It was unusually quiet when I woke up, not too mention bright. The lights were back on. For a few moments I thought maybe I’d gone deaf, but then I remembered I was wearing Anthony’s headphones. After taking them off, I found it was still silent. There was no thunder— not even the sound of heavy rain. A smile was starting to grow on my face. The storm was finally over.

            I turned my head to tell Anthony, my voice getting caught in my throat when my eyes landed on his sleeping face. His expression was peaceful and his shaggy hair fell over his closed eyes, making him look cuter than usual. Glancing down, I noticed our hands were still entwined. A warm feeling spread throughout me and I felt the overwhelming urge to kiss him. Somehow I managed to force that desire down.

            Slowly, I slid my hand out of his grasp, trying to ease out of my sleeping bag without waking him up. My stomach rumbled loudly and I slapped a hand to it, afraid the sound would rouse the sleeping young man. Bearing a sheepish expression, I backed away from our campsite and headed for the food aisle. Nutella was sounding pretty good at the moment. This time though, I didn’t want it to be on my face.

            I whistled to myself as I almost skipped to the food aisle. Knowing the storm was over (hopefully over) definitely made me feel a hundred times better. Soon I would be out of this place and I’d be able to see if my family and Julius were okay. My heart sped up a little at the idea. The only thing I wanted was for everyone to be safe. After I ate, I was going to check the reinforcement walls to see if they were still down. Even if the storm was over, if the walls were still up we were still stuck until someone came and raised them.

            As I turned the corner to enter the food aisle, unfamiliar voices met my ears. Immediately I froze, my eyes widening. People? Were those other people? Cautiously, I peeked around the corner, my gaze landing on two men. They both were soaked, looking like they’d been caught in a heavy rainfall. Hoodies were over their heads and their boots squelched as they walked. From what I could make out, they were maybe a few years older than Anthony. Hope swelled up inside of me at the sight of them. If they got in, that meant there was a way out.

            “Hey!” I called, stepping into the aisle and revealing myself completely. “Hey, you two!”

            The two young men paused, their heads turning toward me in perfect unison. Excited, I jogged over to them, grinning in a friendly manor. One of the men had cropped blonde hair while the other was a brunette and had a little stubble on his chin. The blonde one returned shifted his position slightly, his body drawing up to his full height in what seemed to be a defensive manor.

            “Hi!” I greeted, a little breathlessly. “Do you guys work here? Or do you happen to be city workers? Or…”

            The men glanced at each other, frowns crossing their faces. The blonde one narrowed his grey eyes at me. “Are you in here alone?”

            My smile faltered a little. What kind of question was that? Was I in here alone? Why would he ask that? I quickly scanned his body from head to toe once more, taking in a few things I hadn’t noticed before. The first and foremost being the basket full of expensive electronics in his hand. My eyes widened slightly. These guys definitely weren’t Walmart workers. They were looters.

            “Well?” the blonde prodded.

            With my mind racing, I did my best to figure out a way to get myself out of my situation. What was the best answer to that question? If I said yes, they might hunt for Anthony. If I said no, they might think I’m lying. Or think I was a looter too. There were hundreds of different things that could happen.

            “She’s hesitating, so that must mean she’s here alone,” the brunet commented, a relieved expression crossing his face. “Good.”

            Suddenly the familiar sound of an AT&T ring tone met my ears, causing my heart to lurch. That definitely was a cell phone. The brunet looked down and I noticed he had a cell phone in his left hand. If it was ringing, that meant some or all of the phone towers had been fixed… Which also meant I could call for help if needed.

            “I was really hoping no one was in here,” the blonde sighed, setting down the basket of electronics. “This just makes things more difficult.”

            “I’ll pretend I didn’t see you,” I told him nervously, forcing a smile. Now was the perfect time to call the police and get them here. Looters were definitely not a good thing. “Don’t mind me,” I continued, gradually pivoting on my foot. “I’ll just leave—”

            A hand landed on my shoulder. “Wait.”

            I tensed. “Yes?”

            “We’re not done here yet, so we can’t just let you leave. Don’t want you calling the cops on us, you know?”

            Without thinking, I thrust my elbow into the man’s gut. To my pleasure, he let go of my arm, and I shot forward, heading straight for the back rooms where I knew a telephone was sure to be. Maybe running was a bad idea, but I couldn’t think of a better one at the moment. Walmart was a large enough building. I’d have to lose them sooner or later.

