C-CUTC-002
Barista: Travis Norris
Date: Dec-6-2019
Receipt: C-CUTC-002
Subject: Clean Up
There’s a trick to jobs like this. You don’t look too hard. You don’t think too much. If you let your mind wander, it’ll start playin’ tricks on you—make you see things that ain’t there, hear voices you wish you hadn’t. ‘Course, the funk spewin’ out of that damned gas mask ain’t helpin’ either. One whiff, and everything just melts away. Everything.
I know this building. Even in ruins, I know it. It was my home. Our home. But it don’t feel the same. The walls are cracked and blackened, warped by the flames. The floors—what’s left of ‘em—are a mess of collapsed beams and melted laminate. Took us hours just to make our way to the corpse, stepping only where we knew it was solid. Not much left of that there.
And the fire… the fire’s still burnin’. Any normal blaze would’ve burned out by now, but this ain’t no normal fire. No, sir. ██████ ██████ ████ ███ ███████, ██████ ███ ██████, ███████ ██ ██ ██████████ ████ █████████ ████████’—████ ████████’ █████.
Julius was mutterin’ under his breath, watchin’ the fire like he was tryin’ to see through it. ████ ███… ████, █████████ ████. And Jackie… Jackie was picking through the wreckage, searching for something she knew wasn’t there.
I can’t blame her.
I made my way through what used to be the back hallway. Past the storage rooms. Past where the staff lockers once stood. The whole corridor was wrecked, but I could still see the shape of it, still see where it ended. That’s where we found Felix. Or what was left of him.
I didn’t go back down that way.
Instead, I did my job. Mapped out the place. Made sure we didn’t step anywhere we shouldn’t. Pointed out where the floor was too weak, where the ceiling might still give. Didn’t look too hard. Didn’t think too much.
…Still heard my name whispered a few too many times, though.
Decaffeinate Receipt
“After that I’ll need a shot of Rye or a bottle of Leffe, St. Feuillien, St. Bernardus, or the like.”
Western Trivia | 4 Words