Chương 314: Book Six, Chapter 76: Undercover Shopper

As the sun rose on our second day in the storyline, I could feel an energy in the air that didn't match the beginning of rebirth. It felt like the end. It felt like the finale was about to draw to a close. It was like when you had a three-day weekend, and you got to take Monday off, but then for the rest of the week, nothing felt right. Tuesday didn't feel like Tuesday. Thursday didn't feel like Thursday. And it wasn't until the following Monday that time fixed itself.

The original storyline was over, and now it was our job to give it a new ending. We had some ideas. But the feeling that the story was coming to a close was in the air. On-Screen"You have to go check this out," Kimberly said, holding the Eternal Savers Club pin up in my face.

"I have to? Why do I have to?" I asked.

"You're the only person they won't recognize," she said matter-of-factly as she chased me from the living room to the kitchen of her mansion in Carousel Heights.

"You don't know that," I said.

"What if some of them are horror fans over a certain age? They'll recognize me eventually."

"Riley, look at me," she said as I shuffled through her cupboards looking for a bowl in which to put cereal.

"We need to investigate this."

"We do not need to do anything. We survived. We need to sit back and see what this was all about. Let the cops handle it," I said. She smashed the countertop with her closed fist.

"The cops aren't going to do anything," she said.

"Trust me, as soon as things get weird, the cops just want the simplest answer. And for them, the simplest answer is going to be terrorists or a gang. They still haven't found any of the missing people. Already on the news, they've dismissed every single report of the supernatural as being some sort of hysteria."

"That's not true," I said.

"On Channel Four, they were talking about how it may have involved guidewires and cherry pickers, you know, to help them fly." But then she laid it on me. She didn't answer with words, but she lowered her shoulders and huffed in a desperate, pleading gaze.

"Do you know how ridiculous this sounds?" I said.

"A magic cult at a bargain store?" She walked over to one of the cabinets, opened it up, grabbed a bowl for me, and set it on the counter. I grabbed it up quickly.

"If it's nothing, then what do you have to worry about?" she said.

"But if it's something, we have to do whatever it takes. Those people might still be alive."

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"If they wanted to kill them, they could have right then. Why kidnap them? Why teleport them into those shadows, or whatever it was they did?" Kimberly asked.

"I don't have a lot of answers," I said.

"Maybe... maybe somebody just drugged the punch, you know? Maybe there was something in the champagne. Do we know that we actually saw what we think we saw? Maybe it really was just a publicity stunt or something." Kimberly furiously walked to another cabinet, got a box of cereal, and handed it to me.

"Riley," she said, "please just check it out." She shoved the Eternal Savers Club pin toward me, and I grabbed it.

"How do we even know it's from Eternal Savers Club?" I asked.

"ESC… It could be from... Everest... Sailing... Company. Or something." She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Mount Everest Sailing Company. They do sailing tours of a mountain?" she asked.

"Sure," I said.

"People ask them why they do it, and they say, 'because it was there.'" She laughed, and I poured my cereal in defeat. Off-Screen Following Kimberly's lead, I had stolen a car from a parking lot near my character's apartment. Of course, stolen wasn't the right word because my name was on all the identification cards in the glove box, but it still felt like stealing. I drove to the Eternal Savers Club parking lot, and as soon as I got there, I went On-Screen.

It was time to act nervous and out of place, my specialty. As I entered, I grabbed a cart, fearing that they would check for some sort of club membership that I wouldn't have, though technically, if they asked for it, I could probably say, "Yeah, just a second, let me grab my wallet," and it might be there. Improvisation was proving to be an important tool in our arsenal. But they didn't ask, and as I walked into the store, its enormity struck me all at once.

I could have sworn that it was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and the burst of cool air from the air conditioning made it feel like I was on a mountaintop somewhere. The rows and aisles did not lay out in some neat grid like you might expect, but instead, they were more like a maze. I doubted that the camera would reveal that. Instead, the camera was on me and my genuine amazement as I walked around looking at all the things they had for sale. You could buy a sports boat or mountain climbing gear.

