in turn, trying to find her.
She got to her feet, but still crouching low, began to jog as quietly as she could down the aisle she was in, before he could get to hers.
But she was too slow. Just as she reached the end of the aisle - still stocked with soft toys, untouched by yesterday’s chaos - she heard him.
‘I see you!’
Oh fuck.
She turned at the end, headed right, taking her towards the Music, DVDs and Games section. She skidded on her heels and dived in between two large racks of PlayStation games. Behind her, the sound of those bloody trainers slapping the floor, and now . . . she could hear his breathing. He was gaining on her.
She didn’t stop. He was way too close to have been thrown off by that little manoeuvre. She needed somewhere in the shop she could really lose herself, somewhere—
‘Fuckin’ stop,’ he called out again. ‘I just want to talk!’ he added breathlessly twenty yards behind.
Yeah right.
She reached the end of the games racks. Ahead she could make out a centre store lay-out of tables stacked with jumpers and fleeces, and jackets on garment rails; the children’s clothing section.
She leapt forward, throwing herself almost immediately to the ground beneath a four-sided, rotating garment rail, from which long winter school coats were dangling.
Only three or four seconds later, she heard his slapping trainers, that suddenly hushed as his feet passed on to the plain, cord carpet that marked this section, Clothing, from the rest of the store. In the dark she could only see the pale grey of daylight filtering across the low tiled ceiling, everything else now was black and formless.
She listened intently as he moved around, the only sound now the swishing of clothes, and jangling of plastic coat-hangers as he passed impatiently.
‘Come on,’ he hissed with frustration. ‘I just want to fucking talk . . . I just . . .’
Dasher was struggling to keep the rage out of his voice . . . and the excitement. Leona shuddered at what awful fantasies were running through that shaved little bullet-head of his.
‘Come on!’ he pleaded, sounding for a moment like a child begging his mum for a tenner. ‘I just want to . . .’ his voice tailed off.
I know what you ‘just want to’. You dirty shit.
Even though it was stifling, hidden as she was amongst the dangling winter coats, she shuddered violently as she imagined what he and his two buddies would do if they got hold of her.
Oh God, he’s just a kid.
He was, really, just a snotty seventeen year old, surely no older than that, all bullet-head and big ears beneath that stupid baseball cap. But he was certainly strong enough to do what he wanted to do. And this was surely a game to him, just a game.
Find her - slap her - shag her - leave her, heh heh.
That’s how his little game was going to be wrapped up. And he’d walk away from it, pulling up his pants and his baggy trousers, with a cocky ‘I got mine’ grin on his face, whilst she would be left on the floor, bruised and bleeding, and struggling to find the ragged remains of the clothes he’d torn off her.
‘Come on, I thought you was after some fun!’ he said again, this time terrifyingly close to her. ‘Shit, it’s like fuckin’ Disneyland out there.’
He had to be only a dozen feet away. Leona held her breath.
‘Everythin’ for the takin’. It’s fuckin’ mad, man.’
He’s getting closer.
‘And no fuckin’ pigs either. All gone, fucked off somewhere. Apart from that one we found, stupid tosser. It’s playtime now. Playtime for the kiddies, yeah.’
She felt the gentlest breeze of displaced air waft over her skin as he walked by, only feet away from her.
‘So come on,’ he said in that whiny voice again, ‘I’m beggin’ you love. I won’t hurt you or nuffing, we’ll just have a bit of a laugh.’
Leona felt the stiff wire of a coat-hanger beneath her hand. She followed the curved hook with her fingers. It descended into a plastic base; the shoulders were plastic, but the hook was wire.
He was quiet for a moment, but she could hear him breathing as he stood there, above her, almost on top of her. He was breathing loudly, noisily, the run had winded him. On the other hand, she was still holding her breath and wasn’t going to be able to hold it for much longer.
Please, please move