I work at a warehouse that mainly ships food for animals, including horses, birds, cats, dogs, rodents, and probably more. I say mainly food for animals, because we also ship an assortment of random things like that white paint stuff people put on baseball and soccer fields. I really like my job, especially for a warehouse job. Most warehouse workers around here are treated terribly and are expected to take it because they’re getting paid $20+ an hour. The place I work only pays $16 an hour but it’s worth it because of how they treat their workers. Some people from the office bring Krispy Kreme donuts for us once a week, every once in a while someone from one of the shipping companies will buy us all Italian food. Normally I choose the pepperoni knots because they are so ridiculously delicious. Delicious pizza dough wrapped around mozzarella cheese and pepperoni. I could really go for some of those right now.
Alright enough reminiscing, I’m not here to talk about food, well, not food for humans anyways. It was like any other day when I went into work. I went to my station and started packing some of the express items when Rodney (my supervisor) came running up to me. I’d venture to say Rodney is pretty much the only one I talk to at work, most of the time I keep to myself except when I need to ask Rodney about an order. I finished packing what I had in my hands and asked Rodney what was up. He asked me to come with him to the break room, and that I didn’t need to clock out a break. I followed him to the break room and as soon as I pulled the door closed behind me he started telling me all about a new job opportunity he had for me. Rodney knew I was struggling to keep myself afloat with the wages here but I couldn’t bring myself to leave. He excitedly told me about how there’s a specific packer position that had just become vacant because the last guy had been promoted. I didn’t know what that had to do with me until he told me the hourly pay for that position. $40 an hour! I was flabbergasted. Rodney said he knew I was a hard worker and said I deserved this position. I asked him why it was so high paid and he said he honestly didn’t know. He did know that there was an NDA I would have to sign to take the position, which only prospects for the position were allowed to read. Rodney said he did read it ahead of time to make sure everything would be something he thought I would be fine handling. He said he had to get back to work but to take my time reading it before giving him my final answer.
I spent the next thirty minutes reading the NDA, and there were some interesting things in there but they all made sense. Apparently this position would mean I would only pack for one company, “Zaroff’s Hounds”, that specialized in “freshly hunted high-quality meat just like dogs used to eat”. The main thing in the contract was that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone that I was packing for Zaroff’s, and that I would have to pay for any goods I damaged at full price. I ended up looking at the company’s website to see how much they would cost if I ended up damaging something accidentally, and let’s just say I was definitely going to be careful. It seemed a little weird to me that I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone about who I was packing for, but I found out later that it was just because they didn’t want it to come out that the meat had to sit in cans in warehouses to be shipped out and was not as fresh as they claimed. I signed the NDA and gave it to Rodney, and he told me to gear up and start right away. An aspect of the position I forgot to mention is that I would be working in basically a huge fridge, so I had to wear a provided coat, gloves, hat, and a weird sort of scarf thing that basically plugged my nose and kept it warm.
I entered the back room where the fridge and my new workstation were, and got to work. It seemed like the only product they sold was something called “Meat Madness”, but there were a lot of flavors, pretty much one for every animal except ones that were endangered. A few months passed while I was in this new position, and I loved the pay but I missed talking to Rodney about life. After my first month in my new position, he had been offered a two month paid vacation by Zaroff’s as thanks for giving them such a hard worker. I was glad he got to have an awesome vacation but I was looking forward to his return within the next few days. He said he would take lots of pictures to show me, and I was curious as to where they would have given him a vacation.
While I was packing and thinking about possible locations, I realized one of the cans that had arrived that day to be held for future orders was damaged and slightly ajar. I crossed my fingers that they would charge the delivery guy and not me, and started to pick up the case when I saw something shiny inside the damaged can. My curiosity was piqued, and I figured since it was already damaged there wouldn’t be any harm in me looking at what was in there. I pried it open and almost cut my hand in the process, but I managed to pull the shiny object out of the can. A watch, one that looked eerily familiar but I couldn’t remember why. I wondered why there would be a watch in the dog food, considering a dog could choke on it, but then I remembered seeing on the labels many times that there were mystery gifts inside some special cans and that you were to check every can before feeding it to your dog. I set the damaged case aside and put the watch in my pocket, then finished my day of work with nothing else noteworthy.
As I was driving home the realization hit me, that watch looked just like the watch Rodney had. When I got home I examined the watch at my desk and sure enough, it was the same brand and model as Rodney’s. A chill went down my spine as I had a dark thought, was this watch Rodney’s? As I thought about how ridiculous that would be I remembered when Rodney had shown me the engraving he had on his watch, a flower drawn by a 2 year old hand, his daughter who had passed away in a tragic accident. I decided I would push those thoughts out of my mind by checking the back of the watch and reassuring myself that I was just being dramatic. I flipped over the watch and I felt a wave of heat and chills run through my body at the same time. There was a poorly drawn flower engraved on the back of the watch. The rest of that day became a blur, I remember texting the temporary supervisor that I wouldn’t be coming into work the next day because I felt sick, and then vomiting repeatedly throughout the evening before eventually falling asleep.
The next morning I woke up to a phone call at 5 AM from an unknown number, and sleepily answered it. “Hello?” “Good morning Mr. Scott, this is Richard Connell, CEO of Zaroff’s Hounds calling to let you know that you have earned a two-month paid vacation due to all of your hard work” I was awake immediately and remembered everything that had happened the day before. “There is a car waiting outside your door to take you to the airport. No need to bring personal amenities as everything will be provided for-” I hung up the phone and dashed out my back door, right into a huge man who immediately took hold of me and said that I shouldn’t have done that. I struggled to get away as a cloth was held under my nose and then everything went black.
I don’t know how much time passed while I was out, but I woke up in what I assumed to be a crate in the hold of a ship. There was a bunch of commotion overhead and then I heard a huge crash and was flung out of my crate onto the shore of an island. I began walking around on the beach and tried to figure out my plan of survival but before I got anywhere a man who looked strangely familiar walked out of the woods towards me. He yelled and asked me how I got here and I said I wasn’t sure. He told me that he lived on this island and that I could stay with him for the night and then we could figure out how to get me home tomorrow.
I followed him through the woods to his home, a huge log cabin that was more of a mansion than a log cabin, and he showed me to my room and said dinner would be in thirty minutes when he finished cooking. I decided I would check out the mansion while I was waiting, and saw that the guy who owned the place must’ve been an avid hunter with all the taxidermy he had around the halls. I eventually found the dining room just in time for dinner, and enjoyed an engaging conversation about the man’s passion for hunting before heading to bed. He escorted me to my room and as I was about to shut my door I asked him what his name was so that I could thank him properly, and he smiled and said his name was Richard. I smiled back and thanked Richard and then closed the door. My head was pounding, I knew where I had seen him before, the website of Zaroff’s Hounds.
I am writing this on the paper I found in the room I was provided with and I plan on stuffing it into my prosthetic hand in hopes that someone will find it in a can of Meat Madness and the truth will be revealed of what meat they really put in the dog food. I’m begging you, stay away from Zaroff’s Hounds, Meat Madness, but especially Richard Connell.