All of this started last month. I had been out of work for a while and my uncle told me a friend of his was looking for people for his company. I don’t have much experience so basically I was going to take the job regardless. He said they were in ‘manufacturing’ and were doing really well; it would be simple work.
My uncle told me it was a casual company and the boss was a really nice guy. I didn’t need to do a formal interview. All I had to do was introduce myself and explain my situation.
It was only 20 minutes away. It was in the industrial complex near downtown. “Techline Industries” the sign on the front of the building said in bold letters. “Generic Name” I thought and made my way to the entrance of the building.
“Hello!” said the woman in reception beaming as I walked through the doors.
“Hi. I’m here for a meeting with Blane” I said unsure of myself. I started to feel stupid. My uncle assured me that the position was casual and that Blaine was a personal friend so there was no need to dress up for the meeting but everyone in the office was wearing very nice clothes. The receptionist had a designer coat and handbag hanging behind her. Did they pay that well?
‘Oh you must be the new…’
‘Thanks Jane, I’ll take it from here’ said a large muscular man in a dress shirt wearing what must have been a very expensive watch. His dark hair was slicked back. He gave me a large grin and walked over, putting his hand out to shake.
“Oh hi, Blane.” She said “He’s the boss” and started laughing like what she had said was some form of humor. The other office workers laughed along with her quietly. ‘Okay…’ I thought, must be some inside joke.
This was my uncle’s friend Blane.
“Hello Sir” I said as I grabbed his hand. His grip was like a vice and my arm felt like a wet noodle as he shook it back and forth.
“Sir? No need for that. Call me Blane. You’re Roger’s nephew?” he said heartily.
“Uh.. yes s-, uh yes’ I said catching myself
“BIG-B” a loud voice boomed jovially from across the office. All of the women at their desks looked up and started giggling in unison.
‘T-DOG” Blane said as the two men proceeded to do what almost looked like a telegraphed dance.
“Secret handshakes?” I thought. My uncle did say the place was casual.
“Terry, this here, is what I think is going be our new Transport and Logistics Lead” Blane said
It sounded like an important position. I didn’t have much experience, was he really sure?
“With these numbers we need all the help we can get” he said again prompting laughter from around the room.
Blane led me to his office. An assortment of novelties decorated the sleek decor; a signed football, awards and plaques for various things, a very expensive framed guitar, and a bunch of photographs with important people. I saw one of my uncle and Blane among a group of other men in suits at what appeared to be some sort of event or gala. Beside that was a photo of Blane and what looked like the Governor fishing.
“Is that…” I said without thinking.
“Oh that, that’s me and Richard. Biggest fish I ever caught that day… he’s doing well for himself”
First name basis with the Governor? I knew my uncle was friends with some powerful people but this surprised me.
We talked for about ten minutes, or I should say he talked, mostly about himself. Every time I tried to focus the conversation on the position he would almost brush it off as if it wasn’t important and continue talking about the novelties around his office. Finally he trailed off, seemingly lost in his own thoughts.
“Wow si-… I mean Blane, that is quite fascinating… but about the job itself”
“Oh… right the job. Well, here’s the offer. You’ll be responsible for moving product out the door. It’s good work and we’ll train you. I can offer you 28 dollars an hour and comprehensive health”
I did what I could do to prevent my jaw from dropping. I was a college drop out with no experience and he was going to pay me almost thirty dollars an hour with premium benefits? For shipping some boxes?
“T-twenty eight?” I said in shock
“You know what, you’re right. Let’s make it an even number and round it to thirty.”
What was the catch? This didn’t make any sense? Did my uncle blackmail him? I still didn’t even know what this company did exactly?
“I’ll… I’ll take it” I said trying to sound confident as to not betray my complete shock at my luck.
“Great!” he said smiling. “I’ll see you tomorrow then. I have to attend to something but I’ll have Jesminder walk you out”
I did my best to hide my glee. I had finally caught a break. With this kind of money I could start saving. I could get a proper car. Maybe move out of my run down apartment.
This, this was a fresh start.
