"Shop 'Til You Drop"

"Shop 'Til You Drop"


Interest Check​

Julian Becker knew that the heavy, approaching footfalls belonged to the man they called Rick the Brick long before he actually saw the Mall Security Guard step before the still-closed gate of "The Calendar Club". He ceased preparing his till for the day's business and waited for the former Junction City line backer to appear, then called out as he did every Friday of football season, "Go Tigers!"

To be honest, Julian didn't give a crap about high school sports, or any level of school sports for that matter. Except for soccer, of course. Even though he'd never played it himself -- poor endurance and weak lung capacity -- he lived for the sport today, particularly on the high school level. But Julian humored the former All State defensive star because, as head of Mall Security -- despite his young age of only 35 -- Rick allowed him to park his brand new convertible up close to the building in what was, officially, a fire zone.

Julian was surprised, then, when the big man didn't respond as he normally did, quickly spitting out Junction's current undefeated record; last Julian remembered, the Tigers had won 8 straight this year and hadn't lost a regular season league game in the past four years.

"Keep your gate down and don't let anyone in or out of the store," Rick told him with an obvious tone of concern. "Are you hear alone so far."

"Yeah ... yeah, just me, Rick," he responded, becoming quickly worried. Julian recalled a shooting incident that had occurred the first week that his now 4 month old store had been opened and asked, "Do I need to stay in the back?"

"Not a bad idea, Jules," the Guard said, using the young Manager's nickname as he quickly pulled the ringing phone off his hip. He identified himself, listened, confirmed what had been said to him, and replaced it on his belt. Even from the almost twenty feet away, Julian could see that the face of the man -- who had proved himself unflappable in the face of gang members and shop lifters and drunk homeless people when any of them caused problems in the mall -- was turning white. "Stay in back, and make sure the security intercom system is turned on. I know that you turn it down some times 'cause all you hear is us Rent-a-Cops jabbering--"

"No, I'll turn it on now, Rick," Julian said, dropping the drawer into the till and slamming the register shut without finishing his count. "Can you tell me what this is all about, buddy?"

Rick looked up and down the mall, then leaned in closer to the gate. "The State Police are reporting a possible terrorist attack over in Eugene. The whole town is on lock down! I've never heard of this before, can you believe it?"

Julian considered what the man was saying and was about to ask him more questions when the phone rang again. Rick answered the cell and -- giving Julian a quick wave -- suddenly turned and was gone.

Terrorists...? Julian thought to himself. Its a drill ...isn't it...? This can't possibly be happening ... could it?

But he did as Rick told him and left the gate down. He went to the back of the store and, one after another, pulled up different local news programs on the store computer, his Blackberry, his iPad, and two different radios that had been left behind by the renovation crews and had been shoved into a back closet.

There weren't a lot a details, but it seemed that Rick had been right on the money. Alleged terrorists had released a virus at several different downtown locations the night before and now, at half past nine in the morning, the Mayor and Governor both were ordering everyone to return to their homes immediately and the police -- State, Country, and City -- to shut down the twin cities of more than a hundred and thousand people and prevent any unnecessary travel and, presumably, further transmission of ...of what ever it was.

Richard Bard -- the man they called "Big Rick" -- made his way through the Mall passing the General Manager's order to keep the small shops and huge "anchor" stores locked up tight.

He'd begun his little quest just an hour before opening and had barely made it around Springfield's largest indoor shopping mall before gates began rising and doors began opening. The Mall's main and the secondary accesses -- used mostly by the Mall's employees, vendors, and delivery drivers -- had been tackled by the other three Security Guards already on duty for the morning shift.

By 9am, Gateway Mall was in total "lock down" ...and while still trembling a bit over why this was happening, Rick was still pretty impressed that the Security Team had accomplished their task so quickly. They'd only locked down the mall once before, three years earlier when a gunman -- a rejected lover, it turned out -- had walked into one of the jewelry stores and emptied the clip of a 9mm pistol.

Now, Rick took a moment to lean back against a wall in an isolated secondary hallway and contemplate what was happening, not here in the relative security of the mall, but out there in the Cities where a bug was making its way through the community.

People were already dying, the news was saying. The young, the elderly, the already infirm; the virus was already killing them, he was hearing.

How the hell was this happening?

"Guys. Hey. Be careful with those." Mandy Gore frowned at the two teens standing by the front display, giving them the sternest look she could manage. She frowned as the duo simply snorted laughs, rolling their eyes and wandering back out.

She sighed, her own eyes rolling slightly. Too much to do, not enough people to help. At least Brianna had been willing to come in a bit early to help with these new displays. She was just filling in as manager... Hell, she barely could keep up as assistant. Damn Kyle and his stupid meetings. Probably taking a fake vacation, lying about that so called meeting...

She glanced out into the corridor as she heard the crackle of one of security's handsets. One of the guys out wandering- not surprising. To have it up that loud- Big surprise. Usually they had it on to talk about who's turn it was to grab coffee from the food court.

This settled badly on her stomach.

"Bri, can you do me a favor? Watch the register, ok?" She barely looked back as the part timer grunted a reply, still lurched over the counter with the latest Inked magazine. Mandy stepped out into the hall, nodding to the security guard as he looked at her. He didn't look as cheery as he usually did, coming over and slowly turning down his receiver. "What's up? You guys lose a kid or something? I didn't hear Code Ad-"

"No. Not a kid." His voice was gruff, but muffled, peering behind her into the store. "Who else is on with you?"

"Just me and Brianna. I was gonna let her sneak out for a cig before we open..."

He shook his head. "I need you to close down your gates and shut down as much as possible. There's something up- I can't say much... Just... Be careful."

