At the Edge of the Forest, Page 2

  Suddenly my radio crackles and I realize Brian's trying to get in touch. I fumble with the buttons for a moment, trying to remember which is which, before hitting the green switch on the side and hoping for the best.

  “Hello?” I say cautiously.

  “Base to Rogue One,” Brain replies. “Come in Rogue One.”

  “This is... Rogue One,” I say with a frown. “I haven't found anyone yet.”

  “What about the creeper?” he asks. “Have you seen the creeper?”

  “The what?”

  He laughs. “Don't worry, you'll know him when you see him. He mainly just comes for tinned soup.”

  I glance both ways along the empty aisle. “Who's the creeper?”

  “Keep your voice down,” he replies. “Don't want them hearing you, do we?”

  “Who's the creeper?” I whisper.

  “Oh, he's this old guy who comes in every night and... Well, don't worry about it, he's completely harmless. To be honest, I think he's mostly just lonely and he comes here 'cause he's got nothing else to do. As aisle-walkers go, he's not one to worry about.”

  “Aisle-walkers?”

  “Oh, they're out there.”

  I know he's being dumb and trying to wind me up but, as I glance along the empty aisle once again, I suddenly become very aware of a tingling sensation on the back of my neck. I guess it's probably just the t-shirt label, but I swear it feels like -

  “You're being watched,” Brian says suddenly.

  “What?”

  Damn it, I can hear him laughing again. “Don't fret it, girl. I'm looking at the monitors right now and I can see that you're being watched by one of the aisle-walkers. I can't quite make out which one it is, maybe Pin-Headed Bobby or that girl with the short legs and the body odor problem.”

  I frown. “What?”

  “Hang on, I'll switch cameras, try to give you a heads up.”

  As I hear him tapping away, I turn and look along the aisle, but I still don't see anyone. I start walking toward the next junction, while telling myself that it's dumb to let myself get spooked and that Harvey's probably just running through a set of pranks that he uses on every new hire. When I get to the junction, I look both ways before glancing back over my shoulder, but there's still no sign of another living soul out here. I feel like the Mars Rover, trundling about in an inhospitable landscape, hoping to find some hint that there was once life in this barren environment.

  Spotting a security camera staring straight at me, I give a wave.

  “Hey,” I say, holding the radio up again, “how's it going? Are you -”

  Suddenly I realize that there's someone right behind me. I spin around, filled with a sense of panic, but there's no-one to be seen. Still, as I take a step back I realize that there was definitely someone there a moment ago, breathing on my neck.

  “Hello?” I call out, my eyes scanning the shelves in case someone has somehow managed to hide. No, wait, that's completely dumb, no-one could do that. I turn again, but I can't quite talk my nerves down, not yet.

  They should play music in this place.

  Why can't they play music to cover the silence?

  “Hey Harvey,” I mutter into the radio. “Are you -”

  Before I can finish, I hear a burst of static, loud enough to make me instinctively pull the radio back from my ear. The sound continues for a moment, with a hint of Harvey's voice lost in the mix, before falling silent again.

  “What did you say?” I ask, not quite daring to hold the radio to my ear again. “I didn't catch a word of that.”

  This time, all I hear is a faint swirling sound, like a kind of howling vortex.

  “I don't think this thing's working properly,” I reply after a moment. “Either that or I'm pressing the wrong buttons, but I don't think so.” I glance along the aisle for a moment. “So should I just keep walking? I'm bound to bump into someone eventually, right? Also I found some napkins that I guess I should put back on the right shelf, so...”

  I wait for a reply, but the radio remains silent.

  “Great,” I mutter, turning and heading toward the next junction. “Sounds like mission control has gone silent and -”

  Suddenly I see her.

  Stopping in my tracks, I realize that there's a woman at the very far end of the aisle, a couple of hundred meters away. All I can really tell from here is that she's wearing mostly black and that she seems to be staring straight toward me, and that she's tilting slightly, as if she's clutching her waist on one side.

