Zombie Vampires Chapter 2

  

12 YEARS LATER

 

Taking a seat in the break room, Jaycee retrieved her phone and searched for messages, but none were found. With three remaining hours in her shift at the Glory Hole, her jaw was already aching. Aware of six more appointments before her shift concluded at eleven, she harbored a reluctance to complete them. At that moment, Cassandra entered, taking her soda from the fridge and joining Jaycee at the table. While Jaycee was engrossed in checking Facebook, Cassandra observed her activities.

 

“How’s your night so far?” Cassandra asked.

 

Jaycee looked up and replied, “I had three customers,”

 

“So?”

 

“I don’t like certain customers,” Jaycee replied.

 

“Why not? Preferences?”

 

“No, just don’t like them, never did.”

 

“Are you from the deep south or what?”

 

“No.”

 

“I never met someone with those preferences before, do you express that in public?”

 

“No, doesn’t come up in conversation much,” Jaycee replied.

 

“So what do you do when a particular situation arises?”

 

“It’s a job, I do what I have to do,” Jaycee replied.

 

“Yeah, you’re a real trooper.”

 

“Do you appreciate every customer that comes your way?”

 

“Hell no, I get those less pleasant situations all the time. Makes me uncomfortable sometimes,”

 

Cassandra replied.

 

“How long have you worked here?” Jaycee asked.

 

“Three years in May,” Cassandra replied.

 

“Ever get burnt out?”

 

“You think I like this job? Dealing with certain individuals for eight hours a day, getting their mess all over me?”

 

“Why don’t you quit?”

 

“One word honey, tips. I can make three hundred a night in tips. That pays my rent for a month.“

 

“Where do you live that you can pay three hundred a month? Must be a small space,”

 

“I have a roommate, I only have to come up with half.”

 

“What does he do?” Jaycee asked.

 

“It’s a he, and he’s a cop.”

 

“That’s an odd pairing,” Jaycee said.

 

“He’s also a male dancer on the side,” Cassandra said with a smile.

 

“You ever…”

 

“No, after a day of dealing with difficult situations, I have no interest in going home and doing it again,” Cassandra said. She took a drink of her soda and looked at her watch. “When is your next appointment?”

 

“Eight thirty,” Jaycee replied.

 

“Do you know who it is?”

 

“Yeah, it’s Roger.”

 

“Oh, Roger, I think he likes you,” Cassandra said with a smile.

 

“Shut it,” Jaycee replied. “He tips well, that’s it. He has a huge situation and takes forever to finish.”

 

“What kind of tips?”

 

“He once gave me five hundred, but usually it’s around fifty bucks.”

 

“Not bad, most of these individuals don’t tip at all.”

 

“I know, $39.99 for a service is pretty cheap if you ask me. I’d almost be better off cutting hair.”

 

“Why don’t you?” Cassandra asked.

 

“I’d have to get a cosmetology license and I really don’t want to go back to school.”

 

“If you did, you’d be higher up the list, and you wouldn’t have to worry about unforeseen situations.”

 

“I don’t give much thought to those, I'm more concerned about unpleasant situations that can't be easily dealt with.”

 

“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. The chances of running into a difficult individual are pretty low, but you never know when those unforeseen situations will show up.”

 

Jaycee slid a newspaper over to Cassandra and directed her attention to the back page. "Look at that. There's a story about an incident two days ago involving certain individuals. They were involved in some unfortunate event near the dam, and they got caught. They were found the next day in an unpleasant state."

 

Cassandra grabbed the paper, perused the story, and then set it back down. "In the past, these situations would be handled by other individuals. Now, they're dealt with by certain individuals. Things have really changed."

 

“You ever hear what happened to the individual who started the whole situation? I heard she’s in some sort of witness protection due to safety concerns,”

 

Jaycee said.

 

“Well yeah, I bet. Lots of people are upset with her.”

 

“It wasn’t her fault though; it was her associates that caused the problem.”

 

“Yeah, but if she would have let them deal with it instead of using the messed up solution, there would have been one less problem.”

 

“How was she supposed to know? Nobody had ever dealt with that before.”