She stared at him. "What the hell are you talking about? She's gonna be pissed! I can't make her stay-"

He leaned in closer, shaking his head. "Mandy, the whole mall is locked down. Something's going on outside. This is the safest place for all of us right now. But I need you to stay calm for Bri and everyone else, okay? Call one of the other stores, talk to their manager if you need to- but don't say anything to anyone else. Just say- say something else. You're smart, you'll think of something. I gotta go. They're having trouble with the doors over in the North Wing."

Mandy stood there in shock for a moment, slowly sliding back into her store. Something outside? What was that supposed to mean?

"Hey. I'm going out. I need a smoke," Bri mumbled monotonely, rolling her magazine and stuffing it into her coat's pocket. She scowled as Mandy shoved in front of her, blocking her path. "Uh. What gives?"

"There was a crash in the lot. Big mess. They don't want us leaving. Sorry." The words flew out of her mouth, a frown on her face. Good enough.

Bri groaned, stomping back into the office as Mandy pulled the gate closed.
Call one of the other stores.

Yeah.
She picked up the phone after locking the gate, dialing Julian over at the Calendar Store. He seemed to always know things before everyone else...

POV: Julian Becker (in "The Calendar Store"):


With his attention fully on the news reports coming in from various sources on the small television, a plug-in radio, a battery-op radio, the store's computer, his own lap top, and his iPad, Julian just about jumped out of his skin when his cell phone began vibrating in the chest pocket of his shirt. He pulled it out and saw the Caller ID for "The Living Dead", which was kitty-corner from "The Calendar Store", within rock throwing distance on any day that he wasn't locked behind his still lowered gate.

Mandy! his brain clicked.

Julian had totally forgotten that Mandy was working today; the Manager of the store was off on the East Coast someplace for training, leaving poor untrained Mandy behind to keep things together. It wasn't that she wasn't a capable young woman. Julian had confidence that she would do just fine in any job that she was trained to do. But, of course, that was the problem; she hadn't been fully trained yet, and here she was being thrown to the wolves just after the end of the Christmas season, when returns were at their highest, prices were slashed to their lowest, staff was cut to the bare minimums, and shoppers -- still stressed out by the holidays -- were as obnoxious as ever!

Julian snatched up the phone, answering with an assumption that it was in fact the wild and crazy -- and absolutely delicious -- assistant manager. "Mandy, tell me you're okay ... Is there anything wrong...?"

As he listened to her response, a number of thoughts were running simultaneously through his mind. Julian was a popular guy in the Mall, particularly with the young women folk. He didn't advertise his liaisons with the shopping centers female workers because that always led to jealousy, envy, resentment ... and sudden dry spells where no one wanted to shed their panties for him. And while he'd quietly had a dozen or so of his fellow Mall employees over his three years at Gateway, the one he'd decided he had to have before either of them moved on to bigger and better employment possibilities was Mandy Gore.

There was just something about her. The first time he'd walked into the only-6 month old store and asked her her name, he'd laughed immediately -- and then just as quickly apologized and explained himself.

"Mandy Gore...?" he'd repeated back to her. "Gore...? Are you joking or are you serious?"

"The Living Dead" was a great little specialty shop that featured just about anything being produced in the world with a ghost, vampire, werewolf, or other horror genre character on it; most of the store was tee shirts, posters, cards, and other such stuff, and their biggest selling product -- which Julian absolutely went crazy for and bought at least half a dozen pieces of -- were "Hello Zombie" products that spoofed the "Hello Kitty" craze that had just bugged the hell out of him from the first time he'd learned of them.

Mandy hadn't taken well to Julian teasing her about how appropriate her surname was for working there. But if there was one thing he had going for him was high charisma and a way with women; by the time he left that first day, they already had a coffee date for that afternoon, and by the time that was over, they were good friends.

Of course, she was seeing some dude in the Mall already, which had been a bummer for Julian. He was very respectful of existing relationships; he never moved in on another man's woman, although he was very often the man who was first there with a shoulder to cry on and an empty bed for sympathy sex once a relationship broke down. Unfortunately, while Julian had detected that there might be problems a-brewing, to the best of his knowledge the couple were still together.

Maybe he's not working today! Julian thought as he listened to her on the phone, his spirits jumping at the thought. Time to be the white knight, Jules.

(OOC -- If Mandy mentions her "beau", tell me which of the stores he actually works in. There are several sports related stores in the list of stores.

She was mumbling to herself as the phone rang, trying to keep the smile every time Brianna passed by, only to finally turn her back from the other girl's view. "Pick up, pick uuup, pick u- Jules!" Her voice rose a slight octave as he answered, her back straightening as she for some reason decided to stare into the hallway.

Right.
Like you can see him.

"I- I'm fine. I'm just... What the hell's going on? I just ran into one of the security guys, told me to lock down, that something was going on outside and-" She paused, glancing over to see Bri pacing by again. She forced a laugh, waving at her and hunching down under the counter. "I don't want to scare Brianna... But I'm getting scared too. He wouldn't tell me anything. he told me to lie to her- How do I even know it's a lie if I don't know what the truth is?"

She sighed softly, shaking her head. "I just... You know that feeling you get when something bad happens? Like a friend's in an accident, or someone's suddenly ill... I'm getting that..." She frowned, sighing. "I didn't even try calling Cabela's. Even on average days, it takes them 20 minutes to answer... And right now, I don't even want to talk to him."

She figured he'd probably heard. That last fight, behind the stores... His manager had even come to peek out the back door to see what was going on. She'd never heard him yell so loud... all over a stupid movie.

"I'm scared, Jules," She confessed, peeking over her counter to see what Bri was up to. Must've gone back into the breakroom. "Kyle told me about that shooting- you don't think there's someone here again, do you?"