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Published: 2011-03-28 08:10:41 +0000 UTC; Views: 455; Favourites: 1; Downloads: 4
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Day 1The piercing scream of the alarm blasted through the tiny bedroom, Sam's eyes snapped open. After a brief moment of fumbling with the clock, the beeping ceased. Sam stared at the illuminated clock face through sleepy eyes; 6am, he sighed heavily and dragged himself out of his bed.
If you ever asked anyone to describe Sam Milner, most would probably say "A waste of great potential." Sam had dropped out of college after failing his A Levels and, as a result, had never got into university. He wasn't stupid, but he was lazy and had spent most of his time at college slacking off and getting drunk at parties. After dropping out, Sam had trouble finding a job; no company would take on a semi-educated dropout who had no experience in full time employment, so he took a job at the only place that would take him. A supermarket, Sainsburys to be specific. Sam hated it there; he hated the long hours, the low pay, the mind numbing boredom and the other staff; Especially the other staff. He had been stuck in that dead end job for four years now, and he honestly didn't know how he was going to find anything better.
Sam had always been a tall child, and not much had changed now. He was around 6ft and skinny, with deep blue eyes. He had a pale complexion, with a short crop of brown hair and thin jaw line.
Five Minutes later Sam stumbled into the kitchen of the dingy four room flat. The tiny East London residence consisted of a kitchen and living room, separated by nothing more than a counter, essentially making it one room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. The place was so small that a two-seated couch and a T.V took up the entire living room. The place was far too small for him and his roommate, but he couldn't even afford the rent of this place by himself, let alone a bigger one.
Sam switched on the radio and started making breakfast. The daily noise of revving engines and car horns from the nearby motorway was interrupted by the 8 o clock news. As he listened, Sam considered if there would be anything even remotely interesting that could happen today. As the monotonous, professional voice of the newsreader droned on about a new tax being introduced Sam sighed heavily, switched off the radio and got ready for work.
"You're late Sam." Was the first greeting Sam received upon entering the store. George Mickelwhite was one of the best reasons Sam had for hating his job. He was the manager of the shop, and one of the most arrogant and unpleasant people Sam had ever met. Mickelwhite was slightly taller than him, with a thin, wiry frame; he had a long, gaunt face with a thin moustache the same silver colour as his short and impossibly neat hair. Sam loathed everything about him, from the fact that he always dressed in a neat formal suit, even when doing things such as his weekly shop, to his sneering, condescending demeanour.
"Yeah, sorry about that Mr. Mickelwhite," Sam mumbled vaguely "it's just that I-,"
"I don't want your excuses Milner." Mickelwhite snapped, pushing his small, round glasses back up the bridge of his nose, "If it happens again you'll be docked a full day's wages. Understood?"
"I… yes sir"
"Good, now get to work, you've wasted enough of my time already."
With one last hostile glare he strode briskly away in the direction of his office. "Arsehole…" Sam muttered under his breath as Mickelwhite's frame swung round the corner of the aisle. The rest of the morning proceeded in a similar fashion, filled with difficult customers, obnoxious school kids and countless screaming toddlers. By lunchtime Sam was just about ready to snap from the stress. Then he heard a reedy, quivering voice behind him. "Excuse me young man, could you possibly help me find the prune juice?" Sam spun round, expecting to see another bumbling old woman. Instead the bulky form of Lenny Pearson greeted him.
Sam and Lenny had been friends for years; they had been partners in crime (sometimes literally) in both secondary school and college. They were now roommates, with Lenny occupying the second bedroom of the flat. He was about a half foot shorter than Sam, with a wide bulky body. From first glance most people would simply say he was fat, the truth was that Lenny had once been a fit and powerful rugby player. But that had been years ago and much of his muscle had turned into fat. He was still relatively fit and had kept most of his strength. He had wiry, dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders and tuft of similarly coloured hair protruded from his chin. He wore square, designer glasses that gave him an air of intelligence or sophistication. This couldn't be further from what Lenny really was. If Sam was a dropout then Lenny was the next level. While Sam at least had the courtesy to lie about not doing coursework and show up sober to lectures, Lenny had a cavalier attitude to disciplinaries and his education in general. Sam has lost count of how many times Lenny had been arrested for doing something stupid. Lenny was crude, tactless and had never taken anything seriously in his entire life, yet, despite this; Sam knew Lenny was an absolute riot to be around and there was no one who could cheer him up better.
"Alright mate?" Lenny grinned, "Having fun with old Mickelwhite are we?"
Sam frowned at him, "What are you doing in here? You know what he'll do if he catches you back in here."
"I don't know why I can't come in, I mean he already fired me."
"That's probably because you were stealing from the warehouse?"
