New Title 4 Read Free

Phil. All good?
Lucas was sniveling on the pavement where he had been rolling at Phil s feet. Despite his tears, Lucas didn t seem to be harmed. His pants were missing their backside, however, showing scorched SpongeBob Squarepants boxers underneath. Good as we re gonna get, Phil said. He turned to Caleb s rescuer. Good to see you, Gloria.
It usually is, Gloria said, and Caleb finally turned to look at her. The twenty-one year old Hispanic woman had a crossbow in one hand. She wore skin-tight black jeans and a black leather jacket over a red halter top. A black cowboy hat was cocked forward on her head, and there was a makeshift necklace around her neck that looked like it was made of various sharp teeth. He would have whistled if he didn t think that would get her to put a bolt into his chest next. It was a far different look for her than when he had first met her and she too had been wearing the blue OneStop smock.
I had it under control, Caleb said as he went to retrieve the sword. He tried to walk with a sort of cocky confidence, but it didn t work so well when he almost slipped and fell in the blood leaking from under the armadillo.
Of course you did, Butcher. You always do. Caleb was about to say something snarky back, but he was interrupted by Lucas s moaning as Phil helped him up. I m not sure I like this job, Lucas said.
Caleb smiled at Gloria, who smirked back. Trust me, newbie. You ll learn to love it.
Chapter 2
    Phil left Caleb and Gloria to bask in whatever sexual tension they were building outside and led Lucas back into the OneStop Mart. The pasty twentyyear old was still sniveling about his pants, so Phil figured there would probably be no more trying to explain all this to the kid until they covered up his backside.
    Are you sure I can t just go home quickly and get another pair of pants? Lucas asked. It wouldn t take more than half an hour, I swear.
    If we let you leave you probably won t be coming back. You and I need to have a talk about what just happened. But we have something in back to take care of your pants problem for now. We gotta make this quick, though. With that thing not trying to eat them, the customers will probably start showing up again any minute.
    The inside of the OneStop was typical of all OneStop stores throughout the country. Near the front door was the counter with two registers and an office and a back storage room behind it. The aisles contained all the normal junk food one would expect from such a place, and the cooler with all the cold beverages and such on the other side of the store. At first glance nothing about the store seemed particularly unusual. It had to be average, since most of the people, including some employees, who came here during the day were completely unaware of what happened around the store at night. Here and there, though, if someone knew where to look, evidence could be seen that this place wasn t quite right.
    Phil led Lucas around the counter and into the back room. There were sinks next to the bathroom, and the syrup boxes and CO2 container that led to the fountain drinks sat next to the mop sink. The problem with the mop sink, however, was that it was cracked down the middle and a gaping hole led down to an abyss in the earth. The crack was an unfortunate side effect of a customer s ill-fated attempt to raise the elder god Cthulhu before Phil had even started working here, and the manager still hadn t figured out how to fix it. How the manager explained the hole s existence to some of the day crew, Phil didn t know.
    On the other side of the room there was a desk where the employees would sit during their lunch or cigarette breaks along with the computer they used for placing product orders. Next to the desk were two doors, one leading back out behind the counter and the other leading to the manager s office, but that one was never opened during the night shift. The manager, Big Maggie, didn t come in until the morning, always after sunrise no matter