Speaker 1: As unlikely as it would seem. I learned a few
Speaker 1: important lessons about life and love during the two weeks
Speaker 1: I spent with Esmerelda. The most important of these lessons
Speaker 1: with the following one, being cruel to someone is not
Speaker 1: the same as standing up for yourself. Two. Folks who
Speaker 1: enjoy beating the shit out of people don't like it
Speaker 1: when you stand up for yourself, not one bit. And
Speaker 1: three the most important lesson the heart yearns for what
Speaker 1: it can never possess, and this is a universal condition.
Speaker 1: No one is immune to a broken heart, not even
Speaker 1: folks who enjoy kicking the shit out of people. Speaking
Speaker 1: of bullies with big feelings, Esmerelda went from bad to
Speaker 1: worse on the second week of our reluctant pairing at
Speaker 1: the zoo. She wasn't shy about voicing her distaste for
Speaker 1: me as a human being, and that was fine. It's
Speaker 1: a free country. She didn't have to like me. But
Speaker 1: during the second week her surly attitude spiraled way out
Speaker 1: of hand. Frankly, I was over it. I wasn't hauling
Speaker 1: myself into the zoo every night to get mouthed off
Speaker 1: by an Amazon with a dagger tattooed on her forearm.
Speaker 1: I was there to put in my time, make my money,
Speaker 1: and go home to my sad existence in my empty apartment.
Speaker 1: On the third night, and I started giving it back
Speaker 1: to her, she would call me Kurt no brain, and
Speaker 1: I'd call her asmahelda. She would call me a sissy boy,
Speaker 1: and I'd tell her that I could see the snubble
Speaker 1: on her chin. It went on like this, back and
Speaker 1: forth until I accidentally poked a raw nerve. I regretted
Speaker 1: doing that immediately. The crew had just wrapped up filming
Speaker 1: the zombies' habitat to set the scene for the big
Speaker 1: blowout that was about to happen. I have to point
Speaker 1: out that working with the zombie was very stressful. I
Speaker 1: cannot emphasize enough just how repulsive this thing was in
Speaker 1: real life. It made the goblin look like a Teddy bear.
Speaker 1: It stanked a high heaven. You had to wear nose
Speaker 1: plugs in a mask you were probably gonna throw up.
Speaker 1: Aside from a horrible stench of rotting flesh, the zombie
Speaker 1: was difficult to look at, and that's putting it mildly.
Speaker 1: It was partly mummified ghoul that was covered in splotches
Speaker 1: of mold. It had to be secured to the wall
Speaker 1: with a chain and a harness. If it wasn't kept
Speaker 1: in restraints, it would relentlessly batter itself against the door
Speaker 1: exit every minute of every hour. The zombie didn't care
Speaker 1: about the silver nitrate, nor would it give a shit
Speaker 1: if you chopped it into pieces. All the individual pieces
Speaker 1: would still be trying to murder you. If it managed
Speaker 1: to injure you during attack, you'd be executed straight away
Speaker 1: by victor's security goons. The problem with the zombie virus
Speaker 1: is that it isn't a virus at all. It's a
Speaker 1: mutated prion, and it's resistant to both heat and harsh disinfectants.
Speaker 1: Once it reaches your brain, it begins to replicate itself
Speaker 1: at a staggering rate. The process only takes a few hours.
Speaker 1: If the victim becomes a zombie, the corpse has to
Speaker 1: be burned until it's too damage to move under its
Speaker 1: own power. The incinerated remains might still contain active zombie prians,
Speaker 1: so handle them with care. With this in mind, you
Speaker 1: could probably understand why working with a zombie was such
Speaker 1: a stressful part of the job. On top of this,
Speaker 1: it was late at night everyone was exhausted, and Esmeralda
Speaker 1: was being a complete ass hat. We started bickering back
Speaker 1: and forth after we exited the habitat. It rapidly escalated
Speaker 1: into a full blown argument. The film crew stood nearby
Speaker 1: and watched as it descended into name calling and insults.
Speaker 1: Esmeralda bluntly forwarded the opinion that I would probably die
Speaker 1: alone in a house filled with cats, and I retorted,
Speaker 1: at least I'm not dating a serial killer. Esmeralda's entire
Speaker 1: body went stiff. She glared at me and muttered, shut up.
Speaker 1: I snorted, why it's true, boyfriend's the creepiest dude I've
Speaker 1: ever met. Your honeymoon's gonna be a week long murdering
Speaker 1: spree across the Midwest. She promptly hauled me off my
Speaker 1: feet like a sack of potatoes, and I was thrown
Speaker 1: clear across the service tunnel. I sailed through the air
Speaker 1: and bounced off the wall. I rebounded directly into a
Speaker 1: guillotine choke. Within seconds, my vision was dancing with large
Speaker 1: black spots. I was dimly aware of being surrounded by
Speaker 1: a crush of bodies, and then I was laying on
Speaker 1: the cold cement with a high pitched wine buzzing in
Speaker 1: my ears. There was a confused babble of pleading and
Speaker 1: shouting all around me, above the clamor of raised voices
Speaker 1: and scuffling feet as Merelda was screaming, let me go.
Speaker 1: I'll kick everyone's ass, all of you let me go.
Speaker 1: While the entire film crew struggled to manhandle as Merelda
Speaker 1: down the corridor, someone bent down to help me up.
Speaker 1: There was none other than Nick mcnight, famous director and
Speaker 1: successful producer. He didn't appear startled at least by the
Speaker 1: sudden eruption of violence and chaos. In fact, he looked
Speaker 1: slightly amused by it all. He said, you gotta learn, kid,
Speaker 1: You're lucky she didn't end you just now. My head
Speaker 1: was pounding, groan, learn what She's a friggin psycho? What
Speaker 1: are you talking about. He talked to my arm and said,
Speaker 1: come on, I think you'd better give her a chance
Speaker 1: to cool down before she sees you again. Let's take
Speaker 1: a walk. We exited the tunnel and walked into the lobby.
Speaker 1: He guided me over to the statue of the Hydra
Speaker 1: and said, have a seat, our fair lady. Here, let
Speaker 1: me tell you a story. So I was working on
Speaker 1: an action movie a few years ago. Cop thriller was
Speaker 1: one of those movies where the rugged homicide detective shoots
Speaker 1: a lot of bad guys, bangs a leading lady. It's
Speaker 1: called fire at will. It's a piece of shit. I
Speaker 1: reluctantly nodded in agreement, wincing at the pain in my neck. Carefully,
Speaker 1: I replied, wasn't that bad. It wasn't that good either,
Speaker 1: he grumbled. Anyway, got a few months into this shoot
Speaker 1: and a leading lady in question starts being an absolute
Speaker 1: nightmare to work with, always yelling, constantly lashing out at people.
Speaker 1: My assistant director gets into an argument with her one day,
Speaker 1: stop head picking me. I'm not your husband. She lost
Speaker 1: it on him, so he walked away to avoid any
Speaker 1: more drama, but she chased after him. She punched him
Speaker 1: out in front of his trailer, give him a black eye.
Speaker 1: I raised my eyebrows and said, damn, that's wild. What happened?
Speaker 1: Then Nick sighed, well, he complained to everyone who would listen.
Speaker 1: Big wigs got involved, They launched an investigation, and the
Speaker 1: cops got involved too, big, big mess all around. He
Speaker 1: shook his head in sigh. Anyway, as It turns out
Speaker 1: she decided to fly back home and surprise her husband
Speaker 1: when she got a break in her shooting schedule. So
Speaker 1: she sneaks into the house with a bottle of champagne,
Speaker 1: all excited to see her beloved husband, and she catches
Speaker 1: him screwing the nanny. Six years of marriage down the tubes.
Speaker 1: I snorted, Wow, that's fucked up. See why she snapped,
Speaker 1: And the dude said, oh shit, okay, I see what
Speaker 1: you mean. Do you think do you think that's what
Speaker 1: happened as Marilda? He made a vague motion with his
Speaker 1: hand and said, well, something happened anyway. I haven't been
Speaker 1: around much the past few weeks, so I don't really
Speaker 1: know much about the whole thing with her. And what's
Speaker 1: his name, scary guy? If you notice your being irritable lately,
Speaker 1: I chuckled, Yeah, yeah, I mean she's always irritable, but
Speaker 1: it's been really bad this week. Nick patted me on
Speaker 1: the shoulder and sat down beside me, resting his back
Speaker 1: against the hydra's enormous tail. He said, well, maybe you
Speaker 1: should ask her about it. She might surprise you'd start
Speaker 1: pouring her heart out. People just want to be heard
Speaker 1: sometimes you know, I snickered. What, Yeah, thanks for the advice,
Speaker 1: mister McKnight, But I can't see myself doing that. I mean,
Speaker 1: she's just choked me out a few minutes ago. I
Speaker 1: seriously doubt there's gonna be like a Hallmark moment waiting
Speaker 1: anytime soon. I hesitated, and then I blurted out, I'm
Speaker 1: a big fan of yours, by the way. I mean
Speaker 1: a lot of people here big fan of yours obviously.
