The Arrival was turning its front wheels, a clear indication it was going to try and squeeze its way behind the counter.

There was only one drawer left. Archie pulled it out so quickly he yanked it off the track. The drawer, and its contents, rained onto the floor.

“Shit!” he said, dropping to his knees to sort through the scattered contents.

Pamela started pushing against the end of the counter. Archie heard wood splintering as he sorted through more price stickers and slips of paper and—

A set of keys.

“Yes!” he said, snatching them up and standing. There were at least half a dozen on the ring. One of them had to open that back door.

Pamela had buckled the end of the counter, forcing it up over the hood. The front wheels were spinning, looking for traction.

Archie looked through the ever-growing opening into the stockroom and waved the keys at Rory. “Got ’em!”

He threw the keys. Rory had his hands in the air, waiting, but fumbled the catch. The keys bounced off his palms, hit the floor, and slid under the shelving unit.

“Oh crap oh crap oh crap!” Rory screamed. He got down on all fours, putting his head sideways to the floor to peek under the bottom shelf. “I see them!”

The Arrival, having seen the keys fly through the air, abandoned its short-lived efforts to get to Archie, and turned its attention back to entering the stockroom. It backed up several feet, then took another run at the opening.

“Rory!” Archie screamed.

The car’s front bumper came to within a foot of Rory’s butt. The boy scrambled out of the way at the same time as he pulled his hand out from under the shelf, keys in hand.

Rory got to his feet and scrambled to the locked door. “Which key?” he shouted.

“How should I know?” Archie shouted back.

Rory got the first key into the door and tried to turn it. “Not this one!”

Archie sighed. “So try the next one!”

The Arrival had adopted a new tactic. Instead of backing up again, it was pushing its way into the room, its front tires spinning, the smell of burning rubber filling Victoria’s Secret.

“Hurry!” Archie cried.

Rory continued to fumble with the keys. “I’ve tried them all! None of them—oh, wait, I think I tried one twice!”

We’re all going to die, Archie thought.

Rory found the right key, and shouted, “I got it!”

He opened the door. Archie had a glimpse of gray cinder-block walls. He was right. The door accessed a service corridor.

The Arrival suddenly burst forward, charging toward Rory and the door.

Rory, glancing wide-eyed over his shoulder for a millisecond, jumped through the open doorway just as the car slammed into the wall on either side.

The door closed.

Rory was gone.

With the keys.