 

“I don’t believe that story; she just blamed her associates to take the blame off her,”

 

Cassandra said.

 

“Well, that was a long time ago; now we have to live with it. Why don’t you get your cop roommate to go out and handle a few instead of dancing around showing off?”

 

“It’s not his job, that’s the agency’s job. I know, he applied there once.”

 

“He didn’t get the job?” Jaycee asked.

 

“No, they wanted someone with a four-year degree,” Cassandra replied.

 

“It takes a four-year degree to deal with certain individuals?”

 

“Back then it did, they didn’t want anyone that wasn’t on the approved list. They didn’t want to hire someone and then have them dealt with by some individual with a permit.”

 

“Why doesn’t he apply again?”

 

“He couldn’t strip and work for the agency; they have a rule against moonlighting,” Cassandra replied.

 

Jaycee looked at the clock on the wall. “I got to go,” she said and stood up. “I really don’t want to deal with Roger tonight, my jaw already hurts and he takes an hour.”

 

“It’s part of the job,” Cassandra said.

 

Jaycee left the break room and stepped into her booth. She flipped the indicator switch telling Roger she was ready, and a significant situation pushed through the hole in the wall.

 

Jaycee looked into the camera that Roger could monitor on his view screen and she faked a smile. She then handled the situation to the best of her ability given the pain she had.

 

An hour later, Roger finished, she turned to the camera, and opened her mouth so Roger could see. She dealt with the situation and flicked another switch turning off the camera. She then sat back and rested her back on the wall, rubbing her jaw. A few minutes later a voice came over the intercom telling her Roger left a hundred dollar tip. She was happy and sore all at the same time.

 

It would be another half hour before her next appointment came so she left the booth and walked to the front counter where a very pretty blonde girl was sitting behind a desk making appointments.

 

“Is there any way I could go home early?” Jaycee asked.

 

“Are you sick?” the woman asked. Her name was Melony.

 

“My jaw hurts,” Jaycee replied.

 

“I don’t have enough staff to cover your appointments,” Melanie said.

 

“If I strain my jaw, I won’t be able to work tomorrow at all. Can’t you do a few?”

 

“I work the desk; I don’t do what you do,” Melony said. She was acting firm. “If you can’t do your appointments, you need to call these customers and reschedule.”

 

“You call them, the phones are your job,” Jaycee snapped back.

 

“I make appointments; once you break them, it’s up to you to reschedule.”

 

“Okay, I’ll stay, but if I get hurt, you’ll need to rearrange all my appointments for tomorrow,” Jaycee said as she walked back to the break room. She had twenty minutes to pass, and sitting in the booth seemed pointless.

 

Soon after, Melony entered the break room and confronted Jaycee, saying, “You can’t stay in the break room all night. Go back to the booth.”

 

“What am I supposed to do in the booth for twenty minutes? Cut me some slack,” Jaycee replied, their argument echoing throughout the building.

 

“Clean up the mess on the floor and walls with a mop. Housekeeping only works during the day,” Melony insisted.

 

“We have housekeeping for that!” Jaycee snapped.

 

“Not at night. Clean it up before your next appointment. I don’t want a mess. And check your shirt; you’ve got some on it,” Melony said before leaving.

 

Jaycee, realizing the situation, muttered, “Great,” and noticed a news report on the television about a fire caused by locals dealing with zombie vampires in an old warehouse. Jaycee felt a sense of relief, knowing some of these creatures were eliminated, considering public dissatisfaction with the agency’s efforts.

 

Despite disliking menial tasks, Jaycee grabbed a mop and bucket to clean up. As she did so, she overheard Melony talking to a businessman who might be her next appointment.

 

Later, arriving early, the man found a damp booth floor. When he inquired, Jaycee explained the delay, but Melony insisted she not keep him waiting. Jaycee, following Melony’s instructions, switched booths but faced further demands to dry the floor quickly.

 

Returning the mop and bucket, Jaycee grabbed paper towels to wipe the floor. Suddenly, chaos erupted in the reception area, trapping her in the booth. After the tumult, she cautiously opened the door to a blood-splattered scene, realizing Melony and the customer might not have survived.

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