Sarah shook her head, moved inside, and stopped. She swept the stockroom, then advanced into the low light. Her shoes crunched over the spilt food that carpeted the ground beneath her. Each report sounded louder than she wanted.
The pounding of her heart grew harder, more intense the further she walked from the doors and the light. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness. The endless gloom and the steel racks and pallets of product secured in each bay materialized before her.
She kicked the boxes out of her way. She stepped over cases of bottled water that had been thrown from their pallets. On her way out, she’d need to grab one.
Sarah passed a workstation. Papers cluttered the top of the metal desk and the floor around its legs. A lone white-legged wooden stool sat under the station.
A forklift was parked against the wall and plugged into the larger charging base near the desk. Thick, black cables ran from the steel box to the four-wheel vehicle.
The double swinging plastic doors leading to the main floor of the food mart caught her attention around the corner of the steel upright. She turned in circles, sweeping the area and navigating the jumbled mess as best she could.
The receiving door creaked from the wind moving it back and forth. The subtle sound loomed inside the silence of the stockroom. Aside from the disheveled mess and the eerie noise, she spotted no other causes for concern.
Sarah stalked toward the doors leading out into the store. The sour smell continued to punish her senses. She held her breath for as long as she could, exhaled, then drew another.
She lifted on the balls of her feet, peering through the thick, plastic windows molded inside the dense frame of the doors. Sarah stared at the dark nook on the other side, then the aisles facing her. Items lay scattered over the floor of each section. The light shining through the windows offered a bit of light at the far end of the aisle. She spotted no shadowy figures close by or lights shining to indicate anyone else was there.
Sarah pushed against the door and slipped through the opening. The stagnant air and the foul stench followed her from the stockroom.
Acid bit the back of her throat. She paused, placed her hand against her mouth, closed her eyes, and fought back the sickening sensation. Her stomach knotted from the stench of rotting meat and soured milk. She removed her hand, then shook her head.
Suck it up and just do it, Sarah thought. Keep it together.
The shotgun swept the aisle before the nook. The light washed over the empty shelves and the mess that carpeted the tile floor. A handful of shopping carts stood within the aisles. Flies buzzed around each one, indicating that something rotten sat within.
Sarah ventured away from the stockroom, sweeping both sides of the long stretch of dark aisles. The butcher block was next to the entrance of the receiving area. The glass case housing the variety of meats had swarms of flies buzzing inside the enclosures, covering the rotting food.
Her face scrunched in disgust, and she moved on, putting as much distance between her and the smell as possible. She needed to work fast, take what provisions she could scrounge up and leave before anyone dropped in on her.
Sarah grabbed one of the less filled shopping carts and sifted through the aisles, hunting for food high in protein among other things. The shotgun rested on the top of the cart. The light guided her through the mess that consumed each aisle before her.
The wheels rolled over spilt food on the floor. Her shoes crunched over the boxes and packages that slipped under the base of the cart. She skimmed both sides of the aisle, taking little thought in what she took from the sparse remains on the shelves.
The packages of food clattered against the insides of the cart. She made her way to the front of the store, turned past the end of the aisle, and searched the next long, dark aisle.
The cart filled faster the longer Sarah walked. She tossed more food on top of what she had already taken.
Lights from outside of the store shone through the windows at her back and played off the steel shelves. The grumbling of an engine sounded and drew closer.
Sarah stopped midway down the aisle, turned, and glanced at the lights beaming through the glass. Her body tensed on instinct.
The grumbling engine ceased. Loud, sharp voices spoke from outside the store. She couldn’t understand what they said or how many there were, but they were loud and didn’t seem to care much for being discreet.
Sarah grabbed the front of the shopping cart and hauled it to the end of the aisle. Leaving the food behind wasn’t an option. She had gone without eating much, and her energy had declined over the last few days.
The fronts of her shoes plowed through the shadowy can’s and boxed food on the floor, knocking them against the metal base of the shelving units. The impact echoed inside the store, creating more noise than she wanted.
A loud banging sounded from the entrance. The snapping of wood filled her ears. The voices of the men just beyond the store’s boarded up door funneled inside.
Sarah skirted past the corner of the endcap and rushed down the back aisle toward the receiving area. A beam of light shone through the nook near the butcher’s block, then another. She stopped and let go of the shopping cart.
The wheels squeaked for a moment more before falling silent. Her heart pumped faster and harder. A wave of adrenaline spiked through her body as she watched the lines of light slice through the darkness.
Sarah slipped around the shopping cart and searched for refuge. She glanced
