Retail Hell Part 1 Chapters 1-4

 

Illustration by Gustave Doré (1866)

 

  Retail Hell Part 1 Chapters 1-4

    Big Creek, Washington is a moderately sized town sitting just 30 minutes from the Idaho border. In it's day it was the jewel of the Inland Northwest. 

    Terran Wantson used to work at the JJ Belten's, located in the Big Creek mall. He would print photos and stock shelves. Every day ended with his only friend Grail Peters at the local bar and grill. That's where he met Celeste, the dishie.  It wasn't all he'd ever wanted, but he was living. Until he was stabbed to death at the food court and thrown into a war-torn place that was once his home. Written throughout the Spring and Summer of 2020 and the Summer of 2021. 

    Content warning: strong language, and violence that is sometimes very graphic.

    Written between the Spring of 2020 and the Winter of 2022. It's finally done and I'm proud of how it came out, so this is a big moment for me.

    22K words.

 

Part 1 Chapter 1

"What would you do if an invading force of goblins came out of those woods?"

"Probably die." I looked up from my basket of fries and made eye contact with my friend. "Why do you ask?"

"You just seemed really into the fries. Are you gonna eat them?"

"I ordered them, didn't I?" I took a bite. The fries they had here, at Demifiend, were beer battered. At least that's what they said. I watched the cook pour them from a bag.

"Don't you think that server is cute?"

Without looking, I answered. "No."

"Why not? You didn't look."

"Just a little tired of the question. That's all."

"Not interested in women?"

"I'm interested in whoever. But not your dipshit questions."

"Does anyone here catch your eye?"

To humor him, I looked around. There was a woman with her dyed red hair tied back and wearing an apron collecting a bin of dishes. "Her, I guess."

Grail looked at the dishie before grinning and turning back to me. "Bro, she's covered with grease."

"Maybe that's my type."

Grail was a bartender at the Outlaw bar and grill here in this mall. Maybe that gave him more of a discerning eye. He was always on the hunt for tips so judging people was in the best interests of his wallet. At least while working.

"Well whatever. How's work?"

"Fine." I said. But there was more to it than that. I worked at the JJ Beltens. You know, the biggest supplier of cardboard boxes to landfills this side of the state.

I got there this morning at 6am. Why? So I could watch training videos while disco hits played on the awful speaker in the back room. The video on box cutter safety was 45 minutes long. They pound into your head not to cut toward yourself, but when I went to get water I watched my manager blatantly break that rule.

If you don't constantly bend rules, nothing gets done. Just don't let corporate see you.

You get a lot of intrusive thoughts working a job that boring. What if I lit the photo printer on fire? What would happen? Something cool maybe.

"You're staring at the woods again." Grail was looking at me, waiting for a story.

"Well yesterday I was called to the front by the cashier. He told me there was an elderly woman sitting in her walker and I needed to push her around the store while she shopped."

"That seems like it's outside your job description."

"I was fine with it at first. She eventually needed to go to the pharmacy so I wheeled her over there and she said she would call for me when she needed me. That was when my coworker told me that she does this twice a week and you'll wheel her around all day if you don't get out of it."

"What'd you do?"

"I had other work to get done so I asked to take my lunch."

"Ice cold." He laughed.

"I don't know about that. Does she do that at every store? How did she walk through the doors? There are too many questions and not enough answers."

I noticed Grail looking at the clock on the wall. “By the way, what’s the time?” He asked.

“It’s 4:45, don’t you start at 5?”

"Yep, and if I'm not on time Ames will beat my ass." Grail got up and tossed a 5 on the table for his food.

"See you later. I might stop by at some point."

I got up to take the bill to the front and pay, looking it over first. My meal was 4.68 and his was 7.24. Bastard only gave me 5. What the hell.

I paid, but before I got out the door I saw that dishie again. She noticed me looking and just stared back.

…

Big Creek mall wasn't the worst mall I'd ever been in. Being downtown, it was real vertical. Three floors of shops, the third floor was partially the food court, and the fourth was a tiny, indie movie theater.

It was almost 5pm, I'd been off work for 2 hours. It was right after after work that I had met up with Grail at Demifiend. That was our usual spot. It was getting to the point that servers recognised us and remembered our orders. That felt nice at least.