Speaker 1: But you know I wanted I tell you that because
Speaker 1: we're actually talking right now, so I have to have
Speaker 1: the chance to. I realized I was babbling like a
Speaker 1: starstruck idiot, and I trailed off in a silence. Even
Speaker 1: Vic would get a bit tongue tied. Sometimes when Nick
Speaker 1: would turn on that thousand watts smile, you had a
Speaker 1: powerful aura of confidence, worldly sophistication. When Nick concentrated the
Speaker 1: full force of his personality at you, he made you
Speaker 1: feel like you really mattered, like you were somebody important
Speaker 1: just like him. Nick gave me a mischievous smile. He
Speaker 1: casually said, oh, thank you, I appreciate that. Which one's
Speaker 1: your favorite? My mind went blank. I'd seen at least
Speaker 1: ten of his movies What were they called? What were
Speaker 1: they even about? I stammered, It's definitely the one with
Speaker 1: the you know, uh oh, all right, it's called Multitudes Vengeance.
Speaker 1: It's what about the Cyborg cop from the parallel universe.
Speaker 1: They come here to save our planet from this evil
Speaker 1: terrorist group, right, and they're about to also a blood cult.
Speaker 1: They want to like plant all these giant nuclear bombs
Speaker 1: that will destroy America. The Cyborg cop they have to
Speaker 1: stop them because our version of America is the most
Speaker 1: important one out of all the other versions of the multiverse.
Speaker 1: I mean, I was super baked to it. I watched
Speaker 1: it with my buddies, so the details a kind of fuzzy.
Speaker 1: We ducted to an alley before the movie and lit
Speaker 1: up this massive cannon. I mean, this thing was like
Speaker 1: it was. I finally zero did on the director's polite smile,
Speaker 1: and I stumbled to a halt. Why was I explaining
Speaker 1: the plot of a movie to the guy who directed
Speaker 1: the fucking movie? How would I do that? And why
Speaker 1: was I talking about getting high with some idiot I
Speaker 1: hadn't even spoken to in over three years. It sounded
Speaker 1: like a moron. There was a moron. I gave him
Speaker 1: a sheepish grin and crop, Yeah, anyway, is that one?
Speaker 1: It's a great movie. Nick grinned down at the floor
Speaker 1: and said, yes, you were pretty high, because that movie
Speaker 1: is bullshit. I every minute of that movie, every single minute,
Speaker 1: from start to finish. I'd walk out of the premiere
Speaker 1: to stop myself. I'm hackling my own movie. The director
Speaker 1: chuckled to himself. With the look on my face, he saided, Look,
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Billy, I'm just like
Speaker 1: everyone else. Most of the time. I'm working strictly for
Speaker 1: the money and make bullshit so I can finance the art.
Speaker 1: The art loses money, and the bullshit pays the bills.
Speaker 1: It's a vicious cycle. You know, art doesn't sell tickets.
Speaker 1: You know what sells tickets cyborg cops, laser cannons. Oh
Speaker 1: and they all have a samurai sword too. But they
Speaker 1: have a samurai sword. Hell, why not? Nothing has to
Speaker 1: make sense in these movies. They just need explosions, lots
Speaker 1: of explosion. I was unsure how to respond to this
Speaker 1: blood of cynical frustration that timidly replied, well, I mean
Speaker 1: the effects were good, right, Like the laser cannons were
Speaker 1: pretty realistic. Nick murmured, yeah, I suppose a long story
Speaker 1: short plugged my nose. I mean, another crap ass action movie,
Speaker 1: and then I cashed a big fat check. I suppose
Speaker 1: it could have been worse. He glanced at his rolex
Speaker 1: and stifled a yawn. He grumbled, Ah, these nights are
Speaker 1: killing me. Anyway, I need to get back you okay,
Speaker 1: you want security to get involved, I snorted, don't. I
Speaker 1: don't even bother. Even the security goons are scared of
Speaker 1: that lady. I'll suck it up and I just try
Speaker 1: to keep some distance for now. A lot out a
Speaker 1: deep breath, and I muttered, and this Caz. He's a
Speaker 1: hard ass, but at least he's unintentionally funny. Sometimes he
Speaker 1: doesn't try to choke me to death. I think he's
Speaker 1: coming back next week. The director nodded solemnly. He replied, Ah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the Russian. I've heard he's a bit of a character.
Speaker 1: Can't wait to work with him. A general consensus amongst
Speaker 1: the crew is that nobody likes Esmeralda very much. She's uh, well,
Speaker 1: you know how she is, don't you. Nick glanced at
Speaker 1: his rolex again. Anyway, let's get back to work. Time's
Speaker 1: money in this business, Billy and Victor, isn't your average
Speaker 1: executive from the studio, I run over budget. I might
Speaker 1: find myself wearing a pair of concrete shoes. As we
Speaker 1: entered the vestibule where the change rooms were located, he
Speaker 1: snapped his fingers and said, you know, would brighten everyone's
Speaker 1: mood right now, coffee and donuts. I'll send the production
Speaker 1: assistant out to get some. Nick frowned and patted his pockets.
Speaker 1: He said, ah, shit, no, I think I left my
Speaker 1: wallet at the hotel. Look, Billy, can you do me
Speaker 1: a favor over here? I feel a little embarrassed about asking,
Speaker 1: but I waved it off and sure, for sure, no problem.
Speaker 1: Just a second, I'll be right back. I scurried into
Speaker 1: my chains room and fetched my wallet. I pulled out
Speaker 1: a hundred bucks and said, I think this will cover it.
Speaker 1: I see, really glad you thought of this, because I
Speaker 1: could use some sugar right now. Nick plucked the money
Speaker 1: from my fingers, and my jaw dropped as he smoothly
Speaker 1: reached into my billfold to scoop out the rest of it.
Speaker 1: It was at least another two hundred bucks in there.
Speaker 1: He tucked the bills away and said, that'll do it
Speaker 1: right here. You know what I think. I gotta go
Speaker 1: for a little drive and just get it myself. Need
Speaker 1: some fresh air to clear my mind, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. As he walked away, he called out, oh,
Speaker 1: can you let the crew now, I'll be gone for
Speaker 1: a while. Thanks, Billy, you're the best. You know that
Speaker 1: You're a good fucking guy. As soon as the door
Speaker 1: clung shut behind him, it dawned on me that Nick
Speaker 1: probably wasn't coming back tonight. He was on his way
Speaker 1: to score some cocaine. But the cash he just brazenly
Speaker 1: stolen from my wallet, it was possible the entire conversation
Speaker 1: had been a ruse to soften me up for the
Speaker 1: wallet heisten. That's who Nick McKnight really was. Behind all
Speaker 1: sparkled and glamour. He was a scheming dirt and tailored clothes.
Speaker 1: There was no wonder why he and Vic got along
Speaker 1: so well. They were both cut from the same cloth,
Speaker 1: a couple of stone cold sociopaths, willing and eager to
Speaker 1: do anything necessary to get what they wanted. I murmured,
Speaker 1: you're a dickhead, Nick, and I punched in the door
Speaker 1: code to the service tunnel I was tired of being
Speaker 1: surrounded by bad people. I was exhausted. Coals would be
Speaker 1: a breath of fresh air, ran about now. I looked
Speaker 1: forward to his dead pan stare and it's vaguely cold demeanor.
Speaker 1: Most it was honest as Morelda was waiting outside my
Speaker 1: chained room at the end of the shift. I cautiously
Speaker 1: approached her and said, I hope you're not looking for
Speaker 1: a round two. I think you already won the first time.
Speaker 1: She glared at me and snapped, if I wanted that,
Speaker 1: you'd already be taking a nap on the floor. Look,
Speaker 1: I just you're gonna wrap me Vic, because if you do,
Speaker 1: he'll fire me, and I need this job. Esmeralda's lips
Speaker 1: pressed together in an angry line. She let out a
Speaker 1: long sigh, and she said, I'm sorry, Okay, I'm sorry
Speaker 1: I did that. I shouldn't have. You know, what I'm
Speaker 1: saying here is that, uh I was wrong. I was
Speaker 1: taking something out on you, and that was wrong. Please
Speaker 1: don't go crying to Vic about it. Okay, you're his
Speaker 1: golden boy, you'll fire me for sure. I retorted, I'm
Speaker 1: not his golden boy, thank you very much. What are
Speaker 1: you talking about Esmeralda snorted, what, oh please, Vic, lets
Speaker 1: you get away with murder. You think he doesn't know
Speaker 1: what happens around here with all the cameras and the
Speaker 1: microphones everywhere. For example, he knows all about that weekend
Speaker 1: rendezvous with you and your little girlfriend in the office.
