Fuzzy woke them early in the morning, poking his nose at Allistor with the Fibble doll in his mouth, looking to be let outside.  Allistor was impressed with the request, though he supposed it was in a bear’s nature not to want to shit in its own den.  Still, he talked to the cub as if he were a human as they unlocked the set of double doors by the truck. “You just gonna carry that thing around everywhere?”  He caught himself waiting for the cub to answer.

After Fuzzy took care of business – apparently bears did it in the woods and in parking lots – he fed the growing cub a couple of fish from the day before.   While his pet scarfed down the fatty protein, he surveyed the parking lot.    There was no sign of canids or anything else.  If he knew how to hotwire a vehicle, he could claim a whole fleet for his people.  There was a brand new Camaro in the lot that caught his eye.  Red with the black dual stripes up the hood and over the top.

Taking the satiated bear back inside and locking the doors, he rejoined Helen in their little recliner sitting area.  She’d set some snacks and water out on the coffee table.  “Are you ready to try and clear this place?” She smiled at him.

“Nope. But we need to get it done.  I didn’t hear anything at all last night, did you?”

“Just you and Fuzzy snoring.” She tilted her head back and fake-snored loudly. “I think if anything was living in here, you two would have drawn it to us.”

Allistor craned his neck around a bookcase to get a look at the gate.  “Nothing out there.  Maybe we’re good.  Still, there could be something lurking in the back halls.  These malls are full of those.”

Finishing their meal, they began to gear up.  Allistor was just lowering his shotgun strap over his shoulder when something struck him.  He started laughing.  “Oh, man.”

Helen paused in tying her boots and looked up. “What’s so funny?”

He shook his head.  “Maybe nothing, hold on a second.”  He pulled up his interface and selected the Stronghold tab.  There it was, the option to claim Frontier Mall as a Stronghold, with a green button ready to go.

“Looks like we can save ourselves the trouble.  The system says I can claim this place right now.  Which means it’s clear.  I just remembered the other night when I went to claim the ranger cabin as an Outpost, the system blocked me, saying there were other “occupants” already there.  We found you, and a couple rats.  I’m going to assume the system meant you.”

“So if the system’s ready to let you claim this place, we’re the only ones here.  Nice!” She held out a fist for him to bump.  “But what about the missile bunker?”