I hung around looking at my phone for another half hour before finally leaving the mall.

When I left, I walked to the bus station. When I got there, there was a man handing out fliers for who knows what. I took one to be polite. Though I planned on tossing it later.

And there she was. That dishie from Demifiend. I really hoped she wouldn't recognize me, but she did. She saw me and just stared me down again. After a moment, she smiled and got on the bus. That was it for that day.

The following day I got to work a few minutes early and clocked in. Unfortunately my coworker Jin caught me at the clock and asked me a dumb ass question.

"You working today?"

"I am." I pointed to the clock. "Just clocked in."

"Cool, you mind if I cashier today while you do photo?"

I didn't mind at all. It's what I preferred. But I didn't let Jin know that. I wanted him to think I was doing him a favor.

At the photo counter there were multiple online orders that hadn't been filled. That really bothered me, but maybe we were busy, who knows.

I processed an order of a single photo. Without looking at it I slipped it into a sleeve and attached the order sticker. While I was processing more orders, someone came to pick it up.

"Hey, photo order for Holly."

I grabbed the sleeve and handed it to her as I rang her up. "Here you go."

"Thanks!" There was a pause. "Did you happen to see it?"

I told the truth, "no." People usually didn't want me to look.

"Oh. Do you want to see it?"

I humored her, "sure."

She opened the sleeve and pulled out the single photo. It was a zoomed in, cell phone camera photo of an Asian man being measured for a suit.

I looked at her, unable to fathom 'why.'

"It's an inside joke. I'm gonna frame it."

"Okay."

…

After I clocked off, I went around the corner to get something to drink before Grail and I were supposed to meet up. I got up there and sat at a table, just waiting. And there she was. That damn dishie.

She almost walked past me before stopping and staring. I made eye contact and she smiled. "How many times is this now? Three?" She asked.

"Yeah, about three."

She sat down and crossed her arms. "So?"

"So what? You wanna start something?”

“No, I wanna do something."

“Like what? I don’t even know you.”

"So? I've got an hour before my shift and there's a good bakery down the East wing, we should go."

"Really? Okay, sure."

    We went down the East wing of the mall and found the bakery at the end, ‘Makery Bakery’ it was called. Now, if you kept going it would take you to a department store next door via skywalk. I always thought those were neat.

    She went up to the counter and ordered four different things. She saw me eying her and explained, “well, some of these are for later.”

    I went up and ordered a blueberry crepe and heard her laugh behind me. “What?”

“A crepe? That’s it? At least get something dense. The muffins here are great.”

“That’s all I have the appetite for right now.”

“If you say so.”

We went back down the corridor toward the main area and found a couple of small tables around a pretzel place.

“I know where you work. Want to know about me?" I asked

She nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm a customer service associate at the JJ Beltens."

"Funny. That's the pharmacy I use."

Then, someone called out to her. "Hey Celeste."

"Oh shit," she said. But there was nothing we could do. He walked up to us and grinned.

"Is this the new boyfriend?" He asked. "That's messed up. You told me you weren't interested in dating anymore."

    I took a long look at this guy. He was clean cut, had short brown hair, and wore a suit jacket over jeans and a black dress shirt.

"We're not dating. I just met him."

"Yeah?" The guy grabbed the collar of my work shirt and pulled me to my feet. "He seems like a pussy. What would you do if I did this?"

“Did wh…”

Hot pain tore across my stomach. My heart started racing as adrenaline pumped into my brain. It wasn’t enough to save me though. The guy pushed me back and I fell through the table.

Once I was on the ground, I noticed the blood. It had soaked through my shirt and jacket and was pooling underneath me. I could only vaguely feel the injury. The last thing I saw before death was Celeste screaming at him.


Part 1 Chapter 2

I figured being dead would feel different, but it didn’t, not in that moment. Because when I came to, it was on a stormy city street. In front of me was a heavy wooden door. Above it was a sign that said ‘Summerland’. I didn’t think much of it at first, so I pushed it open and stepped inside.

It was the most homey and old fashioned bar I'd ever seen. The bartender was a woman who looked my age and wore a formal dress shirt, vest, and slacks. She smiled at me, like my arrival was expected.

