Kill the Power Gamer

by Eric Vall

  “What in the fuck are you doing?” he demanded. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “I need a job,” I stated as I approached his desk.

  Just then, the man looked me over, and his expression changed from one of shock to one of lust. His eyes dilated, his breaths came out heavy and deep, and drool began pooling in his mouth.

  “Oh, I’ve got a job for you, alright,” Darren said through a grin. “We’re not hiring right now. Butttt, if you suck my dick, maybe I’ll consider it.”

  The fat, balding man stood up, unzipped his pants, and then stepped forward with an intense look on his face.

  Now that his seat was vacant, I slid past his sweaty mass, sat down in the chair, and began to look for information on Tony Amin.

  “Did you hear me?” Darren growled. “If you want a job, sweetheart, you’re going to have to put your money where your mouth is.”

  “Sit down and be quiet,” I demanded.

  The man appeared to be surprised by my forwardness, but he obliged.

  “A woman who likes to take charge?” he chuckled as he leered at me. “Not gonna lie, that’s fucking hot.”

  I sifted through the files on the computer and found many strange things. There were dozens of pornographic pictures on the machine, including ones with Darren in them. Then came the inconsequential workplace documents, which I sifted through until I found a schedule for the next two weeks.

  Tony Amin was going to be in tomorrow morning.

  So, I closed out of the window, stood up, and looked at the fat man.

  “I will start tomorrow,” I explained as I headed for the door. “Print and sign my employment papers as per your company policy.”

  “Hold right the fuck up,” Darren hissed as he moved to stand between me and the door. “You’re not going anywhere until you get on your knees for me, doll.”

  “I will do no such thing,” I stated.

  Darren’s face turned into a scowl, and he reached out for my head. “I said get down there and--”

  I grabbed the fat man’s wrist, flipped around behind him, and slammed him face-first against the desk.

  He let out a whimper of pain as I slightly increased the pressure on his arm, and then he was on the verge of tears.

  “I will start tomorrow,” I repeated. “If you go to the police or try to stop me, I will show those pictures to your wife.”

  “You--you don’t have any proof!” he begged.

  “I have all the proof I need,” I explained. “Now, sign my employment papers.”

  I released my grip on the fat man, and he spun around with pure terror in his eyes.

  Then he ran over to the desk and sat down, but he was now completely docile.

  “I can’t fucking believe this,” Darren mumbled as he made a few more clicks, and then the printer at the other side of the room sprang to life. “Blackmailed over goddamn Carmichael’s … ”

  The printer spat out a piece of paper, and Darren snatched it up in a huff. He grabbed a pen, signed his name on the dotted line, and then slid it over to my side of the desk.

  I signed it with a few scribbles of nonsense, and then pushed it back to my new manager.

  “I will be in tomorrow,” I reiterated before I headed out the door and left behind a petrified man.

  As I walked back into the main room and toward the store’s exit, I saw Kevin was messing with the “open” sign. He must have noticed me, too, because he stopped what he was doing when he saw me approach.

  “H-hi a-again,” he stuttered as his heart pounded in his chest. “S-sorry um … about before.” His eyes began to drift back toward my breasts before he snapped them up to my face again and smiled strangely. “I-I’m Kevin by the way.”

  “Hello, Kevin,” I replied as I stared him down. Why was he not letting me pass?

  “S-so, what happened back there?” he asked as his eyes darted to the back door before they returned to me again, and I could tell he was using all of his willpower to maintain eye contact. “Did you find Darren?”

  “I persuaded Darren to give me a job,” I stated. “I will be working my first day tomorrow.”

  “Oh, cool!” Kevin chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, and a large patch of cloth had become wet with sweat under his arm. “It’s always nice to have new blood around here. I can’t wait to introduce you to my bud, Tony. I think you and him will really get along.”

  Tony Amin. My target.

  I nodded. “I cannot wait to meet this friend of yours.”

