How It All Ended

Chapter 18

"Oh shit, not good," I thought.

Shauna began pushing on the other side of the barricade frantically, "Get me in there!"

"I'm trying!" I replied. I grabbed the middle of the shelf and I pulled as hard as I could. I managed to create enough of a gap for Shauna to fit through, and she made it in with all of our gear as well.

"Hurry up, we have to push this shelf back," An out of breath Shauna told me.

"What the hell is going on?"

"I'll tell you later. Just push."

Shauna and I pushed the barricade back into place, and Shauna sat down on the ground, trying to get her wind back. Shauna took a very deep breath and tried her best to calm down.

"Shauna? Do you mind telling me what's going on out there?" I asked her.

Shauna got back up to her feet and handed me my pipe back. "I saw a group of people heading down the road to my right."

"How many?"

"Don't know. Five? Six? I really didn't feel like counting them, Dom. They seemed more than a little rowdy."

"Oh, wonderful."

"I hope they don't show up here."

"Maybe we're in their hideout."

"Shit," Shauna sighed. It was a possibility after all.

"No, this is our place," A voice from deeper in the building said. Oh shit.

Shauna and I both quickly spun around. A man was standing about a dozen feet away from us. He was tall and skinny, wearing black cargo pants that were tucked into his boots. The man wore a black tank top and his arms were covered in numerous tattoos, and he was somewhat muscular. He had a bright red fire ax that he was holding with his right hand. Neither Shauna nor I could see his face due to the gray ski mask that covered his entire head.

There was a bit of light that was shining into the building from the windows at the front, but not much. It looked like our new pal with the ax had boarded them up. Needless to say, it made things difficult for Shauna and me to tell who else was in the store with us.

"What do you guys want?" The man with the ax demanded to know. He had kind of a gravelly-sounding voice.

"We were, um, just looking for some medical supplies," I answered meekly.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Dominik, and this is Shauna."

The man nodded at the two of us. "Okay."

"I used to work here."

"Don't give a shit."

Nice, I made a new pal.

"We're not looking for any kind of trouble," said Shauna.

"Yeah, I heard that before," The masked man said.

"Look, we'll just go someplace else," I chimed in. "Can we just head out through the back? There seem to be some people out in front, and-"

The ax man cut me off. "No. You're leaving through the front and while you're at it, fix my damn barricade."

"Well at least let us make sure that the coast is clear," I said. pointing to the windows.

"No!" The ax man shouted at us. He brought up his ax and held it with both hands. "Now get the fuck out of here."

"Elliot, what the hell is going on?" A second person asked from further in the building. It was a woman's voice.

"Well, I guess you can take your mask off, Elliot. Since we know your name now."