"Welcome to Summerland. My name is Daria. What can I get you?" I took a seat at the bar and looked over the place. There was a woman playing the piano in the corner, but no one else. Daria saw me looking and explained. "That's Lynn, don't worry about her. She's the piano player."

"I see."

"We think she might be blind but she never looks at anything but the keys, so…"

"I… see."

"Is there something wrong?"

"To be real with you, Daria, I thought I died."

"Right. That's how you get here."

I looked around again. "So uh… is this hell?"

"You know, you’re being very rude for a guy looking like that.”

I looked down at my stomach. My shirt was, in fact, stained with fresh blood. I lifted it and found no sign of injury. I dropped my shirt and looked back at Daria. "I'm just confused is all."

"Did you forget about the contract?"

"Contract? I don't know anything about that."

She laughed. "No seriously. Let me grab yours real quick, you know, to go over your next step." She walked over to the fax machine and grabbed the only thing on it. "Okay, let's get started, Scott."

"My name is Terran and I'm telling you. I never signed any contract."

Daria looked a little shook. "Your name is Terran?” I nodded. “Uh, one moment please." She picked up the old rotary phone and dialed only four digits. It rang three times before there was an answer. "Yeah, Anne? We have a guy here who says he didn't sign the contract." There was a pause. "What's your name? Full name." She was talking to me.

"Terran Wantson."

"Terran Wantson. Yeah. Then how the hell is he here?! Why's he in my bar? Yeah you can talk to him." She handed the phone to me.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Terran. How are you doing today?" The voice on the other end was gentle, it made me feel calmer just listening to it.

"Fine, all things considered."

"So, we have a little issue. People don't get into Summerland without signing the contract in their world. As you are right now, you won't be able to progress to the next stage. That said, I will send Daria a new one now."

"Hold on."

"...yes?"

"What the hell is happening?"

"Give the phone back to Daria." I obeyed.

"Hello? Yes, I can explain it. Uh huh. Bye." She hung up, and took a deep breath. "Well Terran, I have some unfortunate news. Typically those who make a deal with my boss in their world get to choose their afterlife. You don’t have a lot of options since it’s last minute." The fax machine sprung to life. After moments it had spit out a sheet of paper. Daria picked it up and set it on the bar.

"Is that the contract?"

"Yes. Here." She slid it towards me. "You have three choices. Hell, as in the Abrahamic hell. I would advise against that one. Then there's the Cygnus system which is only a few galaxies away from yours. I would advise against that one too. They were just ransacked by Terazu-nakai's forces."

"Are there any good choices?"

"Then there's Big Creek, Washington. 12AC." she hesitated. "That stands for After Catastrophe."

"That sounds bad."

"It is. But it's the closest to home… at least." She laughed awkwardly.

"Okay, whatever. Sign me up."

“You’re not going to read it?” She asked.

“No, I’m dead anyway.”

"Okay… one last thing though. You can pick two people to go with you. But they'll no longer exist in the world where you were… uh...” She checked the contract. “Stabbed to death at the mall."

Pick two people? Like, tear them away from the old world?

"Will they stop existing in my old world?" I asked.

"Yes, like they just disappeared."

This was finally our chance. Grail and I hated our jobs, our lives. This might be a great change. Celeste, too. I'd bet she hated it just as much as us.

"Okay. I know who."

"What are their names?"

"Celeste, the dishwasher I met. I don't know her last name. And my boy Grail Peters."

"Just think of them as you sign the contract."

I signed it with my best looking signature to date. "Done."

"We hope to see you again, Terran." Daria smiled warmly. "Now if you'll just step out the door."

I turned the handle and pushed it open. I didn't know what would be out there, but I knew I wouldn't miss printing photos.

…

I woke up where I had left off. Except no wound, although my shirt was still torn and blood-soaked. I slowly sat up and took note of my surroundings. I was still in the Big Creek mall, but it wasn't exactly the same.

The walls showed signs of a decade of wear. None of the shops were open and most of them looked ransacked. I was still in a separate corridor though. So I hoped the inner section would be different.

I walked around the corner and saw a huge barricade set up. A man in dirty street clothes stood in front, brandishing an automatic rifle. He saw me and yelled.