  “Yeah, Tony’s the best,” the dark-haired man added. “Just don’t challenge him to a match in Ultafighter, though. He’ll kick your ass every single time. Anyways, it was nice to meet youuuuu … ”

  He held the “you” for an abnormally long time, and I had my scanners check his vitals to make sure he wasn’t having a stroke.

  “What’s your name?” he finally conceded.

  My name? HFD-576. But even I knew telling him my model number was a bad idea. So, I quickly scanned the store for any sort of ideas while simultaneously running through a list of names internally.

  Then I saw it.

  Next to a sign that read “New Releases” was a poster of a disproportionate woman wearing a skin-tight leather suit and brandishing two pistols. She was fighting off some sort of reptilian beast in the picture, but it was the text I was interested in.

  Just under her image sat the word “Hannah.”

  “Hannah,” I lied. “My name is Hannah.”

  Kevin did a double take and then smiled.

  “Hannah?” he asked excitedly. “Just like the badass warrior chick from Monster Slayer V? You know, some people call it Monster Slayer ‘Five,’ but that’s totally incorrect.”

  “Indeed,” I agreed to try and get him to shut up.

  “Man, Tony’s really gonna love hearing that,” he laughed, “Monster Slayer V is one of his favorite games.”

  I was tired of speaking to this human, so I finally stepped around him.

  “I will see you tomorrow,” I said and then walked out the door before he could say another word.

  I wandered back to the apartment complex as I thought about how my first meeting with our mortal enemy would play out.

  Tomorrow was going to be a big day. Tomorrow, I got to meet Tony Amin.

  And once I got him alone, I was going to find out who his mate was and then kill them both.

  Chapter 4 - Tony

  There comes a time in every man’s life where he has to make an important decision, one that would affect the rest of his day and potentially the way he interacts with his friends and customers. It was a decision that wasn’t for the faint of heart, but it was one I was tasked with making every single day when I woke up.

  Pop-Tarts, or cereal?

  When you worked at Carmichael’s Electronics, that was about all you could afford. Sure, every now and again I’d splurge on some eggs and bacon at the café just down the street, but they didn’t open for another hour, and I had to be at work in an hour and a half.

  My skin was still slightly wet from my morning shower, and I stood there pondering my breakfast choices wearing nothing more than a towel wrapped around my waist.

  Pop-Tarts it is, I guess.

  I grabbed the box of blueberry toaster pastries from my pantry, which was next to bare, and then I unwrapped one, plunked it down into the toaster, and pushed down the lever.

  I yanked off my towel and tossed it in the laundry hamper as I headed to my closet. I passed by my open window, and for a moment I worried somebody would see my naked figure getting ready.

  Who was I kidding, though? I hadn’t been in a serious relationship in years. Hell, I hadn’t even been in a short fling for months. Maybe going full frontal for the city of Seattle would be the mating call that finally worked.

  I grabbed a pair of boxer-briefs from my dresser, pulled them up over my body, and then fumbled around until I found some old khakis. I grabbed one of the five red, button-up shirts I owned off
its hangar, pulled my arms through the sleeves, and began to button it up from the bottom.

  Then I smelled it. The distinct scent of hot high-fructose corn syrup.

  “Son of a bitch!” I sighed as I turned around and ran back to the kitchen area.

  My pants still hadn’t been fully buttoned, so I had to hold them up with one hand as I dashed toward the smoking toaster. The second I got there, I used my thumb to force the lever back into an “up” position, and then the pastry popped up into view.

  It was a little bit blackened around the edges, but it was still good.

  Whew.

  I grabbed a pair of tongs, pulled the pastry out of the toaster as delicately as I could, and looked over at my alarm clock.

  Four fifty-three.

  I needed to be on the bus by five-fifteen if I wanted to make it to work on time. Sure, another one came by at five-thirty, but by then I’d be pushing it. It was a five minute walk plus a twenty-minute bus ride, and that was if nothing went wrong on the way.

  And, knowing my luck, there would definitely be something that went wrong along the way.

