Portals opened.
One after another. Each zombie that reached a ten-foot radius of him vanished into a violet-white oval and reappeared outside the mall. The sound of their bodies hitting the parking lot came through the broken windows in dull, distant thumps. He walked through the mall as if he were strolling through a park, the zombies disappearing around him like leaves in a wind.
The women followed.
The mother clung to the succubus. The daughter pressed against her mother. Soha walked with her hand on her belly, her dark eyes tracking the portals with quiet fascination.
He stopped at a food court.
The stalls were empty. The counters bare. The equipment smashed. He looked at the vacant registers, the overturned chairs, the tables covered in dust.
"Seems it is already taken," he said.
He turned toward the daughter.
"Are you hungry?"
She blinked. Her small face looked up from where she had been staring at the floor.
"Are we?" he repeated.
"No, I just..."