"What the hell are you doing out there?! Get past the barricade! Now!" I obeyed his order but when I got close he noticed the blood and stopped me. "What happened to you?"

"It's hard to explain."

"Well if you had been a member of the Crucible, you’d have attacked me by now."

"The Crucible?" I asked.

"Just get inside."

He shoved me through a small entrance. I was now inside the heart of the mall. It was a bit different though. To start with, the first floor was mostly a garden. It soaked up the sun through the huge glass facade of the building.

I was up on the second floor. I could see what used to be the JJ Beltens. It had been converted into something. I wasn't sure what, but there were a ton of people inside. Across the way I could see an area surrounded with a cyclone fence. The fighter came up behind me and called for someone. "Janus!"

At that moment, a tall woman came out of what used to be the JJ Beltens. She walked over and looked at me and then at the fighter. "Is he from one of the camps?"

The fighter motioned to me. "Go ahead."

I didn't know how I would explain everything that had just happened to me, so I lied. "Yes."

"Which one?" The woman asked.

I tried to remember the layout of downtown. The nearest big building was the bus station. It was south. I just threw out an answer. "The one a couple blocks to the south."

"Sandway station then. Good to know." She nodded to the soldier. "Bring him into the intel center."

"Yes ma'am."

Funny enough, Sandway was a sandwich place back in my world. I guess they had turned it into some kind of safe haven. I wouldn’t miss it. Ten dollars for a sandwich is too much for me.

I interrupted them. "Wait. Has a woman named Celeste come through here? She has red hair."

"I believe so. A young woman came through here in a panic. She seemed confused as well. We sent her to the medical area." The woman pointed to the tents across the way.

I thanked the two of them and made my way to the tents. I entered the fencing and saw a red haired woman sitting on a bench in front of a heater.

"Celeste?"

She turned around. "Terran?! What the fuck?" I went over and sat down next to her. But whatever playfulness she had had before was gone. She was clearly terrified. "Terran what is happening?"

"It's hard to explain." I just knew I would be saying that a lot.

"So you know something? Please, please tell me."

    Where to start?

"Okay. When your ex stabbed me, I kinda didn't die." I refrained from mentioning Summerland or the contract. It just seemed like it would be too much for her. "I came here instead."

"And why did I?" She asked.

I hesitated before lying."I don't know.”

"Huh."

"That's it?"

"Is there a way we can go back?"

"I don't think so."

"Then yeah. That's it."

A young woman in dirty scrubs came out of the largest tent and called out to Celeste. "Are you doing okay, babe?"

"Yes, thank you Trish." She called back.

“If you have any trouble, I’ve got my self-defense bat over there.”

“Made a friend already?” I asked.

“I guess so.”


Part 1 Chapter 3

We were given space in the medical area to sleep for the night. But early the next day, we were woken up by morning reveille, a word I learned. Janus, who I learned was the station commander, sent us down to the basement to get outfitted.

"Outfitted?" I asked.

"Of course, you need weapons and the certifications to go with them."

"I don't understand. I don't know how to use a weapon."

"You will."

We took the lift down and stepped out into what was still the electrical area for the whole mall. We followed a hallway down and entered a makeshift shooting range. Down another corridor I could hear pulsing music.

"Yo," a young guy wearing a Kevlar helmet called out to me. "Janus sent you right? Terran right?"

"Yeah."

"And this is Celeste, huh?"

Celeste waved. "Uh huh."

"Cool. Very cool. Well, I'm Nathaniel. That's pronounced Nuh-Tahn-Yull."

"Yeah, I got that when you said it the first time." I said.

"And I'll be leading your squad."

Celeste interjected. "Did Janus, or anyone, tell you we've never used a gun before? I mean, I have, but there's no way Terran has."

"Really?" I said. "When did you use a gun?"

"I used to hunt deer with my cousins. I have five of them."

    At the mention of her family I saw her eyes wander to the floor. That was the first time I regretted dragging her along.

To change the subject I asked, "and how do you know I've never used one?"

She looked up. "You told Janus."

"Oh, right."

Nathaniel handed me some sort of rifle. The body was all wood and it had a bolt. I had played enough games to know this was a pretty simple rifle.

