Skip to main content

New Friends, Old Friends (4-18-18)


[WP] Your coworkers are disappearing and you find out that your boss is a vampire, but there's still hope, someone you work with is secretly a werewolf, the janitor. [Link to post.]

"It just ain't fair!" Larry complained while we sat in the break room snacking. I didn't like Larry much, but he was about the only friendly co-worker I had left. He whittled down his slice of chocolate cake while I worked on my homemade garlic chicken. We were the only two employees in the break room. "I work twice as hard as Karen, and I've been here longer. But somehow the boss chose her to join the Vlad project." He said. I nodded sympathetically, but chuckled internally. Larry didn't know what the Vlad project was, and didn't have any proof other than what I saw with my own eyes. 

I stumbled across the scene accidentally, I shouldn't have been at the office that late. Getting ready to leave I turned a corner and saw the CEO with glowing red eyes biting Karen's neck. He was a vampire, and I didn't know who to turn to. I thought about the cops, or even clergyman, but I knew no one would believe me. I decided to learn to love garlic and keep my guard up. One of the interns poked his head into the break room.

"Hey Larry. Boss wants to see you, said something about the Vlad project," the intern said then continued on his way to somewhere else. Larry jumped up from his seat. 

"Alright!" he cheered. 

"Hey," I raised a hand to warn him, but changed my mind. 

"I hate to ask, man. I'm kind of in a spot though. Any chance I can borrow some cash until tomorrow? I'm about $200 short," I said. The day before Larry had been bragging about never carrying around less than $500 cash. Despite not being close, we'd loaned money between us several times over the years. He knew I was good for it, and I knew I wouldn't have to pay it back. He nodded.

"Sure, no problem." He pulled his wallet out and handed over the cash before leaving the break room. After he left I sighed.

"I guess I'm gonna have to find new friends," I said aloud to myself.

"I'll be your friend," a man's voice startled me. I jumped in my seat and my head whipped around to face the voice. Kenny, the janitor, was emptying the waste basket. 

"Sorry, I thought I was alone," I smiled. He nodded.

"You're not. So, friends?" he said with a smile. He walked towards me with his hand extended. 

"I'm Kenny." I stood and shook his hand. 

"Willie," I offered my nickname. His head shrunk back when I said my name. 

"Whoa, Willie. That's some heavy duty garlic breath you've got there." He waved his hand in the space between us in an attempt to clear the air. I brought my hand to cover my mouth and chuckled.

"Yeah, sorry. It's protection. I mean, uh, it helps keep me on my diet. Garlic mouth ruins the flavor of sweets for me," I tried to explain away the protection comment but he stared me in the eye, as if trying to read a secret. After a second he walked behind me and closed the door to the break room.

"You said protection. We're friends now, so we can talk freely right? I think I know why you want protection." Kenny said. "We don't do the same job, but I'm here every day just like you. I've noticed that people assigned to the Vlad project don't come back to this office." I felt my eyes go wide as saucers. Alone, there was no way I could get the cops to believe me. But if I wasn't the only one that knew about it maybe we can get someone to at least investigate it. "If I'm wrong about this, you'll think I'm crazy. But I'm just gonna say it.  The CEO is a vampire," he shut up and waited for my reaction. After a few seconds of nodding and smiling in silence I spoke.

"Yes! Oh god, it helps so much to have someone believe me!" I moved my seat closer to his, but he moved his seat away again.

"Look if you know that, then I can be really honest with you. I'm a werewolf." He dropped the bomb as casually as if he was ordering a slice of pie at a diner. "Before you doubt me, I'd like to remind you that our boss is a vampire." He had me there. I nodded, forcing myself to accept that he might be a werewolf. 

"How does it work?" I wondered if he could take on our vampire boss. 

"I can mostly change at will, but during a full moon I have no choice. I have to change. Don't worry though, I'm not dangerous. I mean, I am but I keep everything under control. No one gets hurt when I change," he answered the questions running through my mind without me having to ask.

"Do werewolves hate vampires like in the movies?" I asked. He smiled and winked at me with his left eye. 

"Worse. You know, when employees started disappearing I wanted to stop him, but I can't do it alone." He looked me in the eye. "The office is running out of people, but my secret is out to you, and you already know about the CEO. Help me kill him so he can stop hurting people." 