Speaker 1: Literally everyone knows about that. Everyone's always gossiping around here,
Speaker 1: even the cryptids, especially the cryptids. I help my face
Speaker 1: go pale and numb. Vic knew about that? Did you
Speaker 1: also know about my visit to Kasimir's apartment? Fucking hope
Speaker 1: not shit, I muttered, Oh that wasn't I mean, miss
Speaker 1: Dalli is not actually my girlfriend or anything. We didn't
Speaker 1: as Merla grunt and stop. I don't care what happened.
Speaker 1: All I'm gonna say is this, If you two didn't bang,
Speaker 1: you're even more hopeless than I thought. That girl probably
Speaker 1: hasn't gotten laid in over a thousand years. I shook
Speaker 1: my head in disbelief. Even when you're begging me not
Speaker 1: to get fired, you're still putting me down. You suck.
Speaker 1: She put her hands up and exclaimed, Okay, okay, you're right.
Speaker 1: I just you know I don't like you anyway. I'm
Speaker 1: asking you very nicely to not be a little bitch,
Speaker 1: and wrapped me out to Victor. I promise it won't
Speaker 1: happen again. I'm dealing with something in my personal life.
Speaker 1: It's been hard. I waited for a few other stragglers
Speaker 1: from the night crew to walk out the door. Then
Speaker 1: I asked her, can you tell me what's wrong? Maybe
Speaker 1: maybe it'll help you to talk about it. She immediately snarled, fuck, no,
Speaker 1: none of your business, shaggy, go hop in the mystery
Speaker 1: machine and fuck off. I didn't take the bait, just
Speaker 1: folded my arms and stared at her placidly, not speaking.
Speaker 1: She glared back at me, her cheek twitching just beneath
Speaker 1: her eye. After maybe thirty seconds of this, as Merelda
Speaker 1: did something completely unexpected. Her eyes welled up with tears
Speaker 1: and she started to cry. I gasped, Oh, holy shit, Hey,
Speaker 1: whatever it is, it'll be all right, don't She yelled,
Speaker 1: shut up and wiped the tears away with the back
Speaker 1: of her hand. Don't tell me it'll be all right,
Speaker 1: it won't. He's gone, tentatively asked, guessing you mean sever
Speaker 1: you left you already? Oh, don't say it like that.
Speaker 1: As Merla snapped, he didn't tiptoe away. In the middle
Speaker 1: of the night. It was Vic Severn and the boys
Speaker 1: were interrogating the Dappelganger about Dawn of Damascus and they
Speaker 1: accidentally destroyed it in the process. That sent back to
Speaker 1: the spirit world, and Vic lost his shit on him.
Speaker 1: He wanted the doppelganger for a new exhibit. So what
Speaker 1: does he do. He punishes him by setting him off
Speaker 1: to Syria, no warning at all, just send them off
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. Back from hanging around
Speaker 1: your stoop ass all night, and I found a note
Speaker 1: in the kitchen counter. He's gone and he has no
Speaker 1: idea when he'll be coming back. I murmured, what the
Speaker 1: fuck that's well, that's definitely something Vic would do. Sorry
Speaker 1: to hear that he too, just found each other again.
Speaker 1: That fucking blows, Yeah, as Merlonda grunted, it does fucking
Speaker 1: blow a lot. They're not allowed to come back until
Speaker 1: they find the shit back and capture him. VIC wants
Speaker 1: him alive. I don't know much about this guy, but
Speaker 1: I know he isn't somebody to fuck with here for
Speaker 1: someone like sever he might Her voice cracked and the
Speaker 1: tears started to flow again. She wiped them away and whispered,
Speaker 1: might not make it back. I patted her bulging tricept himself.
Speaker 1: He replied, Hey, don't say that. I'll come back if
Speaker 1: anyone can pull it off. It's that guy, for sure.
Speaker 1: He's you know, he comes off as pretty fucking dangerous
Speaker 1: as Merelda nodded along with my words. But it's more
Speaker 1: of a gesture of misery than an acknowledgment, She croaked.
Speaker 1: I hope you're right. This Dawn guy's no slouch either.
Speaker 1: He's a powerful necromancer. He can raise an army of
Speaker 1: hostile spirits, shades, doppelgangers, dipics, doopies, stracoys, all kinds of
Speaker 1: bad shit from the other side. I'm worried about him.
Speaker 1: I don't want to lose him again. It's it's not fair. No,
Speaker 1: I quietly agreed, it's not fair at all. Look, I
Speaker 1: promise I won't say anything about you beat me up.
Speaker 1: Someone else might have no control over that. Someone from
Speaker 1: the crew might complain to VIC. At that point, all
Speaker 1: I can do is tell him that I'm fine, ask
Speaker 1: him to let it slide. Thank you, she breathed as
Speaker 1: she wiped her eyes again. I can't lose this job.
Speaker 1: I have a daughter. I can't. I guess what. Hold
Speaker 1: on a second, you're a mom? You really? Yes, really,
Speaker 1: as Merlda shot back in an irritated tone. Had a
Speaker 1: fling with a guy at the boxing gym, just a
Speaker 1: couple of nights, but sometimes that's all it takes. When
Speaker 1: I told him I was pregnant, he immediately disappeared, just
Speaker 1: packed up, took off cowardly prick. She smiled a little
Speaker 1: through the tears and said sever offered to track him down,
Speaker 1: said he'd carve out the idiot's liver and kidneys for
Speaker 1: child support money. I said no, but if he makes
Speaker 1: it back alive, MM might take him up on the offer.
Speaker 1: She needs an That might be a tad too far,
Speaker 1: I mumbled quietly, but I get it. Look I won't
Speaker 1: complain to Vic, but God of lighten up, okay, top
Speaker 1: of the shitty comments all the time. I might not
Speaker 1: be your favorite person, but I'm not your enemy. As
Speaker 1: Maroonda nodded and said, okay, I can do that truce,
Speaker 1: I nodded back and replied, sounds good to me. See
Speaker 1: you tonight. Try to get some sleep. I squinted against
Speaker 1: the daylight and scurried to my car. Thankfully, VIC BMW
Speaker 1: wasn't in the parking lot yet. I didn't want to
Speaker 1: engage in small talk and act like everything was okay.
Speaker 1: Nothing was okay. The world was dark and unpleasant beneath
Speaker 1: the golden sunshine, and I was far too tired to
Speaker 1: pretend otherwise. I stopped at a waffle house for a
Speaker 1: quick bite on my home. By the time I pulled
Speaker 1: into the parking lot, I was yawning my face off.
Speaker 1: As I approached the front door, I noticed a real
Speaker 1: litor's sign in the window. My apartment building had been
Speaker 1: put up for sale by the owners. I glanced at
Speaker 1: it with bloodshot eyes and thought, I hope the new
Speaker 1: owners don't jack up the rent. I took a few
Speaker 1: steps into the lobby, and then I whirled around and
Speaker 1: charged back outside to look at the sign again. I
Speaker 1: featured a picture of the realtor who was representing the owners.
Speaker 1: She was a mildly attractive woman somewhere in her thirties,
Speaker 1: and her name was Rachel. Rachel Rousseau. My stomach dropped
Speaker 1: it on my feet. The last time I saw this woman.
Speaker 1: She was chasing after me naked as I ran down
Speaker 1: her driveway. The realtor was the homicide detective's wife. I
Speaker 1: grimaced at her picture and scampered back inside. I told
Speaker 1: my panic brain that it would be fine. Depending on
Speaker 1: my shift, I was either leaving very early in the
Speaker 1: morning or I was sleeping all day. I had nothing
Speaker 1: to worry about. I'd probably never see her like taking
Speaker 1: the stairs, so I waited for the elevator to come
Speaker 1: down instead. The bell lightly binged, The doors opened, and
Speaker 1: I found myself standing face to face with Rachel Rousseau.
Speaker 1: Her eyes went wide and she let out a stifled
Speaker 1: gasp of surprise. There was a moment of silence, and
Speaker 1: then I groaned a fuck. The sound of my voice
Speaker 1: broke her paralysis. The homicide detective's wife seized me by
Speaker 1: the arm and she dragged me into the elevator. The
Speaker 1: doors closed on my shriek for help, and then she
Speaker 1: backed me into a corner. Her eyes wet and stormy,
Speaker 1: with a roiling tempest of emotions, she exclaimed, don't say anything,
Speaker 1: as she clapped both hands over my mouth. Don't say
Speaker 1: anything at all. Just listen to me. I'm sorry about
Speaker 1: what happened that day. I wasn't supposed to go like that.
Speaker 1: It was all Anthony's fault. He ruined it for both
Speaker 1: of us. She slowly dropped her hands from my face.
