“It’s forty feet up, and then forty feet down on the other side,” Hal said. “What are you going to do, take a parachute with you?”
“I don’t know. Maybe we can make a rope out of stretch wrap or something.”
“Even if all that works, there’s still a problem with the idea. Two of us might be able to get out, but the third would be stuck with nobody to operate the forklift. The third wouldn’t have any way to get up to the fans.”
“Only one of us needs to get out,” Shelly said. “Then whoever it is can find a telephone and call for help.”
“Hell yeah,” Fred said. “There’s all kinds of houses and businesses around here. I say we go for it. I’ll even volunteer to be the one to crawl through and rappel down the other side.”
“What if the power comes back on while you’re crawling through?” Hal said. “The fan blades will cut you in half.”
“What’s the likelihood of that happening? A million to one? Fuck it. I’ll take the chance.”
“Hal has a point,” Shelly said. “I never even thought about the power coming back on. And even if that doesn’t happen, which it probably won’t, it’s still going to be a risky operation. Maybe we better just wait a while and think it over. Maybe there’s another way.”
“Y’all can sit here and wait if you want to,” Fred said. “I’m getting out.”
“Just stay put for a few minutes. You can’t get up to the fans by yourself anyway. Drew will probably be back any second. Then we’ll see what he thinks.”
“Turn that flashlight on for a second,” Hal said. “We got trucks coming in later. I want to see what time it is.”
Shelly switched the flashlight on and pointed it at the clock. It was
8:41 a.m
All this killing had made K-Rad thirsty. He stopped at the drink machine for another Mountain Dew, but of course the machine didn’t work with the power off. He thought about trying to break into it, but he didn’t have the right tools. He’d brought a pair of bolt cutters in his backpack and in the wee hours had used them to cut through the fence, but he needed a pry bar to break into the drink machine and he hadn’t thought to bring one. He hadn’t anticipated the need for one. Fuck. He really wanted another Dew, and he wanted it now, and there was only one way to get it.
8:43 a.m.
The overhead fluorescents blinked to life.
“Ha!” Hal said. “I told you it was just a test. Now let’s get back to work.”
Shelly squinted against the sudden brightness. “We’ll get back to work when Drew comes back and tells us to get back to work,” she said.
Drew was happy, Shelly thought. He’d married his high school sweetheart and saved all his money until he could afford that adorable three-bedroom house and plastic flamingos for the lawn. So what if he was boring and people made fun of him? He’d made all the right choices in his life. So let him make this one-God knows his track record is better than mine.
Fred opened the office door and looked out. “The lights and the fans are on, but the loading-dock doors are still shut. Looks like we’re still in lockdown. I’m with Shelly. We should wait for Drew.”
“We got two semis coming in at four o’clock and we need to stage the product before they get here. If we don’t get a move on-”
“Chill out, Hal,” Shelly said. “If they’ve got us locked down, they can’t blame us for not doing the job.”
“Bullshit they can’t,” Hal said.
Shelly let out a bark of a laugh. “Yeah,” she said, “but they can blame us for violating protocol if we don’t follow safety procedures. So since they’re going to fuck us whatever choice we make, let’s go with the one that doesn’t have us out there breathing fumes.”
Hal stood up and walked toward the door. “Go ahead and write me up if you want to. I’m going back to work.”
“I will write your ass up,” Shelly shouted, but Hal had already slammed the door and walked away.
“What’s with him?” Fred said.
“I don’t know. Maybe the heat and the fumes got to him.”
“Are you really going to write him up?”
“Yeah, because what I really want out of life is to give management an excuse to dock Hal’s pay so they can shovel a little more money to the Old Bastard,” Shelly said.
She sat down and folded her arms over her chest and stared at the wall. She didn’t know how much time had elapsed when Fred said, “Earth to Shelly. Hey, you think Drew’s ever coming back?”
She popped out of her trance. “Damn. Since the lights are back on, maybe the phone’s working, too.”
She picked up the receiver, and the room went black again.
8:47 a.m
While the lights were on, Matt had taken the opportunity to dash through the walkway to the production area. From his position by the Human Resources office, he’d heard the footsteps and jingling keys fade off in another direction and figured it might be his only chance to make a run for it. Now he was out in the warehouse and the power was off again, but a small amount of light seeped in through the ventilation fans. He couldn’t have read the biggest letters on an eye chart from two feet away, but it was enough light to keep him from busting his head on a steel shelf or something as he made his way toward Shipping and Receiving.
He passed through the oily fumes emanating from the Petrol area and wondered if anyone back there was still alive. The chemicals in Waterbase were bad enough, but the ones in Petrol could knock you flat on your ass. They had special vents in that area, and with the power off the fumes were probably building to explosive levels. Matt hoped the employees had gotten out of there before succumbing to the noxious vapors.
He made it to the Fire and Ice tanks and took a right at the big press. From there it was only a short distance to the Shipping and Receiving office. He tried the knob, but the door was locked. He banged on it twice with his fist.
“Drew?”
Matt recognized Shelly’s voice.
“It’s me,” he said. “Let me in.”
The door opened and Matt walked into the Shipping and Receiving office. Shelly wrapped her arms around him and said, “Damn, am I glad to see you.”
“Listen, we’ve got a serious situation here. There’s a guy with a gun shooting people up in the front offices. Kelsey Froman in HR and McCray in the security office are dead. There may be more.”
“Oh my God,” Shelly said. “We thought it was just a drill or something. Drew’s out there somewhere, and so is Hal.”
Matt could feel her trembling in his arms now. “Just try to stay calm. We’ll figure a way out of this.”
“I don’t know about y’all,” Fred said, “but I’m getting the fuck out of here.”
Matt hadn’t known there was someone else in the room. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Fred,” Shelly said. “He’s only been working here a month or so. Fred, you just stay put, now. If you go out there you’re liable to get your head blown off.”
“You think I’m just going to sit here and wait for the motherfucker? Screw that. Let’s do what we talked about earlier, raise a forklift up by the vent fans and take the grates off and climb out.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Matt said. “One of us could climb out, find a phone, and call for help.”
He was about to suggest they proceed with the plan when a series of muffled gunshots erupted.
9:01 a.m.
