Equally scared as shocked, Kurt was sure of it. He knew he was gonna die soon, but he never knew it was going to be this soon. The gun that was still poking his back, was shoved into his back even harder.

"Put the bag down and leave and I will let you go." The deep, low voice spoke again. Kurt heard a tremble when this man spoke, and realized he must have been just as scared as he was, but didn't acknowledge it fully in case he might actually get shot.

"Can I just-" Kurt tried, slightly turning his head to the side, hoping he might get a glimpse of who was behind him. He wanted to try at least get the cat food. Whoever this person was, he was sure that he didn't need all the cat food Kurt packed in his plastic bag. Besides, there was still lots of it left in this stockroom.

"Leave!" the owner of the gun didn't let Kurt finish and had interrupted him with a loud yell.

It made Kurt jump slightly and in the process he dropped the bag and without looking back, he rushed out the door, feeling incredibly relieved that the pressing of the gun in his back was now gone, but still aware that the person could still decide to shoot him. So he ran.

He ran out of the storage room, into the supermarket, past the empty shelves, to the broken window and just when he thought he was going to be safe, he slipped. Stepped on a piece of glass that went sliding, bringing Kurt to the floor.

He broke the fall with his hands, instantly feeling hundreds of little glass pieces go into the flesh of his hands. He yelped loudly, crying out in pain. In panic, he looked back to see if he had been followed by the armed person he had just been threatened by. Luckily he hadn't.

Using his elbows, getting glass splinters onto his jacket, he sat himself up and looked at his hands, instantly thinking of how he was going to lower the fire escape to get back into his apartment. Besides a lot of small tiny little pieces of glass that looked like glitter, there were large chunks of glass sticking out of his palms. One in the left hand, two in the right. With his teeth he tried to remove the one larger piece from his left hand so he could use that to remove the other two. It worked, but not without more cries of pain that he tried to muffle which was hard as he was using his mouth as a tool; he couldn't exactly cover it.

Sucking in through his teeth he made sure his left hand was useable enough to work with. Softly scraping it over his jeans, trying to somehow roll the glittery glass off of his hand, he winced. Shit, this hurt.

"Oh, my God,"

Kurt snapped his head up to see someone staring at him from behind a shelf.

"Don't shoot me!" Kurt panicked, not even seeing a gun, but he was sure this bearded hobo had been the one who was about to kill him in the stockroom. He covered his face with his arms, palms out towards the stranger. It didn't protect him at all, he was still open for gun shots, but it was the least he could do to feel at least a little protected from this criminal.

"Jesus Christ, are you alright?"

The voice surprisingly softer, Kurt suddenly wasn't sure if this was in fact the person that had just shooed him away, and hesitantly lowered his arms a bit. Enough to look over them and take a second look at this person. Maybe this was someone who had entered the store a minute ago to find food, just like Kurt had done a few minutes ago.

Without warning, the stranger stepped forward and kneeled down in front of him, glass crackling below his feet and knees. He took hold of one of Kurt's wrists which we still extended in front of him, halfly covering his face. Without saying anything, he inspected it, taking a real close look.

Kurt just sat there, scared, panicking and in pain. Like a deer in headlights, he looked at the stranger who only had eye for his injuries.

"Can I…?" the stranger asked after a pause.

Kurt wanted to nod, but this was too bizarre.

"W-what are you going to do?" Kurt swallowed hard.

"Don't worry," they caught each other's eyes.

"I'm a doctor."

Kurt didn't speak or give any sign of being okay with anything happening to him. The stranger must have thought that Kurt didn't believe him, because after a few seconds he got up and started searching the isles. It seemed like he couldn't find was he was looking for.

"Don't move, I'll be right back!" he yelled out and Kurt saw how he was about to enter the stockroom.

"Don't!" Kurt yelped. "Don't go in there! Someone has a gun!" he tried, reaching out his hand as if to bring him back that way. So far the stranger hadn't done anything hurtful to him even though easily could have. He made his conclusions; this must be a good guy.

The stranger appeared again, peeping its head around the corner, looking visibly uncomfortable.

"That wasn't a gun…. that was… that was a packet of spaghetti…" he half smiled. "I'm… I'm sorry, about that. About earlier… I thought you might threaten me if you found me, so I wanted to make sure I did it first," he explained, and Kurt noticed how awkward he looked. As if he didn't know how to move his body or where to place his hands. Kurt's mouth was slightly open, not sure what to say but slightly in shock by what he just said.