  So, as much as I wanted a more filling breakfast, it looked like a Poptart would be it for today. I scarfed down the pocket of frosting and fruity goodness in a few bites and then unplugged the toaster from the wall.

  I finished buttoning up my bright red shirt before I tucked it into my pants, buttoned those up, and then looped my leather belt around my waist. Last, but certainly not least, I walked over to the corkboard behind my gamer station.

  It was full of all sorts of lanyard pins I’d gotten from different gaming conventions and competitions, interspersed between a few notes I’d left for myself about chores that needed to be done, things I needed to pick up from the store, reminders to call the temp company Kevin kept going on about, and the like.

  But I wasn’t looking for any of those things, I was looking for my nametag.

  I grabbed the small rectangular button from my corkboard, fastened it to the right breast pocket of my shirt, and then headed out. On the way out, I snatched up an umbrella, just to be safe.

  It was Seattle, after all, where our weather forecasts seemed to jump back and forth between the vast opposites of “cloudy” and “rainy.”

  I locked my door and headed downstairs, and then I ambled out to the bus stop.

  Like clockwork, the driver pulled up at five-fifteen sharp. The large woman behind the wheel opened up the door and gave me a big, welcoming smile.

  “Good morning, Tony,” she said in a mood much too cheery for this time of day.

  “Good morning, Brie,” I greeted the woman who’d driven me to all of my morning shifts for the last year. “Pretty empty today, huh?”

  I looked back and saw there was literally only two other passengers, a guy who looked like he was homeless and a middle-aged gentleman in a suit who looked like he was just heading home for the night.

  “Darren making you pull another double, eh?” Brie chuckled. “Honey, you need to get the hell out of that place. That boss of yours is gonna be the end of you. Or you’re going to snap, and I’ll hear on the evening news about how the cops found his body in the harbor.”

  “Don’t give me that kind of hope,” I joked as I swiped my transportation card and then sat down on a nearby seat.

  The bus took off, and approximately twenty minutes later, we stopped a few blocks away from Carmichael’s.

  I waved goodbye to Brie as I got off the vehicle and then began the short yet ominous walk to work.

  Finally, I arrived in front of the glowing red sign of the building, took a deep breath, and then knocked on the door to get the attention of whoever else was scheduled to open today.

  Renee appeared through the glass with a perky smile on her lips. She pointed down at the lock on the door playfully, pretended like she didn’t know what to do, and then shrugged.

  “Alright,” I said jokingly. “If I can’t get in, I guess I’ll just go back home and get another few hours of sleep!”

  The blonde shift leader rolled her eyes before she raised her key up to the lock and let me in.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” she greeted as I entered the store. “I’ve already got the cash registers up and running, and Kevin’s going around setting up all the TVs and game consoles. If you could, would you mind setting up the computers, tablets, and laptops? It’s where Darren has you deployed today.”

  “Not cameras and accessories?” I questioned. “That’s where I normally work on Thursdays.”

  “Nope,” Renee explained. “He’s got some new girl working there today.”

  “New girl, huh?” I chuckled. “One of Darren’s gold diggers?”

  “I’d hardly call them that,” the shift leader shot back. “He’s a manager at an electronics store. They’re bronze diggers at best.”

  We both shared a hearty laugh at Renee’s awful joke before we headed toward the cash registers.

  “Darren has Kevin opening today?” I asked curiously. “I thought he closed last night?”

  “He did,” the blonde woman said with a sigh. “Darren’s been doing this thing lately where he tries to schedule Kevin during our off hours. Something about getting lots of complaints about him harassing people into buying Gigabit 7s … ”

  “Ah,” I smiled as we stopped at the checkout, “funny story about that. Kevin thought we made commission.”

  “Seriously?” Renee guffawed. “No wonder he’s always so desperate to make a sale.”

  “I set him straight,” I explained and then frowned. “I really, really hate opening. Who needs their electronics on a Thursday morning?”

  “Let’s seeee,” Renee pondered as she began to count on her fingers, “people who work from home, IT people, college students, retirees … Should I go on?”