Speaker 1: Soon as my mouth was uncovered. I tried to speak,
Speaker 1: but she smothered my words with a kiss, the force
Speaker 1: of it crushing my lips against my teeth. No, she hissed,
Speaker 1: don't say anything, don't ruin it. The bell dinged again,
Speaker 1: and I lunged for the doors. As soon as they opened,
Speaker 1: Rachel pursued me down the hall. She caught up to
Speaker 1: me as I was struggling with the lock of my door,
Speaker 1: and she hugged me from behind. She buried a face
Speaker 1: between my shoulder blades and crooned, I'll get that fixed
Speaker 1: for you. I'll fix everything for you. Just let me
Speaker 1: into your life and everything will be amazing. I snapped
Speaker 1: get away from me, lady, and I violently twisted from
Speaker 1: side to side to shake her off. She fell to
Speaker 1: the floor in an awkward spile of flailing limbs, and
Speaker 1: I escaped in my apartment with barely a second despair.
Speaker 1: As I slid the dead bolt in the place she
Speaker 1: was twisting the doorknob, Rachel squealed, can't you just hear
Speaker 1: me out? And she started hammering on the door. I
Speaker 1: yelled back, you lost your friggin' mind, go away, leave
Speaker 1: me alone. The wild hammering abruptly stopped. I heard my
Speaker 1: stalker run down the hall. I sighed in relief and
Speaker 1: sank into my couch. What the hell was going on?
Speaker 1: This was beyond ludacris. I'd have to move to a
Speaker 1: new apartment, no choice, and the sooner they're better. There's
Speaker 1: no way I could stay there and expect to lead
Speaker 1: a peaceful existence. The detective's crazy wife knew where I lived.
Speaker 1: She was currently brokering the sail over where I lived.
Speaker 1: No good would come on any of this. After my
Speaker 1: heart finally stopped racing, I jumped into the shower and
Speaker 1: I let the water beat down on my head for
Speaker 1: a while. I was just about to shut off the
Speaker 1: tops when Rachel's head suddenly poked around the curtain. I
Speaker 1: screamed and flinched backwards, wrapping the back of my skull
Speaker 1: off the wall in the process. She crooned hush, darling,
Speaker 1: and her bare foot slid past the curtain, followed by
Speaker 1: her bare leg. She was naked a small the cloud
Speaker 1: of booze on her breath, and I realized she was
Speaker 1: already loaded at eight in the morning. I sclaimed no, wait.
Speaker 1: I put up my hands to stop her from advancing.
Speaker 1: Rachel seized them with a raised smile on her lips,
Speaker 1: and crushed them forcefully into her large, sweaty boobs. She
Speaker 1: panted into my face, maul me like an animal, and
Speaker 1: my eyes watered from the whiskey fumes. Take me like
Speaker 1: a rock star. I yanked my hands away and bellowed
Speaker 1: into her face. I said no, that doesn't mean yes,
Speaker 1: it means no, It means stop. Listen to me. You'd
Speaker 1: drunk ass weirdo. No. This time it was Rachel's turn
Speaker 1: to flinch. We stared at each other for a second,
Speaker 1: and then she burst into tears. She dre the curtain
Speaker 1: back and ran out of my bathroom naked, leaving a
Speaker 1: trail of wet footprints behind her. I shut off the
Speaker 1: water with shaking hands, and my heart was pounding again.
Speaker 1: I gave myself a quick towel dry wrapped it around
Speaker 1: my waist before I followed the footprints. They led to
Speaker 1: my bedroom. She was sitting on my bed and ugly
Speaker 1: crying inside a cocoon she had made with my comforter.
Speaker 1: Took a long, deep breath, and I sighed, how did
Speaker 1: you get in? We'll start there. She wheezed. I got
Speaker 1: a key from the superintendent. I said that I needed
Speaker 1: to take some pictures of a single bedroom unit, and
Speaker 1: I gave him your apartment number. I sputtered. He fucking
Speaker 1: did what Darren, the superintendent, you're saying he'd hand your
Speaker 1: key to my apartment without even I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: law against that kind of thing. And there, I mean,
Speaker 1: dere Darren knows this unit isn't empty. I was just
Speaker 1: talking to him yesterday for crying out loud. What the fuck?
Speaker 1: Rachel sniveled, He wasn't thinking about the law and did
Speaker 1: a bunch of buttons on my blouse before I stepped
Speaker 1: into his office. He was thinking about my tits. She
Speaker 1: paused for a moment, then a cracked, heartbroken whisper. She said,
Speaker 1: do you think I'm boring? Is that it? Do you
Speaker 1: think I'm boring? And ugly and an old? I sat
Speaker 1: down beside her with a small groan. The boots I
Speaker 1: wore at work were tall, heavy and rigid. My feet
Speaker 1: were killing me. I rubbed the heels of my palms
Speaker 1: against my poor tired eyeballs, and I quietly replied, no,
Speaker 1: not at all. You aren't ugly, you aren't old, and
Speaker 1: you certainly aren't boring. That's for damn sure. It's just look,
Speaker 1: I don't know you. Okay, we're strangers. We have nothing
Speaker 1: in common. What happened before that? That was a mistake.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have done that. I don't need any more
Speaker 1: complications in my life right now. Believe me, it's messed
Speaker 1: up enough as it is. Rachel peeked out from the
Speaker 1: depths of her quilted cocoon, her cheeks glimmering with tears.
Speaker 1: She said, you're in love with someone else, aren't you.
Speaker 1: You can tell me. I looked at her, and I
Speaker 1: immediately thought of miss Dahlia. I thought about her sparkling
Speaker 1: eyes and her glorious waterfall of jet black hair. I
Speaker 1: slowly nodded and I murmured, well, yeah, we're not actually
Speaker 1: a couple or anything, but I don't know. I think
Speaker 1: we've got a definite like chemistry between us. All I
Speaker 1: know for sure is that I think about her a
Speaker 1: lot and kind of hurts. And Rachel sniffled, that's how
Speaker 1: I feel about you. Second, I laid eyes on those
Speaker 1: surveillance pictures on Anthony's desk. You became my obsession. I
Speaker 1: thought you looked so just so different, you know, you
Speaker 1: look so different and free, and I knew you didn't
Speaker 1: care about any of the boring shit everyone else cares about.
Speaker 1: Everyone else in my life. They're like these stiff little
Speaker 1: robots that were programmed to talk about green lawns Sunday dinners.
Speaker 1: They wax the Mercedes twice a week, and they coordinate
Speaker 1: their flower beds to match with their neighbors, and they
Speaker 1: always have a set of silverware in a display case.
Speaker 1: That's a bunch of horseshit. It's a prison. It's my prison.
Speaker 1: Her hand appeared and she wiped the tears from her eyes.
Speaker 1: You made me think about freedom, true freedom. You made
Speaker 1: me realize I don't have to live in that prison anymore.
Speaker 1: Anthony tried to spice things up for us by swinging
Speaker 1: with other people, but honestly, I didn't like it very much.
Speaker 1: That was more about living out his own fantasies, not mine.
Speaker 1: My fantasy isn't strangers in my bedroom. My fantasy is freedom.
Speaker 1: Rachel's other hand wormed out from beneath the comforter and
Speaker 1: she patted my hand. I'm sorry, she mumbled as she
Speaker 1: let out a loud hiccup. I don't know what's wrong
Speaker 1: with me. I think I'm going crazy, you think so,
Speaker 1: I answered, I think we're all going crazy, and I
Speaker 1: got up from my bed with a groan and a
Speaker 1: muted pop sound from both's knees. I also think I'm
Speaker 1: very tired, and you're very drunk. Wear are your clothes,
Speaker 1: get dressed, Go home, Take a cab. You shouldn't be driving,
Speaker 1: she blurred it I can't go home. I left Anthony.
Speaker 1: I did it a week ago. I just couldn't stand
Speaker 1: it anymore. I was suffocating. I needed to find my
Speaker 1: own freedom, I countered. Be that as it may, you
Speaker 1: should still have to go. I'm sorry, Rachel, but for
Speaker 1: a lot of reasons, this isn't happening. She gave me
Speaker 1: a miserable, hopeless look, and she shuffled her blanket cocoon
Speaker 1: into my living room. She stooped to pick up her
Speaker 1: clothes off the floor, and she sniffled. I'm not going
Speaker 1: back to him either way. I'm done with Anthony, and
Speaker 1: I'm done with being a realtor. I collect my nice
Speaker 1: commission off the sale of this building, and then I'm
Speaker 1: going to leave the country. I don't even care about
Speaker 1: fighting over the house. That other shit, he can have it.
Speaker 1: I just want to travel around the world. Rachel left
Speaker 1: to get dressed in the bathroom as she was scrubbing
Speaker 1: off her streaky makeup with a washcloth. I screwed into
Speaker 1: my bedroom and put on my pajamas. I was achingly tired,
Speaker 1: but I was almost buoyant with relief that the situation
Speaker 1: was resolved. It could have ended up much worse. Rachel
Speaker 1: paused at the door. She turned to me and said,
Speaker 1: I was hoping I would run into you again someday.
