The food court had been turned into a wide open-air dining hall with a commercial kitchen behind it.  They looked as if they could serve a small army.  As they walked, they found one of the bigger anchor stores had been converted to a two-story crafting hall, and another appeared to be a tavern with sleeping rooms upstairs.  The movie theater had remained as it was, hundreds of seats facing a stage with a huge screen.

The largest of the big box stores, located at the other end of the main wing, had become a warehouse, and upon entering they found row after row of large boxes and crates along the left side.  The remainder of the space was filled with high shelves stacked to the ceiling with all of the merchandise from the repurposed stores.   They even appeared to have been neatly organized by the System – clothes arranged from undergarments to cold weather coats, electronics and components, household goods like pots and pans, even novelty items from a gift store for adults.

Fuzzy’s nose led him directly to some shelves filled with gift basket items like summer sausages and fancy cheeses, vacuum-wrapped to preserve them.  Allistor and Helen snagged several of these each, Helen taking pity on the bear cub and opening a turkey sausage for him.  The bear promptly forsook his little green buddy, dropping him to the floor to be ignored while he noisily consumed the treat.    Allistor also grabbed a couple boxes of fancy chocolates, intending to give one to Amanda, the other to Chloe.    Helen helped herself to a large jar of macadamia nuts.

When they had finished a complete circuit of the new Stronghold, they returned to the fountain and sat on its wall.  Allistor had grown quiet as they walked, and Helen simply waited for him to share what was on his mind.

Eventually, he said, “We need people.  I mean, good people that we can trust to keep this place safe.  I’m thinking maybe we should split up the band back at the Warren, put a few of our original group here, and at other Strongholds.  Maybe bring Luther here, or send him back to his original Stronghold.  But what we really need is to find more survivors.”

“Ones that aren’t trigger-happy psychos?” Helen smirked at him.

“Hah!  Yes, that would be ideal.” He looked at her, one eyebrow raised. “How’d you like to run this place?  I mean, the mall was your idea, to begin with.  It never would have occurred to me to pick this place.  I’d have gone with the police station or city hall or something.”

She thought about it for a while.  “I’d prefer to go back and man the ranger cabin outpost.  But if you need me here for a while, I’m okay with that.  As long as we find enough people to at least partially fill this place.  I’d be creeped out here all alone.”