Nano 2015 Chapter 2

The mall. Buzzing with people everywhere. The smells of the food court. Normally Alexis would have loved being here, but she had a bad feeling in pit of her stomach. She looked around, made sure Leon was close.

"Are we going to just head to the toy store? I really feel like we shouldn't be here."
Leon looked around.

"OK. Let's go ahead and get Gabe's present and go."

Alexis  could tell  Leon was a bit annoyed, so she didn't push the matter further. She followed him to the toy store. They found a stuffed spaceship they knew Gabe would love, and were on their way to go home. Suddenly Leon grabs Alexis and whispers in her ear.
"Stay calm. Follow me. Do exactly as I say."
Alexis feels tears welling up, but nods that she understood. She carefully follows Leon into the back of a small jewelry store. Once back there Leon motions to her at stay down. She sits against a wall and then she hears it.

*boom* *boom* *boom*

Right next to the store. Leon holds Alexis as tight as he can without hurting her. Shes trembling from the terror she can hear outside.

"Shhh. I'm here. Stay quiet. I'm never leaving you."

Leon whispers in her ear. She's holding back a scream as she buries her head I his chest. The shooting continues for a while, but not all of the shots sound like guns. Some of them almost sound like something from Star Wars, like it was some sort of energy and not bullets, confusing both of them.

They lost track of time sitting there for what felt like hours. Alexis looked at Leon to see what he wanted to do next. Leon gave Alexis a squeeze and whispered
"I'll be right back."

When Leon let go, Alexis curled up in the corner. She hadn't noticed what was around her until now. Boxes stacked up very high. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was so lucky to have Leon be there for her, and know just what to say so their position was never given away. Leon opened the door a tiny bit. Voices could be heard,but Alexis wasn't sure what language it was. Leon came back to Alexis and whispered

"We need to stay in here for a while. Stay quiet. I'm going to move some of these boxes in front of the door, can you help me?"

Alexis was in shock. She shook her head no, and stayed in the corner. She couldn't find her words. Leon just nodded and started moving the boxes in front of the door, carefully and as quietly as he could. When he was done he sat next to Alexis and tried to comfort her by holding her. He knew saying anything right now could have her in tears, and their lives depended on staying silent. 

The shooting started up again, this time the energy sound was closer. It was a good thing Leon moved them to the back wall because a blue light flashed, and a hole appeared in the front. Luckily it was small, so no one, or thing, could see them. Leon tried to get a closer look. What he saw he'd seen before in movies and games. It was a mech, with two legs. The body only had guns, no arms. The metal had a strange blue color to it. The look of horror on his face was almost too much for Alexis.

Trying to stay quiet she finally was able to say

"Wh...what is it?"

Leon just shook his head and said

"Later."

He sat next to her, and hoped they weren't able to be detected. Hoping the mechs would leave soon, they had no choice but to stay in the little room. Leon knew they would have to go out eventually, hopefully Alexis would be able to handle this. He let her fall asleep while he kept watch, not knowing what their future had in store for them, he just hoped they could survive.