Speaker 1: Look how that turned out. I was I thinking, I'm
Speaker 1: an idiot. I'm so sorry. I waved it away and muttered, honestly,
Speaker 1: it's fine. Let's just forget about it. Hey, one more thing. Look,
Speaker 1: it's none of my business, but I think you have
Speaker 1: a drinking problem. You need help. Rachel gave me a
Speaker 1: solemn look as she opened the door. I'm gonna quit,
Speaker 1: she said, as she nodded to herself thoughtfully. No more boozing,
Speaker 1: no more weird sexual encounters, no more destructive behaviors at all.
Speaker 1: I want to start living, be free, I told her,
Speaker 1: and I made a shoeing gesture, spread your wings and fly.
Speaker 1: She gave me a sad smile and quietly replied, I
Speaker 1: will goodbye, Rockstar. Rachel stepped into the hallway and started
Speaker 1: to close the door behind her. She paused and then
Speaker 1: poked her head through the gap. She let out a
Speaker 1: tipsy little giggle and said, I'm staying at room three
Speaker 1: o nine at the Holiday Inn just in case you
Speaker 1: change your mind. Okay, bye bye. After she was gone,
Speaker 1: I fell into bed and stared at the ceiling. Why
Speaker 1: was our world such a cold and lonely place? Seemed
Speaker 1: like everyone around me was desperately unhappy and painfully alone,
Speaker 1: including myself. No one was living the life they wanted
Speaker 1: to live, except for except for Victor Bonachelly close associates.
Speaker 1: You're having a great fucking time out there all day,
Speaker 1: every day. Sadness for the little people in the world,
Speaker 1: not the major players. Like Vic. If depression ever came
Speaker 1: knocking on his door, he would shoot it in the
Speaker 1: face and go back to counting his money. The only
Speaker 1: exception seemed to be Len. He was almost terminally somber
Speaker 1: and sour. If his spirit was slowly being crushed beneath
Speaker 1: the weight of his sins. I wondered if Vic would
Speaker 1: ever be capable of turning a new leaf. I smiled
Speaker 1: to myself in the gloom of my darkened bedroom. Victor
Speaker 1: Bonicelli would live and die as Victor Bonicelli, and nothing,
Speaker 1: nothing could change that. Then my restless mind turned to
Speaker 1: the feeling of Rachel's robust gazangas being pressed into my
Speaker 1: unsuspecting hands. Hey, give me a break. I was young
Speaker 1: and lonely. I mean, I only been with three women
Speaker 1: at this point. One of them was the Succubist. I'm
Speaker 1: not sure if the Sucubists even counts, because she was
Speaker 1: a demon who technically speaking, was completely formless and also
Speaker 1: a gigantic monstrosity. Beside whatever, if nothing else, it might
Speaker 1: help me get to sleep. I closed my eyes and
Speaker 1: started taking care of business. Before long, I began to
Speaker 1: have this awful feeling that someone was watching me. My
Speaker 1: eyes snapped open. I have expected to see Rachel's naked
Speaker 1: outline standing in the doorway, even drunker than before, and
Speaker 1: determined to take another kick of the can. Given the circumstances,
Speaker 1: I'm honestly not sure I would have been able to
Speaker 1: say no less. The reality was infinitely worse. I saw
Speaker 1: a tiny, glowing humanoid hovering near the foot of my bed.
Speaker 1: The rapid beating of its wings made a faint, weirring
Speaker 1: noise that was almost lost beneath the sound of the
Speaker 1: fan on my dresser. I ate the covers up to
Speaker 1: my chin, and I softly grown, oh, oh god, no,
Speaker 1: it was Murkus, kitting of the sprites. The look on
Speaker 1: his little face was both slightly alarmed deeply intrigued. In
Speaker 1: a high piping voice, he called out, blessed morning, little subject.
Speaker 1: I must ask you, sir, what is the strange action
Speaker 1: I observed you perpetrating upon yourself. I'll admit I was
Speaker 1: somewhat concerned for you, good subject. Your movements and facial
Speaker 1: expression suggested you were experiencing great distress. But at the
Speaker 1: same time you were whispering yes in other phrases that
Speaker 1: could be constrewed as affirmatives. It's all rather confusing. Please
Speaker 1: explain this activity in great precise detail, of course, to
Speaker 1: your ruler and king. I finally you shook my head
Speaker 1: and grow no, no, no, no, no, can't do that.
Speaker 1: It's look, it's very it's very personal. Your Highness is
Speaker 1: just something humans and like some of the other species
Speaker 1: do now and then to relieve tension. It's very personal
Speaker 1: as well. So yeah, King Marcus looked even more puzzled.
Speaker 1: He frowned to himself and murmured, seems very much like
Speaker 1: can it be? He clapped his hands together and exclaimed,
Speaker 1: this activity is a failed attempt at procreation. You seem
Speaker 1: to be doing it incorrectly, Billy Whitebread. In order to
Speaker 1: procreate successfully, they must be more than one party involved.
Speaker 1: This will not result in a successful union. Murcus drifted
Speaker 1: closer and he pulled something out of the folds of
Speaker 1: his cottony robes. It was a teeny little scroll, maybe
Speaker 1: two inches wide at most. He dropped it onto my
Speaker 1: chest and said, you have passed your sixty day trial period,
Speaker 1: Billy Whitebread. This means you are now a full and
Speaker 1: complete subject of my kingdom. I have come to your
Speaker 1: where and when on these fine day to personally deliver
Speaker 1: your copy of the Infinite Laws. Every subject who exists
Speaker 1: beneath the rule of the Sprite Kingdom must have one
Speaker 1: in their possession. I felt around in the dark until
Speaker 1: I found the scroll. It held it up between two
Speaker 1: fingers and cautiously asked, uh, what is this exactly? Why
Speaker 1: do I have one? Murkers looked at me like I
Speaker 1: was a moron. The Infinite Laws is a document that
Speaker 1: contains all of our rules and customs. They come into
Speaker 1: existence as we did, at the beginning of time, and
Speaker 1: they must be obeyed until the end of days. I
Speaker 1: blinked at him for a moment, and they said, Uh, okay,
Speaker 1: let me get this straight. You guys didn't write these
Speaker 1: laws and customs yourselves, right, you were born together at
Speaker 1: the same time. So who wrote them? Then? Murcus impatiently barked,
Speaker 1: who do you think wrote that? Mark Twain was the creator?
Speaker 1: Of course, the great one who exists outside of every reality,
Speaker 1: the celestial loom keeper, he who weaves all the threads
Speaker 1: in harmonious existence. No wonder you were procreating yourself. Who
Speaker 1: would wish to mate with such a dullard? Lord? Murcus
Speaker 1: rose into the air and hovered near the ceiling. He
Speaker 1: pointed at me and commanded, read it, know it, live
Speaker 1: by it, with neither complaint nor quarrel, and pay your taxes.
Speaker 1: Of course, that's quite important. I sat up straight and yelled,
Speaker 1: what pay taxes? What do I have to pay? Who
Speaker 1: collects them? Ah? How where kay? Murcus slowly shook his head.
Speaker 1: He coldly replied, this is all covered quite extensively in
Speaker 1: the scroll. Good sir, read it. Live well, my loyal subject,
Speaker 1: stay true to the kingdom. Murcus started to fade out
Speaker 1: of existence. He chirped, Oh one more thing, good citizen.
Speaker 1: I was supposed to remind you of something. What was it? Oh, yeah, yeah, yes,
Speaker 1: beware the one who walks in the moonlight. And there
Speaker 1: was something else too, something about keeping it close to
Speaker 1: thine heart. He shrugged and added, can't tell you what
Speaker 1: any of that means. Unfortunately, my apologies. I can have
Speaker 1: a peek at your timeline figure it out, but frankly,
Speaker 1: I don't really care that much anyway. They they'll have
Speaker 1: a good day desert a blessed tomorrow. With thought, he disappeared,
Speaker 1: leaving me sitting there on my bed with a tiny
Speaker 1: scroll in my hand. I was too tired to be
Speaker 1: curious about it. I just wanted to drop into a
Speaker 1: deep sleep and not know or feel anything, and that's
Speaker 1: exactly what I did. I woke up just after sunset
Speaker 1: and felt a little better about life in general because
Speaker 1: my mother would and say, at least I wasn't starving
Speaker 1: out on the street. My job was weird and stressful
Speaker 1: as crazy as fuck, but it paid well. Least I
Speaker 1: had that going for me. I had a few coffees
Speaker 1: and a bite to eat, and off to the zoo
Speaker 1: I went. When I walked into the change rooms, I
Speaker 1: was promptly reminded of how completely fucked everything was, and
Speaker 1: all the good feelings were gone. As I stepped into
Speaker 1: the vestibule outside the change rooms, the first thing I
Speaker 1: saw was Vic, all geared up in his triple xl
Speaker 1: kevlar suit and chainmail. He was having an animated conversation
Speaker 1: with Nick McKnight, the money snatching douchebag with a faked tan.
