The restroom Part 3

The adrenaline pumped through Todd's body in preparation for the worst. His eyes had not fully adjusted to the light yet, so everything was a strange shade of gray. "Todd. What happened?" Susan's voice quavered, her hand had reached out and was now squeezing Todd's arm so hard it was actually hurting.

"Susan, stay calm." Todd went to take a step forward, but Susan's arm kept him from moving at all. "Susan, I need you to let go, so that I can go check it out." Susan nodded slowly and her fingers let go of his arm. The noise came again from the office again, this time followed by a few shuffling sounds.

Todd stepped around the counter to the door that would lead to the back office. The floor was littered with small bags of chips and candy bars, walking through it was like walking through a minefield. He stepped carefully trying not to make too much noise. A banging noise came from the room again, along with the low sound of a moan. Todd was distracted by this sound and missed his step. A loud popping noise was heard as his foot came down on a bag of chips.

"Shit." Susan hissed under her breath. Todd held his fingers up to quiet her and pointed to the backroom. All the sounds in there had stopped. Todd gripped the door handle and turned it, opening the space into the backroom. It was a terrible mess, with papers and notebooks all over the place. On the floor was a large stain of blood. In the emergency light it looked almost black already with the smears looking like some strange painting in a museum.

Other than the blood on the floor, it looked to be an empty office. The room though was not just a room, it was the entire back area and went around the back side of the store for the deli area and there freezer stuff. Although the office was lit, the rest of the back area was shaded in darkness, and it was from this darkness that the shuffling sound and the moan came from.

Todd's eyes searched around the room for something that he could defend himself with, but nothing came to his eyes that was a real weapon. Something glinted in the corner that caught Todd's eyes, though whatever it was it was completely covered in papers. The moan came again, but this time it was much closer, causing Todd to jump into the air a bit. He spun around and was met with the store clerk that he had seen earlier.

Todd panicked and did what he could to turn back around and flee. His feet though could not follow as fast and slipped in the blood that was smearing the ground. Todd went down fast, with his arms flailing around him he tried to catch himself on anything. The next sound that was heard was that of his head cracking against the ground and the room fell into complete blackness.

Todd did not know what had happened or where he was. The word was fuzzy and dim. Nothing made sense except the pain in his head. Above him he could see a figure approaching him. They were bending down now. Must be someone coming to my aid. I hope they can help my head, it hurts something bad. And who is that shouting at me?

***

Susan was standing a few feet away, watching as Todd went into the back room. Although she could see what Todd was doing, she could not see what was beyond the small opening the door provided into the office. Susan saw Todd's face as he realized that something was coming towards him, and then she heard the sound of the moan.

It came from around a corner. Susan's eyes strained to see what exactly it was, but the darkness was great and the door only opened to show so much. She watched in absolute fear as Todd looked around frantically and then as he attempted to flee. His feet went out and he fell to the ground. The sound of his head cracking against the ground was as loud as a gunshot in the store. All Susan could do was shout at him to get up.

***

That shouting was so loud it hurt. Todd's head pounded, and when he opened his eyes he was met with a sharp pain and needles that shot through his eyes. That man that was kneeling above him was now snarling, his jaws snapping open and closed. Why is he snarling at me? I thought this guy was supposed to help me.

Todd came to his senses as the memories of the last few hours came back into his mind. With a final desperate push he made some space between himself and the clerk above him. Todd's hands searched frantically for anything that he could use to defend himself. His hands found a grip on something hard and he brought it around.

Todd hit the clerk square on the chin, spinning his head to the side with a vicious snap. Still, the clerk moved forward and snapped his jaws at Todd. Todd looked at the object in his hands and found he was gripping a fire extinguisher. With a slight adjustment Todd brought it smashing down onto the top of the clerks head. There was an even louder crack as the guy's head caved in and he fell to the ground in a heap.

Todd rolled the man off of him and clumsily got to his feet. Susan was at his side and helped him to his feet. Todd looked down at the now dead man at his feet, the name tag said his name was Jo, and wondered what in the world could possibly cause someone to act so crazy or live through that much damage.