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Raising my wrist, I squint to make out what my watch shows. 10:46 PM. Out of frustration, I blow air out of my mouth as I try to think of what the hell to do next. What am I missing here? I decide to take my chances and try the main doors. I just need to get to my car anyway. Once I get there I realize they're sliding doors and there's no electricity. I try manually pushing them because that is supposed to work but they don't budge. I turn away shaking my head. At this point my chances of getting out don't look so good so maybe I should just find a corner and settle down.

I notice the weight of my currently useless phone sitting in my back pocket and feel a little bit of hope rising as I realize I can probably find a charger somewhere in this place. My mind immediately visualizes a map of the store as I figure out where the electronics would be. Far corner. I don't waste time in moving, my flashlight swerving in front of and around me constantly.

Suddenly, I see the silhouette of a person disappearing into a corner from my peripheral vision. I tense up and increase my pace. What the hell was that? A part of me wants to go follow it but I know that getting help is more important, especially now that I know I'm not alone. Besides, it's probably someone else lost like me and I'll be doing them a favour. I see the section where they have phones lined up for display. Bingo. I make my way over and crouch down to shine some light through the glass cabinets below the counter.

"C'mon…" I mutter as my eyes sweep through the neat stacks of mobile phone boxes. Shaking my head, I let out a silent curse as I realize they're all Android. Bummer. I notice that the cabinets are locked so I would be screwed either way.

I get back up, super aware of my surroundings and keeping an eye out for whoever that was. I think of just finding myself a nice spot to spend the night. The cosmetics area doesn't sound too bad. I turn left and start walking, surprised I hadn't broken down out of panic yet. I check my watch again to find out it's only 11:06 PM. Crap. I would kill to have someone here with me at least. My thoughts are interrupted abruptly by the sound of footsteps behind me. I whip around, still walking, to see a man following me. It's the same staff member I bumped into earlier, his dark eyes now devoid of emotion, like mine.

"I need help-" I start but he interrupts me.

"Ma'am the store is closed. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave," he says. I scowl. As if that's not what I've been trying to do.

"Yes but the-" I stop when I see he's holding a baseball bat I hadn't noticed before.

He raises his arm now as he prepares to strike. My eyes widen. "Shit, n-nevermind," I stutter and take off in the other direction.

I don't stop running or waste time looking back, only slowing down after I'm a good distance away and I've turned a few corners for good measure. Whatever the hell happened to him? Hopefully I don't have to encounter another psycho.

As if on cue, another staff member appears from my left and tries to grab me. I push the nearest thing I can find towards her, which happened to be a shopping cart. It slows her down enough to give me time to disappear from her sight. My focus immediately switches from trying to get the hell out of here to surviving the night, with my newfound knowledge that I'm being hunted. My hands tremble as they keep the flashlight centred in front of me. I don't know which way to go. Hiding seems like the best option until I think about what would happen if I were to get caught. The last thing I want is to end up cornered so I just keep walking, paranoid as hell. It begins to get a little chilly without the electricity so I enter the clothing section and look for a jacket. Still keeping an eye out for other people, I search through the lines of clothing until I stumble across one that looks like it would fit and throw it on top of my hoodie. They can't charge me for it if I'm dead anyway.

"Well aren't I full of sunshine," I mutter.

The fluttering light in the distance creates a strange mood in this seemingly "normal" place. I feel myself getting a little tired and checking the time, I see that it's 12:04 AM. I smile bitterly, for once grateful for my inability to sleep well. If it does come to the point where I'm about to pass out, I can just eat things to keep myself awake; I'm in a supermarket after all. Ice cream would help or some chocolate, there's even the possibility of some fruit. I start looking through other clothing, lost in thought. I could probably go for the chocolate since I'm closest to it. But I would only need to do that in a few hours; I think I'm good for now. My genius plan-making process is suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone mumbling.

"You can run but you can't hide." I stay as silent as possible and turn off my flashlight. Squinting in the dimly lit area, I make out a shadow at around 2:00 drawing closer. Oh no. I begin to back away slowly, careful not to touch anything lest I make a sound. But instead I accidently back into a bunch of clothes and one of them drops to the ground, the hanger hitting the floor with a massive explosion. My face scrunches up as I realize how screwed I am. The figure breaks into a run in my direction and I do the same in the opposite one, turning my flashlight back on. I decide to take a quick look over my shoulder and see that there's no one following me. I slow down and come to a stop, resting my hands on my knees to catch my breath. I guess all that running I used to do to "clear my head" is finally paying off tonight. I search for something to create some sort of distraction just in case they might still be around. I realize I'm near the drinks section so I go in and grab a couple of soda cans. Then I reach back and chuck them as far as I can in quick succession. They make a noise somewhere far off in the other direction which hopefully creates some confusion.

A snack sounds like a good idea so I leave the section and go for the cashiers. Gotta love my somewhat decent moral compass, I think as I reach for a Snickers bar. I'm rewarding myself for making it this far. I nod to myself like an idiot. That seems like a good justification. Then I turn and continue walking without a destination in mind. I remain ultra aware, especially when I'm only able to see a few paces in front of me. I glance down at my watch which shows that it's quarter to 1.