Speaker 1: They both turned to look at me when I came in,
Speaker 1: and Vic said, nah, I catch you up later, Nikki.
Speaker 1: I had to have a word in my partner over here.
Speaker 1: Nick said, yeah, of course, and he walked away with
Speaker 1: a greasy little smirk on his face. Vic came hustling
Speaker 1: over to me, his broad red face grinning away inside
Speaker 1: his protective hood. He sees my hand with both his
Speaker 1: gauntlet clad bear pause and exclaimed, put it in a partner.
Speaker 1: Don't you worry about a single thing. It's gonna be
Speaker 1: mad at you. Billie a kid and Victor Buddy chilly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they have a fucking blast around here, naked jokes, wrangling
Speaker 1: the monsters, drinking coffee. He couldn't be any better if
Speaker 1: I get about it, and I STI where's Esmeralda Vic's
Speaker 1: expression turned serious. He said, no, I heard about what
Speaker 1: happened in the surface tunnel. See the video too. She
Speaker 1: did a big fat no no when she puts hands
Speaker 1: on you. We got no tolerance policy around here. It's
Speaker 1: in the handbook. You read a handbook, like I told you. Yeah, good,
Speaker 1: you know that harassment, violence and tolerated here to zoo,
Speaker 1: I mean not between members of staff anyway. Policy don't
Speaker 1: don't include me. I smacked the shit out of anyone.
Speaker 1: I want on the balls, he grunted, and wait, wait
Speaker 1: a second. He paused to adjust the width of his
Speaker 1: utility belt. He grown, Ah, that's better, A little too
Speaker 1: husky r in the middle, he lately, you get an
Speaker 1: over those things. Let me tell you, start to look
Speaker 1: like one for crying out loud anyway. Yeah, as Marelda
Speaker 1: fired at zero tolerge Billy, I won't freaking tolerant that
Speaker 1: kind of behavior. My heart plummeted through the floor and
Speaker 1: I said, oh, man, you didn't have to do that. Like,
Speaker 1: it wasn't that big of a deal. It was fine.
Speaker 1: We had a misunderstanding, there was a little tussle or whatever,
Speaker 1: and it was done. There was no hard feelings. Vic
Speaker 1: gave me a dark look and he said, oh, really
Speaker 1: didn't realize you had the power. If you know my
Speaker 1: zero tolerance policy, I forgot. I was standing in the
Speaker 1: presence of on new CEO. Billy fucking jackass white Bread.
Speaker 1: Please accept my sincerest apologies. Look, I don't really give
Speaker 1: a shit you approve or not. It's late at night,
Speaker 1: I'm fucking tired. I don't want to hear any pushback
Speaker 1: for you. I don't want to hear nothing. But yes, sir, Vic,
Speaker 1: whatever you say. Is that clear? And hesitantly replied, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's clear. It's just like, what's she gonna do? No,
Speaker 1: I mean, she's got a kid. You know, I'm aware,
Speaker 1: he rumbled in a menacing tone. I'm aware a lot
Speaker 1: of things, Billy, A lot of kinds of things. And
Speaker 1: the boss around here, big mouth, and I run the show.
Speaker 1: I make the rules, and if I feel like it,
Speaker 1: I break the rules, capiche and go suit up. And
Speaker 1: I gotta be working with the zombie again tonight. Nick
Speaker 1: wasn't satisfied with the footage they got last night. I
Speaker 1: remember Nick's mean spirited a little smirk because he oozed
Speaker 1: out of the room, and a light bulb went off
Speaker 1: in my head. I knew I shouldn't let it go,
Speaker 1: but I needed to know if I was right. I
Speaker 1: braced myself for impact and I asked, was it Nick?
Speaker 1: Did he complain about what happened because it didn't affect
Speaker 1: him like at all? His crew broke it up. He
Speaker 1: pretended to give a shit so that he could steal
Speaker 1: two hundred bucks from me, and then he fucking left
Speaker 1: for the rest of the night. He's a coked out asshole.
Speaker 1: Vic took a step back and exclaimed, what there, cowboy,
Speaker 1: A big accusation from a little guy like you. He said,
Speaker 1: you gave it to him for coffee and donuts and shit,
Speaker 1: and then he got sidetracked. Are the best of us?
Speaker 1: Nikki is definitely want of the best, and we keep
Speaker 1: him happy. We do the zoo ambassador, you know, and
Speaker 1: we do thoughtful shit for him, you know, complain about
Speaker 1: it and if he has any complaints, well they get
Speaker 1: dealt with. Vic leaned down so he could look me
Speaker 1: in the eye, and he said, this movie's gonna make
Speaker 1: me tens of millions of dollars, easy, fucking easy as
Speaker 1: Morelda was a good caretaker, but she ain't worth no
Speaker 1: tens of millions of dollars to me, and neither were you.
Speaker 1: So zip your lip, get your stupid ass suited up,
Speaker 1: and meet me out in the freaking surface tunnel. Felt
Speaker 1: a surge of intense dislike broth of my entire body. Sure,
Speaker 1: see you in a minute. I started walking to the
Speaker 1: door of my Chaine room, quietly, seething and struggling hard
Speaker 1: to keep my mouth shut. Vic called out, Billy, hold up, look,
Speaker 1: I know what you like, kid. You one of them
Speaker 1: bleeding hearts. And that gets all me the eyed over
Speaker 1: a good sob story. Truth is, we all make our
Speaker 1: own choices, good and bad. She knew the consequences, but
Speaker 1: she did it anyway. That's entirely on her, not me,
Speaker 1: not you, not anybody else. She'll be okay, trust me,
Speaker 1: She's a fucking warrior. There's always gonna be work out
Speaker 1: there for someone like her. I gradually said, yeah, I
Speaker 1: got it. I just don't feel good about it, that's all.
Speaker 1: I don't think empathy is necessarily a bad thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well we'll agree to disagree, Vic replied. His tone made
Speaker 1: it clear that the matter was settled and there was
Speaker 1: no more debate. His smile reappeared, and he boomed, well,
Speaker 1: we're gonna have some fun here tonight. You hear me?
Speaker 1: And come on, what do you want? You want? You
Speaker 1: want your dough from NICKI? Fucking I got you? Let
Speaker 1: me see? Well what do I got here? Whatever? Take
Speaker 1: it all. Vic reached into a pouch on his utility
Speaker 1: belt and pulled out a roll of bills. He thrust
Speaker 1: it into my hand and said that at least a
Speaker 1: thousand bucks so I reimbursed you for covering NICKI rest
Speaker 1: of the doll is. Shut up and get the fuck
Speaker 1: over his money. Okay, let it go, lighting up, let's
Speaker 1: do this shit. Don't ruin it by making a big
Speaker 1: fuss over some giant, angry broad to beat you up.
Speaker 1: It's just fregy ridiculous. Em Vic firmly clasped me on
Speaker 1: the shoulder, and then he swaggered over to the pneumatic
Speaker 1: entrance of the service tunnel. He shot a glance over
Speaker 1: at the clock on the wall, and he snapped, hurry
Speaker 1: it up, kid, showtime ten minutes. I scrambled to get changed.
Speaker 1: Despite the risk of being late, I still made time
Speaker 1: to count the cash Vicked stuffed into my hand. I
Speaker 1: was holding almost three thousand dollars. Not too long ago,
Speaker 1: I would have been on the fucking moon if someone
Speaker 1: had handed me three grand. But since I started working
Speaker 1: at the zoo, money had kind of lost all its
Speaker 1: meaning for me. It was the mid nineties. My rent
Speaker 1: was less than six hundred dollars a month. I was
Speaker 1: making over four thousand dollars a month for the first
Speaker 1: time since I moved out of my parents' house. I
Speaker 1: had disposable income. Even after buying a bunch of new shit,
Speaker 1: I still had six thousand dollars in a savings account.
Speaker 1: I was at a few grand tucked away in a
Speaker 1: fireproof storage box. This was my run the fuck away fund,
Speaker 1: and I had a bad feeling I might need it someday.
Speaker 1: I was also worried I might not be around long
Speaker 1: enough to be concerned about an audit. Real the hell
Speaker 1: knew what would happen from one day to the next.
Speaker 1: This place wasn't a zoo. He was a lunatic asylum
Speaker 1: with monsters. When I got into the service tunnel of
Speaker 1: the other wing, the film crew was already setting up
Speaker 1: in the zombies' habitat. Vic was inside with him, and
Speaker 1: no one was watching the door. VIC would have had
Speaker 1: a screaming fit if he discovered one of his caretakers
Speaker 1: had performed an entry without a spotter, but as he
Speaker 1: previously stated, the rules didn't apply to him. I watched
Speaker 1: from the observation window and tried to stay alert. I
Speaker 1: was still a bit shaken from my experience with Rachel
Speaker 1: earlier that day, and I didn't even want to think
Speaker 1: about my encounter with Sprite King. I wanted to scrub
Speaker 1: it from my mind with a jug of bleach and
Speaker 1: a barbecue brush. I was snapped out of my exhausted
Speaker 1: days by a high pitched shriek from inside the habitat.