People were driving around on golf carts inside there; it was such a massive place. Food from all sorts of worlds was spread around the store. I had remembered that much from helping carry groceries before, but being here when everyone wasn't running around panicking or dead under rubble was different. This was a whole world unto itself. And everything was so cheap. Discounts to my left and right.

They had a plastic tub of cheese balls the size of a water heater for nine dollars and ninety-five cents—fruits and veggies of all kinds for sale for a few quarters per pound. An entire aisle was made up of soda cans, the little six packs stacked on top of each other to make intricate designs based on their colors. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. And the people were eating it up all around me. People were shoving things into their carts.

There wasn't a single person without their cart at least half full, and soon I realized that included me. I had been grabbing things at first, perhaps because I wanted to look like I belonged. But then I realized it was something deeper, something inside my head. Not a voice, but a feeling so strong it might as well have been one. I heard it, I felt it, like a tremor from the earth. YOU, the voice said, ringing in my ears deep inside.

I fought the voice like I knew there was something wrong with it, but I also very much wanted to give in. In the food section, rows and rows of refrigerated meat called out to me. Steaks and exotic foods like octopus, all there, neatly butchered and ready for the taking. YOU CAN HAVE, the voice said, and in another part of my mind I almost asked it if it was sure. The people around me heard the voice, too. I could see them staring wide-eyed at the huge aisles and the low prices as they filled their carts.

YOU CAN HAVE, the voice said again.

"Can I really?" I asked in my head alone as I traveled up and down the aisles. Crossbows, half price. Shotgun shells. We needed some of those for Dina's sawed-off shotgun. If I bought some, it would be so productive. I basically had to buy it at that price. WHATEVER, the voice said. I didn't believe it. Whatever? They had a sale on the red hoodies. I didn't really need a new one, but at that price, why not grab a backup? WHATEVER YOU WANT. That can't be true. It's too good to be true, I thought to myself.

They had Doritos. Real Doritos, from our world. I had to grab a bag of those. The other players would kill me if I didn't. WHATEVER YOU WANT. I could get it all, even a full cart wouldn't be too much on my budget. I found myself going all over, occasionally with the clarity of mind to look for the employees who were dutifully stacking boxes and moving about from row to row, making sure that things were neat and stocked. And as I walked, I became acutely aware that I was not alone.

My instinct, seasoned by an Oblivious Bystander's caution, taught me not to look around in an obvious way. Instead, I stopped putting things into my cart and just continued walking, looking for employees, looking for the one that I had seen the night before. While most of the employees had only shown their faces for a flash, and I didn't remember them, the one that Antoine and I had stuck the bench into had decloaked, and we got a good look at him.

Shaggy hair, a little overweight, a look of agony on his face, though that probably wouldn't be around anymore. I looked all over for him, but I didn't see him. And yet I still felt like I was being followed. Was I hearing footsteps, or was this psychic intuition? Was it He Who Walks Behind the Aisles? I continued on, nearly bumping into other customers as I made my way around the aisles looking for the exit, which I seemed to have lost. Wait, they have body armor? No. I had to focus.

I was being followed, and I needed to keep my instincts sharp. So I could only get one bulletproof vest and throw it in the cart. And maybe some shin guards, because they were so cheap. And the gloves, in case I had to do something that might hurt my skin. WHATEVER YOU WANT.

And then I could be off, going back down the aisles as I found myself at the back of the store, on one of the few aisles where I was alone among boxes and boxes of different pet treats, foods, and supplies, about to grab a bag of dog food for Bobby, just in case. At this price, it would be crazy not to. I saw a shadow on the ground. Someone was standing behind me. YOU CAN HAVE. I was at the end of the aisle. If it were an enemy, there was no escape.

Could I do a funny turnaround while not seeing whoever it was that was following me? Maybe. I had done ridiculous things like that before, back when my Moxie was so much higher than everything else in the storyline. I had to trust that we were at a point of low tension, that I wouldn't get attacked. I just had to look like I was going about my business. I turned. YOU CAN HAVE WHATEVER YOU WANT!

