I was like a ghost in an already ghost town. It had once been a railroad hub a century ago, but now it was a town with an empty square, one gas station, and a Mennonite community, who also, like me, kept to themselves. The barely populated town did not even have a mayor anymore, with most of the comings and goings happening about 45 mins south in a slightly larger town. But they have one thing, though.
They had a Dollar General.
The manager who hired me gave me a strange look when I requested to be an overnight stocker for it. His eyebrows curled a bit, looking at someone unfamiliar who wanted to work a schedule overnight, but after grumbling about how nobody wants to work these days, he gave me the job.
That is how we ended up on that night. I had only been on the clock for about thirty minutes, stocking a shelf of cat litter. I looked down the aisle to see one of my coworkers, a stout older man with a bushy beard, who we will call Jimmy.
“Sully, I am about to head out,” he called out.
“Alright, are you going to tie one on before going home?”
“The old lady has been bitchin’ again. I figured I would cool it for a minute.”
“Well, just lock up behind you,” I replied. “I don’t want Peterson wandering in here skunk drunk trying to buy beer.”
“I’ll do it,” Jimmy said as he gave me a wave and disappeared. It took a few moments, but I heard the front doors locking, and not long after that, I heard the rattle of his old Chevy Silverado pulling off to head home.
I lifted the box of cat litter, placed it on the shelf, and faced it toward the would-be customers. I heard a couple of taps coming above, which suddenly became more fierce and plentiful. The sound of thunder cracked. I straightened up the aisle and moved to the front of the store. It was probably the heaviest rain of the season. I couldn’t even see the road. The sky roared again, and blue light illuminated the store.
“Well, it looks like I am not going out for any smoke breaks tonight,” I said to myself. I headed to the canned food aisle, and it was clear that the day crew had done fuck all. Which wasn’t wasn’t anything new, and I had grown accustomed to picking up the slack.
I popped open the box and began to stack the cans neatly on the shelf, carefully faced correctly. It wasn’t much for work, but I took pride in what I did. But something disturbed the soothing monotony. It was the sound of rubber colliding with the wet asphalt.
It was probably the locals, especially the teenagers. I could attest to this that even solidarity creatures like myself can find it hard to entertain one’s self. The townsfolk were most likely racing down the one strip that went through the town.
The store was silent briefly.
That’s when I heard a violent rattling noise coming from the front of the store. I paid no mind at first, assuming it was the wind pushing against the doors. But then it happened again, much more forcefully and almost angry.
I heard three thuds against the tempered glass doors. It was probably Peterson. He often drove in, slamming his hands against the door, desperately hoping for another case of Keystone Light. It didn’t matter how many times we told him the store’s hours. He would still come by acting like he had no idea.
“We’re closed!” I yelled as loud as I could muster. “And no, the hours haven’t changed!”
This time I heard the hands beat even more fiercely against the glass. Peterson was especially desperate tonight, probably because he didn’t want to have to drive even further because of the rain. “We close at ten on the dot, we’ve always closed at ten on the dot!” I shouted frustratingly
The sound of a loud crack of lighting quelled the angry knocks on the door, and the lights began to flicker. I began to walk down the aisle towards the front door when I noticed a faint smell. It wasn’t the odor of Peterson. That would be cheap Pyramid cigarettes, sweat, and beer. This smell was different. It was very faint but it smelled of floral.
The lights continued to flicker before another boom of thunder happened to knock the lights out completely.
“Fucking great!” I said as I reached the front of the store.
The rain was still coming down hard. No one was at the front door, and even the smell I had picked up had faded from the rain. I walked over, my eyes looking outside, but the storm had become so heavy I couldn’t see anything. “Well, I guess I can finally get back to work.”
I started to walk back when light poured into the store, and I looked down to see my shadow on the concrete floor. I turned to a blinding light coming from those annoying halogen lights on what looked to be an SUV.
I shielded my eyes from the brightness but could make out the door of the vehicle opening. A figure stepped out, I couldn’t make out much at the time, but they were tall and bulky. The shadow on the floor told me that as they lumbered closer to the door.
“Sorry, but we are closed. “ I said loudly. “I don’t even have a code to operate the register.”
They continued walking towards the door.
“The self-checkout doesn’t even work,” I lied because that was how I always bought cigarettes when I was working. It didn’t matter, though. The open palm of their hand slammed against the tempered glass.
Their head was covered in a hood covering the top of their hair, but I could see what looked to be a man with a thick but still well-kept beard staring at me. I noticed a large tattoo covering his neck and could see even more tattoos on his hands. He wore dark clothing and had what looked to be a brown leather jacket with some dark blue denim.
“I need you to open the door, please,” he said gruffly.
“We are closed, mister.”
“I just need you to open the door,” he replied as he took off the hood. His face was with a crooked nose and piercing green eyes. I also noticed the smell of floral returned as he looked at me. “I need to use your phone real quick.
“It’s 2022.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” He asked with a frown on his face.
“It means you have to have a damn cellphone.”
He chuckled, “You’re right, but that also assumes that I get coverage in this piss-ant town.”
“Alright, that’s fair, but it’s company policy not to allow anyone in the store after the doors are locked.”
“How much do you make in an hour?”
“Now, what does that have to do with anything? Do you want a job or something? Do you really think the person who does the hiring would be here stocking shelves at night?”
“No, it means I am guessing you make about $9 bucks hourly.”
“$8.75, actually.”
“Then that makes my point even more valid,” he replied as the man reached into his jacket. I stopped waiting for him to pull out a gun. It wouldn’t be the first time someone tried to rob this place. Instead he pulled out a wallet, and I watched as his fingers sifted through it.