“Hello, you are the new one I presume” a short and pleasant woman said as we shook hands.
“That’s me” I said grinning.
“The way you came in is blocked for maintenance, we will have to walk through the workshop”
Blocked? It was only fifteen minutes ago…
We made our way down a short flight of stairs and into the factory. Large tables filled with cardboard boxes. A worker to a table each. I couldn’t see what they were doing exactly. It looked as if they would pour a bunch of packing peanuts into a box and then place a single small item, taping it up.
The people were extremely focused on their tasks. It was almost robotic. As we walked along I still could not make sense of what they were actually doing. It looked like they were manufacturing small plastic disks. One to a box I thought? What a waste.
“What is it that we make here Jesminder?” she paused and for a second I could swear I saw her cringe. Any sense of that was gone as she looked at me with a huge smile.
“My dear” she said in her lilting accent. “There is no need to worry. You will learn the job soon enough” the last sentence said pointedly but veiled in the politeness of her sing-songy cadence.
I didn’t press it any further. I didn’t want to mess this up.
Almost as if to distract from the tension from a moment ago she called out. “Hello everyone!”
“Hello Jesminder! Hi Jesminder” the workers called out happily as if woken from a daze.
“Remember everyone, tomorrow is pizza lunch!”
“Pizza Lunch! Pizza Lunch!” The workers started calling to each-other.
“Hey, tomorrow’s pizza lunch! Yeah pizza lunch!”
Something about it seemed… off. I ignored the feeling and smiled at the workers, trying to share in their happiness. Pizza lunch on my first day at work? Maybe my luck was really turning.
“Everyone… this is our new Logistics and Transport Lead”
Everyone looked up from their work, nearly all of them smiling.
‘Hi! Hey!’ I heard them call out similar to how they had before.
They seemed genuinely happy, other than two guys in the back row. Something about their ‘grins’ seemed forced. Maybe they were having a bad day… that sense something was weird crept up again but I pushed it away. Jesminder led me out of the building and wished me well and said she would see me tomorrow.
I don’t know if was reading too much into it, but it seemed like as soon as she was finished with the ‘formality’ of politeness, she changed. I barely could tell because as soon as she said goodbye she turned around sharply and I swear all the emotion she had a second prior was gone completely. The door snapped shut behind her.
As soon as I got home I called my uncle and told him what had happened. He was happy for me. I asked him how well he knew Blane and he told me they had met a few times at various parties and events but they weren’t that close. He didn’t seem surprised when I told him that Blaine apparently had been friends with the Governor.
I wasn’t going to say anything but I mentioned to him the ‘weird’ vibe I got from the place.
“Just keep your head down and do your job, you’ll do great. Do not, mess this opportunity up.”
I got to work early to orient myself. I saw no one until I got to the shipping department. Jesminder was standing at a table hands down flat and staring off into the distance.
“Hello Jesminder…”
“Oh hello…” she said snapping herself out of her trance.
“Is everything alright?”
She chuckled smugly to herself and then said enthusiastically…
“Of course” elongating the syllables “Why wouldn’t it be?!” now grinning
“Right… of course. Why wouldn’t it be…” I said feeling foolish, telling myself that the thousand yard stare she had a moment ago must have been nothing.
“Today I will be training you. Do you have experience?”
“N.. no. Unfortunately.. but I’m a qui-“ she cut me off
“Do, not, worry!” she said confidently “It is easy”
“Do you see those skids over there?” I nodded
“You will be arranging the transport of the goods. It is simple.” she walked towards the PC.
EasyShip Pro appeared on the screen. The program looked incredibly simple, almost like what you would imagine a ‘shipping simulator’ would be like in a video game. Completely bare bones.
She clicked on ‘outbound’. “Watch closely” she said as she begun clicking on the fields on the screen. There were only a few.
Field 1: Shipment Number
She clicked on the field and selected Shipment A1.
Field 2: Shipping Level
She clicked on the option that said ‘express’.
“It will always be this option. Yes?” I nodded again baffled by the program.
She clicked on a button at the bottom of the page that said confirm shipment.
