Janine's Perspective in WorldMart (First Person Shooter)

*I have named the narrator Anthony for story convenience* 

While working my late-night shift at WorldMart, me and my somewhat-attractive co-worker, Anthony, are drawn to the sound of stuff crashing to the floor. Not a lot happens at this hour, so I was looking forward to actually doing something instead of watching the luminescent lights on the ceiling. "Sounds like Toiletries," he says, so we both rush toward aisle ninety-seven. I crouch down at Mascara and hear a shuffling noise with Antony following my lead. I start to crawl and he tries to grab my ankle (for whatever reason), but all he grabs is my shoe. I take a look back and catch him staring at my behind, but I don't think much of it. I see something stumbling toward the beef jerky station and, from what I saw, it looked nothing like any human I've ever seen. I shriek at the top of my lungs and run as fast as I can around the corner out of fear because I had no idea what that was. I was stopped short by the sight of some hideous creature staring back at me with dead eyes. It looks like a... zombie? It seems like something out of a movie, maybe this is the start of the zombie apocalypse. I run, run, run away from that creature as fast as I can, but Anthony didn't follow me, he just stood in front of... it.

After running for what seemed like a mile (this place is HUGE), I stop at the Greeting Cards and slump over. What... the.. hell. Was that actually a zombie? Why did I sign up for this stupid shift? What's Burt doing right now? So many questions race through my mind as I try to comprehend the situation. I have never been good under stress and this was pushing my limits as far as they could go. I take a deep breath and think about everything I saw. The zombie looked somewhat like a human but had many deformities over its grayish body. That was gross so I get that image out of my head as quickly as possible. 

I slow my mind down and think about what my next course of action should be. Stay here and risk being found and having my brains eaten? Try to escape the store where there might be even more zombies outside? Find Burt so I don't die alone? None of those seem any good, especially the Burt one knowing how much a douche-bag he is. I take a look up and see a sign which says "Guns sold here." This could be it, this is how I protect myself. I get up and walk my way over to the Firearms section and take a look around. 9 millimeter, pump-action, so many words with no meaning attached in my mind. I had never shot a gun before, I had no idea what I was doing. But, something is better than nothing, right? So, I reach into my pocket and grab the keys to the display. I try them in the lock. It doesn't work. Huh, I say and try another. It doesn't work. I only got one more key. It doesn't work. I start to panic. I've failed. I'm going to get my brains eaten. I bang on the glass with all my force, but it doesn't break. Of course, this was out of frustration, my skinny arms couldn't break it. I look around, trying to find anything I could use to break the glass but all I find is a comm speaker. In one last attempt, I try to slide the door open in my last hope for survival. There is some resistance to start, but it eventually slides all the way open. It was never unlocked the whole time. Typical WorldMart, workers leaving the displays unlocked all the time. 

I look at all the guns in the case. Shotguns, hand cannons, rifles, so many to choose from. I started to think about all the survival-zombie TV shows I've watched and what the best weapon to choose would be. I remember shotguns being good because they shoot out a lot of pellets, so I try to pick one up. I lift it enough to get it off the rack but it falls straight to the floor. I guess that's not an option. I see a hand cannon, which looked a lot lighter, so I pick it up. Success. It still feels heavy, but at least I can carry it. I grab the shells from behind the counter and try to load them, fumbling as I try to do so. Eventually, the revolving chamber pops out and I load it. As I get ready to go, I realize that I left Anthony with the zombie. I rush to the comm speaker and yell, "I'm in Firearms, stay low."

As I start to drift away to help him, I hear Anthony's voice over the speaker say, "She's not going to hurt us." She?? It has a gender and how has it not eaten out Anthony's brains by now? 

"What are you talking about. She's going to eat us. She's going to eat our brains." 

"No, I don't think so. That's not what she's doing here." 

"Then what is she doing here?" He says, "Umm, I think she's getting ready for a date... Huh?" 

"What?"

"Gotta go."

Hearing the sudden worry in his voice, I ask, "What's happening?"

"Our friend just discovered House of the Dead Two"

I hang up and rush over to Anthony hoping that he's OK. I have the upper hand now that I have a gun, I can shoot it right in the face. I get to the aisle and march up, holding my hand cannon with both hands. It's kind of wobbly, but I believe I won't miss. However, the zombie just looked me straight in the eyes, unblinking, no emotion. It looked like it wanted me to kill it. I hesitated, not knowing what to do. It obviously didn't want to eat my brains. Anthony puts his hand on the gun and forces me to lower it away from the zombie. I look at the video game demo that's playing, zombie heads exploding and violence everywhere. I took another look at the zombie, dressed in nice clothes, looking like she really was trying to go out on a date. "She," it looked like an actual woman now. It clicked. Maybe she isn't a mindless drone, and after seeing the demo where zombies heads are blown off he own self-worth is put into question. Maybe my fear was irrational, it was only based on appearance. I immediately thought of an over-used cliche that said, "Don't judge a book by its cover," which I obviously did. Maybe there was an actual "person" under the guise of a zombie and I just personally hurt its feelings by trying to shoot her with a gun. I neglected to truly see what she was, and she was the worse off for it. I totally ruined her night. 

I took a look at Anthony and, with a newfound resolve, finally "saw" him for what he was. He was caring, even for so-called zombies, and was always nice to me during our nights at WorldMart. It was worth a chance, maybe hanging out with him a little more. He was kinda-handsome too, potentially we could date. Then he asks me, "Would you like to go see a movie on Thursday?" You know what happens next.