Listen to Me – Part Two

After learning about the vicious epidemic seen on television, Janet and Craig soon discover that the violence has reached Mega Speed Print. The phone lines don’t work, the law enforcement is overwhelmed. Janet and Craig are on their own.

Listen To Me – Part Two is Februarys flash fiction that continues from Listen To Me – Part One. The story brings readers into an end-of-the-world themed thriller. Experience the story in written word, audio, artwork and soundscape.

Listen to Me – Part Two









Backup

Janet and Craig stared at one another for several moments
while the sounds of screams echoed from the backroom of the print shop. Only
two rooms apart, someone’s life was being taken away from them. Their
co-workers, people who they saw every day were now fighting for their lives,
and Craig and Janet just stood in their office, listening.

What do we do?
Janet thought. She wanted to just run and
get as far away from this chaos as she could. She also knew that there wasn’t
anywhere to go. The TV showed the streets of London were far worse than the
print shop, and the police weren’t
picking up the phone.

“I want to try my mum,” Janet said, snagging the phone from
Craig’s hand.

Craig scratched his neck and looked towards the entrance of
the office room. “We might want to focus on what is right in front of us.”

Janet ignored his comment and punched the numbers of her
mum’s home line and waited. The phone rang for several moments before a crackly
old voice picked up, saying, “Hello, you
have reached the residence of Lacey Harkovitch…”

“Voicemail,” Janet muttered while pressing on the hook to
dial a new number. She had friends, ex-boyfriends,
and family. She wasn’t alone in this situation and wasn’t going to give up just
yet.

“Janet,” Craig said.

Janet punched in a number to her cousin’s and listened to
the phone ringing again.

“Janet,” Craig said once more.

Janet raised her index finger, hoping it would silence Craig
so she could try and get anyone on the line. She didn’t want to listen to whatever Craig had to say. He liked to ramble
and small talk, so it was easy for her to shut him off. The phone continued to
ring with no answer.

“No one is picking up!” Janet said. “I’ll try John,” her
voice ended in a groan. The thought of her recent ex made her sick. At this point, she was willing to try anyone. She
needed to hear a familiar voice.

“Janet!” Craig said sternly as he pressed on the hook of the
dial, preventing her from making any more calls. The change in action from
Craig caught her attention. He never acted out so intensely. He pointed to the
other room, saying, “I think whatever we saw on the telly is happening right in
the print shop. We best jet from here for our own safety.”

“I know,” Janet said.

“Then why are you still trying to dial different numbers?”
Craig asked.

“I want to know if my loved ones are safe, I think.”

“So, you tried John?” Craig asked raising his eyebrow.

Janet let out a sigh and looked to the ground. “Alright,
alright. I am scared! What the hell is going on, Craig?”

Craig pushed his glasses up with his finger, saying, “I
don’t know, but we probably shouldn’t
stick around here much longer. Whoever is out the in the backroom is still
here.” He glanced around the office room, looking at the different desks. His
eyes locked onto a hole puncher and rushed over to the desk and snagged the
office supply. “We need weapons,” he said, shaking the hole puncher, causing
paper fragments to fall out of the bottom.

“That’s not much of a weapon, Craig,” Janet said.

“Better than anything we have right now,” Craig said. “Come,
stay behind me. There’s two of us and one of them.”

The Great Escape

The man crept with caution towards the office entrance. This
was real, Craig was going to investigate. Janet had to follow. A part of her
wanted to just hide under her desk and hope for the whole damn thing to blow
over. At the same time, she couldn’t just leave Craig to fend for himself.
Whoever was out there just took out at least two people on their own, who knows
what type of madness was out there. Craig needed her to back him up.

Janet took a deep breath, thinking, you got this. She mustered up the courage and snagged her purse
from the desk, she couldn’t leave that behind. She took a step forward, feeling
every thread of the fabric of her
clothing move against her skin. The adrenaline rushed through her body and
amplified all of her senses.

The two reached the entrance, Craig took a step forward,
exposing himself to the other room. He continued to move slowly, keeping the
hole puncher held high, ready to strike. Janet entered the lobby, looking
around to see that the room was empty. No customers were in view. The chairs
were left as is. The entrance and the back room were eerily quiet. Usually, phones were ringing, clients were
talking, and the loud machinery of the printers was
going on all throughout the day. Now, there was only silence.

Janet took another step into the lobby and caught notice of a
pool of blood oozing from behind the front desk where an older lady’s hand lay limp on the ground. That
had to be Candice. The front desk monitor was missing. The keyboard, mouse and
various papers were scattered over the surface area. There was a struggle here.

Janet lightly tapped Craig’s shoulder, causing him to jerk
slightly. “Look,” she said quietly, pointing at the hand.

The two walked as one up to the counter and leaned over to
see their boss was on the ground with glass shards in her skull. Blood oozed
down her face beside the broken monitor. Her neck was red and blue, and some of her clothes were torn.

“Is she alive?” Janet asked.

Craig looked at her with a cold stare, saying nothing. His
silence was enough for her to know what he was implying. Candice, their boss, was
indeed dead.

“Should we check the back room?” Janet asked.

“Yeah, let’s see if anyone else is alive,” Craig said.

“Do you think? There was Candice, you, me, Mark, Daniel and
Dan.”