Speaker 1: Panic ripped through the ranks of the film crew, and
Speaker 1: they all ran for the door. I barely got it
Speaker 1: open in time to prevent them from crouching themselves into
Speaker 1: a human bottleneck. They came streaming into the corridor yelling
Speaker 1: and cursing, followed closely by the director and Vic. Vic
Speaker 1: turned to me and barked, we got a situation. Someone
Speaker 1: got too close to zombie tore into a pretty good
Speaker 1: go cast security on the income right now. As I
Speaker 1: ran over to the intercom, Vic turned to the shouting,
Speaker 1: babbling film crew and roared, shut the fuck up, all
Speaker 1: you guys, shut up and listen. Where's the lady I
Speaker 1: chumped on by his zombie? Bring over here? A sobbing
Speaker 1: production assistant was dragged over to the scowling mob boss
Speaker 1: and left to stand before him like a sacrificial lamb.
Speaker 1: The hysterical young woman was clutching her arm over a
Speaker 1: bite on her forearm. She was covered in deep oozing scratches,
Speaker 1: and she was bleeding from a nasty bite wound on
Speaker 1: her cheek. The production assistant looked at Vic and wailed,
Speaker 1: it bit me. It fucking grabbed me in it. Oh
Speaker 1: my god, it started eating me. Vic rumbled, yeah, well
Speaker 1: it was a freaking zombie. It'll do to it. Who
Speaker 1: else got bit? Get over here? No one else stepped forward.
Speaker 1: Vic glanced at them all and snarled, no one gets
Speaker 1: out of his tonne until I verify who got fucked
Speaker 1: up and who didn't. There was a lot of commotion
Speaker 1: going on by no. I saw at least one more
Speaker 1: youse guys get attacked when you were trying to pull
Speaker 1: her away. So don't think you can hide it from me,
Speaker 1: because I ain't joking over here. None of us is
Speaker 1: going freaking nowhere, and that's a fact. But just come
Speaker 1: out tell me right now, or I go check the
Speaker 1: cameras and I'll find you. Everyone silently exchanged quick, furtive
Speaker 1: glances with each other, but no one stepped forward. The
Speaker 1: script supervisor cleared her throat nervously, and she motioned at
Speaker 1: the weeping production assistant in a quavering tone. She asked,
Speaker 1: what's going to happen to her? Vic forced himself to smile.
Speaker 1: He held up his hands and boom, if you catch
Speaker 1: it in times, no big deal, she'll be fine. The
Speaker 1: patch her up, the poor thing, and boom, she'd be
Speaker 1: good to go. They'll give her some vitamins and shot
Speaker 1: a penicillin. No big deal. But here's a thing, swe you.
Speaker 1: If someone got bit by his zombie, it's very important
Speaker 1: that they get the penicillin shot. They gotta tell me
Speaker 1: right friggin now before it's too late. Nick pointed to
Speaker 1: the boom mic operator and said, pretty sure it was Frank.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it was a chaotic situation, but I
Speaker 1: know what I saw. Buod mic operator shot it. That's bullshit.
Speaker 1: I didn't even it didn't even touch me. Vic gave
Speaker 1: me a piercing look. He asked, what's going on here, Frankie,
Speaker 1: What are you doing with your hand? Why are you
Speaker 1: hiding it in your jacket like freaking Napoleon? Let me
Speaker 1: see it. Vic lumbered over and reached for Frank's arm.
Speaker 1: He tried to pull it away, but Vic caught him
Speaker 1: by the shoulder and hauled him back. Vic seized his
Speaker 1: arm and with brute strength, he forced the guy's hand
Speaker 1: out of his pocket. Vick, yell, the fuck is this?
Speaker 1: You like a piece of shit? Huh? You missed it,
Speaker 1: not one but two of your fingers, and you're over
Speaker 1: here pretending it's nothing happened. But exactly what you're playing, genius.
Speaker 1: You're gonna go go to fucking Walgreens. I have a
Speaker 1: bandit on his shit. Frank snatched his hand away and
Speaker 1: yelled back, you're lying too, you're talking about the penicillin.
Speaker 1: You're gonna kill us. At this moment, two security guards
Speaker 1: came charging down the corridor. Vic spat fucked me. Took
Speaker 1: you guys long enough, didn't it. What the hell were you?
Speaker 1: Myrtle beach grabbed this guy here and grabbed that little
Speaker 1: blonde piece with the hole in her face. They both
Speaker 1: got attacked by the zombie. Take him down to the infirmary.
Speaker 1: Get the penicillin ready. One of them gave Vic a
Speaker 1: baffled look, started to say talking about and his partner
Speaker 1: elbowed him in the ribs. The partner nodded and said, yeah, boss,
Speaker 1: we'll get the penicillin ready. Okay, baldy, you heard the boss,
Speaker 1: you tube blondie, let's go. The coons marched their captives
Speaker 1: to the exit door, answering their questions. The hard shove
Speaker 1: in order to keep moving. When the door locks slid
Speaker 1: into place behind them, Victor aimed a shark like grin
Speaker 1: at the rest of the crew and clapped his hands together.
Speaker 1: And that's how people get hurt, he exclaimed. I was
Speaker 1: hoping everyone learned their lesson of the incident with a sasquatch,
Speaker 1: but I guess not. You listen to the caretakers. You
Speaker 1: keep a respectful distance from the predators. I don't know
Speaker 1: what happened just now, but rest is short. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: find out. Just don't do that no more, okay, because
Speaker 1: one thing is for sure. That poor dumb broad got
Speaker 1: way too close to friggin zombie. That was a bad move.
Speaker 1: And now those two were gonna they caught himself just
Speaker 1: in time. He led her a force, laughed and said, well,
Speaker 1: those two are gonna be just fine. They got hurt,
Speaker 1: everything's gonna be okay. Penicillin of itamin's bengo beanngo, fix
Speaker 1: him right up. Just don't go fucking around no more,
Speaker 1: you hear me, I mean kind of fugging half witch
Speaker 1: go around feeding themselves at the monsters. Can't can't believe
Speaker 1: I gotta say this out loud, But here we are.
Speaker 1: The audio engineer abruptly stepped forward and pointed a trembling
Speaker 1: finger at Nick. He said, Nick pushed her. He waited
Speaker 1: till everyone was busy setting up, and he snuck up
Speaker 1: behind her and bumped into her. It was on purpose,
Speaker 1: I saw it. There was a long moment of stunned silence.
Speaker 1: Nick gaped at him in shock, and his expression hardened
Speaker 1: to gritted teeth in a frigid stare. He abruptly replied,
Speaker 1: that's fucking ridiculous. That didn't happen. Why are you lying?
Speaker 1: The audio engineer shot back, I'm the only one who
Speaker 1: isn't lying. You pushed her into the zombie on purpose.
Speaker 1: I saw you. Why why'd you do that? Did you want?
Speaker 1: Did you want to put it in the movie? Nick?
Speaker 1: Is that it? Nick got in his face and they
Speaker 1: started shoving each other. As accusations flew back and forth.
Speaker 1: Nick pushed his way between them and bought everybody calm down.
Speaker 1: He turned to the audio engineer and gave him a
Speaker 1: stern look as a pretty heavy accusation. Over there, my friend,
Speaker 1: the cameras weren't even rolling yet, so how is it
Speaker 1: gonna end up in the movie. The engineer was obviously
Speaker 1: scared out of his mind, but he wasn't going to
Speaker 1: back down that easily. He pointed out the ceiling and retorted,
Speaker 1: you have your own cameras rolling twenty four hours a
Speaker 1: day was definitely captured on film. If you check your cameras,
Speaker 1: you'll see that. I'm right. Vic loomed over him, and
Speaker 1: the engineer shrank away. From his large, scowling face. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be straight with you here, Okay. One, I don't
Speaker 1: believe you'd do that on purpose. Two, Yeah, footage might
Speaker 1: end up in a final cut. This is my movie.
Speaker 1: What happens in my movie in your concerns, so don't
Speaker 1: worry about it. The audio engineer looked dismayed, but he
Speaker 1: knew better than to continue arguing. Instead, he weakly murmured,
Speaker 1: what about the people who got hurt? Are they going
Speaker 1: to be okay? What about the aftermath? Are they supposed
Speaker 1: to just keep their mouths shut to forget about it?
Speaker 1: A union for a reason, I don't. Vic seized a
Speaker 1: double fitt of the audio engineer's shirt and he lifted
Speaker 1: him onto his tiptoes. The union can get fucked. How's that? Eh? Look,
Speaker 1: do you really want to know what happened? Huh? Are
Speaker 1: you sure they're already dead? Moron? That's what happened. My
Speaker 1: boy shot them both in the back of the head.