            “Get back here!” the two men chorused.

            I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Why waste their breath? It wasn’t like telling me to stop was going to make me stop. No one was stupid enough to— “Ah!” I cried, my eyes widening as my foot slipped out from under me. With a sickening splat, my face hit the tiled floor. I groaned in pain and that groan was doubled as a foot was placed forcefully onto my back.

            “Nice try girly,” the blonde man started, “but even if you called the cops, we’d be out of here before they got here. The roads are pretty shitty.” He removed his foot from my back and I scrambled to my feet. Once more he placed his hands on my shoulders to keep me from running away.  “Try that again though, and I won’t be this nice.”

            “Sure,” I muttered, figuring this would happen. Now it would be more difficult to find a phone I could use. Silently, I begged Anthony to wake up. It didn’t seem like these guys wanted to harm me, but they could change their mind at any second.

            “Ethan, why don’t you carry the goods to the car while I keep an eye on the girl?” the blonde suggested, his hand on my shoulder tightening.

            The one named Ethan nodded, picking up the basket his friend had put down. “Make sure she won’t tell anyone about us either, Nolan. Get the security cameras erased.”

            “Right,” Nolan responded, putting his other hand on my other shoulder. “Let’s go then, girl.”

            Allowing him to push me away, I tried to think of a plan to escape him. The first thought to my mind was to attack him, but I wasn’t sure how well I’d fair against a man his size. A surge of annoyance washed through me. Who the heck looted Walmart? How had they even gotten… “Ah,” I said, blinking.

            “What?”

            “How did you guys get in here?” I inquired, turning my head so I could see Nolan’s face.

            He smirked. “Probably the same way you did.”

            “I didn’t come in here to steal stuff like a loser,” I snapped at him.

            Rolling his eyes, he shoved me forward a little more roughly. “Little girls like you wouldn’t understand.”

            “Actually, I’m eighteen, not little. And answer my question.” My words were surprisingly bold. I was a little shocked they were coming out of my mouth.

            “Eighteen? At least you’re legal,” he said with a grin.

            I grimaced. I didn’t even want to think of what he was implicating.

            “To answer your question though,” he went on, “we just picked the lock on the back door.”

            “Huh? But isn’t the reinforcement wall in the way?”

            “No… There’s a door in that reinforcement wall that leads to the main door,” he explained. “If that’s not how you got in, then how did you?”

            Frowning, I absently replied, “I’ve been stuck in here for three days.”

            Nolan laughed, his hands dropping from my shoulders as he decided to walk next to me instead of pushing me. “Really?”

            “Really.” Did Anthony know about that door? I didn’t think he did. He would’ve said something about it if he had… Wouldn’t he have?

            “The security base is probably in the back,” Nolan mused to himself. “I can just snatch up those tapes…”

            A light bulb went off in my head at his words. While he was busy erasing the footage I could sneak away from him. Then I could call the cops. Maybe they’d go easy on Anthony and I about taking things without paying if I helped them catch the looters.

            Eventually we found the security base where all the monitors that connected to the cameras were located. Nolan immediately set to figuring out how to erase the video content. I watched as he did so, reviewing the footage that was filmed. To my surprise, I saw myself sneaking into the building. Nolan looked at me, a knowing expression on his face. “Got trapped in here, right?”

            I wrinkled my nose. That looked bad. It looked like I had snuck in. “Could you possibly erase that?”

            “Sure,” he responded with a laugh. “I guess we’re in the same boat.”

            Like a shot, I realized that if he deleted the footage the video cameras captured there would be no proof that he or his friend were here. That wouldn’t be good. I had to get him out of this room. He finished deleting the video of me entering the building and began playing the footage again. A little into it, it went black. That must’ve been where the power went out before Anthony turned on the generator. A few moments later vision came back to the screens and in one of them I could see Anthony and I together.

            “Hey,” Nolan started slowly, staring at Anthony. “I thought you were in here alone…”

            At his words, I twisted my on my heel, bolting out the door of the security room. It was a little embarrassing to know that the police or Walmart owners that would review this footage would see everything that Anthony and I had done (for the most part) during the whole time we’d been trapped, but that wasn’t as important as making sure these looters got caught. It was more serious than normal stealing.