  I pause, not really knowing what to do, before realizing that I'm being an idiot.

  She's a customer.

  My job is to help customers.

  Therefore, I should go to her.

  “You can do this,” I whisper, trying to make myself braver. “You're not a pussy. You can talk to strangers and not come across as a freak.”

  Forcing myself to start walking along the aisle, I realize the only sound I can hear right now is my own footsteps. The woman is still ahead, still watching me, and as I get closer I remember that I should be smiling. Not that I'm really very good at smiling, but hey... I give it a go, although after a moment I start to worry that I'm showing too many teeth so I try a closed-mouth smile, but that seems wrong too. I bite my bottom lip for a moment before trying again, but every smile I come up with just seems like something a lunatic would be sporting in some kind of asylum. How do other people do this kind of thing?

  And still the woman is watching me as I get closer and closer.

  Hearing a buzzing sound from the radio, I reach down and flick a few buttons. I guess Harvey's trying to get in touch, but the damn thing clearly isn't working properly so -

  “Run!” a garbled voice suddenly shouts, breaking through the static.

  I stop.

  The woman is still staring at me, from about a hundred meters up ahead.

  “What did you say?” I ask, holding the radio to my ear. “Harvey?”

  There's more static, but after a moment the voice breaks through again. “Rita, run!”

  I open my mouth to reply, but suddenly I realize that the woman has started moving. She's limping a little and she's definitely holding her waist on one side as if she's hurt, but she's coming straight toward me.

  “Harvey,” I say, trying not to panic, “if this is a prank -”

  “Run!” the radio hisses suddenly, the voice barely audible over a swirl of static, “Rita, run!”

  He adds something else, but the static is getting worse now and I swallow hard as I realize that the woman is speeding up a little, coming closer and closer. The closer she gets, the more I can see that she's hurt, with blood soaking through the side of her coat as if someone's stabbed or shot her.

  “This isn't a thing,” I whisper, trying to stay calm. “This isn't happening.”

  I take a deep breath.

  “Can I help you?” I ask, although I immediately realize that my voice is starting to crack with fear. “Um, M'am, is there something I can do for you?”

  She speeds up, limping more heavily. Now that she's closer, I can see that her wild, wide-open eyes are fixed on me. She's clearly in pain but she looks angry too, as if she blames me for something.

  “Are you okay?” I continue, swallowing hard. “Do you not want anything? Okay, just let me know if that change. I have to...”

  Unable to think of anything, and still slightly worried that I'm being rude to a normal customer, I step back and then into another aisle, and then I turn and walk as fast as I can back toward the other end of the store. After a couple of paces, however, I stop and tell myself that I'm being an idiot. I wait for a moment, trying to find the courage to turn around, and finally I glance over my shoulder, only to find that there's no sign of the woman. I make my way cautiously back through to the next aisle, but she's gone.

  “Hello?” I call out.

  Silence.

  Looking down at the floor, I expect to see a trail of blood, but there's nothing.

>   “Are you...” I glance both ways, but the woman just seems to have vanished into thin air.

  Telling myself that there has to be a reasonable explanation, I make my way along the next aisle. I keep looking back, in case the woman reappears, but there's absolutely no sign of her and by the time I get to the end of the aisle I'm starting to question my sanity. Is it possible that I worked myself up into such a nervous panic, I actually hallucinated an angry, bleeding woman? I mean, that'd be a whole new level of extreme, even for me.

  I check over my shoulder one more time, but she's gone. She's really gone.

  “Hey,” I say as I reach the register, “what the hell was that all about?”

  “What was what about?”

  I turn and watch the aisles again, convinced that the woman is about to come charging into view.

  “So did you find any customers?” Harvey asks.

  I turn back to him. “Who's that woman out there,” I reply, “and why did you tell me to run from her?”