He pulled three wet twenty-dollar bills and fanned them out for me to see.
“What’s that for?” I asked
“I would call it easy money for letting me use your phone for 5 minutes.”
“Who is so important that you have to call at this time of night?”
“I need to call my boss,” the man replied. “Look at the weather out here, I bet you he’s thinking I am dead. I was supposed to meet him at our hotel about an hour ago.”
“Traveling pretty late,” I replied.
“Yea, I hate flying, so I decided to drive down from up north.”
I looked at the lock. The man was right about one thing. It was easy money, and the power was off. I also knew cameras didn’t even work in this place. “Alright, slide the money in, and I will unlock the door.”
“How do I know you will actually unlock the door?”
“How do I know you will actually give me the money once you are inside?” I shot back because after all the guy looked a bit intimidating.
“Tell you what, I will slide one twenty through the cracks here and give you the other forty when I am inside.”
“Fine,” I replied.
I rested my hand on the lock as I waited for him to begin sliding the twenty-dollar bill through the crack of the doors. When it was through enough, I grabbed it and unlocked the door. “Alright, come on in.”
As soon as I unlocked the door, the man pushed it open and came inside quickly. His clothes dripped wet, and he looked at me momentarily as I put my hand out. “Now for the other forty.”
He grinned and handed it over before saying, “Now, where is the phone in this place?”
I pointed to the back of the register and replied. “Just hit nine to dial out.”
I stood still as he walked over to register and grabbed the phone. He pulled out his cell phone, fumbling through it. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember anyone’s damn number without my phone.”
“Me neither. I used to remember them before, but not much need for it when you have an address book in the palm of your hand.”
“Kids these days will never have to remember having to write these things down,” he said as he began dialing a number. I walked over just to make sure he wasn’t trying anything fishy with the registers. The last thing I needed was for my boss to ask me how I allowed myself to get robbed without a gun.
“Hey, boss, it’s me,” he said into the receiver as I looked on. I could hear his boss faintly on the other end, chattering on. “No, I am good. It shouldn’t take long.”
I looked outside again to see the headlights still pouring light into the dark building. The lights had still not come on, and I was curious why the backup lights from the generator were not at least trying to start.
“Room 304, I got it. See you soon.”
The man hung up the phone and as I looked on. “Well, you best be getting on your way then.”
He nodded and asked, “Can I get one more favor?”
“What’s that?”
“I need to take a piss.”
“Take a piss outside.”
“Why so that wind can blow the piss back on me?” he said with a frown on his face. “My clothes will smell like piss in the morning.”
“Sorry, but I’ve already broken enough rules for you tonight.
“And I recall paying you pretty handsomely for a 30-second phone call,” he said with a hint of anger in his voice. I stared at the man and relented, pointing to the back of the building.
“It’s in the back behind the double doors.”
“Thank you.”
“Watch your step while going back there I got all sorts of stuff lying on the floor from my work. It’s also pretty dark here. Apparently, the backup generator isn’t working.”
The man grabbed his phone, turning on his flashlight “I will keep an eye out.”
I watched as he began to walk towards the back of the building, the light slowly fading away into darkness. I pulled my phone out and turned on its flashlight walking outside into the cold rain. I was curious if lighting may have struck the generator and if that was why the backup lights were not coming on.
Being outside in the heavy downpour, I couldn’t blame him for pulling over. I could barely see three feet in front of me as I made my way to the side of the building. The big metal box was starting to appear faintly as the light from my phone reflected on it. That’s when I noticed something strange.
The line from the generator was severed.
“What the fuck?”
I quickly made my way back into the building. It was eerily silent, but the man’s car was still outside, providing the only source of light as the engine hummed. “Hey, time for you to get the fuck out of here.”
It stayed silent with no response.
“I am serious! I am about ten seconds away from calling the police.”
“The nearest police are about thirty minutes away, and that is without the rain,” his voice echoed from somewhere in the building. “It’s just you and me.”
“I don’t have access to the safe or even the register,” I said calmly while trying to scan around me as I walked down an aisle. I heard the sound of something creaking in the distance. It sounded like one of our busted up carts we used to help us stock the store.
“I am not here for the money,” he shouted as I felt metal hit me and running me into the shelf. It looked to see more cases of cat litter and cat food pressing into me until the shelf collapsed from the weight.
The metal and my skin collided as I fell backwards. I felt my blood begin to drip from the wounds. He continued to push the cart on top of me as all the stock fell over me.
“It ain’t personal, but I can’t allow you to live another night,” he said from somewhere as I laid on the ground.
I started to push all things off me and stand up. I looked around, trying to collect myself and search for the man. He was hiding in the darkness, waiting to strike again. Which direction was he going to try to come in for his attack?
I took a whiff to feel the floral smell filling my nostrils. The man was coming from my left, and he was coming quickly.
He felt it, and I most certainly felt it. It was a familiar feeling of warmth on my hand. His blood began to pour onto the floor below us as I looked the man in the eyes.
“A fucking vampire stocking shelves at Dollar General,” he coughed blood. “What a fucking joke that is.”
I pulled my hand out of his stomach and licked my hand. It was quite tasty outside of the light floral cologne he doused himself with. It was actually the biggest mistake he made. The man collapsed onto the floor, leaving a huge mess that I would have to clean up.
“Honestly, you would have had me if you didn’t overkill yourself with the cologne.” I said to myself as I went to go find the cleaning cart with the powder stuff we use to clean up liquids.