            “Get back here!” I heard Nolan shout after me and then the sounds of his footfalls. “Hey!”

            I was running, but I wasn’t sure where I was going. Maybe to Anthony? But what if he was still sleeping? I didn’t want him being harmed by this guy. Normally crooks would have weapons on them. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nolan did too. After a few seconds I decided to just go to Anthony. There was really nothing else I could do. He would have to help me out with this.

            Sprinting across the cluttered store was proving to be difficult. I could hear Nolan shouting at me from behind as I did my best to jump over and avoid all the mess on the floor. It was all over if I slipped on anything. Luckily for me, we were close to our campsite, so I started screaming. “Anthony! Anthony, wake up! Anthony!”

            “Stop shouting!” Nolan demanded, sounding dangerously close to me.

            Skidding around a corner, I came to our makeshift campsite. My heart sunk in my chest when I realized Anthony wasn’t lying on his rough and ready bed. Where was he? Redirecting myself, I decided to head for the food aisle. That was the only other place I figured he’d be. It was times like these I was glad I took soccer. Even if I hated running, I didn’t tire easily. I was a little out of shape though, so I could feel the burning sensation starting in my chest. Only a little further. We were just passing the refrigerator section now…

            “Ow!” I cried sharply as I felt my hair being tugged from behind.

            “I said to stop,” Nolan told me in a dangerously low voice, speaking directly into my ear. “So stop.”

            Obeying him, I stopped dead, afraid of getting my hair ripped out of my scalp.

            “Good,” he said. “Now, either you behave or I’ll go lock you up somewhere where it’ll be hard for someone else to find you.”

            “I’ll behave,” I promised quickly.

            “I’ll give you one more chance then—”

            Pivoting on my foot, I slammed my elbow into Nolan’s side, catching him off guard. Using that moment to my advantage, I put one of my legs behind his, and shoved him backward as hard as I could. He tripped over my foot, hitting the ground hard on his back. I winced as I watched his head ricochet off the hard ground. A groan emitted from his lips and I stumbled back a few steps away from him so he couldn’t grab my leg.

            “You…”

            “I suggest you stay there,” I started, doing my best to keep my voice steady. “Just until the cops come.”

            He snorted, starting to push himself off the ground. “You think that will stop me?”

            Unable to think of anything else to do and in a blind panic, I kicked him in the ribs. Once again he fell to the ground. Groaning again, he attempted to push himself back up. Once again I kicked him. And again. This time he stayed down and silent.

            “That was close,” I sighed.

            “I’m closer.”

            Before I could react, I felt myself being pulled away from Nolan and being slammed into one of the refrigerator doors. My gaze met the angry one of Ethan’s. I stared at him stupidly. I’d forgotten about him.

            “Nolan was nice, but I’m not so nice,” he told me, producing a small switchblade. “I hate when people get in my way.”

            “Hold up,” I ordered, eyeing the knife warily. “What are you doing with that?”

            “Making sure a certain someone stays silent about what’s happened here,” he responded threateningly. “I’m sure you won’t say anything, but just to be safe I’ll leave you a little reminder slash warning.”

            I flinched as I felt him press the cool blade to the underside of my chin. At least he was being nice and not making a wound in a place that couldn’t be easily seen. “Easy on me. I’m a girl.”

            “Gender doesn’t matter to me,” he snapped, pressing the blade deeper into my skin. Soon it was going to puncture.

            “Ellie!”

            My eyes shot to the side, where a stunned Anthony was standing, his eyes as round as saucers. “Anthony!”

            “I thought I told you to leave!” he demanded angrily, facing Ethan. “I already called the cops.”

            The man jerked his hand away from me, making the blade slice my skin the slightest bit. It was just enough to draw a little blood and cause me to hiss in pain. In the blink of an eye, Anthony was in front of Ethan, sending a punch into the side of his face. Ethan tried to retaliate, swinging the switchblade dangerously close to Anthony’s face, but Anthony avoided him like a pro. Seconds later Anthony’s fist met Ethan’s face for the second time. It was surprising to watch Anthony fight so well. I’d heard that story of him fighting Richard, but seeing him grapple with Ethan was a lot different. I wanted to do something to help him, but couldn’t figure out what I could do. Ethan’s fist nicked the edge of Anthony’s jaw and I winced. Anthony retaliated by delivering an uppercut to Ethan’s jaw, causing Ethan to drop the switchblade. Noticing this was my chance to help, I quickly snatched it off the floor and held it up threateningly toward Ethan. “Don’t move.”