  He stares at me with an expression of utter confusion. “Huh?”

  “You told me to run!” I continue, trying not to sound panicked.

  “I did?”

  “From that woman!”

  He peers past me. “What woman?”

  “The -” Exasperated, I look up at the monitors and realize that, once again, that there's no sign of anyone. “You saw her,” I stammer. “You told me over the radio that I had to run.”

  “I didn't speak to you over the radio,” he replies.

  “Oh, you did,” I continue, glancing back at him. “Is this a joke? Are you trying to pull some kind of stupid prank?”

  “I didn't speak to you once after you went out there.”

  I open my mouth to argue with him, before realizing that the haze of static meant I couldn't be sure it was really his voice. I guess I just assumed, since I thought he was the only person who'd be trying to talk to me.

  “So who else is working here tonight?” I ask cautiously.

  “I told you. No-one. It's just you and me, buddy.”

  Shaking my head, I try to work out what's really happening. This is a prank, it has to be. I'm the new girl, so I get pranked. That makes sense, even if he clearly went to a lot of effort.

  “You think there's some weird woman out there?” he asks, rolling his eyes. “Seriously?”

  “I saw her,” I reply, “and...”

  My voice trails off as I realize how ridiculous this argument is becoming. It's obvious that he's playing some kind of dumb initiation trick and trying to make me scared, and there's no way I'm going to fall for it. I'm sure he and his co-conspirator, whoever she was, are gonna get a kick out of this later.

  “Fine,” I mutter, even though my heart is still pounding. “You know what? I don't care.”

  He stares at me for a moment. “Trash.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  “I need to show you how the trash system works. Come on, Rita Bone. This way.”

  I open my mouth to ask more about the woman in the aisle, but it's pretty damn clear that he won't give me a straight answer. Glancing back toward the aisles, I wait for any sign of life, but once again the place seems deserted. I guess that woman was some co-worker who doused herself in fake blood and agreed with Harvey to give me a fright, but I'm not going to give them the satisfaction of a reaction. If they want to try to make me look like an idiot, they're going to have to do a lot better.

  Shannon would be proud of me.

  III

  “Trash,” I mutter as I haul another heavy black garbage bag across the dark parking lot. Catching a glimpse of my reflection in the store's windows, I can't help but sigh. “Yep. He got that right.”

  It takes a few more minutes before I get to the dumpster, where I've already deposited three other bags. It's kindof creepy out here, since the dumpster is right next to the edge of the huge dark forest that spreads for miles to the north of the store, but as a trailer park kid I'm kinda accustomed to that kind of thing. One of my earliest memories is Shannon telling me to never, ever go into the forest, so I'm not really scared, not even as I drag the garbage bag along the strip of grass that separates the parking lot from the dark line of trees.

  I don't really know what I was expecting to do during my first shift at BarraBuy, but so far nothing has really gone according to plan. Harvey seems to think it's hilarious to spend his time either pranking me or giving me menial jobs that sap my will to live, and I can't help thinking that I should be receiving some actual training. He hasn't shown me how to work the registers, or how to price items, or how to check stock levels, or any of the stuff that I remember Shannon talking about. It's almost as if Harvey really doesn't expect me to last beyond tonight.

  I guess I can't blame him for that. I know I look kinda... scrawny.

  Once I reach the dumpster, I adjust my grip on the bag and then haul it onto my shoulder before quickly throwing it onto the pile. Wincing, I feel a wet patch soaking through my t-shirt and I turn to see a small but noticeable patch of garbage water on my shoulder.

  “Hallelujah,” I mutter, slamming the dumpster's lid closed. “At least -”

  Spotting movement at the far end of the parking lot, I freeze when I realize that something seems to be crawling across the tarmac, heading toward the store. Squinting to get a better look, I still can't make out too much but it appears that a dark human figure is slowly crawling along, passing through a pool of light cast down by one of the streetlamps. After a moment the figure disappears into darkness, only to reappear in another pool of light as it continues its slow but steady progress.

