Excerpt: Just Us.

PRICE CLUB

Chapter 1
Everyone Here Smells Like A Rat

Herman Neville owned the Price Club. He was head of security, he worked six days a week, and everyone who so much as stepped inside the warehouse feared him. It was his dream job. No one so much as stole a napkin from the food court on the days that he worked.
However, while no one stole while he was there, no one every liked him. Not even the managers. He got more complaints than anyone on a wider variety of topics than the managers had ever seen. The topics ranged from verbally and physically attacking people, sexually harassing women, and having poor hygiene. Beyond bad hygiene and manners, Herman went after anyone and everyone that he either simply didn’t like or that had actually stolen something.
This was his biggest problem.
On Herman’s one year and six month anniversary, he saw the one person he should not have called out stealing. Leroy Jameson was caught on one of Herman’s hidden cameras stealing miscellaneous items. Leroy was the state manager’s only son. He was supposed to be the one to take over as manager once his dad retired.
Despite this knowledge, Herman couldn’t keep himself from reporting the crimes committed to the store manager himself.
That was the day Herman was fired.
It was also the day that Bret and Hailey started their jobs at the Price Club. It had started as most other Price Club orientations had, with Ted – otherwise known as Mister Assistant Manager by the new hires – giving them an introduction to the depressing metal sauna known as the Price Club and then giving them a tour despite them not really needing it.
They were walking from the cages down to the loading dock, past the office, when there was a crash preempted and followed by screaming.
“What the hell was that,” Hailey asked, turning to the stranger standing by her side.
Bret shrugged.
“I am the best thing that ever happened to this company, you rat bastard! You will rue this day,” A man screamed as he was pulled out of the office with two men in similar security uniforms.
Bret smirked, “Appears to be a disgruntled, ex-security guard.” He glanced back over at Hailey, giving her a once over and thinking how lucky he was to be in orientation with her. She gave him a little chuckle, either out of politeness or because she honestly thought he was funny. He preferred to think it was the latter.
“Moving on,” Ted said as he began walking again. A few seconds later he started back on his lecture regarding.
The two began walking, keeping a safe five feet behind him. Close enough that they could follow where he was going and he would get the feeling that he was being following but far enough away to whisper among themselves without being heard.
“I’m Bret,” He said, offering a hand for Hailey to shake.
She smiled as she shook his hand. “I’m Hailey. Nice to meet you.” She looked around the back room that the had absentmindedly wandered into. “So what brings you to the Price Club?”
He let out a half chuckle. “I needed a job. This place was hiring so I applied. They hired me in the interview before I applied anywhere else.”
She laughed.
“What about you,” He asked.
That stopped her. “My parents told me to get a job. No place else would hire me. So I finally applied here and… ta-da!” She opened her arms with a little flourish.
“So that is the store,” Ted said as he stopped in the middle of the dock. There were trucks idling around them. “Now go do some work.” He waved them away.
Bret raised his hand to ask a question but withdrew it quickly as he Ted’s frown began to deepen.
“Come on, Bret,” Hailey said, pulling him away by the arm. She let go once they were a few yards and a corner away from the ridiculous assistant manager.
“Do you know where you’re going,” Bret asked.
She stopped and glanced around, finding herself in a maze of boxes and shelving units. “Not really,” She admitted, beginning to laugh.
Bret couldn’t help but laugh with her. “Hey, at least we have an excuse for not working.”
She nodded. “So where do you think we should go now?”
He looked around, taking in all of the different paths in the maze. “I say we go… that way.” He pointed down an aisle that looked like it reached down into a black abyss.
“I like the way you think,” Hailey said, running down the aisle.
As he watched her half-jogging past him, he couldn’t help but think about how much he liked her so far. After a second of staring, he came back to his senses and jogged after her.
The two ran for hours in the dusty, dank back room filled to the brim with boxes, cartons, and pallets. There were machines running and air conditioner blasting – though it didn’t do its job very well. No one even seemed to notice them as they raced and played hide and seek with each other in the back room for the second half hour of their day.
The fun and games ended once they reached the end of the metal, cardboard, and plastic palace and came upon the doors back to the store. Ted was standing at the doors, his arms crossed and a scowl set harsh against his boyish features.
“Having fun,” He asked.
Bret and Hailey exchanged glances, both looking fairly scared for a moment. The fear didn’t last long.
“Yeah, actually,” Bret said, crossing his arms. “Now do you mind getting out of our way so that we can get back to work?”
Hailey smirked as Bret pushed past Ted and into the main portion of the building. “Are you having fun, Ted,” She asked as she followed Bret’s lead.

Hailey stood at the table of clothes, folding shirts that were about three times her size at their smallest, when he struck.
“Hey,” He said, loudly and excitedly as he grabbed her arms from behind.
She turned her head, looking back at him with a smile. “Hey! What’re you up to?”
“Working, mainly. I got stuck organizing shelves over in the uh… womanly area.”
Hailey let out a little giggle, though she put her hand to her mouth to try and suppress the urge. “Well… uh, that’s good.” She finished folding the last triple extra large woman’s shirt and turned all the way around to face him. She put her hands on her hips and gave him a good once over, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was doing so. This, of course, caused Bret to laugh as well.
“I found some place to hide. A place where none of the cameras can see you.”
She raised an eyebrow, giving Bret a look that he considered fairly seductive. Which made sense since that was part of her intention. After all, why not flirt a little with the guys at work? It’s not like her boyfriend didn’t flirt with his groupies. “Oh, really,” She asked.
He nodded. “Follow me.” He started walking off, looking around nervously as if he should be worried that someone was watching him. She let out another laugh. Of course someone was watching, there were dozens of cameras littering the ceiling above them. He turned and put a finger to his mouth to shush her, and then he quickly turned back around and ran across the room. They came to the stairs leading up to the conference room.
“That is your brilliant hiding place,” Hailey asked, more than a bit of scorn in her voice. “There are way too many windows.”
He shook his head. “No. It’s not just the room. It’s inside the room.” He dashed up the stairs, taking three at a time, and then stood at the door, patiently holding it open for her.
“Why, thank you sir,” She said with her best cheesy English accent. She even gave a slight curtsey before stepping inside the room.
He closed the door gently behind him and turned around. Hailey was standing in the middle of the room. “There,” He said, pointing to the large vent up near the ceiling.
She chuckled, “Right. No, really, where’s this secret hiding place?”
“Do you know what that is?”
“A vent.”
“An old fashioned vent,” He corrected. “That thing is big enough for someone average sized to crawl in. And it’s strong enough to hold someone that small. It could take you just about anywhere in the building.”
She looked either curious or dubious, “How do you know?”
“I may have crawled in it earlier.”
She laughed. He liked her laugh. “Why?”
“I wanted to see if it was possible. You always see it in the movies.”
She nodded and walked over to it, reaching up, she fingered the place covering it. “Good point.” She paused and turned around. “I always wanted an adventure. You know a real Die Hard situation. Something excited to get the adrenaline pumping.”
“Good luck finding it here,” Bret said with a half-chuckle.