One Night In A Supermarket

Either You Make It Out Alive, Or You Don't

Chapter Fifteen... Either You Make It Out Alive, Or You Don't

Lily's POV

I was getting weak and restless.

It had been a long time that we'd been hiding in the coolroom. A very long time. And no matter what, I couldn't help but think that I was going to die in here, just waiting.

"You're pacing again," Nathan breathed. I hadn't even noticed I was on my feet...

"Oh," I frowned. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," he chuckled. "You just look... are you okay?"

"Not really," I sighed.

"You can talk to me, you know," he smiled weakly. "I mean, of course you can. But you... Lily, what's running through your mind right now?"

"We need to get out of here," I muttered.

"Well, that's obvious," he replied, standing up. "So let's get out of here then."

"We leave, Nath, we die," I said sternly. "We may as well commit suicide, because that's what we'd be doing."

"Well, that's what I'm coming to realise," he sighed. "Maybe we're all meant to die."

"What happened to thinking of the positives?" I asked.

"Well, if we stay here any longer we're gonna freeze to death."

"This sucks! I just want to get out of here! I want to know that I'm safe. I don't feel safe, even in here. We could die. Nath, we could die."

"I'm gonna die first, Lil."

"No. Because I can't mourn you."

"And you think I can mourn you? Lily, if we die... we die together. If we live, we live together."

"But you can't guarantee it's going to go that way, Nath. We're in here together, yes! But what if I just... fall asleep. Hypothermia. It kills, you know."

"Lily! You're overreacting..."

"Eugh! I may as well just let myself fall asleep. Then I'll die and not even notice it."

Nathan walked over to the door and held his hand on the lock. I felt butterflies in my stomach, even though his hand was only just on the lock. I didn't want him to open the door, and have the killer be standing on the other side of the door, waiting. I didn't want to know what was on the other side of that door. The mere thought sent shivers down my spine.

"We need to get out of here, Lily," Nathan sighed. "We need to get out of here. And I say we get out of here. Right now."

"You're crazy," I said, tears welling in my eyes. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm realistic," he replied. "Look. I'm gonna go."

"What?! No!" I shouted.

"Shh!" he hissed. "I'm gonna go. I'm already stabbed. If he stabs me again... well, I'm still alive now. I'd like to think I'm lucky. But uh... I'm going to leave the room, and you're gonna stay here."

"That's even more insane," I rolled my eyes. "You can't just leave! What if he's out there, waiting for you to leave? People have probably mentioned my name all night, and this guy hasn't even seen me. He'd stab me until I stopped moving."

"Lily, I'm gonna go," he said finally. "But... I'm coming back."

"Okay... now I'm confused," I frowned. "You just said you were leaving. And now you're telling me you're coming back?! What the hell?!"

"If the coast is clear, Lil, I'm coming back to get you. If the man's gone, I'm coming back to get you. And then we'll leave the supermarket, together."

"Oh, now I get it."

"I wouldn't leave you here to die, Lil. But you have to lock the door when I leave, just in case."

"But... how will I know when you're back here?"

"I'll knock. Or bang, more like it. Okay?"

I smiled and walked up to Nathan. I wrapped my arms around him. He was cold, I could tell. A small shiver escaped, and I couldn't help but feel like something was going to go wrong. I kissed Nathan on the lips, and he kissed back.

I let him out of the door before quickly closing it and locking it again.

Nathan's POV

I felt almost guilty about leaving Lily alone. What if I never got to come back? What if I didn't live? What if Lily didn't live? What if we both died?

All the worst case scenarios were running through my head. I wanted to just... I wanted my head to stop racing. I wanted to just turn around and go back in the room, but I realised how much warmer the Fresh Produce prep room was compared to the icy coolroom that we'd cowered in for the last few hours. And you never realise just how cold a refrigerator is until you practically live in one.

However I slowly left the prep room.

I looked out onto the back dock. There was stock absolutely everywhere. But I couldn't see anybody. Had everybody died? Had they all gone home, and forgotten about us?

I turned around and slowly moved towards the offices. As soon as I opened the doors, I met a gruesome sight. Ella's body lay sprawled across the floor of the hallway, and I didn't need to go near her to know she was dead. Her eyes were glassy, and wide open. Her body lay unmoving, and she lay in a pool of her own blood.

The sight brought a tear to my eyes. That could have been Lily.

I walked over and gently closed Ella's eyes. Her body was as cold as ice, so she'd been dead for a little while. A quiet girl who had told us all that she feared something would go wrong tonight. In fact, I'd never heard so many words come out of the girl's mouth. She was afraid, and probably would have been one that left here tonight alive, only to take her own life on an overdose of some form of medication. Ella had been a friend of mine, and I would remember her bright face forever.

"Goodbye, Ella," I whispered.

I stood up and walked away from Ella then. I looked in the manager's office, but it was empty. So I moved into the other office, where I met another gruesome sight.

Cameron.

He was still so young. Well, he was only nineteen or twenty... but so young... And he lay on the floor, unmoving. I checked to see if he was still alive, but he had no pulse. I had more tears in my eyes. This man had come along and killed two young people. I mean, it could have been me! I was around the same age as both Cameron and Ella. It broke my heart to see them.

All I was thinking about was their families. How do you comprehend two young lives lost? Plus Vincent. He'd been the first of us to die. He didn't stand a chance...

I wiped away my tears and left the room then. There were trails of blood everywhere. Footsteps... definitely not the killer, I doubt he'd be that stupid. Or would he? I mean, he'd come to rob the place, we believed. And when I walked a bit further towards the entrance to the lunch room, I found a one dollar bill.

He was definitely robbing the place.

I walked out through the lunchroom, and into the store.

I was met with quietness. It had never been this quiet in here, especially not tonight. Where had the man gone? Now I thought that he'd gotten what he wanted... he'd robbed the place. And the front door of the store was now wide open, with all of the registers open and empty.

He'd gone.

I wanted to turn around, but I sunk to the floor in shock. My whole body was numb, and I had a girl's response to trauma when I burst into tears. I'd always been a class clown, the type of guy who always got into trouble. But now I was crumpled on the floor, and my stab wound was starting to hurt.

I stood up after a few minutes, taking in deep breaths. I decided to return to Lily, and we'd both get out of here, when I saw a flashlight out of the corner of my eye. It was coming from out in the mall...

My whole body froze in horror.