A scream tore through Sarah’s throat as she felt the metal barrier shake violently, while a young girl’s voice sang a children’s song on the other side. It raised goosebumps across her entire body and she felt her head spin in panic as she scanned the outdoor sporting goods store. There were pigskin footballs, soccer balls, volleyballs, shelves of padding and gloves and other miscellaneous gear. She slowly began to move after the shaking of her legs stopped and she could pull herself up the wall to stand properly. She had decided to do something about her situation.
Sarah stood in front of the shelf with pads for cyclists, skaters and skateboarders, tracing the pads with her right pointer as she looked for sizes that fit her. She did not know what the mannequins were capable of besides shaking the door so safety was her first priority if she needed to fight her way out. Although she thought as much, she prayed that it would not come down toa fight as she was not very confident. She also considered her choice of weapon and a grim smile crossed her lips. The only two probable weapons in the store longer than her arms would be the baseball bats or hockey sticks, neither of which seemed very useful against mannequins.
Finding elbow pads that seemed to be in her size, Sarah began tearing open the package while the metal wall’s shaking became more violent. She yanked out the pads, strapped them on and began search for the knee pads next. The children’s song on the other side got louder and felt as if it was projecting directly into her mind now. Her fingers moved faster as her heart pumped blood at increasing rates. Another five minutes and she had the knee pads on now and began to look for batter’s gloves to cover her hands and then a jacket or something she could use as a jacket to cover her arms.
The song ended and the shaking wall stopped, all noise disappearing just as suddenly as it had started. Not even the clacking of the footsteps of plastic molded feet could be heard now. Only Sarah’s deep fearful breaths could be heard within the store and she paused in her steps as she walked to the store’s counter where a jacket was stuffed underneath. She felt as though something was very wrong, she just couldn’t think of what it was right now. Picking back up her feet, she made it to the counter and grabbed the jacket, an oversized brown leather coat with an inner vest that could be removed via zipper. Throwing it on, she resumed her search for the batter’s gloves, finding them in the back corner under the hanging baseball bats. Upon putting them on, she realized that her head was still vulnerable so she turned around to the hockey and cyclist shelves once more.
Speed walking over while trying to calm her pounding heart down enough to listen for the mannequins, she stood by the cyclist helmets. She pried a few off the shelves, out of their boxes and tried them on until she found one that fit snugly. A baseball helmet would have been better for protection, but it would be hard to hear anything with her ears covered. Next, she moved on to the hockey section and found a small sized hockey goalie mask with an oversized hockey stick. It would be rough and unwieldy in combat, but she wanted it more for the longer reach. She wasn’t confident in her arm strength, not enough to break a mannequin, however pushing them aside shouldn’t be a problem.
Sarah looked over herself and nearly cried at the terrible fashion statement she was making in her current getup. She had on her security guard uniform, elbow and knee pads, a blue cyclist helmet, white goalie mask and yellow batter’s gloves while wielding a hockey stick longer than her own body. She took a deep breath in and out to calm herself, gather her courage and then headed to the back door of the store. Every store had a back entrance/exit due to fire safety regulations, usually in the small stockroom of the stores.
Sarah opened the stockroom door, stepped inside and continued to the exterior door. However, when her fingers touched the doorknob, she paused once again to listen for noises. There was still absolute silence, even her heartbeat had slowed down considerably and a pin drop would have sounded like thunder at this moment. Slowly, carefully, turning the knob she pulled the door open and stuck her head out to take a quick look around the corridor. There was baseboard lighting lit up for clarity when the main lights were off just as they were now. It made seeing more than a couple feet in front of her very difficult. The store’s lights were already on when she ran inside it, which had made her suspicious at first but the cameras had also been working properly and other stores seemed to have their lights on too. Thinking further along those lines, the stores she ran past were all open and the mall had this odd feeling of being fully occupied before she arrived. Maybe that meant there were truly other people around here somewhere? The question came unbidden to her mind as she stepped into the hallway and looked up for the dim red emergency exit light.
Her heart nearly stopped beating when she finally found it as two tiny legs were dangling over the “t” and swaying back and forth. She didn’t dare think anymore and simply bolted for the exit, regardless of the consequneces. Going back out through the inner mall was not even a choice. One small doll would not stop her escape from this terrifying place. She would get to the parking lot and then figure out her next course of action from there. She would come back later if she found enough people to try and rescue anyone else trapped in here, assuming they were still alive or even existed.
Bolting from her spot, Sarah sprinted as fast as she could to the emergency exit lit door and slammed into it with her elbows first. The hockey stick slapping out towards the doll above as she ran towards the exit, straining to keep her eyes open despite her fear. Surprise registered in her eyes when she plowed through the door unobstructed and entered another hallway, crashing into the opposite wall. Bruised and filled with pain, she pulled herself back up and ran towards the second exit, the one leading to the parking lot. However a hand clasped her shoulder as she stood back up and she immediately swung backwards with the hockey stick clobbering a mannequin and nearly tripping from the momentum as she moved forward in desperation. Turning her head back to look at what she hit as she ran, she regretted it instantly as there were a dozen mannequins piled into the corridor and shifting forward like a wave.
Sarah felt a presence close in on her as she neared the exit, only a dozen more steps so she swung the hockey stick again. However, this time it got stuck on something and she stopped short of the exit as a pulling force yanked on the hockey stick. In an instant, she decided to release her grasp on it and bent forwards to crash through the exit door just a second faster, like a marathon runner crossing the finish line. Her palms held out in front of her, she pushed open the emergency exit and felt the sunlight hit her eyes. She felt as though freedom was finally in sight and she could breathe once again. She nearly forgot about the terror behind her as she stumbled out of the mall and took a quick scan of her surroundings. There were dozens of vehicles in the parking lot, enough that the mall should have been crowded with people. She blanked out when she saw them and missed her best chance to escape as white plastic and fiberglass arms reached out and grabbed her on all sides. Her scream resounded as she was pulled back inside the mall before the exit door slammed shut. A childish girl’s voice laughed merrily in the silence following her scream before it slowly disappeared and calm was restored to the world outside the mall.
