The Rain (Book 1 - The Unprotected)

Chapter 10 - Cadavres les fusillades et les aliments volés

Courtney moved faster than she thought she ever could. Her conversation with Ross was interrupted by a high-pitched shriek. She ran down the aisle, pushing against a shelf for a boost. She knew that scream, she could recognise it anywhere. She heard Ross's feet slapping off the ground as he chased her, he was a little behind her.

"Jane!" She bellowed fearfully, her heart skipped a beat as she saw her best friend. Tears gushing down her face as they poured from her wide eyes. Jane's hands raised to her mouth, eyes wide in shock and her face as white as snow. Drew had his arms wrapped around her in an attempt to comfort her even though his face was pale as well.

Courtney ran up and jumped over the counter where the cashier was, or would be if it wasn't broken and its parts all over the floor. Her feet hit the ground with a splash as she faced Jane who'd managed to pull herself out of Drew's grip.

Courtney froze, knowing exactly what the liquid was that she had jumped right into. Courtney closed her eyes and lowered her head slowly. Once she opened them she saw she was standing between someone's legs. She took a shaky breath and carefully turned around. Every bone in her body, every blood cell rushing through her veins told her not to look. Told her to grab Jane and hightail out there like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. But her brain, her scattered, jumbled brain told her to turn, to look and see what she was standing in. Blood covered her shoes, and dotted up her jean legs like someone flicked a paint brush with a vibrant red at her.

She had made a full turn and whimpered at the sight. It was a man or more like teenager. He was lying in a pool of blood, so much of it that it completely covered his hand that lay flat on the ground. His eyes were wide and his mouth was agape. The colour seemed to have drained from his face and covered the ground. He had a bullet hole in his head. The blood was dry but it had been dribbling down his body. He had obviously been shot from close range in a downward angle.

Courtney guessed he was already on the ground when he was shot because chunks of skull and brain matter were dotted around him on the wall. They couldn't see it when they came in because it was on the ground behind the counter. Courtney gasped for breath, the air seemed to have vanished.

She pivoted and grasped Jane by the shoulders pulling her away from the counter. As soon as they were free from the sight, Courtney pulled her hair back, ran from them a little and heaved her beans up onto the ground. She coughed as she felt someone's hand on her back the other hand pulled back the strands of hair that escaped her grasp. She looked up and saw Ross looking down at her with a bottle of water in his hands.

Jane was gasping for breath constantly feeling like her lungs never had enough air. She saw Drew's face in front of hers but it just blended into one blurry image. Her legs became weak and incapable of holding up her suddenly heavy body. She stepped back until she hit the counter, sliding her back down till she hit the floor. She didn't feel the glass and remnants of debris below her, she didn't feel anything.

Drew was now crouched before her. He was speaking, she knew he was, she just couldn't make out what he was saying. It sounded like one messy sentence. She was afraid to close her eyes or even blink. Terrified that the image of the cashier's lifeless body would appear again.

Courtney stood from her hunched position, swallowing the revolting taste of sick that was left in her mouth.

She took the bottle from his hand and sent him a thankful smile, unscrewing the lid and swallowing as much water as she could.

Ross looked over his shoulder, remembering the sight. He leant over the counter when Courtney and Jane ran around. A part of him wished he had gotten there before Courtney so she didn't have to see that but he knew she would have looked anyway.