"Here's some rounds." He handed me a box with about a dozen loose bullets knocking around. "I want you to hit that target. Down there."

I looked down range and saw an empty Croca Crajolla can sitting on top of a pole. "Seriously? That's gotta be 60 feet."

"Celeste, I want you to do the same thing."

"Got it." She took an identical rifle and loaded five rounds. I followed suit, trying to learn from her.

"Terran, go ahead."

I rested my arms on the table in front of me and slowly lined up a shot. I knew how to use sights, and this is kinda embarrassing, from those popular videos where cute women fire huge guns. I used to watch those all the time.

The music coming from one of the side corridors really started to bother me. It wasn’t making aiming any easier.

I squeezed the trigger and a shot went off. I didn't hear it hit anything. Nathaniel patted me on the shoulder. "Try it again." I did. It popped off, and again, there was nothing.

"Terran, that's plenty for now. Celeste, go ahead." She exhaled slowly, and fired. Pop, she hit the post. That was closer than what I got. "One more time." And one more time, she fired. This time she hit the can.

"Good shot." Nathaniel called out down range. "Ralphie! Set up some more cans!"

A small man I hadn't noticed before ran out into the range and set up ten cans in various spots. "We don't actually have to hit those, do we?" I asked.

"Yep. But first, take these." He handed each of us what looked like a passport. "These are your journals. They contain any certifications you earn. Open them up."  

We obeyed. On the first page was my full name and a portrait of me. "How did you get these?"

"What do you mean? They're on record."

"Which record?"

"The celestial record? Where else?"

"If you say so. Hey Celeste, what's your middle name?"

"Nope." She refused.
 
Nathaniel pulled what looked like a stamp out of his bag. "Hold 'em open." He stamped the first page. "Okay, pick up the rifles again." I obeyed, and when I picked it up, it felt natural.

It felt like I knew what I was doing. You know when you gradually learn about something and you lose all touch with what the layman knows about the subject?

That was non-existent here. Five minutes ago I was clueless, and now I felt competent. Standing upright, I aimed my rifle down range. Celeste did as well. And with five straight, synchronised shots we took down every can.

Nathaniel beamed. "Every time I see that, it never gets old."

"What the hell just happened?" Celeste asked.

"Congrats on earning Rifles Rank 1. When Amelia comes back I'm sure she’ll be thrilled for you two to join."

An alarm went off. Nathaniel grabbed his bag and shouted for us to follow him. We boarded the lift and took it up. And up and up. It looked to be about six floors. We stepped out into the roof and witnessed a large, winged creature floating above the mall.

It had ashy, gray skin. It was hard to tell from down there but he was definitely taller than us, probably by a foot at least.

"Jesus…" I swore.

"Kids, take cover." Nathaniel loaded a series of black colored rounds into his rifle. He took aim at the creature. But it was too late. The creature conjured a fireball and fired it at our leader. It narrowly missed, but knocked him to the ground regardless.

His rifle skidded to a stop right at Celeste's feet. With no hesitation, she picked it up and aimed at the creature.

That was when it took note of us. "Ah, the Interlopers. How did you get here? Of course, we know. And my boss knows. But do you know? Either of you? Perhaps… one of you? But which one… I wonder."

    This thing was acting real coy for what looked like a demon.

Celeste fired the rifle and hit the creature square in the shoulder. He cried out in pain. In fact, it blew a hole right through him. It was such a powerful shot that the creature's arm was hanging on by a thread. She had blasted right through his arm socket.

Okay, you may live.” He said through gritted teeth. “At least for now."

He flew off into the sky. I went over to help Nathaniel. He was conscious, and laying against the wall. To my horror, his right arm was burned badly. It was mostly intact but there was flesh clearly missing in multiple spots.

"Terran?" Celeste was right behind me. "What was that thing talking about?"

"Come one, we have to get Nate to the med tent."

"Don't worry about me," Nathaniel said. "This is nothing Trish couldn't fix."

"Regardless…"

She interrupted. “You heard what he said, didn’t you?”

I ignored her and helped Nate into the lift.

 

 

The other 80% is in pdf form on my itch.io at  christian-l-adams.itch.io