The voice screamed in my head, and it so overrode my attention that when I focused on who it was that had been following me, I almost screamed out in shock. It was Tom. Tom, our group therapy leader. Tom, the interim manager at Eternal Savers Club. He was so tall, so neatly dressed and groomed. My heart beat fast as I quickly tried to hide my surprise. It was a good thing. Running into him was actually something I had hoped for.

"Tom," I said with a smile.

"Imagine running into you here."

"It's about the only place to run into me these days. They got me working back-to-back shifts." Matching fake smiles spread across our faces.

"That's right," I said, suddenly remembering something I had seen on the morning news.

"You guys lost your manager, right?" Tom twisted his hands together and looked down sadly.

"Yes. That nasty business last night hit close to home here at Eternal Savers Club. It's a shame. She only just started." He looked genuinely sad about it, though every indication that I had was that he was in on it.

"I'm sorry for your loss," I said.

"Did you know her well?"

"Not as well as I'd have liked to, I'm afraid," he said after a moment of contemplation.

"But we will have to suffice with the knowledge that she will be with us in the next world, yeah?"

"Sure thing," I said.

"Can I help you find anything?" he asked.

"You looked like you were wandering around pretty hectically there." I laughed, and it almost sounded genuine.

"It's a lot to take in," I said.

"I just didn't want to miss anything."

"I know the feeling," Tom said.

"You would not believe some of the deals we have going on right now. Do you like swordfish?"

"I've never met one," I said.

"Oh, you," he answered.

"Well, if you do like swordfish, we have a deal of a lifetime right now. We have tons of it, and we have nowhere to put it. So it's out front next to the igloo. If you want to take a few pounds off our hands, it's practically a steal."

"Wow," I said.

"I guess I'll have to figure out how to cook swordfish."

"That's Eternal Savers Club for you. You can have whatever you want," he said.

"I got the feeling," I said.

"Well, I've got work to do, so if you need any help, just ask any of my associates. They're very knowledgeable, and they are willing to do anything to make your day an Eternal Savers Club day."

"All right," I said.

"That's good to know." He shook my hand and turned to leave, and then I suddenly remembered why I had come. I had to try to rejoin the subplot with Bobby I had fumbled.

"Hey Tom," I said.

"Just... just one thing. I want you to know that I'm not trying to waste everybody's time at group, you know, not talking about my parents. It's not that I don't want to share, it's just—" He stopped me.

"I completely understand. Sometimes it's difficult to talk about, and it's really nobody else's business. As long as you're getting something out of group therapy, then you deserve to be there just as much as anyone else," he said.

"I'll tell you, if it wasn't for the comfort of companions, I would never have been able to work through my brother's death." He seemed like such a genuine guy. Happy when he was trying to seem pleasant, but sad too. Always a bit sad.

"Right," I said.

"I saw a memorial for him out at the end of the parking lot. Did he die here?" I asked. That wasn't exactly my smoothest interrogation. Tom took a deep breath.

"Yes, he did die on the property." He picked up on my ham-fisted questioning and awkwardly turned to leave again. It looked like I wasn't getting that invite to the super-secret fun club underneath the store after all. I would have to do something drastic. I would have to be honest.

"It's not that I don't want to talk about my parents," I said.

"It's just... when people talk about their loved ones that are passed on, they always have so much to say. You know, the way you talk about your brother, it's like I basically know him at this point. Do you know what I mean? But the thing is, my parents died when I was relatively young, and I repressed so much of what I remember. I'm afraid that if I started talking, I just wouldn't have much to say, you know? And what would everybody think about that?

If I couldn't even talk about them for more than a minute, that's all." My voice cracked as I said that. Tom walked back over to me and put his hand on my shoulder. He said, in a deeply soothing voice, "Trust me, when you're ready to talk, you'll find the words. And we will be ready to listen." He gave me a hug, which surprised me, and then turned to leave. No invite. I was left standing in the aisle with the vague desire to put more things in my cart, but suddenly, the clarity of mind not to.

I looked around, and while I didn't see anyone, I still felt like I was being watched.