Speaker 1: He did it as soon as they got the lobbyest
Speaker 1: he does. Sheet of clear plastic spread out on the floor,
Speaker 1: and when those infected dipschits walked on it, boom. That's
Speaker 1: what fucking happened, your mouthy little prick. Now get back
Speaker 1: to work. Oh, y'all, get back to work right now.
Speaker 1: Everyone let on a gas horror. Everyone except me, that is,
Speaker 1: and one other person I already knew about the grim
Speaker 1: protocol that followed a zombie attack. I was honestly just
Speaker 1: kind of glad it wasn't me. The other person was
Speaker 1: Nick McKnight. He looked at his watch and stifled a yawn.
Speaker 1: He looked bored and restless. Time was money, after all.
Speaker 1: Someone called out, no, you're crazy. I've seen it enough.
Speaker 1: If I quit. A wave of angry muttering spread through
Speaker 1: the ranks of the crew. Someone else yelled out, fuck
Speaker 1: your movie. This has gone too far. Vick's eyes narrowed,
Speaker 1: his upper lip lifted into a snarl. His entire face
Speaker 1: flushed a terrifying sh of dark red. He abruptly pulled
Speaker 1: a thirty eight Special from a pouch on his utility
Speaker 1: belt and pointed it at the crowd. Fuck my movie, huh,
Speaker 1: that's what you just said, right right? Fuck my movie? No,
Speaker 1: fuck your mother, You Elton John looking cocksucker. How's that?
Speaker 1: I can't believe what I'm hearing right now? I gave
Speaker 1: you people branded coffee. Month is how you pay me?
Speaker 1: Go ahead, try me. I swear my dead father at
Speaker 1: least five EU ungrateful shit birds are gonna get a
Speaker 1: one way ticket to the spait realm. Five boats, five
Speaker 1: dead assholes. Who's first? Huh? Which one are your dipshits?
Speaker 1: Is gonna fucking get it. Vic looked around at the
Speaker 1: terrified crew, his off kilter glare burned from beneath his
Speaker 1: bushy eyebrows. He shook a finger at them, as if
Speaker 1: you were a teacher giving a stern lecture to a
Speaker 1: group of wayward children. I was trying to keep you
Speaker 1: people from freaking out. I'll do my best to be considerate,
Speaker 1: but fuck all that. There it is the naked truth. Hey,
Speaker 1: there ain't no cure for the zombie shit, No cure,
Speaker 1: no treatment, nothing. If it gets in your system, you fucked.
Speaker 1: It's gonna turn your brain into Swiss cheese. And they
Speaker 1: say crap all you could do about it and they
Speaker 1: suffer before they die. Believe me, Have you having violent seizures,
Speaker 1: puke it all over the place, shit in their pants? No,
Speaker 1: it's a horrible way to go. We did those to
Speaker 1: a huge favor. Nick Colmley said don't worry, Victor. No
Speaker 1: one is leaving. We're all going back to work now, right, guys,
Speaker 1: Because you all knew about the potential hazards, but you
Speaker 1: signed up to work on this project. That's why you're
Speaker 1: getting hazard pay big box for a big risk. I
Speaker 1: couldn't keep my mouth shut any longer. I gave him
Speaker 1: an icy glare. For the sounds of it, you're the
Speaker 1: one potential hazard, Nick, Did you push her? Did you
Speaker 1: just do it for a juicy video on the security cameras.
Speaker 1: Vick held up a finger without looking at me, and
Speaker 1: he cautioned, that's enough, Billy. I ignored him and kept
Speaker 1: plowing on. And you got the audio too, I snarled.
Speaker 1: I clapped my hands together in a sarcastic glee. Don't
Speaker 1: forget about the audio. They'll be able to hear hears
Speaker 1: screaming in agony. Is this art, mister Midnight, Is this
Speaker 1: the art you were talking about? Fucking piece it? Vic
Speaker 1: whirled around and snapped, shut up right now, Shut the
Speaker 1: fuck up, Get out of here, Go wait for me
Speaker 1: in the chain rooms. Me and you, we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a check. Get your ass and gear. Get out of
Speaker 1: my sight. I gave Nick one more brief stare down
Speaker 1: before I walked away. I wanted to punch him repeatedly
Speaker 1: in his smug, sociopathic face. I wanted to drag him
Speaker 1: into the Sasquatch his habitat and encourage Harry to use
Speaker 1: him as a chew toy. I was shaking from the
Speaker 1: overload of adrenaline. The whole situation was fucked up beyond belief.
Speaker 1: I waited for him in the common area between the
Speaker 1: Chaine rooms. I paced around until the jitters wore off,
Speaker 1: and then I sat on a bench and stared moodily
Speaker 1: down at my leather booted feet. Vic came strolling in
Speaker 1: about a half hour later, his chainmail jingling every wide
Speaker 1: heavy step. He plopped down beside me and let out
Speaker 1: a small cough into his fist. Sweated like a bastard
Speaker 1: in this kevlar, too big to be wearing a frigging
Speaker 1: body suit. I mean, a nice dad his tracksuit any day,
Speaker 1: like breezy. And that's a stretch in a fabric. When
Speaker 1: you move around, comfort Billy, your big guy like me,
Speaker 1: comforts everything. I answered with a slight nod, and I
Speaker 1: went back to staring at my feet. Vic made an
Speaker 1: exasperated sound in his throat, and he threw his hands
Speaker 1: up in the air. What he didn't matter, What is it?
Speaker 1: You're acting like I'm the one who's in a doghouse
Speaker 1: right now, and I ain't correct at all. Try my
Speaker 1: best to be understanding about this. You know how you
Speaker 1: must be feeling. I get it, I really do. It's
Speaker 1: fucking horrible situation. I feel terrible about it too. He
Speaker 1: leaned back against the wall inside And at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, I can't give a fuck, Billy. I
Speaker 1: can't afford it. Simply, can fucking not afford to give
Speaker 1: even one teeny little fuck because I'm I'm making a
Speaker 1: movie over here. Kid, there's a there's big money at stake.
Speaker 1: You get me, Let me get a fucking movie. And
Speaker 1: the the monsters in the movie are real, then he
Speaker 1: puppets or whatever the fuck they're real, his idiots brought
Speaker 1: in from tinsel town. I gotta remember that. I thought
Speaker 1: about the strange atmosphere in the room when I interrupted
Speaker 1: their conversation at the beginning of the night. Quietly, I asked, Vic,
Speaker 1: did you know that it was gonna happen? But did
Speaker 1: you plant it with Nick? Earlier? Tonight. Vic drew in
Speaker 1: a sharp breath and exclaimed, what what the No, of
Speaker 1: course not. I'm not Jack the Ripper for crying out loud.
Speaker 1: I'm not a fucking ghoul or something. What do you
Speaker 1: what do you take me for? When this is over,
Speaker 1: I want every one of him swishy little basses go
Speaker 1: home safe to it, wherever the fuck that came from.
Speaker 1: And that's the truth, Scott's honor. I wasn't sure if
Speaker 1: I believed that, but I nodded again, and I said, okay,
Speaker 1: if you say so, there's nothing I can do about
Speaker 1: it either way. Nick smiled a bit and gruffly replied, yeah,
Speaker 1: I do say so. No, there ain't nothing you can
Speaker 1: do about nothing. So relax, Calm the fuck down. Gotta
Speaker 1: stop worrying all the time. Billy always going on some
Speaker 1: goofy whusay to save this that you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: You know, just a cogging of machine kit you go
Speaker 1: with the flow. Can't save the world, can only save yourself.
Speaker 1: He heaved himself to his feet with a groan. And
Speaker 1: then now let's go take a walk, you know. Marched
Speaker 1: over to the exit door and I started to follow him.
Speaker 1: I hesitated halfway to the door and asked, they're not
Speaker 1: still out there, are they? That gave me a puzzled look.
Speaker 1: Who's still out there? What are you talking about? Oh?
Speaker 1: All right, yeah, no, they're long gone. They're on their
Speaker 1: way to a bonfire. Just shut up, come along, kidding
Speaker 1: and something I want to show you. Hey there, kids,
Speaker 1: it's me mister Keepepasta, And before we say goodnight, I
Speaker 1: just wanted to say thank you so much for watching
Speaker 1: tonight's video, or for listening to tonight's episode or the
Speaker 1: podcast if you were listening it to the podcast on
Speaker 1: Spotify or wherever you get podcasts, or if you're watching
Speaker 1: the video on YouTube, which is the only place where
Speaker 1: I post videos. I really appreciated you, guys, and i'd
Speaker 1: appreciate if you hit that thumbs up, you hit the
Speaker 1: subscribe button, and you hit the bell thing to the
Speaker 1: subscribe button. As always, I want to give a very
Speaker 1: big thank you to everybody who supports me on Patreon, patreon,
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Speaker 1: you guys are able to support me. If you guys
Speaker 1: want to be able to support me, which you absolutely
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