  “No, no,” I reassured her, “but I will say I’m glad I get to open with you guys. When you, me, and Kevin are on the same shift, it’s like we’re the dream team.”

  “More like Yakko, Wakko, and Dot,” the shift leader snickered. “Anyway, we’re gonna be a team of four today, so be on your best behavior.”

  “I’d never misbehave,” I flirted with the blonde woman, “but I’ll do my best to show this new girl the ropes. Now, on to those laptops.”

  I left my boss and mosied on over to the part of the store that housed the various personal electronics. Each one was attached to a large white table that displayed the price and acted as an anchor so customers couldn’t just waltz out with them. They had all been shut down the previous night, so I went down the line opening up lids and clicking power buttons until they all sprang to life in a symphony of blue light.

  “Seriously?” I groaned when I noticed the screens.

  Kevin forgot to wipe them down last night before he left, so smudges from the fingers of each and every customer who touched them were on full display.

  I went back behind the counter, grabbed a microfiber rag and some screen cleaner, and then went to work polishing each one. One after the other, the electronics turned from greasy, smudged-up messes into pristine devices that looked like they had just come off the line. I marveled at my work, and then I tossed my tools back behind the counter and walked over to talk to Kevin.

  The short, dark-haired man was fumbling around with the remotes on one of the TVs, which itself was lighting up at different intensities.

  “Hey, man!” Kevin exclaimed when he saw me. “Did you hear about the hot chick yet?”

  “Hot chick?” I asked curiously. “Do tell.”

  “Okay, so get this,” Kevin said as he clapped his hands together excitedly. “Last night, some super-hot chick with bright blonde hair and a wet t-shirt walked in and demanded to see Darren. Then, she like, went back to his office for a few minutes, came back out, and said she’d see me tomorrow because she was working here now. Said her name was Hannah.”

  “Ah yes,” I said with a nod, “that must be the new girl Renee was just telling me about. Apparently, we�
�re working with this super-hot woman today, so lucky us, right?”

  “You know what the weirdest part was, though?” Kevin continued as if I hadn’t said anything. “She said she was excited to meet you.”

  I tilted my head to the side with confusion.

  “This random girl just walks in, convinces Darren to give her the job, and then says she wants to meet me?” I questioned. “That sounds … highly unlikely.”

  “Totally unlikely,” Kevin shrugged, “but that’s what happened. I mean, I’m sorry I’m giving you a heads-up that a total babe, who also happens to be a new employee we’re working with today, is interested in you. What kinda friend am I?”

  “An awesome one,” I reassured him with a grin, “but I just don’t get it. Darren is ridiculously picky about who he hires. Why would he give this random woman off the street a job out of the blue?”

  “Yeah, I know it sounds ridiculous,” he admitted. “I dunno what happened in the back room, but she was really, reaaaalllyyy adamant about getting a job. Maybe you can ask her when-- well, speak of the devil!”

  Kevin nodded over to the door of the store, and my eyes followed his gesture.

  Then my heart froze in my chest.

  Standing there next to Renee was a beautiful woman with long, platinum blonde locks and facial features that looked like they were crafted by the angels themselves. She was wearing a white wife-beater, and the thin fabric hugged her entire torso like a glove and put her large breasts with their perky nipples on full display. The woman was also wearing a pair of basketball shorts that draped over her firm ass and came down to just over her knees. Her skin was perfectly tan, almost as if her whole body had been dipped in bronze, and her bright white teeth seemed to radiate light from her mouth as she talked.

  This must have been Hannah, and it made absolutely zero sense that she would be working here. She should have been posing on the beach in a sexy bikini for a magazine cover, or on some billionaire’s yacht in Greece or something. She was quite literally the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  And now I got to work with her?

  Renee was gesturing up and down the woman’s body, and I assumed she was giving the newbie a scolding about not wearing her proper uniform. Then the shift leader motioned for Hannah to follow her, and the two disappeared into the back room.