Office Duties Box Set #1(11)

“I’ll try, but I’m not getting the butterscotch Jones likes.” She was referring to the guy who sat close to the elevators. He was generally considered the first line of defense, or first one out, should anything go wrong.

“Yeah, that is pretty bad.”

“All right, here I go.” Slinky slunk down and maneuvered her way to the elevators. That left Sam with one less item on her list.

“Well, guess I’d better get that coffee and mail before someone important yells at me.”

Sam supplied the zombies on the floor with their fresh, black juice, herself included, and went down to the lobby to pick up their mail. The man at the mail repository in the back of the first floor was a little surprised to see her.

“What can I do for you, young lady?” he inquired. The gentleman must have passed retirement several decades ago because he looked to be about eighty. He wore a gray outfit with matching cap and his thin strands of hair poked out from beneath the brim. He usually had a gentle smile, but right now it was puzzled.

“I’m here to pick up the mail for the nineteenth floor,” she informed him. His surprise at seeing her and his question made her a little nervous.

“Where’s Tanya? She’s usually the one to pick this stuff up.” Sam couldn’t tell if he was disappointed or interested in the substitution. He was looking at her tight clothes with a raised eyebrow.

“Mr. Slink told me to get these chores done.” She was glad she kept the list close to her as she handed it over. She pointed at the appropriate line. “I don’t know why. I guess he thought Tanya had too much to do.”

“Well, I doubt that,” he chuckled as he handed back the paper. He began sorting her mail into a large box. “Seems to me you folks up there work less than I do.” He turned to wink at her. “And that’s saying something.”

“Yes, well, I just started.” She wasn’t sure whether any of this was funny or not.

“If ya just started, ya might wanna know that this shipment is extra big,” he informed as he paused with one of the items in his hand. It looked like a giant stapler. “Lots of things I never seen before came in, and pretty fast, too. Lots of expedited stuff. You guys planning for the end of the world or something?”

“Like what kinds of things?” This caught Sam’s attention as she glanced over the items not yet packed. Most of them were wrapped in plastic so she couldn’t tell what they were supposed to be.

“Oh, you know, like lots of extra bandages and stuff. I guess you’re the one who’s gonna be taking this stuff up to the storage room so you’ll find out yerself.”

“Yeah, that’s one of my jobs now.” She was liking this chore less and less. A few boxes of notepads and pencils she could handle, but this was getting heavy.

“Well, seeing as how we’re gonna be seeing each other most every day, we may as well get to greeting.” He held out a friendly hand for her to take. “The name’s Mr. Edward Cass. Most folks call me Ed, though.”

“Nice to meet you, Ed.” Sam hesitantly shook hands and was surprised by the energy in his grip. “I’m Samantha Olsen, but most people just call me Sam for short.”

“A right nice pleasure, Sam.” His eyes wandered back down to her outfit and he nodded at her tight shirt. “Trying out a new look?”

“Just a little washing accident.” She folded her arms over her chest and frowned. He was a little too blunt for her tastes.

“Well, this outta do for you, and could ya tell Tanya I said hi?” he cheerfully requested. He closed the flaps of the cardboard box and carefully handed it to her. The way he carried it Sam expected it to be light, but she was surprised when the weight nearly dropped her to the floor. “Gotta be careful there, it’s kinda heavy.” He was all grins when Sam looked up into his face, but she wasn’t very merry. “And I put the mail stuff on the top so you can get that stuff out first.”

“Thanks,” Sam grunted. Her only consolation was the box squished her breasts and made her shirt fit better.

“And don’t forget to tell Tanya I said hi.”

“I won’t,” she muttered. She hefted the box into her arms and made for the elevators. Inwardly she promised herself to never tell Tanya what the evil old man said.

Sam got to the elevators and shoved the box into the button to get it coming to her. She was glad she was alone when the doors opened. She’d been a little paranoid all morning that Mr. Davies would be lying in wait for her in one of the elevators like he did last night. Her only consolation was he appeared to keep their illicit trysts to after-work hours. She’d rather they keep it non-existent, but she couldn’t seem to shake him.

Sam couldn’t help but blush as she looked into the corner where she’d stood yesterday. Her body flushed with heat and she was glad when the elevator reached her destination. Sam got off at her floor and tottered the box to the break room. She plopped it down on the round center table, unloaded the materials and began separating them. Most were supplies for the closet but there were a few letters and such that needed to be delivered to specific people. These she managed to give to their intended receivers after struggling for a while to remember names. She even had to ask a few of them who was who to make sure she didn’t give the package to the wrong individual.

Finally she got back to the break room and made more coffee for the crew, as the first batch hadn’t been enough to satiate all the zombies on the floor. There’d been a lot of complaints during her quick round and tempers were starting to flare. The sweet smell of the beans made many of the people float into the room and soon there was a small group huddled around the grinder waiting for their second cup of freshly brewed black juice. Sam managed to grab the first cup for herself as a perk before the herd pushed her out and back to her unfinished chore. She still had to get the rest of the mail into the supply room and stock them according to where they needed to go.

Sam lifted the lighter box and left the hoard of people to their caffeine god. She shoved her way into the storage room, since the box was still cumbersome, and scowled when she found the light was flicked off. The door closed behind her and she was in pitch-black darkness. She was forced to put down the box and feel around for the door knob so she could get some light in the room. She didn’t know where the switch was and needed some light to find it. With a cry of triumph she found the knob, opened the door, and succeeded in noticing the switch close to the entrance.

With the large room illuminated, Sam went to the back where there was a large work table and put the box on the floor. She scattered the items on the table, unwrapped them, and gave them all a cursory look. She couldn’t help but agree with what the old mailman had said. There really were a lot of strange items here. Including the band aids, there was most of a medical kit scattered amongst the packages. She found everything from several boxes of staples for every size of job to body deodorant for men. What really made her mouth drop was a box of Trojan condoms. She only hoped they weren’t for Mr. Davies.

Sam picked up the large stapler with both hands which the mailman had shown off. It really was a huge stapler about two feet long with the mouth set back a good foot from the end.

“Well, gotta start with something,” Sam commented as she looked around herself.

Slinky hadn’t been that great of a guide in showing her where even the most basic items were, except for the staples, so this was going to take some time. She began the boring but easy task of looking along the five halls created between the four long rows of shelving. There were also shelves placed along the rear wall and some closed racks along the floor.

“This is going to take forever,” Sam groaned as she searched each shelf one by one. They didn’t have any useful stickers or cards explaining what each area held. After a few minutes she began to suspect that that was because there really wasn’t any organization to the whole room. There also didn’t seem to be a spot for ridiculously large staplers, and she was forced to put it back on the table.

Diligently Sam worked at the rest of the supplies and she had much better luck as she chipped away at the pile on the table. She wasn’t sure how long she’d been at it when she heard the door click shut. She was startled because she hadn’t even heard it open. Being in the hall farthest from the entrance, Sam stooped down and looked through the lower shelves toward the door. No one was there, but she couldn’t see if anyone was standing in the halls. The shelves were too crowded to see through them.

“Hello?” She paused to wait for a response, but there was nothing. She didn’t like how her voice echoed off the metal walls. “Anyone there?” It was too quiet.

Sam clutched the ream of paper in her hands. Her eyes darted around the room as she slowly crept up toward the table. She wasn’t so frightened that she wanted to escape the room. This was, after all, just a storage area at her place of work. It wasn’t like anyone dangerous could just walk in and have their way with her. Then again, she didn’t need to worry about a dangerous person to believe someone would try to have their way with her, and this time, her worries were justified.