  “What the actual...”

  I take a step forward, squinting even more in an attempt to work out why the figure looks so unnatural. Obviously the fact that it's crawling on its hands and knees is a little odd, but there's something else, something that makes its movements seem extra weird. I tilt my head slightly, still unable to make out any of the figure's features, before finally I realize that it seems to be crawling on its back with its arms and legs twisted the wrong way and its face looking up toward the starless sky.

  Suddenly the figure stops, and I see its head starting to turn.

  Instinctively, I duck back behind the dumpster, keen to avoid being noticed. I wait, my heart pounding as I imagine that thing coming this way, but after a moment I realize that I have to take a look. What's the alternative? Sit behind the dumpster for the rest of the night? Forcing myself to be brave, I get down onto my knees and then lean low to the ground, looking through the gap beneath the dumpster. At first I can't see anything out there, but a moment later I spot the figure crawling into another of the circular light pools. I feel a sigh of relief as I realize that it seems to have resumed its journey toward the store's front doors.

  After a few seconds, the doors slide open and the creature crawls into the light before disappearing inside.

  I wait a moment, before getting to my feet and stepping around the dumpster. Looking out across the parking lot, I half expect to see more of the damn things, but the whole place seems deserted now as a gentle, cold breeze past over me. With the last of the garbage now safely stowed in the dumpster, I guess I have no real reason to still be out here, so I start to make my way cautiously across the lot, passing in and out of several pools of light until I reach the main doors, which slide open to once again reveal the brightly-lit interior with aisles running to the horizon.

  I take a deep breath, half expecting to hear screams, but there's nothing.

  “What the actual hell is going on in this place?” I whisper to myself as I step forward, passing through the gust of warm air that greets everyone who enters the store. I guess it could be another prank, but it's hard to believe Harvey would go quite this far just to get a rise out of me.

  Stopping again, I see that Harvey is sitting at the register, tapping at something on his phone. He looks more than bored; he looks almost catatonic.

  “Did you see anything weird just no
w?” I ask, heading over to him.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You did? You saw it too?”

  “You bet.” He swipes the screen.

  “What the hell was it?”

  “Don't describe the customers as it, Rita,” he continues with a sigh. “Mrs. Dugdale is in here every Tuesday night buying new underwear.” He swipes again. “God knows what happens to her on Mondays.”

  “I meant the thing that crawled in,” I continue. “There's no way that could have been a prank.”

  Sighing again, he glances at me skeptically. “Say what, young lady?”

  “The thing! The crawly thing on its back, what the hell was it?” I turn and look toward the aisles, but of course there's no sign of life whatsoever. “Where did it go?”

  I wait for a reply, before turning back to him and seeing the expression of bemusement on his face.

  “Did you take the trash out?” he asks dourly.

  “Yes, but -”

  “And did you at any point open one of the bags and take a big sniff? 'Cause right now, you're acting like you're under the influence of something, and trash water might just do it. That probably sounds like a joke, but it isn't. Trash water can be pretty trippy.”

  “I -” Realizing that he's not taking me seriously, I glance at the monitors. “Are those things recording?”

  “They'd be pretty pointless if they weren't.”

  “Then we have to check the monitor from the entrance, we have to look at the footage from about three minutes ago and -”

  “They're not recording,” he adds suddenly.

  “But you just said -

  “I said they'd be pointless if they weren't,” he continues, “and I was right. They are pointless. Management won't pay for the hard drive to get repaired, so right now the cameras are just there for the live feed.”

  “But we... I mean...”

  “Do you know what we have to do?” he asks with a sigh. “Do you know the only thing that matters here? We have to keep this place ticking over until the morning crew arrives, and there's nothing more complicated to it.” He sets his phone down. “Do you know how long this store has been open?”

  “What's that got to do with anything?” I ask.