Move to the next hiding spot

Deciding that a full on sprint would make too much noise, Jen scurried over to the trash bags and squatted back down. She took a moment to adjust one of the bags to cover more of her. The stack wasn’t as big as she’d prefer, but if any of her was sticking out it would be only an inch or two. Barely noticeable.

Peering around the side of the bags, she watched as the short woman came back into the hall, followed by a male co-worker who must have been Joe. Without saying anything they surrounded the box, bent down and lifted it. They were clearly prepared for it to take some exertion and were thrown off balance when the box came off the ground with virtually no effort. Joe pulled the box out of the lady’s hands and turned it over, seeing the other end gaping open.

“Did you even try to move this?” he asked.

“Of course I did! I swear it barely moved when I tried.”

“Well it’s empty now.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” the lady protested.

“Probably someone pulling a prank.”

The woman shrugged and walked back into the store while Joe pulled the folded flaps apart, flattened the box and propped it against the wall. Finally he returned to the store and closed the door behind him.

Jen got up and started moving back down the hall. She felt some of the tension in her neck and shoulders ease, but not much. They hadn’t tried to look for whoever had left the box behind, but she still wasn’t home safe yet. The exit door still wasn’t in view and she wasn’t sure how much further she had to go. She had to be over halfway down the hallway. She felt she was well that point. But she had been expecting the exit to come into view by now, and it hadn’t.

She stepped back over to the left side, slightly increasing her view of the hallway ahead. She saw no one else. Just as importantly she didn’t hear any sounds of movement, no one talking. As she walked along the hall she saw more stacks of trash, more folded boxes leaning against the wall, one lone inventory carton that hadn’t been claimed yet. Then finally the door came into view.

Jen picked up her pace, slightly less concerned about making noise since the hallway had been deserted for some distance. Ahead of her were two shop doors on her right. Beyond them, a service corridor branched off, heading towards the main part of the mall.

She passed the two doors without slowing, but she dropped her pace as she reached the corridor. Even though noise echoed through the halls a good distance, she didn’t want to blunder right into someone’s view who might be quietly waiting on a ride. She stopped at the corner and peered around it. The hallway was empty.

Before she could dash past the hall and to the exit, she heard a door opening behind her. Without looking she darted into hallway and ducked down.

“Come on,” she heard a female voice say. “If I need to take you home then I need to get out of here.”

Jen’s mind became a flurry of possibilities. She’d made it this far, she was so close. And if the employees were taking this exit, she could be in real trouble.

Looking down the service corridor she saw that it ran for about forty yards. She could just make out another hallway beyond, running left and right. To the left Jen would expect another service exit. The right direction would probably be identical to the hallway she just left, more doors leading to more stock rooms.

Jen felt she could make it to the other end of the hallway and out of view of the approaching employees, but she would have to move now and she knew she’d make noise as she did. She could avoid sprinting but she she’d have to move fast enough that she couldn’t stay silent. The only other option she could think of was to get down on the floor, as tight against the corner of the wall as she could. With any luck she wouldn’t even be in the employees’ peripheral vision as they walked past. If they didn’t glance to their side then they would walk right out the door. Assuming they were going out that door. It was a huge risk, but so was running for it.