            He scowled at me, blood trickling from the right corner of his lips. “You’re lucky I don’t have a gun.”

            “We’re lucky we got stupid looters,” Anthony corrected him, shaking his wrist out. “Though the ones back in Florida were even more stupid. They didn’t even bring weapons. Or know how to pick a lock.”

            “Anthony…”

            “Right,” he said, grinning sheepishly. “Let’s get these guys tied up. Ellie, can you handle getting some rope while I watch these guys?”

            I nodded, the blade I was holding still pointed at Ethan. “Yeah, take the switchblade then. And careful, I don’t think Nolan is unconscious. I think he’s just out of it.”

            “You know their names?”

            Shrugging, I half-smiled at him. “I kind of ran into them a little earlier.”

            “Oh,” he responded with a frown. “Are you okay?”

            “I’m fine,” I told him, sticking out my tongue. “Just take the blade and I’ll go grab some rope.”

            Nodding, he took the blade from me, keeping it aimed at Ethan. After a moment of hesitation, I started running to the aisle I’d seen rope in before. Fortunately, it was close and I managed to retrieve it and return to Antony in record time. He took it from me and immediately tied both men’s wrists behind their backs and their legs together so they couldn’t move. He sat them back to back and, for added measure, tied them together. Finally happy with his handiwork, he straightened his back and brushed his hands off. “There,” he said, grinning. “All set. You two just sit tight until the cops get here.”

            Ethan glared at him. “I’ll remember your face.”

            “Not when you realize how long you’ll be locked up for looting,” he responded smartly.

            “Anthony,” I murmured, gripping the back of his shirt. “Don’t taunt him…”

            “Are you scared?” he asked in a teasing tone.

            I gave him a look that told him I wasn’t joking around. The corners of his lips turned down and he patted my head. “It’s okay, Ellie.”

            “I’m not a dog,” I mumbled, pushing his hand away. “How did you know the phones were working?”

            “A little red button flashes by the side of it. I stumbled across one after seeing these two and realizing they were looters, so I called the police. It took a little bit to get through to them though. Phone lines must be really busy now.”

            His words made my stomach constrict. The phone lines were probably busy with calls to 911 because of injuries. How bad was it outside?

            “Ellie?”

            “Yeah?”

            “You know, once the cops get here we’ll be in for a lot of questioning, right?” he asked me.

            I made a face. “Yeah, I know. I figured as much.”

            “Not as much as these guys though,” he told me, hooking a thumb at the looters. “But still enough. And our story will probably be on the news. We’ll have our five minutes of fame.”

            “So much attention,” I sighed. “I don’t like attention.”

            He laughed. “Really?”

            “Really. It’s annoying.”

            “I find it annoying too,” he agreed with a grin. “But Ellie, promise me we’ll still be friends.”

            Taken aback by his words, I stared at him. “What?”

            “Promise?”

            “Of course we’ll still be friends!” I responded. I wanted to be more than friends. Which meant I’d have to tell him my age soon… Frowning, I decided that could wait one more day. “You’ll be my friend no matter what too, right?”

            He nodded. “Of course.”

            “How cute,” Ethan commented in a mocking tone.

            We ignored him.

            “Hey Anthony?”

            “Yeah?”

            “These guys said they got in here by the back door,” I started slowly, watching his face for any kind of reaction. “They said there was a door in the reinforcement walls. Is that true?”

            His eyes lit up in amusement, a smirk tugging on the edges of his lips. “Is that so? Really. I had no idea…”

            My heart skipped a beat in my chest. He had known. He had definitely known.            

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Yay! Update! Finally! Don't worry, if you read ASR, you know I'm trying to get back to my normal four day updates. And that I met a fan in real life yesterday! :) It was cool. 

But anyway. You know that feeling of when you have an awesome idea for your story, but then when you write it down, it doesn't come out the way you want? That's what happened to me with this chapter. It kind of sucks. It turned out okay, but not the way I wanted. Hmmmmm. Oh well. 

I'll have to put up today's story later because my home computer sucks. Remember, all you have to do in order to get a chance at a recommendation is to leave a comment and vote :D

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