Frenzied by Claire Chilton Page B

tiles, mingling with spilt popcorn and drinks.
    Lucy tried to scream, but her throat was blocked. She couldn’t move. Her body froze in position.
    What happened to them?

    It took her some time to gather her wits. She realized she was in shock when her teeth began to chatter, and her body continued to shake. She put her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket in an attempt to stop them trembling.
    She paused when she felt a plastic bar inside the left pocket of her jacket and pulled it out, staring down at the bar of milk chocolate as it shook in her hands.
    Sugar. That’ll get rid of the shock
.
    She ate it as quickly as possible while telling herself that now was not the time to lose it.
    I’ll flip out once I’m safe
.
    Her mouth was dry, and the big lumps of chocolate were hard to swallow. She forced them down, closing her eyes and hoping it would kick in soon.
    Once the bar was gone, she stood up on trembling legs.
    Time to get out of here.
    She held onto the wall as she staggered towards the large double doors of the entrance. There were at least ten bodies between her and the way out. She had to navigate around them while trying not to look down onto the faces of the dead.
    Flashes of horrific expressions and gory red wounds caught her eyes as she stumbled past the corpses. There was nowhere to avert her eyes to. Death surrounded her. She felt the chocolate coming back up her throat and swallowed it back down. She needed to be out of shock if she was going to get out of here.
    She almost cried with relief when she passed the final corpse and neared the thick metal doors of the cinema. She hurried past the ticket booth, trying not to pay too much attention to the thick wash of blood dripping down the inside of the glass, but unable to keep her eyes away from it.
    What the fuck happened here?
    She gripped the door handle and turned it, pushing the door. The door didn’t budge. She frowned for a moment.
Not again.
    The shaking in her limbs had mostly gone, and she was feeling a bit stronger, so she slammed herself against the door with all her might. It didn’t budge.
    No! Why is this happening?
    She tried twice more, but with the same result. The doors were locked. There was no way out.
    She heard a scratching noise behind her and spun around, only to find a room full of corpses. She stared at the bodies, hoping to find a survivor, but only saw empty stares and shredded flesh.
    Feeling exposed in the open foyer and exhausted by the events, her eyes settled onto the neon blue sign for the ladies’ room. The idea of hiding in the toilets, although ridiculous, seemed like a good one. She could clean the blood off and figure out what to do next.
    On less shaky legs, she hurried towards the sign as if it was her last vestige of hope. Rushing past the bodies, she tried not to notice them, but had a feeling that their faces would be burned into her memory forever.
    She warily pushed open the restroom door and peered inside. It was a long room lined with mirrors and sinks. At the end of it were four stalls, all with closed doors. She studied the small gap beneath each door. There were no feet in any of the stalls, and no bodies in the room. She hurried through the doorway and closed the door behind her, breathing a sigh.
    Okay, clean up, and then try to get out of here again.
    She walked over to the nearest sink and stared at her face in the mirror. There was a gash across her forehead. It was ragged, but not too deep. It appeared to have stopped bleeding, but it still looked raw and far worse than it felt.
    I need to find out if any of this blood is mine.
    She glanced down at her bloodstained cream blouse and denim skirt. She slipped her tan leather jacket off her shoulder and dropped it onto the floor. Next, she pulled off her boots and dropped them next to it.
    At least the blood will wash off leather.
    She peered back at the door to the restroom, feeling exposed in an unlocked room. There was a white plastic chair