Chapter Text
The sunlight warmly streaked across my face as I stepped out of my apartment. Shielding my eyes, I turned to lock my door. Jammed as usual.
I cursed under my breath, pulling and wiggling the heavy doorknob until the door shut correctly. Always giving me problems. Another thing to fix in this old place.
I threw my keys in my purse, fixed my hair, and started down the pathway headed to my local store. I hadn’t thought twice when I found this apartment, moving to this new city took a big chunk out of my savings. No car meant less options and this was a no brainer as it was right next to a shopping center. Raccoon City had sounded like a dream, it was quiet and I needed to get out of the big city no matter what. I truly was enjoying myself here. Even if I did have issues with my door.
A few minutes later, I found myself at my destination, the cool air hitting my face as I went inside.
‘Man, I can’t wait for winter, so sick of this heat.’ I thought, fanning my face, hoping I wasn’t as red as a tomato. Summer did that to me.
I made a beeline for the clothing section. Business casual was what I needed for my upcoming job interview. If I was hired, I would be all set. This office was also just a few minutes walk from my apartment.
I mindlessly looked through all of my options. I was set on finding some cute, juvenile pieces, I didn’t want to look 30 years older than I really was.
Then, a scream was heard, loud and clear. The scream came first–then, the gunshots.
The gunshots were deafening, tearing through the terrified screams of the store shoppers. Multiple gunshots, from opposite directions of the store–two shooters? I fell to the ground, crawling to the nearest clothing rack I could find, hoping it would conceal me. I sat in a circular rack, my legs against my chest. Silently praying, I covered my ears with my hands. Muffled shrieks, gunshots, and crying rang through my ears.
Fear overpowered me, my body shook, mind going blank. I had never felt such terror in my life. The minutes passed by, the chaos turned into silence little by little. Did that mean people were escaping or–
My thoughts were interrupted by police sirens, blaring loudly outside the building. Footsteps pounded all around the store, the cops moving in. Tears slipped down my face in relief. I dared not peek out of my hiding spot, afraid of making a bad move. So I stayed put, hoping they would rescue me and tell me everything was under control.
I waited. And waited. For hours it felt like.
Fear was starting to rise in my stomach again, what if they left me here? Maybe I hid a bit too well.
My chest started pounding, hands shaking as I considered my options.
“Anyone else in here?” a male voice called out.
My hand instinctively reached out to push the clothes aside to allow myself to be seen. I hesitated as I clutched the clothes.
‘What if it isn’t a cop, what if it's the bad men?’ I thought, pulling my hand back inside.
But it was too late.
The clothes swayed softly from the motion I had made. I stilled, clutching my legs close to my body.
Footsteps moved towards me. I shut my eyes, expecting the worst, cursing myself for not being smarter about my actions.
The clothes parted, the bright lights of the store streaking through the opening.
“Hey there, you alright?” his voice was soft and kind, definitely didn’t sound like a bad guy.
I opened my eyes, peering up at the mystery man.
His eyes were the first thing I noticed. They were beautiful, a shimmering shade of blue twinkling as he smiled at me. His messy blonde hair fell across his forehead. His cheeks were slightly dirty, light freckles decorating his face.
Most importantly, he was indeed a cop. His uniform read R.P.D on the front of his chest. He looked young, probably close to my age.
He reached his hand out to me, “My name is L– Officer Kennedy.” he smiled sheepishly, scratching his cheek. “Sorry, I’m still getting used to introducing myself professionally.”
Makes sense he was new since he didn’t know to call out and state he was police.
I nodded as I took his hand and stepped out from the rack, my legs aching after sitting in the same position for a while.
“Thank you for coming, Officer Kennedy, I honestly thought I was about to be taken by the robbers.” I spoke, carefully looking around the store. "Is everyone else okay?"
It was a disaster, items were strewn across the floors, trampled as people had tried to run away. Oddly enough, there was silence, aside from some chatter coming from outside the building.
Officer Kennedy nodded, “You’re actually the last one. We did a headcount of how many people had been inside when the shooting began. We were able to identify them all, including the ones injured, there had been 113 guests shopping. Thankfully, there were no casualties.”
“However,” he continued, “We only counted 112 people who had made it out. Meaning there was one more person still here. The other cops believed you might’ve left before things got bad but I had a feeling you might still be in here. Didn’t want to give up on you and have you stuck here once they closed it down for further investigation.”
“Glad I trusted my instincts on this one.” he smiled, rocking lightly on his heels.
“Me too, thank you for coming back.” I said, sniffling.
He smiled, placing a heavy hand on my shoulder, patting it a couple times.
“Let’s head outside, okay? They’re gonna want to ask you some questions.” he said.
“Sounds good to me, let’s just get out of here, it’s gonna be a while before I step into another store again.” I joked, following Officer Kennedy to the exit.
That earned a laugh from him, shaking his head in agreement.
He had a really cute laugh.