The Purge: Surviving The Night

Grocery Store

5:19 am, 1 hour and 41 minutes until the end of The Annual Purge.

"Everything looks so pretty!" Kelsey said in awe.

"I guess," I replied while looking around. I needed to see if anyone was nearby who could possibly be a threat. So far there was nobody, but that could easily change really quickly.

"Where do you think everyone is?" Kelsey asked, as if reading my mind.

"I'm not sure," I admitted. "They're either hiding in their homes, or not in Chicago."

"Why would they not be in Chicago?" she asked. "This seems like the perfect place to rampage for the night!"

"I guess. Now just stay quiet and focus."

"Okay..."

I could see The Willis Tower getting a lot closer, which made me feel happy and relieved. I finally knew where Mark was and I knew this night will not have been a waste! The only difficult part left was actually finding him inside the tower... Suddenly, I heard a loud growling noise from behind me! I turned around and saw Kelsey holding her tummy with a painful expression on her face. She didn't have to say anything; I could tell she was really hungry. Now that I thought of it, I couldn't remember the last time I ate something!

"Okay, how about a quick snack break?" I asked.

"Yes, please!" She said with a giant smile.

I looked around and saw a grocery store nearby. The lights were on, but the windows were busted. However, there seemed to be stuff in the shelves.

"Let's go," I told her.

We then ran towards the store with my gun at the ready. I took a peek inside the shattered glass window and couldn't see anyone inside. That doesn't mean it was empty...

"Okay, stay close," I told her quietly. "I'll grab anything you want inside, and some stuff for me. But just be careful. Someone could easily be inside. Ok?"

"Ok," she replied in a whisper.

I then jumped in the window and looked around. Nobody.

"Can we get some Oreos? And Twinkies? Oh! And Reese's?" she asked quietly but joyfully.

"It's The Purge," I replied. "Of course we can!"

With that, we headed towards the snack food section. I was surprised to still see items on the shelves, especially this late into The Purge.

"Grab as much as you want," I told her. "I'll be getting something for me."

"Okay!" She replied while staring at the snacks as if she was looking into the eyes of God. I then went over a few aisles over and found some beef jerky and Nacho Cheese Doritos. I also went to the next aisle and grabbed a few bottles of Mountain Dew; I could use the energy. I then saw a cart nearby and placed my goodies into it and walked it over to Kelsey, who was shoving Twinkies and Oreos and Ding-Dongs and other snacks into her hands and shirt. I pointed out the cart to her and she smiled and dumped everything into it. Pretty soon the cart was packed with food and drinks. We then pushed it to the front of the store and started eating. She started with a few Twinkies. I took some bites out of some jerky. I looked up and saw the Tower so close to us. I was working it out in my head: depending on how many people are inside that will protect Mark, I'll rush in, kill them, find Mark's office, and kill him. At most, it should take 45 minutes. And that's worst case scenario.

"Want one?" Kelsey asked.

I turned towards her and saw her offering me a Little Debbie Zebra Cake. I smiled and gladly accepted. I loved these things when I was little. It reminded me of the early 1990's, long before The Purge. Back when life seemed wonderful.

"Slow down," I told her suddenly. "You're gunna choke if you eat too much at once!"

She looked at me like I just asked her to perfectly recreate the Mona Lisa in 30 minutes. Half a Sno-Ball was sticking out of her mouth.

"Just saying," I replied, and then proceeded to take some gulps of Mountain Dew.

"Can we hide this stuff somewhere?" she asked. "I can't eat this all right now..."

"I'm not sure where to hide it," I admitted. "The most we can do is hope nobody takes it."

"Oh..."

"Come on," I told her after throwing my empty jerky wrapper back into the store. "The sun's about to come up, which means we have about an hour left."

"Alright!" She said happily. "Let's do this!"

I then smiled back and we headed towards The Willis Tower. I could tell this could be very dangerous, but hey, if we didn't make it out alive, at least we had a great last meal! Well, if you wanna call it a meal.