CHAPTER 5

  Do I look like a babysitter?

  “Hey! It’s my turn. Come on!”

  “Stop being such a baby! Just let me get to ten percent. If I unplug it now, it’s gonna shut off immediately.”

  “Just let me get my phone to start up!”

  The kids were already fighting over the battery. Luckily, the charger seemed to work with no problem. Unfortunately, as predicted, the phone network was still down. Ken was charging his phone, which appeared to be working fine now, except that he could not make calls, send messages, or use the internet. Just seeing the screen light up seemed to do wonders for his mood. His sickly pale pallor was improving and I could see traces of his cocky arrogance returning.

  The three of them, Ken, Toshi, and Wataru; I had learned during the fighting that the big guy was called Wataru, were sitting on the floor in the back of the store by the out-of-order ATM, charging up their phones with the rental portable charger that Ken had gotten using his grandmother’s credit card.

  Normally, I would already be trying to push them out of the store, maybe by starting to mop the floor near them or something passive-aggressive like that, but kicking them out tonight was the last thing I wanted. If anything, I would feel better if they stayed until one of the other employees, or the manager showed up. Most of all, I just didn’t want to be alone in this creepy store.

  So I let them carry on, meanwhile, I went back to trying to figure out how to unlock the door from the terminal.

  [Alert: Customer has exceeded 50% of allowed visit time. Please inform customer to complete their shopping experience within 14 minutes and 32 seconds. Failure to comply will result in automatic removal.]

  What the… This is crazy.

  There had never been a rule like this before. In the month I had been working here I couldn’t count the number of times I had found people sleeping in the corner, or even laid out on the floor by the magazines. There was even one time that I couldn’t move one drunk old guy, and he refused to wake up, so I just surrounded him with “Wet Floor” signs and kept working.

  What is this stupid AI going to do about it anyway?

  I regretted having that thought as soon as it popped into my head. No need to raise a flag like that. Not knowing what the AI could and would do was the heart of my anxiety right now. It had locked me in the store, and somehow had already managed to get the cigarette thief outside once.

  Letting my fear drive me to act, I walked over to the group, carefully, like you would approach a stray cat on the side of the road. As I walked past the window, I moved right up to the window and peered outside. It was indeed pitch black outside the store. The streetlights were dark, as were the low office buildings across the street. It wasn’t unusual for the streets to be empty at this time of night, but there wasn’t a single headlight of a car in any direction. The only things I could see were lit up by this brightly lit store. Even the sky was empty of stars, although that was likely due to the glare of the store’s lights.

  It made me wonder if the store was really the only place in the area with power, and how that was possible, or for that matter, why. I was sure there was no emergency generator, at least not one that I had ever heard of.

  “Umm. Hey, guys.”

  Three heads snapped around to look at me.

  “Ehh, umm. Hey, did the charger work alright?” I asked, smiling weakly.

  “It worked, but what is this all about? Huh?”

  Toshi had the battery connected to his phone with the built-in cable now, and was pointing to the screen on his phone, holding it out for me to see.

  There was a pop-up message window on the screen that caught me by surprise.

  [Connected to Wanma Rental Portable Charger]

  [In order to use, please install the Wanma App]

  I frowned. I didn’t recall that being necessary. Then again, I hadn’t ever used one of these rentals, and didn’t really know much about them except for what was printed on the display. Still, it struck me as an odd requirement, forcing people to download an app just to use the battery. It did feel kind of on-message though, there really was no limit to the shameless up-selling One Mart would stoop to.

  [Would you like to install the Wanma App?]

  [Yes/No]

  Wait, could it even install the app without any internet?

  “Have you tried installing the app?”

  Toshi looked annoyed, then rolled his eyes, turned his phone around, and touched the screen.

  “Huh? What the heck? Is it actually installing? How does even that work? There’s still no internet, right?”

  Wataru was the one who realized the contradiction.

  “Well, maybe it’s installing from the power bank. It’s connected by USB, right?”

