made him desperate to hold onto those he still cared for, and ensure they knew. Over his months at the mall, over countless deaths and abandonment, he longed for stability. it was found in warm meals at night, drinking bourbon and smoking cigarettes with Tullulah. While the days would always be filled with death, the nights were theirs. They were slow to heal, wary of giving each other that level of trust after the many times they had been left behind, wounds still raw with each passing death. As the nights passed his apprehension faded, knowing he did not have it in him to live only for himself, it wasn't in his nature. He slowly grew determined to give her any care he could muster, for she had been a friend to him at the very beginning. Trauma and death watering the seed of their connection and, determined not to make the same mistakes with those he had lost, he told her of his love for her during a quiet night between them.

Together, he felt stronger, more capable. But the words of Dex Jordan would ring true once more as with love's drum beat, death follows. Seeing himself in Mikki Castigliani as the woman lost someone she connected to, however briefly, before being forced to rise to the occasion, something she did in stride. While Jack was not short on friends or enemies in his time in the mall, Tullulah found a kinship in the young woman. Extending his love for her to Mikki, Jack promised to do everything he could to set her up for success the night before his death. The following morning there was a breach. Alongside Artrex, Mikki, and a newcomer Grace, they defended the Mall. But the Mall takes its price... Mikki was torn up in the siege, no body remaining.... another notch.

Following her death and failing to find a body, again, Jack was send spiraling. His wound nearly taking him on the rooftop outside their offices, he fought to stay conscious before returning to his room. Finding his love asleep he was nearly pulled from the brink, being willing to wait just to see her seafoam eyes open, only to hear the shouts from outside his office. Brianna Swanson had snuck into Mikki's room looking for something as trivial as a needle. As Artrex yelled and threatened the young woman he heard her refuse to give the recently deceased any respect, as she had done time and time before focused only on her own survival. This was the final straw as Jack felt the hatred, the abandonment, the anger, the spite. Determined to not allow her to cause the death of anyone else, he walked with her calmly to the old Riverside Camp in the Malls' department store. It was where he first had made his first stand as a leader, where Kate and Tullulah had stood by his side, where Jazz and Kid snuck away to when they fell in love, and where he would make his final stand.

Jack 'V2' Jones was not a killer of people, only monsters. For all the threats he made and guns he raised, it wasn't in him. He loved and cared so strongly and so deeply it ate him from the inside out. So even in all his anger and bloodlust, he could not do it. Grazing her legs with a few shots as the rest scattered to the concrete walls before she pulled out her own submachine gun, emptying the clip into him, killing him instantly. For all his regrets and all his failures, the biggest would be that he did what was done so many times to him before... he gave someone his heart, and she gave him hers... only for him to abandon her in his rage... The same rage that made his family abandon him all those years ago.

Those he Lost: -Preston -Jamie (Blade) -Brittney -Roy -Emma -Gary -Jennifer -Lena (Nightshade) -Leopold -Kate Mcdonald (Spitfire) -Linda -Jackson -Lance -Jim (Bulldog) -Liam -Rebecca -Elizabeth Harte <3 -Timothy (TnT) -Sky -Aleksander -Mia (Valkyrie) -Jasmine Collins (Jazz) -Mikki -Himself

Jamie was an enterprising young man with an old soul, at least that's what his mother Melinda always said. Despite his cool demeanor and even cooler sword collection, at the end of the day he was looking for the same thing as every other man walking around a mall in a jaunty hat... Love. Jamie is survived by his step mother Linda Swanson and father James Swanson. Jamie was a beloved son and his heroic death will not be forgotten.