"Definitely. I can come back tomorrow with some wooden stakes," I said. He shook his head.

"It's gotta be today. If he drained your friend Larry, he's probably relaxing in his office. We can go do this right now. When I say I need help I just meant I need a distraction to let me get in a good position.  You go in there and start talking to him, then I'll go in after and pretend like I'm cleaning the waste basket. If I turn into a wolf behind him I can get a clean strike," Kenny laid down his plan and while it was short notice, it did sound like a good plan. 

"I'm in." I stood from my seat and walked straight to the CEO's office. Kenny trailed behind me. I reached the CEO's office and knocked on the door. 

"Just a minute!" he yelled through the door. Despite the horrible reality, I chuckled to myself imagining him trying to hide Larry's body behind his desk. "Coming," he yelled again. After several more seconds  he opened the door and seemed surprised to see me.

"Willie! C'mon in. What can I do for you?" He let me in his office then he walked around his desk to sit in his high back leather chair. 

"Uh, I wanted to know about the Vlad project. Are there any spots left on the team?" I asked, trying to stall for time. Luckily I didn't need to wait too long. As soon as I asked I heard the door open behind me. I glanced back to see Kenny walk in with a smile. I turned back to my boss to avoid looking too suspicious.

"Willie, I'm sorry to say the Vlad team is currently full. However, we are starting a new project that you'd be great for." He looked behind me, and I wondered why Kenny hadn't walked around to empty his wastebasket yet. "The new project we'll be working on is the Lupine project." I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was a grey furry hand with large yellow claws growing out of it. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lunch Jitters (6-23-18)

[WP] You are the greatest villain in the world. When you come face to face with your only rival, he says, “Do you want to grab a coffee before we start? I’ve haven’t eaten all day.” [ Link to post .] "I'm so glad you said something, I started late today too," The Shade said. He patted the heavy, dark leather coat over his stomach, then leaned closer to whisper at SunKnight. "Kayla's teeth are coming in, and Lucille's out of town for that thing." He shrugged, then pulled off his black, featureless hood. "I needed an extra 40 winks. Let's do a lunch, meet me at the pizzeria in 20." Keith Slinny, the man under The Shade's mask checked his watch. The rest of his black costume dissipated from his body; black smoke wafted from him like steam escaping a body in winter. "At this point, we'll end up putting it off until tomorrow so I need to book the babysitter now." "The wedding's tomorrow, remember? Let's take t

Truth and Fries (6-27-18)

[WP] Survivors of the apocalypse are still fighting for their lives; Whataburger seems to be doing alright though. [ Link to post .] "And, why do you want to work at Whataburger?" Albert Guajardo, General Manager, asked the prospective employee, Rigo Reyes, while trying to size him up. The young man sat in the booth across from Albert, wearing his best protective gear. A set of high-school football pads, and heavily wrapped arms. His cracked football helmet rested on the table.  "My girl's pregnant. I can't help rebuild humanity if I can't provide for them," Rigo said. It was not true, but it would be if he got the position. He did not have a girlfriend at the moment, but no Whataburger employee suffered loneliness for long. Even the perimeter guards that kept zombies out of the restaurant got paid enough food to support a family of four.  "Can you start now?" Albert asked. Rigo nodded eagerly, but Albert explained the situation anyway.

OooooooooooooooH. (6-28-18)

[CW] A short story with a plot twist using the letter "o" exactly 15 times. [ Link to post .] "Fredericks!" the guard yelled at the cell's inhabitants. A tall, plump man walked near the bars, his steps echoed in the cell. "That's me," Lenny Fredericks said. The guard let him pass.  "Lawyer's here, this way." The guard grabbed  Lenny's arm and guided him through the maze of walls that made up the station. He sat Lenny at a table facing a brunette woman in a black suit.  "Mr. Fredericks, I'm the lawyer handling this case. My name is Erica Quintanilla." The lawyer presented her hand, and Lenny accepted it with an eager shake.   "Nice'ta meet'cha." Lenny said. After they disengaged their handshake, Erica placed Lenny's file between them, then started her interview while scanning the sheets.  "Mr. Fredericks,-" she began. "Call me Lenny," Lenny suggested. She return