  That makes sense… This kid is definitely not as dumb as he looks. Well, I guess that’s not a very high bar.

  “Hey, does this look right?” Toshi looked back at me, passing me his phone this time. I took the phone, still connected to the battery, and turned the screen so I could read it.

  The app had indeed been installed successfully, and was now at the user registration screen. As far as I knew, this should require the Internet, but to be honest, I wasn’t much of a technical person. I was basing my understanding on other apps I had used before, and they usually wouldn’t even start up without the internet working. I checked my own phone, but predictably, the internet was still down.

  Just to test it out, I launched the Wanma app that was installed on my own phone. Surprisingly, it started up like it always did. There were no warning messages or anything.

  The Wanma app was a super app that basically did everything that a clerk in the convenience store did. My job was techically redundant. You could purchase any product that the stores stocked, and order quite a few more that we didn’t typically keep on the shelves. Purchases could be delivered to your home, or could be picked up at any One Mart convenience store within twenty-four hours. The app also functioned as a digital wallet, and had an integrated banking feature. This is how I paid my bills, and received my paycheck.

  Oddly enough, the online store at least appeared to be working, even without the internet. The main screen of the app showed products available for purchase, and I could also see my digital wallet icon in the corner of the screen. I pushed the button and felt a wave of relief as both my digital wallet, and my banking account totals appeared, as expected.

  The internet must be working again. I thought to myself, then I opened a news app to see if I could get any updates on what had happened.

  [No Internet]

  [You have no internet. Please check your connection, and try again.]

  What the hell?

  While I wasn’t a techie, even I knew that you shouldn’t be able to see things like a bank balance with no internet. I knew the store didn’t have wi-fi either. At least I was pretty sure it didn’t.

  I opened the Wanma app again, and sure enough, I could still see the online store, and all the usual functions working normally. I was about to try putting some items in the shopping cart to see what would happen when I noticed the boys were getting agitated.

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  “Let me!”

  “It’s working! Can you send a message?”

  “Hey! I bought that!”

  They were still fighting over the battery it seemed.

  “Can you guys get a signal?” I blurted out. They all turned to me, and the big guy, Wataru, yanked the battery from Toshi and plugged the cable into his own phone.

  “Damn! No, it’s not going through!” Toshi growled in frustration, his earlier bravado starting to melt away into a fearful mania.

  The kids were punching away at their now functioning phones, but it was clear that they were getting frustrated by the lack of success reaching the internet.

  “Hey! How come only your stupid app works now? Why can’t I text?” Ken complained.

  “I bet it’s a virus.”

  Who am I? Tech support?

  I wasn’t sure how to respond. It’s not like I had any special insight, or the technical knowledge to understand how any of this worked. I just shrugged, then started to poke around on my phone again, trying to get one of my messenger apps to work. Maybe I could contact my family. I bet they must have heard about the earthquake by now. I could also try to message the manager.

  Then I had one of those strange flashes of trained behavior. My body stiffened as I remembered that I was still technically working, and that I had already been penalized for using my phone in the store. My eyes quickly darted around, a pointless, but natural fear response.

  Why am I even caring about merit points anymore? No way I am working here anymore. I might even sue them for locking me in here.

  Even if I stayed, either they would forgive everything once the emergency was over, or fire me as soon as the store manager showed up. I deliberately punched the screen a couple of times in a show of defiance. Not that it mattered. Then I remembered the warning message that had brought me out from behind the counter in the first place.

  Ken had grabbed the battery back from Wataru and was charging his own phone once again. Meanwhile, the big guy was busy setting up his Wanma account information. He was even waving the phone around his head to do the facial scanning. They appeared to be under the impression that they might be able to get the internet on their phones working by using the functioning store app.

  “Umm. You know, those new rules? The ones on by the door? Did you notice the one that set a time limit for shopping in the store?”

  It was uncomfortable, figuring out how to address the issue, but I had a growing suspicion that ignoring it would be a mistake.