A loading icon appeared and a label popped out of the printer.
“Match the shipment number on the label up with the shipment. Everything is alphabetical and numerically ordered.” She walked over to a box and set a label. “There we go! We are done” she said.
“That’s it…” I said surprised. “Great. So what else will I be doing?”
“Oh no, I told you don’t worry. That should be more than enough for now. Please let me know if you have any issues and I will help you.”
“Now… get to work!” she said in a mock yell and started laughing as she walked away.
I smiled and forced myself to laugh along “Okay thanks Jesminder…” still stunned at the simplicity of the job.
Thirty dollars an hour to put a sticker on a box?
A few weeks went by without much happening. Occasionally they would have me inspect some of the items prior to packaging for QC. They were just small plastic disks… apparently they were used as industrial washers for machinery or something. It still seemed hard to believe that such a simple thing would create this much business.
I tried to get to know some of my co-workers, but if they weren’t being addressed by one of the office staff they were awfully quiet. Maybe they were getting paid well too I thought. They also ate lunch at a different time so I really never had a chance to talk with them. All day long I tried to keep busy sweeping and organizing documents but I could only do that so much.
One day I walked over to one of the men I had seen on the first day at the back of the shop. I was inspecting some of the product he had made and they were slightly off.
“Hey Thang-Hui, sorry to bother you but these pieces are not to spec…”
“OK. I’ll fix. Put there, I’ll fix okay.” he spoke quickly like he’d rather say nothing at all.
“Yeah for sure…’ I said “Hey… can I ask how long you’ve been working here” I had been there almost a month and still knew next to nothing about anyone.
“Doesn’t matter. Twenty years… doesn’t matter. I’ll fix okay” he kept looking at his work. Maybe I was being the annoying new guy. I didn’t want to piss off a senior worker.
“Right… okay I’ll leave you to it then” I said awkwardly.
At that moment I saw a door behind him at the back of the room I had never noticed before fly open. Two men in full body suits pushing a metal bin walked briskly through the shop and towards the workers in the far area of the warehouse.
The workers moved quickly and started loading metal containers that were in the bin into boxes.
“What… where did they… is there another part to the shop?” I said confused.
“Downstairs. Second shop. Doesn’t matter. Just do job. Just work. Don’t worry.” he said while he continued cleaning the washer. His eyes told me different.
“The second shop? Oh… what do they make there?” I said feeling like I shouldn’t even ask.
He didn’t look up from his task. I got the message so I left him alone. I walked over the metal containers that I would likely be shipping out that day. They had no markings. I saw Blaine walking over briskly, almost bullish.
“Check them over twice! We can’t have any issues with this order!” his voice projecting across the entire shop like a buzz saw.
He noticed I was standing there.
“You don’t need to do anything with these. The customer is arranging for their own pick up and it should be here in less then an hour. You’ll recognize them, they’re good to go. In and out. Okay?” his tone was much more direct than usual.
“Alright Blane…” I said trying to hide how strange I thought the situation seemed.
I don’t know why it seemed abnormal… I had only started there a few weeks ago. It’s not like I knew everything about the company. But the fact that I had never seen the men in the full body suits or even knew there was another department set off a tiny alarm in my mind. Memories of all the weirdness from the weeks prior returning to me.
I watched the men set the shipment in one of the homes and return to their tables.
C3
I walked over looking around making sure no one was looking. Blane had returned to the office. The pallet was like all the rest; it wasn’t wrapped though. I assumed the pick up would secure the shipment. One of the boxes wasn’t taped shut. There was no reason I couldn’t tape it up for them, it’s not like I was doing anything.
I lifted the box and made my way to my desk, and that’s when it happened.
I tripped and the box hit the ground, the metal lid popping open.
I got up and went to clean up the mess. I don’t think anyone had seen me thankfully because the packing area was separate from the shop. None of the contents had spilled but I was still able to see what was inside the crate…
Small suspended vials of different coloured liquid; green, yellow, and red…
Was it blood? No.
It wasn’t blood I told myself. It was hydraulic oil or something. Green and yellow blood? No.