Shadowy, foresighted, obedient, and above all else, reserved. This is a Muldraugh-born man with a past untold—A man raised by a foolhardy, violent bigot of a father and a cheating, hedonistic trollop of a mother. One can only speculate what sort of effect that kind of home environment would have on a developing mind. Roy Dalton, son of Roy Dalton, a patronymic tradition among the Daltons dating back centuries, was a man of few words that could fade into the backdrop of any scenario like a shadow in the night. He grew up to be a forlorn soul that was an outcast of society, working menial labor for much time until the wrong company made the right change for his lifestyle. He found work through so-called friendlies in the worst of places: crummy meet-up points, nip joints, and third-rate biker bars that hosted the most rotten of company. Alas, work was work, Roy segued from a penniless punk to a man with a morally questionable work ethic; one with cash in his pocket, finally. Money was money, and he attained the title of "Wild Dog" among his unlawful peers; associates that were just as ill-natured as his father was—In his cloak-and-dagger line of work, the title wrought through years of his misdeeds fit him like a glove. How he got it was his secret to know.

For a man with an extensive past, he's a mystery for the most part. Humanity's enigma. This roughneck is a tall and sinewy individual with a cold-faced and cold-mannered deportment, seeming like the type that would rob one's wallet in a quick back-alley beatdown. However, in spite of his cruel and frowny looks, he's rather deferential to those that approach him, or he tries to be with his very shallow social experience. His raven-black slicked-back hair is carefully tended to, as is his beard, and his teeth are as white as pearls. His voice, rarely heard courtesy of his speak-only-when-spoken-to upbringing, is one of a smooth, low-pitched nature that oft becomes rough as his breaths draw to a close. Finally, his eyes, a pair of sharp azurite blues embellished with faded-jade central heterochromia that often avoid eye contact—purely out of habit. One day, a thirty-year-old Roy, a man fond of his leathers, noted his jacket was crumbling after so many years of twisted rough-and-tumble undertakings. Tossing away his hard-earned bills on whiskey shots and dirt-cheap motel rooms could wait; his daily life revolved around his work, but today would not be one of those days—A visit to the mall would no doubt give him plenty of choices, a range of full-grain leathers forged of quality that would suit his style. However, this city crook's mall visit would quickly turn into an experience reeled straight out of a horror movie.

This is Roy Dalton, and this is how he died...

"The Bulldog", they called him. Often mockingly so. After his dog Rufus passed, Jim thought to leave the Mall behind. He grieved, he fell, but he got back up.

Returning to his post just a week prior to the Mist rolling out, he brought order when it was most needed. Organizing the crowds, leading supply runs, and getting rid of pesky glass shards.

His nickname, one that he himself had always worn with pride, quickly turned from mockery to honored title. The Bulldog, surely invigorated through the spirit of Rufus, made the mall and its inhabitants' safety his top priority.

One late night, the heavy sleeper's slumber was interrupted when several beasts came charging through the door to his security office. While the first three mutants posed no problem to the bulky but capable guard dog, he found his demise to a Longtail that had ignored the ongoing brawl and instead ventured deeper into the Mall. Seeing that it was now posing an immediate threat to the residents of the Mall, the security guard charged after it, finding himself face to face against its deadly claws.

The Mall may not be safe anymore, but at least he managed to win our hearts over. Rest in peace, Jim.

Just when Kate had hit her stride, "stepping up to the plate" to lead the rag-tag misfits of the mall, things went south on an expedition outside. Despite several successful tours, a gunshot drew several creatures from the mist nearby, and one of the feral creatures bled Kate out with its vicious bites. She collapsed onto her back while the others were occupied with killing the creatures she liked to call "alien fucks".

In her final moments, bleeding out, she smiled into the hazy gray mist. Her life flashed before her eyes. She smiled because she was proud and she didn't have a single regret. She never harbored any illusions of dying peacefully in her sleep since the mist had come, and she had never taken shit from anybody, whether before or after the apocalypse began. The scars were the proof.

In those final seconds, choking on her own blood, she remembered everything. How she had made a life of her own in Riverside, and all the friends she made along the way. She had still found a chance to remind V2 of that, and how far they had come together, against all odds. And finally, she remembered how much courage she had truly found. She had finally confessed her affection to someone—her bravest feat ever.

Validating everything, V2 rushed to her side only seconds before she blacked out. A trembling hand raised, she flipped off the foggy sky above.

Even in death, Kate refused to fear the mist.