“Don’t forget about Richard.”

“Was Richard working today?”

“I believe so.”

“Okay, okay.” Janet looked at
the front entrance. “Okay,” Janet said while unbuckling her purse. She searched
through it until she located her keys, feeling them jingle in her hands. “I can
drive is around back?” Janet said.

“What for?”

“So we can approach it from the other end?”

“Maybe the killer is out back,” Craig said.

“I’d prefer if we didn’t run into them,” Janet said.

“We have to if we want to save everyone else,” Craig said.

“What is our plan here?” Janet snapped. “Honestly I want to
get my car and get the hell out of here.”

“I say we go check on the others, besides I parked in the
back,” Craig said.

“What?” Janet exclaimed.

“Hush!” Craig said.

“Why would you park in the back?” Janet asked.

“Because Candice was getting upset that the staff were
taking up all of the front parking for the customers. I was just trying to keep
the boss happy!”

A crash came from the back room, catching their attention. Craig held the hole puncher up high
and stared at the back room just behind the front desk. The printers and
shelves stacked with empty paper stocks could be seen from the doorway.

Company

“Someone is still back there,” Craig said. “Come on, let’s
go check it out.”

“Craig, no, please.
Can we just get to my car?” Janet begged.

Craig shook his head and took a step forward and then
another. Janet looked at the front entrance and then at her co-worker who
walked around the front desk, vastly approaching the back room doorway. She
couldn’t leave him behind.

“Damn you, Craig,”
Janet whispered under her breath. She hurried up to catch to Craig, carefully
creeping around the front desk and Candice’s body. Janet caught up to her
co-worker and slowed her pace to match his.

Craig glanced back at her and then forward as he stepped
into the back room. The printers were
still on, but they weren’t processing any of their jobs. The workers in the
back were nowhere to be seen.

“Let’s check behind the next aisle, where the paper is kept,” Craig said while walking towards the
next aisle, separated by shelves of paper stock and completed print jobs.

The sound of an object beating against something was now heard as they approached the new aisle.
Craig slowed his walk down as he came up against the side of the shelves, a
pace away from appearing down the hall. The
pounding was louder now. It sounded like some kind of flesh.

Janet looked at Craig and took a deep breath. She wasn’t
sure what she was supposed to expect on the other side of the shelf, but she
knew they were soon to find out.

“Careful,” Craig said. “As one.”

The two synchronized their movement, both peeking around the
shelf to see that a tall, gangly man with
dark hair was on his knees, forehead against the floor. He raised his head up slowly, blood dripping from his face, and
then slammed it back down onto the concrete, causing his face to crack and
blood to splatter onto the floor.

Friends Are Crazy

“Mark?” Craig whispered.

“Look,” Janet said, nodding to two bodies behind the man.
“Can you tell who those are?”

“That red sweater, Dan for sure. I think the other is Daniel
from his height.”

“Where is Richard then?” Janet asked.

“I don’t know,” Craig muttered.

Mark let out a loud shout and stood up from his kneeled
position. He continued to shout, throat tensing up and face squishing inward as
he clenched his fist. He repeatedly slammed his fists into his bloody face. Coating his hand in a mixture of blood and
saliva.

“Why is he doing that?” Janet asked.

“Maybe we can check the security camera? See what happened,”
Craig whispered.

“Do you know how to access them?” Janet asked.

“No, Candice always has the key. Maybe it is in her office.”

“I say the hell with
it,” Janet said. “Let’s get out of here.”

“What about Richard?” Craig asked.

“He’s not here. We checked the lobby and the back room.”

Mark let out another loud shout and picked up speed, running
in their direction.

“Look out!” Craig said, ducking back, pulling Janet with him.

The shouts grew louder as the footsteps thundered. Craig
tightened his grip on his hole puncher, ready to attack. Mark dashed from the
aisle and away from Craig and Janet, charging straight into the shelf against
the wall. His impact caused the structure to wobble and topple down onto him,
burying him in paper stock and wood. Pieces of paper flew off the shelves and
into the air, scattering in random directions. Janet and Craig took several
steps back, looking down to see that Mark was buried
entirely by the paper and shelves.

“What was that about?” Janet asked.

Craig shook his head. “He has gone completely mad. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Is he dead?” Janet asked, taking a step closer.

Craig grabbed her wrist. “Don’t. I think it is safe to say
he isn’t exactly conscious right now.”

A knock came from the exit leading to the lobby. The noise
caused both of them to jump, spinning
around to see a larger man with a neckbeard raise his hands up.

“Guys!’ he said.

“Richard!” Craig said while relaxing his arms. “Where the
bloody hell were you?” he asked.

“In the washroom,” he shook his head. “Jesus, what is going
on? I locked myself in when I heard all the chaos.”

“You chicken shit,” Janet cursed.

Craig and Richard look back at her, squinting at the sudden
harsh language.

“I mean, it’s good to see you,” Janet said with a forced
smile. The words even surprised Janet. She wasn’t usually one to lash out at
people. Perhaps all the chaos and stress from work and this epidemic was making
her a little loopy. Regardless, here they were, the last of Mega Speed Print.
Now they could finally leave work. It’s
not like the boss could give them grief for leaving early The country was in chaos.

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