The parking lot cam showed newbies heading toward the mall. The captain of the Mall Cops radio crackled. His forked tongue darted between his dry lips as he drew another drag on his little black cigarette. He was in the smoking area outside the Mall. He turned his attention to the farther entrance where the seven latest "guests" were entering. The Mall was free, but it cost you your soul and identity. That's how Caleb became the mall cop captain he was today.
The voice on the radio reported that after stopping at the Mall Directory, Zack and Andrew heading toward the food court, but there were lots of shops on the way there. Carl was lingering by Victoria's Secret. Greg was shuffling aimlessly toward the fountain. Jack appeared to be restroom bound. And two were no longer visible on camera. He snuffed out his cigarette, and went back in the Mall to follow up on the latest guests. Strays had to be dealt with before they could do damage....
Harlow had been disappointed but not surprised that there was no auto parts store listed on the mall directory, but there were several unmarked spaces on the map that intrigued him. He noticed that there were lots of cars in the mall lot, and some were pretty dusty. He wondered if there was a dust storm or something that they had missed. He shrugged. He did notice that the mall cop cars were clean and shiny. So he figured they had to be serviced on site or they would be dusty too. Maybe the mall vehicle motor pool would have the parts he needed, if he could find it. It wouldn't be stealing because the sign said, "Everything was free." Though he suspected it meant the parking and water, though he had heard of some restaurants where you could pay whatever you wanted, whether it was zero or $100. Maybe that was the concept here. Pay what you like? He watched as the others wandered off, and he pushed through a plain door marked "MALL PERSONNEL ONLY- PRIVATE DO NOT ENTER".
It was a non-descript tunnel with bad fluorescent lighting. There were a few signs. Lighted green exit sign above the door he entered and visible but illegible farther down the long hall. There were other signs with numbers letters and arrows. He continued down the hall. He noticed the back doors to the shops had signs on them with odd pictograms. The one marked Victoria's Secret in plain black letters had a caricature of a big breasted blonde bimbo wearing only lingerie on one side, and a hairy, mustached buff dude with the exact same outfit. It screamed Himbo. Harlow snickered. Somebody had a sense of humor. The Sporting Goods store had a lot more caricatures from dumb jocks to fishy "Black Lagoon Monster" style creatures. He shuffled down the hall, at an intersection he saw a sign marked Security with an arrow. He turned to go that way.