He wanted to be really angry with this man, but he thought about how if he had had a gun, he could've shot him; yet he hadn't. The stranger disappeared again and Kurt heard rummaging. Kurt then rolled his eyes at himself. This was ridiculous. He got up, which was a task but he managed to do it quite quickly, and looked back one more time to see if he was still alone. Then, stepping through the window, he left. Glass still in his hands, he did the only thing he thought was appropriate and he started running. For a second he thought of ducking into one of the side streets, because what if he would be followed? But he couldn't. He needed to go home, and he needed to go home fast.

"Al!" he yelled and kicked the door of his apartment building as he couldn't exactly use his hands to bang it. "Al, come help me lower the fire escape ladder!" he kicked harder, hoping Al would hear him.

"AL!"

"Mr Hummel?"

"Al, please be quick, I don't know if I'm being followed and I've hurt my hands," Kurt yelled through the big wooden barricaded doors.

"I'll be right there sir!" Al's hurried voice yelled back, sounding soft through the doors. Now all Kurt could do was wait, as he looked around the street in full panic mode. His adrenaline was running high, he could feel his heart beat in his throat and thought to himself how adrenaline sucked. At this moment in time he did not understand why he used to like watching horror films so much – adrenaline kicks sucked. They meant you were in survival mode which was far too terrifying to Kurt. It was stressful and Kurt wasn't particularly good at it.

He heard the window above him open and Al's leg appeared. Then his body and then the other leg.

"Thank you, Al. I fell down and I've got glass in my hands, I don't know how-" Kurt didn't get to finish his sentence.

"Hey!"

Both Kurt and Al jerked their heads towards where the loud yell had come from.

"Shit," Kurt hissed under his breath and gestured for Al to quickly lower the ladder.

"Hey, you!" the bearded stranger came running towards him, plastic bag in one hand and a white box in the other.

"Stop, I only want to-"

"No, you stop!" Kurt suddenly yelled back, his voice loud and high. It startled the stranger so much, it made him stop running. He was now only standing two doors away from Kurt, close enough to hear him speak, but far enough to not be able to stab Kurt without Kurt being able to dodge.

"I don't have any money or any other valuables, there's nothing I can offer you." Kurt screamed, holding his hands out as if to keep the stranger at an acceptable distance. Which is why he suddenly noticed his watch.

"This is all I have," Kurt said, not only his voice but his entire body was shaking. He brought the watch-strap to his mouth to undo it.

"What? No, I-"

"Here!" Kurt had removed the watch impressively quick and and thrown it towards him.

"I have a gun!" Al suddenly screamed from above, making both of them look up at him. Kurt knew Al didn't have any kind of weapon on him, but Al had his hand hidden inside his jacket as if he were holding one.

"If you don't… If you don't leave Mr Hummel alone, I-I will shoot you!" Al tried to sound strict, but it didn't work. He was an adorable old man who was trying to help but only seemed to make it worse. Kurt sighed and turned back to the stockroom guy.

"Just," he pleaded, giving in. "Just leave me alone, okay? We're all going to die… at least let me say goodbye to my cat?" Even as he thought about it, Kurt welled up. His vision very suddenly blurred up and he sobbed, surprising himself. There had been so much tension, and he gave up, falling to his knees and sobbing. So many tears had already been shed.

It was enough.

No one even cared.

If this was it, then this was it. Kurt had almost accepted his death, when he suddenly felt someone gently take his wrists. For a second he thought it was Al… but he could never have climbed down the ladder so quickly.

He never looked up, but he saw his hands. Hands with olive skin and dark hairs. Hands that were soft and warm and that helped him. One by one, the glass pieces were taken out of his palms. Some of them hurt, but most of them didn't. He felt the warmth and wetness of blood on his hands, but a cloth wiped it away. Gentle, oh so very gentle.

Next came bandage. Both his hands were wrapped up in crisp white bandage and when his hands were done, his wristwatch was strapped back onto the wrist he had taken it off earlier. He then saw how the plastic bag was placed in front of him. It washis bag. The bag he had filled up with cat food and a lot of stuff he didn't even need. He was made to drop it earlier, when he was being threatened with spaghetti, but now it was here.

Kurt was still crying, almost unable to stop.

A sturdy hand on his shoulder made him look up. It was Al. He was smiling at him and nodded his head, using it to point at something in front of Kurt. Kurt looked up and saw the stranger walk away, holding the white box he'd seen in his hands earlier. He didn't look back at him, he just walked and then turned the corner. He was gone.

"Do you want me to help you get inside, Mr Hummel?" Al asked.

Staring after a person that was already out of vision a few moments longer, Kurt finally nodded and got up. Al helped him get to his feet and grabbed his bag for him.

"Ah, Noodles will be pleased." Al said as he noticed what was in the bag. His friendly smile made Kurt halfly smile back at him. Kurt had no idea what just happened, but he felt a lot better than he'd done before.