I looked at one of the vials closely. “BIO-Z 245R”.
“What the…” I said stunned. BIO-Z? This wasn’t a pharmaceutical company. Why were we sending this out? Was Blane shipping it for someone? But the men in the suits? The second factory. I started to panic, this was really bizarre.
“Don’t mess this opportunity up.’ I heard my uncles voice echoing in my head.
Why did the vials have a bio hazard symbol? The pallet and container were unmarked? Even if it was private courier, it could be unsafe. What was it that was in these vials? I quickly put the ones I removed back into their floating cages and taped the box shut. I wanted the box back on the pallet and fast.
I was halfway there when the office door flung open. It was Blane and Jesminder. Blane looked up at me and then towards C3. The blood drained from his face. He started speed walking towards me. I couldn’t feel my legs, I was shook.
“Hey!” he said his voice booming, trying to contain himself.
“What are you doing with that box?! I told you the customer had arranged the pick up!”
He was almost shouting but I could tell he was trying to contain his anger to appear professional. He grabbed the box from my hands and put it back on the pallet, then he turned to me expecting an answer.
“I… I… Sorry Blane.. I saw that it was untaped… untaped” I was stuttering
“So I thought I would pack it up” I could barely speak.
Blane looked me over, like he was assessing if what I told him was true.
“Did you look inside the container?” he said
“N-nah… no sir… I mean. No Blane. No, I just taped it up and brought it back” I felt like I was falling out of my own skin, and I had to use every bit of composure I had to appear like a ‘normal’ human being.
“Right…” he said assuredly, seeming to believe me.
“Right… great. Good. Good. It’s uh… These are a prototype washer the R&D team recently designed for a very important contract. It has to be perfect.” I could sense he was relieved. Like his anxiety had been switched off. He started grinning in a guise of confidence, his forehead damp with sweat.
He grabbed my shoulder. “Look… buddy, take it easy alright. I don’t need you to go above and beyond… simply do your assigned tasks. Easy right?” he started laughing loudly, his grip on my shoulder tighter probably then he thought.
The workers around us noticed and started to laugh along with Blane even though they had no idea what was funny. Jesminder was laughing now as well.
“Ha.. ha.. ha..” I tried my best to fit in. The atmosphere was painfully fake. I looked up and saw Thang-Hui at the back of the shop.
He wasn’t laughing.
Blane walked off toward the ‘second shop’.
Jesminder gave me an eerie knowing grin, her eyes squinting at me.
“Done for the day?” she said. I hadn’t noticed the time but she was right. It was time to go. I couldn’t say a word, I just mumbled something and walked as fast as I could to my car. I don’t even think I signed out.
Right when I was about to leave I saw an armoured truck pull up to one of the bays. It was painted black. They must have been the courier for the shipment… An armoured truck and armed guards?
Something about this doesn’t sit right at all, and why would Blane lie about the vials? It’s like they know. Maybe they all know? Jesminder and Thang-Hui definitely.
What is in these vials and what is with all the secrecy? Honestly if it wasn’t for the money I would quit, but how can I turn down thirty dollars an hour for putting a label on a few boxes?
There was a logical explanation. I was going to find out what it was. *** For the next week the only thing on my mind was the vials. I had to find an opportunity to get to the second factory. A few days later an opportunity presented itself. Blane had taken the day off and wouldn’t be in the shop. I knew it was then or never. But how?
“Thang…” I said. The scene I had been mulling over in my mind all morning finally playing out.
“There is a special shipment going out today… I uh… I need to speak with them in the second factory.” it sounded better in my head when I was thinking about what I would say this morning.
He looked at me an eyebrow raised high. Even though the other workers around us were saying nothing, their silence became even more punctuated as they listened in.
“Second factory? No. No need. Why you go?” he said.
“Yes, well, umm… Blane is away today but he told me it was very important. Jesminder is busy as well.” he knew it was bullshit.
“I need the code to the door Thang.”
