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Chapter 3

The next morning they got up and made their way out of the place.

"The gates have to be unlocked by now, right?" Jake said as they got down from their hideout.

"Probably. When we came in the gate was open." Ori reasoned as they made their way.

"Do you know where we're going? This place is huge." Mochi asked worriedly. Jeremy looked around. All around seemed to be infinite masses of furniture. Any signs of an end to the space seemed unlikely. 

"Just look for a wall! That's easy enough." Ori replied as she walked straight ahead. They all followed her, silently praying that they would be able to get out and this nightmare would be over soon.

"Stop." she whispered, crouching behind a couch. They followed suit and laid flat on the ground. Jeremy and Ori peeked. They saw the figure. It had a typical Ikea costume, Yellow and orange striped shirt with the Ikea logo sown onto the top left and blue pants.

It was shorter than the couch, very different then the one that had chased them yesterday. They kept silent, hardly daring to breathe. It was so close that Jake wondered why they hadn't been caught yet. Jeremy noticed a broken peg near them. He picked it up and carefully threw it at the "zombie". The others panicked and immediately glared at him. He chose not to care as he observed the creature. The creature completely ignored the peg and walked on as if nothing happened. 

"The creature isn't hostile during the day." Jeremy said as he stood up.

"How can you be so sure? What if it's a trick?" Mochi questioned as she tried to drag Jeremy down again.

"Well there's only one way to know for sure." He said, shaking his leg from Mochi's grip. He walked closer to the creature, but maintained a safe enough distance so if anything went wrong he could still run.

"OI!" he shouted. The creature ignored him and walked further away. "See? Coast clear." he said, grinning."

"Don't ever do that sort of thing again." Ori growled as they got up and continue their journey. They eventually found a grey wall. On spotting it, Jake got on his knees and sighed in relief. They followed the wall until eventually they became hungry.

"Where are we gonna find food and water?" Mochi groaned.

"I think we should just concentrate finding the exit." Ori replied.

"Well I wish to differ. Let's say we do find the exit. What if it's still locked? And what if we don't find the exit in time? It's better to go and get food now." Jeremy concurred.

"I agree with Jeremy. Let's not risk out lives and energy for something we're not certain about yet." Jake said.

"Ok then. Look for food and meet back here." Ori said.

"But how do we come back here?" Mochi asked.

"Easy. Do you still have the whistles the school gave us?" Jake asked. They all took out their whistle.

"Great. One stays here and if one if done getting food they whistle. The person here whistles back and we follow the sound." Jake said. They all agreed. They drew lots and Mochi was picked to stay behind. They split up. Ori honestly thought there wouldn't be anything to eat or drink. The others thought the same too. But they tried to keep their hopes up anyways. 

"Oh my gosh, what I wouldn't do for some water or fruit right now." Jake groaned, wiping the sweat away from his forehead. To his surprise, he found a food area. There were cupboards with cans of Dr Pepper, water and cola. On the table there were bowls of fruit, plates of meatballs, pizza boxes with pizzas and plates with hot dogs. 

I must be dreaming he thought as he rubbed his eyes. He pinched himself just to make sure. Then he touched a bottle of water. He unscrewed the cap off, looking at the bottle with caution before proceeding to drink the water. The taste of the water was so refreshing after so long without it. he drank the entire bottle and grinned. He quickly stuffed all the food in the bag that had stored their drinks and snacks. Once he got everything, he whistled. He heard a whistle in return and made his way back.

"MOCHI, LOOK WHAT I HAVE!" He shouted in excitement, holding up the bag. He stopped and his smile was wiped away. Mochi looked very weak and pale. He quickly took a bottle of water and put it up to her lips.

"Mochi, drink this." he said. She sipped the water, before taking the bottle and chugging it down. Just as she was finishing with the water, Jake took out a hotdog and offered it to her. She looked at it before looking at Jake who smiled.

"Eat it, your gonna need it." Jake said. She took it and ate it. He took one for himself and ate as well. Soon two whistles were heard. Jake whistled back. Soon Jeremy and Ori came back.

"Surprisingly I found lemons and soda wat-, why do I smell hot dogs?" Jeremy asked as he sniffed the air.

"I brought back a lot of food." Jake replied, grinning.

"Cool. I brought back ice cream and soda." Ori said as she took a meatball from the bag and ate it. Jeremy followed suit and downed it with some of the soda water he had.

"Now that we're refreshed and have plenty of food, let's get a move on." Ori said. They cleaned up and walked on. At 6:12pm they decided to stop by another metal shelf and used wooden pallets to make a bridge connecting two shelves. They were able to pull up two double beds and a small lamp for light. They ate dinner and then went to sleep.

"I hope we get out of here soon." Jake said sleepily.

"Me too bud, me too." Jeremy replied as he drifted to sleep.