3:59 P.M.
Miranda has to get out of here. To get to any of the other exits, she is going to have to cut back through the food court. But there’re fewer and fewer people left alive out there, and those few are even more obvious targets. She ventures back to where the hall meets the food court. In front of LA Nails, sheltered by the overhang, she tries to figure out what to do. How to stay alive.
She spots Parker underneath one of the escalators. He’s screaming his little sister’s name as he frantically scans the area.
The busboy Parker was taunting is dragging the rich girl whose mother was shot across the open space. They are almost clear when there’s another POP, POP, POP. He grabs his thigh and keeps lurching forward.
A whistle carries even over the fire alarm. Miranda looks for its source. A tall, thin guy standing just inside Culpeppers pulls his fingers from between his lips. On the other side of the entrance is that dark-skinned clerk, the one who wears a headscarf. She beckons Miranda with an urgent hand. With the other, she’s pulling down the roll-down metal security shutter.
Miranda runs toward the closing shutter like her life depends on it.
Knowing that it does.
4:00 p.m.
DISPATCH: Police, fire, or medical?
RON SKINNER: Police! We’ve got people being shot here!
DISPATCH: Okay. Tell me who you are and your address.
SKINNER: Ron Skinner. I work security at Fairgate Mall. And there’s people being shot here!
DISPATCH: Okay, Ron, take a deep breath. Is there still active shooting?
SKINNER: I don’t know! Hurry. Please hurry. They shot Gabriel and Zach. They work here too. I’m not sure where Timmy is. All we’re issued is pepper spray and zip ties. And they’ve got assault rifles!
DISPATCH: I’m dispatching cars now. How many shooters are there? What’s their location? Another caller stated that they were in the food court.
SKINNER: There’s a lot of them. I’m trying to check all the cams. They started in the food court, but now they’re all over. If they figure out I’m up here in the security office, they’ll kill me, too. You’ve got to get your people here now! Please, please. I don’t want to die!