The voice over the intercom has been telling me to go straight for almost half an hour now but I still haven't reached the end of the store. She promised this was the safest way to go, promised that anybody who listened to her would live and this twisted game of Simon Says has me as the last player.
Bodies are all over the place, just left wherever they tried to run to or hide from. Following her instructions often meant that I had to step over them, even when they were gasping their last breaths I had to walk away. Hesitation was as good as joining them.
Music still played over the speakers when she was quiet, those faint and muffled songs that sound similar to a few pop songs you'd heard over the radio but something about them was just off enough to make you wonder if you'd ever heard it to begin with.
Half way through one of these internal debates you realised that the voice over the intercom hadn't spoken to you for quite some time now and there was a slow, deliberate shuffling sound coming from behind you. You caught a glimpse of a large fleshy lump in the side of a display fridge and considered running.
It hadn't helped any of the others but this might not be what killed them. This could have nothing to do with any of this. You might have a chance if you just ran straight forward like the intercom had been telling you to do and then you'd find the exit doors and escape and and and
And these thoughts weren't entirely yours. Still, you walked just that little bit faster in the hopes of getting out of its thought range. You don't know how you knew it even had a thought range but it just seemed right at the time and your other options were to slow down or change course - both of which felt like worse choices.
Just as you passed a stack of slow cookers for what felt like the fifth time, she spoke over the intercom again and told you to stop walking. She said the exit was right in front of you but It wasn't letting you see that. She said it was too late for her - for them all - but you could still reach forward and open the door.
And you did. You felt the metal bar of an emergency door and pushed down, half expecting an alarm and instead seeing the body-strewn store in front of you open out into the car park. The shuffling sounded like it was retreating so you whispered your thanks and never looked back.
Somehow your shopping was already waiting in the boot and your keys were in the ignition.
Bodies are all over the place, just left wherever they tried to run to or hide from. Following her instructions often meant that I had to step over them, even when they were gasping their last breaths I had to walk away. Hesitation was as good as joining them.
Music still played over the speakers when she was quiet, those faint and muffled songs that sound similar to a few pop songs you'd heard over the radio but something about them was just off enough to make you wonder if you'd ever heard it to begin with.
Half way through one of these internal debates you realised that the voice over the intercom hadn't spoken to you for quite some time now and there was a slow, deliberate shuffling sound coming from behind you. You caught a glimpse of a large fleshy lump in the side of a display fridge and considered running.
It hadn't helped any of the others but this might not be what killed them. This could have nothing to do with any of this. You might have a chance if you just ran straight forward like the intercom had been telling you to do and then you'd find the exit doors and escape and and and
And these thoughts weren't entirely yours. Still, you walked just that little bit faster in the hopes of getting out of its thought range. You don't know how you knew it even had a thought range but it just seemed right at the time and your other options were to slow down or change course - both of which felt like worse choices.
Just as you passed a stack of slow cookers for what felt like the fifth time, she spoke over the intercom again and told you to stop walking. She said the exit was right in front of you but It wasn't letting you see that. She said it was too late for her - for them all - but you could still reach forward and open the door.
And you did. You felt the metal bar of an emergency door and pushed down, half expecting an alarm and instead seeing the body-strewn store in front of you open out into the car park. The shuffling sounded like it was retreating so you whispered your thanks and never looked back.
Somehow your shopping was already waiting in the boot and your keys were in the ignition.
No comments:
Post a Comment