Lenny had worked with Sam in the store for a few months, and then he was caught sneaking beers out of the back door to his car. Naturally Lenny had been fired and was lucky he had only been given a community service order.
"They never proved it!" Lenny whined,
"They caught you on camera Lenny."
"The guy's face was covered!"
"You were still wearing your name-tag!"
"Whatever," said Lenny, dismissively "Listen, have you got your lunch break now?"
Sam checked his watch, "Yeah I do… why?"
"Cause there's some nutter in the car park stumbling around all over the place, I think he's pissed. It's fuckin' hilarious"
Sam and Lenny sat on a bench by the car park of the supermarket, watching the lone figure stumble around the entire car park. He would stand in the same place for minutes at a time, just staring at the ground, utterly motionless, until he heard a sound or saw someone. He would then slowly shuffle towards them, dragging his feet; usually the passer by would just keep walking and avoid eye contact. "What's wrong with him?" Asked Lenny "D'you reckon he's drunk…?"
"Who gets that wasted by half twelve in the afternoon?"
"Uh… I can think of a couple of people…"
"I'm sure you could. Uh oh, here comes Mickelwhite, this is about to get interesting."
Mickelwhite's wiry outline strode towards the shuffling figure and stopped in front of him. He was speaking and gesticulating towards the exit, undoubtedly trying to persuade the drunken individual to leave. For the most part his reasoning went unheard; the drunk just stared blankly, shuffling slowly towards him. Mickelwhite was clearly beginning to lose his patience with the lack of attention he was getting from this stranger; he tried tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention then, when that failed, waved his hand in front of his face.
It happened so quickly that Sam nearly missed it. The stranger showed a level of speed that no one as drunk as he appeared to be, could achieve. As Mickelwhite's hand passed in front of his face he lunged forward, seized Mickelwhite by the wrist and sunk his teeth deep into his forearm. Sam and Lenny stared in disbelief as Mickelwhite yelped like a wounded dog and ripped his arm free, he stared for a brief moment, clutching his bloodied arm to his chest. Then he abruptly turned and ran back to the store. They both sat there for a moment in stunned silence. Then they both broke into raucous waves of laughter. "Did you see the look on his face?" Lenny gasped, tears running down his face. "He nearly wet himself!"
As the laughter died down Sam thought seriously for a moment.
"Should we call the police maybe?"
"What?" Lenny looked at him incredulously, "Why? The old git deserves it!"
"Not for him, there's obviously something wrong with that guy, did you see how fast he moved? He's obviously not drunk. What if he bites someone else?"
"If Mickelwhite's that bothered by it, he'll call the police. Until then just sit back and watch the show."
"I would if my lunch wasn't over. See you tonight though yeah?"
Lenny laughed, "Why don't you just bunk off? It's what I'm doing right now!"
Sam looked at him seriously, "You know you'll never be able to hold down a proper job if you keep bunking off and showing up drunk all the time. You really should take this seriously."
Lenny's head went limp and he began snoring loudly. Sam kicked in the shins and walked back in the direction of the store. "See you later." He said as he walked away.
The rest of the day was no way near as eventful. The incident in the car park did little more than put Mickelwhite in an even worse mood than usual, which rubbed off on all the other employees, especially Sam. Eventually the end of his shift arrived. Sam couldn't have been more relieved to be able to get away from Mickelwhite. He stepped out of the main entrance of the supermarket into the near abandoned car park. It was only half past six, but the early November season ensured that the sun had set long ago. As Sam walked through the semi-illuminated car park he bumped into someone. "Oh, sorry mate, I didn't see y-" Sam's voice faltered. In the darkness Sam could just make out the figure. It was the same man that had bitten Mr. Mickelwhite. Evidently he hadn't called the police, and this guy had been stumbling around the car park all day. "U-uh yeah…" Sam stammered "Yeah, uh… sorry about that… my mistake…" The figure began to slowly move towards him, stretching his arms out towards him. A soft moaning sound was the only noise he made. Sam wheeled around and walked away. He looked behind him to see the stranger slowly shuffling after him, reaching out a hand towards him.
Sam hurried into the flat, slamming the door shut and making sure it was firmly locked and chained shut behind him. He didn't know why, but there was something about that man that made him uneasy. Maybe it was the way he shuffled around, or the inhuman moaning sound that he made… Sam mentally shook himself. He was being paranoid. The guy was probably just some addict doped up on some weird new drug or something. It was nothing to worry about.
He walked over to the couch to see Lenny lying flat out on it. "Alright?" he grunted. Not looking up from the T.V.
"Yeah, what are we watching?"
"Seven o' clock news. Something about some stupid new tax on something…"
Sam sat down to watch, and pushed the thoughts of the day from his mind.