He looked down at the floor like was weighing something carefully. This was something he had thought about many times before. ‘The second factory…’ He looked at me intensely, then he turned opening a drawer removing a small pouch. He carefully opened the pouch and removed a card, staring at it before he finally passed it to me.
Jaques LePont - Genetics. Primary Clearance
A clearance card… he must have found the card somehow. How long had he had this? Had he ever been? Did this James still work here?
“I don’t know…” he stopped. “Be careful” was all he said.
I grabbed the key and ran to the pin pad. The key card reader lights blipped. What would I say when they saw me? Surely they wouldn’t believe that same story. The door opened and I looked down the stairs.
There wasn’t a sound.
When I got to the bottom I was extremely confused. There was nothing other than a large empty room. Unused space? Why? I walked forward through a series of interconnected empty rooms. Where was this second factory? This made no sense. I felt like I could get lost down here. I had already made my way down two other sets of stairs.
Finally something. Large steel double doors with a sign above “Genetics & Bio-Development”. There were filing cabinets in this room. I tried a few of them but they were all locked. Suddenly I heard the doors open. I ducked, looking out from behind a potted plant. It was the men in the suits with the containers. What I heard next was chilling.
“NO! PLEASE NO!” A loud terrified yell came from the other room. The men who were en-route to an elevator across the room turned and looked where they had just come from. Suddenly I saw the most grotesque looking man I had ever seen dash out from the lab. His skin was the texture and color of a dried cranberry and his eyes were completely white.
An alarm sounded. Armed men ran out into the room. The humanoid figure shrieked like a wyvern, the sound inhuman. Suddenly his flesh started to rip and expand. The whites of his eye became black and scales grew instantaneously from his back and on his chest.
“CODE RED. CODE RED.”
The men began to fire their assault riffles. The creature charged towards them and began to pummel one of the men. The man kicked the horrific figure off of him. It was limp from the barrage of bullets it had just endured. Suddenly a team rushed out and began disinfecting the area. They put the figure in a bag and dragged it away. The steel doors shut behind them. The men with the carts carried onward to the elevator as if nothing had happened.
I tried to control my breathing, nearly hyperventilating. As soon as the elevator closed I booked it. I had never ran so fast in my life. The slew of empty rooms now seeming like a maze. I had to get out. All I had to do was keep going. Finally I reached the doors to the first factory.
I pushed them open tears streaming from eyes. What had I just witnessed? I avoided eye contact with everyone and speed walked towards the exit. I was almost outside when I saw them. It was Blane… Blane and my uncle. It felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.
“Look who it is!” My uncle said happy to see me. “Hope you don’t mind I stopped by.”
“Uncle… I.. I…” my face still damp with tears. My uncle and Blane looked at me concerned.
“Are you crying?” my uncle said.
“No.” I said wiping my face. “I just… I had something in my eye. I’m fine”
Blane looked towards the entrance of the second factory suspiciously and then back to me.
“Blane is showing me some prototypes of things he’s been working on”
Suddenly I had a terrible realization. My uncle… my uncle was a biologist.
I never knew what he did for work, other than that. He was a biologist. My stomach sank.
“I’m taking you out for lunch after this. Of course Blane gave the okay” he said smiling.
Blane still suspicious looked at me wearily. “Right… that’s fine.”
The two of them walked towards the second factory.
I was going to run, but now… how would I explain it to my uncle? Was he involved? Why was he even here!? I leaned against some racking feeling like I was about to pass out.
A hand on my shoulder. It was Thang. He looked at me expectantly, like he was trying to read what I had seen. My eyes were red from the tears. He stared a moment and nodded understanding that whatever it was I had seen down there was not something to be brought to the surface.
“Hmm…” he paused and spoke “Doesn’t matter. Just do job. Just work. Don’t worry”
He turned and walked away.
I saw Blane gesturing comically to the workers before he entered the doors to the second factory with my uncle. They all began to laugh.
I couldn’t run. I couldn’t leave. My uncle was involved. Part of me knew, I couldn’t even quit.
It’s a good job, I thought. Easy work, good pay. I looked up to my coworkers.
Maybe I only need to lighten up… laugh a little.