One Night In A Supermarket

We're Safe

Chapter Twenty-One... We're Safe

Lily's POV

I sat out the front of the mall where there were police and paramedics everywhere. Curious residents of the small town had gathered around to see what was going on, and I was secretly pleased that they had moved out the bodies earlier on.

Daylight was breaking over the horizon, and I glanced at the watch on the nearest officer. It read 6:37am. I hadn't realised how much time had passed.

I would have been finished work by now, and the new staff would have started.

A shock ran through my body as I wondered where everyone else was. The staff that were to start at 5 or 6 this morning.

"The new staff..." I gasped.

"They're all waiting out the back, because they refused to go home," the officer next to me answered my unspoken question. "None of them were hurt. They arrived just after he'd attacked you."

"Okay," I breathed. "Okay."

"We'll take you to the hospital soon, when we get the okay to do so," he smiled. "Your friend inside, she's woken up. They're in there, bringing her out soon. You'll ride to the hospital with her most likely."

"What about... the man?" I questioned.

"He's dead," the officer confirmed. "The gunshot killed him instantly."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

It was all over.

It was about half an hour later when Sarah was brought out on a gurney. She was awake, looking a little exhausted and injured but otherwise fine. She was loaded into the back of the nearest ambulance, and I was instructed to climb in, too.

Sarah reached out as the ambulance started moving, and I took her hand.

"We survived," she breathed.

"I know," I smiled.

"We're alive," she said, looking around. "We lived through hell, and we're alive."

When we arrived at the hospital, Sarah had to go for surgery because the knife had punctured her kidney. She was lucky, though. It could have been a lot worse. I had my head stitched up, and then had my arm x-rayed and put in a pink cast.

I waited around, because Nathan was off being stitched up. He was lucky, and his stab wound didn't hit any organs or do any serious damage.

When I was allowed to see him, I was taken to his room.

"You made it!" he gasped. "I've spent so many hours worrying about you."

"Me, too," I smiled.

"He hurt you, though?" he questioned.

"Uh... kind of did it myself, to get away from him," I explained. "I was climbing along the racks in the coolroom, and he was chasing me. He grabbed my feet, and it was the only way I could get him to let go. It hurt, but it gave me a bit of time until he caught up with me again. And I stabbed him in the forehead with a paring knife."

"Glad you're okay," he grinned. "So glad!"

I walked over to his bed and laid down next to him. He wrapped his arm around me, and I closed my eyes. But then he whispered in my ear, and my eyes flickered open again.

"Lisa's alive," he breathed. "And James. They both made it through surgery."

"Sarah's alive, too," I whispered back. "Now let me sleep."

"Okay," he kissed my forehead, and I fell asleep within minutes.

After sleeping for three hours in Nathan's arms, I was awoken by a nurse who informed me that I could go home. But I wasn't leaving Nathan's side. Soon, though, my mom arrived to take me home. I reluctantly left with them, knowing that soon I'd see Nathan again.

It was Christmas Eve, and as I walked through the hospital I saw James and his friend Annabelle, who didn't leave his side. I didn't think he had a girlfriend... well, he did now, by the looks of things. He was awake on the ward, having survived a stab wound and damage to his spleen, which they removed.

In the next bed was Lisa, who was smiling as her little boy lay next to her, and her mom sat on the other side of him. She looked happy, and I knew that she was the hero. If it wasn't for her escaping, the police might not have come.

Then Sarah was there, too, her face happy. Her family gathered around her, and she held their hands and assured them she was fine. She waved at me as I walked past, and I waved back.

In the hall was James' parents. They were mourning the loss of their other son, Cameron. They watched me as I walked past, and I gave them an apologetic look. I didn't want to hurt them more, by saying a few kind words. I'd let them mourn first.

Our lives would never be the same again. I'd spent hours going over with the police what had happened in the early hours of the morning, and watched as my friends died, and were hurt. None of us got our unscathed. I was the only one who wasn't stabbed, but I was still injured.

How much one event can change your life.

"You're so lucky, Lil," mom said, hugging me.

"Yeah," I agreed weakly. "Others weren't, though."

"Thank God you're alive," she smiled.

My mom had never been so worried about me. I guess everything was bound to change.