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The rain was heavy and the storm was getting worse. Their car was running low on fuel and there was no gas station in sight on the Californian desert plains. The only sign of civilization was a lone Ikea store in the distance with a few cars in its parking lot.
“There might be a gas station behind that Ikea. Pull into there Chris!” Tanya said from the front passenger seat.
“Or maybe someone in there can tell us where a gas station is because I've got no signal on my iPhone,” Simon added from the back. Chris pulled into the parking lot. He took the keys out of the ignition as the other passengers got out of the car and ran across the parking lot to get undercover and out of the rain.
“We were supposed to be in LA hours ago! Why didn’t you fill up the car when we went past that gas station earlier?” Heather grumbled. She was looking forward to this trip but Chris’ reluctance to stop earlier to get gas meant they were going to miss opening night of the convention.
“Hey, we’ll still make it in time.” Simon tried to sympathise, placing a hand on Heather's shoulder.
“Whatever.” she shrugged him off.
As the group entered the building through the main rotating door Chris felt a cold shiver run down his spine.
“If we can find an employee, maybe they could point us to the nearest gas station.” Chris began looking around the entry of the store for an employee. Soft music played in the background as the group walked further into the Ikea in their search for an employee.
“Do you guys smell that?” Simon’s stomach rumbled.
“No, But I can hear your stomach,” Heather smirked.
“It's the Ikea diner, there's got to be someone in there!” Chris said excitedly.
Walking towards the diner the group saw empty tables with fresh food behind the glass counter tops but no sign of employees or customers.
“I Wonder where everyone is. There were a few cars outside.” Heather said.
“Mmm, Those meatballs smell good,” Simon said eagerly as he walked towards the counter with the hot food behind the glass, Tanya following close by. Chris sighed,
“Glad we have Simon, If we're ever hungry his nose will always find where the food is. Wait... I think that's an employee over there.” Chris pointed towards a blue and yellow figure he could see in the distance. The figure was bald and very tall. Chris ran towards the figure calling out.
“Excuse me! Can you help me” Chris' voice trailed off when he got closer and saw the figure clearly for the first time. The employee was impossibly tall for a person. Its uniform was the only splash of colour on its pale complexion. Chris looked up and went cold, the figure had no face! Chris, now frozen in place, noticed its arms were too long with its fingers almost touching the ground as it slowly walked past him.
“Chris?” Simon yelled from back at the diner. “What has he said about getting some food and gas from around here?” Heather, who was catching up to Chris, stopped in place and screamed.
“He’s got no face!!!’ The figure kept moving as if it was unaware that the group was there. Simon and Tanya slowly walked to their friends.
“Hey, have you guys noticed that the entrance is gone?” Simon muttered quietly, also seeing the employee with no face.
“What do you mean it's gone?” Chris asked, unbelieving but still worried, his nagging fear that had first started when they had entered the store was chewing at him from the inside.
“We backtracked through the store, but we didn’t end up at the entrance. It was just more and more rows of shelves.
“It's like a labyrinth or something.. Reminds me of the video games that you play Chris,” Tanya mentioned, gripping Chris’s hand nervously.
“I’ll tell ya why ya can’t find the exit..” A new voice said from behind the group, making Tanya jump. Turning to see where the voice had come from, the group saw a skinny older man with a bushy beard growing in weird directions. “This ain’t no normal Ikea kids. It's infinite. Once ya go in there's almost no chance of getting out. It's an entity ya see, forever changin' like a livin' maze. You'd better build yourselves a fort before nightfall if y’all want to survive, The employees are dangerous at night.” Still in shock, Tanya managed to reply.
“If what you’re saying is true that this Ikea is actually like an entity, then explain why in every direction it has no walls.” She was scared but didn’t believe the warning. This could all be a prank she thought.
“If you find a wall you’ll be the first. Nobody I’ve met here has ever seen one.” With that, the old man walked off waving his hand over his shoulder and repeating his advice about building a fort.
“Good luck to y’all kids.” Once the man moved away Chris stepped into action.
“Right, from what I’ve seen so far and I think the old guy is right about night being dangerous, those things he called employees aren’t human.”
“I agree, This reminds me of that one game where you have to survive five nights at a pizzeria. You know the one I'm talking about right Chris?” Simon smiled slyly remembering the time he’d scared Chris half to death with a mask he’d bought based on the game.
“I’m still not convinced. That old man seemed crazy.” Tanya muttered but went along with her friends as they started moving furniture around to create a shelter for them to ‘Survive’ the night.
Maybe this is like one of those reality TV shows, and we win a prize at the end if we survive. Tanya pondered.
“You and Heather collect food from the diner, Simon and I will build the fort.” Chris insisted, taking charge.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
The lights throbbed and then dimmed to half-light.
“Closing time,” said Simon in a spooky voice, he still didn’t believe this was anything other than a prank. While the group built the fort Tanya decided that she wanted to be a daredevil and stay outside the base and keep watch on the others. She built a smaller fort higher up on some shelves so the employees couldn't reach her.
“I don’t think that's a good idea, Tanya.” Argued Chris “We should stay inside our base, not out of it.”
“I don’t care, Chris, I'm staying out here, to keep watch and be the strong one to prove to whoever has the recording cameras around that I’m the star of the show!” Tanya joked. “Plus I am high up enough that the employees definitely won't reach me,” Tanya smirked,
“You’d better head inside, I’ll see you in the morning.” Tanya smiled for the last time at her friend. The lights suddenly shut off completely only the pointless exit signs shining a light green glow in the store.. Suddenly in the distance, Chris saw the employee turn as if now suddenly aware of the group being in its territory. It started to run toward the makeshift fort. At the same time, it started to move the store PA blared
“The store is now closed, please exit the building.” over and over again.
Tanya let out a scream as it climbed its way up to her small tower. It grabbed her by the shirt, and dragged her down and into the dimly lit shelving while she desperately screamed Chris’ name..
Chris watched frozen in horror from a minuscule window in their base as Heather and Simon hugged each other sobbing terrified they’d be next.
Suddenly Chris woke up in a cold sweat. He looked around, startled and confused. He was in the driver's seat of his car. His friends were each sleeping in the passenger seats. He looked up and saw the lights of a gas station 100 yards away. The others, having heard him wake up, each woke up as well.
“Geez Chris it's bad enough we missed opening night of the convention but did you have to make so much noise, we’re trying to sleep.” Simon joked.
Chris murmured to the rest.
“If you don’t like it guys maybe you should walk.” They all laughed.
+++
The next day they reached the convention, It was good but didn’t live up to the hype. That night as Chris settled into the bed in his cheap hotel room he remembered the nightmare he had in the car about the infinite Ikea. Just as he was falling asleep he heard a knock at the door, It was Tanya. He let her in.
“Can I stay here for a while?” she asked.
“I had a horrible dream last night about a monster attacking me at an Ikea and I can’t sleep.” Chris froze in place, was it really a dream?