I watched as a pool of blood instantly formed around his unmoving body.

Everyone seemed frozen for the short instant in which the events unraveled.

But quickly, the other two guys took their guns and pointed them at two individuals who were already pointing their guns at them.

Ben and Jeff.

"Drop your weapons!" the bald guy yelled.

"You drop your fucking weapons," Jeff shot back.

The third guy looked from Ben to Jeff with his weapon switching in between both of them.

"He's with us," Ben said motioning towards me. "We just came for him. Nothing else has to happen."

The bald guy looked at me.

"You stay right there!" he yelled at me. “And you! I said to drop your weapons!" the bald guy repeated.

Suddenly I heard another gunshot, and I watched as the bald guy jerked back.

He held his arm for a second but quickly regained his composure.

And both he and the guy with the tank top started shooting towards where Ben and Jeff had been standing, but both of them were gone.

They had turned their flashlights off and there was no sign of them. They were both deep in the darkness' organs.

I knew I had to move because the others would soon return their attention towards me.

So I ducked down and started moving towards the back of the store.

I spotted the flashlight the now-dead guy had dropped so I stopped and picked it up. I turned it off and put it in the back pocket of my jeans.

There were shelves all around me, some fallen on the floor, so I moved through the semi-aisles they formed. It was dark and I could barely see anything, but I didn't want to give away my position by using the flashlight. So, I tried moving as quickly as I could without making a sound.

"What do we do?" I heard the guy with the tank top ask the bald guy.

"Find them," he said. "And kill them if you do. I'll be in here. They're going to come back for..."

"Hey!" he yelled. He shone his light around and it quickly found me.

I stood up and started running. He yelled something unintelligible.

His light was accidentally helping me find my way.

I heard gunshots and felt them hitting things around me. I held my hands to my head and ducked every time I heard a bullet.

I soon found the "Employees Only" door and dashed through it. I heard bullets hit it as soon as I went through. Desperately, I took the flashlight out of my back pocket and ignited it. I shone it around the small nearly empty room and looked for a way to escape, but I only found four dirty white walls.

There were a few written words on them but they were too small to read from my distance. Not that I had time to, anyway.

I tried locking the door but the lock was broken.

I looked around for something to barricade the door with but I couldn't find anything. There were mostly empty shoe boxes and a few pairs of shoes littered across the floor.

There were two metal shelves on the floor. I ran to them and I tried lifting them up but I wasn't strong enough.

I knew the bald guy would burst through those doors at any second.

I shone my light upwards and saw an open air vent. The cover had been broken off.

That's probably where Bea escaped through, I thought.

I ran too it but it was too high for me to reach. I tried jumping to it but it was no use.

How did she get up there? I thought.

I looked around for a ladder or anything she could've used but I found nothing.

I was still looking around when the door flew open with a bang. I didn't turn to look but I knew who it was. I heard his footstep rush towards me. I tried moving but I felt stuck.

I looked up in time and saw as he threw himself towards me. I moved out of his way and started running towards the exit; trying to scramble out of his grasp.

But just as I was near the exit, I felt him grab me by my shirt. He effortlessly flung me backward and threw me against the fallen shelves.

My body fell in between their empty spaces and my head hit one of the corners of it. I felt as a sharp pain shot through my head. I could feel blood start oozing down the side of it.

I tried getting up but he was already over me.

He grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me up. My thin body nothing against this monstrosity.

I threw a punch at him, but he stopped it.

Instead, I felt as his heavy fist sunk into my face.

My nose made a crack.

I could feel the pain rise like a tidal wave.

He brought his fist back and punched me again. And then a third time. Darkness and stars seemed to cloud my vision.

I could feel a stream of blood running down the front of my face. My face felt burning hot, but also numb.

He let go of me and I hit the floor on my hands and knees. I coughed and tried crawling away, but he quickly raised his leg and kicked me on my side.

The pain made me cry out.

I fell onto my side and watched as he raised his leg again.

This time his boot collided with my stomach. Then he kicked me again.

My vision went darker than it already was.

I felt as he grabbed me by my collar once more and picked me up. He grabbed onto my neck with strong force with one hand and held his gun against my head with his other hand.

"Move," he said. "And don't try anything or I'll fucking kill you."

He kicked open the door and dragged me through the floors of the store. I thought about trying to escape his grasp but I knew he'd probably kill me if I even tried.

I heard bullets coming from outside the store. But they seemed to be really far away. I wondered if my cousins were okay.

I felt motionless; experiencing nothing but a pain in my body.

We got to the front entrance and he pushed me onto the floor.

"I have your friend!" he yelled out while pointing his gun at me.

"And on the count of three, I'm going to kill him if you don't turn yourselves in."

"One..."

Nobody came.

And I didn't want them to. There was no point. He wanted us all dead anyway.

"Two..."

"Wait!," Jeff's voice called out.

He and Ben were now standing near the entrance of the store.

The absence of the third guy made his statement clear.

The bald guy knew he was alone.

They were pointing their guns at him. He was pointing his gun at me.

"Shoot me and I kill him," he said.

"We won't shoot you," Ben said. "Just let him come to us."

"I'll kill him if you shoot me," the bald guy said.

"We won't," Ben said.

I got up and started walking towards them. I could feel the bald guy pointing his gun at me.

Ben and Jeff kept their guns pointed at him.

I was about to reach them when I knew.

I knew it was coming before it happened.

I saw it in Jeff's eyes.

As soon as I got near his grasp he pushed me to the side and shot his gun.

I heard the bald guy shoot back.

I saw the bald guy collapse onto the floor. But I also as Jeff fell onto his knees and then onto the floor.