Free London Wild by V. E. Shearman

Many were likely armed, and if only one percent of those armed in the crowd tried to shoot him, he’d be dead before nightfall and no use at all to Lara then.   
    There was this one herd by the name of Slim Dorris, (Myajes was sure that wasn’t his real name), but he had gotten a reputation as a Herbaht killer by being in a crowd such as this when three Herbaht had been forced to break cover together. This herd was called a hero now. How many ‘heroes’ might there be waiting to prove themselves amidst this crowd?
    He headed back towards the shopping mall. Hopefully he’d be safely in the mall before the dog picked up his scent , and if the soldier had half as much trouble as he had had getting through the crowd gathered at the big screen, he could use the time to escape.
    Again the crowd insisted on blocking his way, and he heard the dog barking long before he had entered the mall. He looked back , unable to resist seeing where the soldier was and what he intended to do.
    The soldier was looking up into the crowd. Myajes was sure that he and the soldier made eye -to-eye contact across the distance. The soldier must have known he was the one the dog had caught the scent of. And there was plenty more crowd to work his way through. He then knew the soldier would have no trouble following; he’d just ask the crowd to let him through. Tell them he was chasing a Herbaht and he’d be on Myajes before he made it to the mall.
    The soldier looked down at his dog, then up into the crowd again. He seemed to be smiling directly at Myajes, and then he pulled the dog’s leash and started heading back the way he had come.
    Myajes felt his entire body relax. He let out a breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding. The soldier hadn’t wanted a confrontation either, especially not as he was on his own. It seemed that discretion was the better part of valor.
    He even felt a bit of respect for the soldier ; Myajes knew who he was, whereas the soldier had no idea who the dog had caught scent of. He was sure that he had imagined that the soldier had been looking at him now. The soldier hadn’t allowed testosterone to make him act rashly and get himself, and probably Myajes, killed.
    As he entered the mall, he thought for a moment that at least the prison camp wouldn’t have any sniffer dogs. With the number of Herbaht prisoners they had, the dog’s barking would drive the guards crazy. Of course, they might have normal guard dogs there.
    There were four levels of the mall, with escalators and elevators and even stairs going between each level. The big important department stores were on the lowest floor where the rent was highest, and some of these were on more than one floor themselves, having their own elevators or stairs to move from one floor to the next.
    The third and fourth floors were smaller and more specialized. Some of these shops were even in the price range of small business owners who still felt they were paying too much for their little space.
    Myajes hadn’t really planned to come into the mall at all, but now that he was here he tried to make his way through the stinking crush of bodies to the bottom of the nearest escalator. There was a map of the mall and a list of the shops in the mall here. Spending a couple of minutes here could save him a lot of time.
    On the fourth floor of the mall was a map shop. It didn’t mean much to him ; he had been in a lot of map shops so far today, and not one had had anything that might be of use. They all had the same maps of London and nothing of the forest to the west.
    He was tired and his mind was feeling numb from the day’s search, but he couldn’t afford to allow even the slightest possibility of a lead to get away. He got on the escalator and made his way up to the fourth floor.
    It was a small shop. A small opening between two glass walls allowed ingress. A very bored -looking shopkeeper sat at the counter to the left of the entry as he walked in. The shopkeeper