I lay there for awhile, gazing up at the white ceiling. Somehow in just one day, my whole life had turned upside-down. I couldn't believe it – now there were two Terminators after me. Maybe I had seen wrong – maybe I had just imagined the other guy in the squad car…I had been under heaps of pressure… But then something on the overhead TV caught my attention.

"— a two man shoot out erupted in Marion Mall today, leaving twelve dead and twenty-five wounded. Witnesses claim the gunmen bear an uncanny resemblance to the two lead actors in the 1984 blockbuster 'The Terminator', starring Michael Biehn and the Californian governor Arnold Schwarzenegger." The newsflash showed footage of the upturned mall, people being wheeled out on ambulance gurneys, and pictures of Michael Biehn and Arnold alongside snaps of their hazy counterparts. "Police are refusing to speculate on the apparent similarity between the- "

"SURPRISE!"

I glanced up. Jane, my best friend, and Todd appeared at the door to my room, carrying a huge bunch of flowers. My face broke into a grin at the sight of their familiar faces. "Jane! Todd!"

"Sarah!" Jane rushed to my bedside. "Todd told me what happened. God, are you okay?" She leaned over and gave me a big hug.

I nodded, smiling. "Much better now that you guys are here. Thanks for coming." I was thrilled that Todd had also come to see me in hospital. After the whole fiasco with our date at the mall, I didn't think he wanted to talk to me again.

"We came as soon as we heard," Todd said. "When that guy showed up and dragged you off, I had no idea all this was going to happen." A little awkwardly, he took my hand and gave it a warm squeeze. "I'm glad you're alright."

He held my hand! Grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire cat, I thought – being dragged around the mall, shot at, yelled at, chased after by Terminator psychos, and almost killed in a car accident was almost worth it. Almost.

Jane gazed at me with wide blue eyes. "They sealed off the entire mall. Won't let anybody in or out of there. Sarah, is it true? Some guy who looks just like Reese and Arn-"

At that instant, all the lights went out.

"What the- "

We heard a distant crash. Then the sound of machine gunfire confirmed my worst fears.

"Uh-oh."

Jane shot me a worried frown. "What do you mean, 'uh-oh'?"

Beyond the dark hospital room came frantic shouting, running feet, the blast from a shotgun.

"Hey, you there! You can't- " Outside, the nurse's yell ended in an earsplitting scream.

Jane, Todd and I exchanged frightened looks. It was him. The Terminator.

"Quick! We have to hide!" I shouted.

"Is this a joke? Hide? Where?" Jane's wide blue eyes swept the empty hospital room. There wasn't anywhere to hide.

My eyes fell on the adjoining toilet cubicle. "Quick, into the toilet!"

"The toilet?" Todd made a face.

"You have a better idea?" Ripping off the IV tubes and throwing back the sheets, I leapt off the bed.

Crowding into the tiny, dark toilet cubicle, we slammed the door. The room smelled strongly of disinfectant, vomit, and other, shall we say, less than pleasant things.

Todd gave me a look.

I held up my hands in a defensive gesture and shook my head. "Hey, wasn't me."

So, breathing through our noses, we listened to the chaos outside.

Rattling automatic fire.

Screaming.

Running feet.

Crashing, splintering sounds.

The shots were getting louder. Closer.

Then, beneath all this, we heard something else - the sound of heavy footsteps striding into the room beyond our toilet. My heart clenched in sudden fear. It was the Terminator, it had to be. I held my breath. Please, please don't find us. We were like sitting ducks in here.

Todd swept his eyes around the tiny cubicle and grabbed the only thing he could see – the toilet plunger. Silently, he held it out above his head, ready to bring it down on the first thing to walk through that cubicle door…