  These kids had been an annoying part of my job in the past. That said, it was clear that while they weren’t exactly honor students, they weren’t true delinquents either. They were just suburban kids who liked to act tough. They never caused any real problems, and were just an annoyance at worst.

  With these strange things going on, however, I didn’t relish the thought of being alone right now, and if they wanted to sit on the floor and treat this place like their bedrooms, I didn’t have a problem with it. If anything I was almost ready to grab a drink from the cooler and sit down there with them, merit points be damned.

  “Look, personally I don’t care if you guys want to stay here all night. I wouldn’t kick you out, even if my manager was here right now…”

  Well, maybe my real manager is here now, technically.

  “What are you talking about?” Toshi jumped up and moved toward me.

  “Hey, I’m just worried. The sign on the door. Those rules… I got a warning on my terminal… It said the store would enforce the no loitering rule.” I said, stepping back. Then I looked over at Ken.

  “What happened before? How did you end up back outside? You have to believe me, it wasn’t me. I don’t know anything about that.” I tried to ask in a non-confrontational way.

  Ken’s face blanched at the mention of his earlier experience. He just shook his head and looked down at his phone.

  “What? You gonna throw us out? I’d like to see you try.”

  “Uhh, sir, can’t we just stay? There’s no one else here. It’s not like you are crowded.”

  Both Toshi and Wataru were making their case, but Ken’s reaction was what was bothering me. Then it happened. First Toshi, then Wataru disappeared into thin air.

  I stood there in shock. The two boys had just… faded away. One moment they were there, and then they were gone. I looked down at Ken who was still sitting on the floor. His eyes were wide open in shock and… terror. Before I could do anything, the boy jumped to his feet, spinning his head around, looking for his friends. I scanned the store, but they were nowhere to be seen.

  What the—

  Bang! Bang!

  My head swiveled to the entrance. It was Toshi, standing outside the store. His face was red and he was banging on the door, while attempting to pull the automatic doors apart.

  Ken ran past me toward the door, but stopped just short of the entrance. I moved behind him and saw what had caught his attention.

  The monitor screens beside the entrance doors were flashing a large message on a bright red background.

  [VIOLATION: Loitering in the store is not permitted. Due to your violation of the rules, you will not be permitted to enter this Safe Zone for 23:59:32 Hrs. Thank you for your cooperation. One Mart looks forward to your next visit!]

  The Wamna mascot was sitting below the message with a stern expression.

  Turning to me, Ken gave me a confused and pitiful look, like he expected me to fix the problem.

  Don’t look at me! I have no idea what’s going on.

  I just put up my hands in the universal “It wasn’t me!” gesture. Then he turned back to the door and stepped onto the pressure mat. Surprisingly the doors slid open.

  Wataru was standing beside Toshi now and they both had a relieved expression as soon as the door opened. Even I felt relief at the site of the simple automated process.

  Maybe I could—

  As soon as Toshi took one step to come back inside, all three of the boys disappeared.

  The doors immediately slid back into place. I jumped over to the door and stepped onto the mat, but this time, the doors didn’t move at all. The screens flashed again.

  [VIOLATION: You have attempted to bypass store rules. Due to your repeated violations of the rules, you will not be permitted to enter this Safe Zone for 71:59:57 Hrs. Thank you for your cooperation. One Mart looks forward to your next visit!]

  WHAT THE HELL!

  I slumped in surprise and shock. The store was disintegrating people. I had been afraid of losing my worthless job a few minutes ago. Now thoughts of police investigators interrogating me about the location of missing boys flashed through my mind.

  Then I saw them. They were standing on the road in front of the store. At first, they just stood there, but then I saw the shortest of the dark figures start to run toward the door, and me.

  Before Toshi managed to get to the entrance, Wataru and Ken grabbed him by the arms and held him back. I could hear him screaming and cursing, though thankfully the noise was muffled by the door. They cautiously moved toward the entrance as a group, stopping a couple of large steps from the door. I caught both of the larger boys slowly reading the message on the display screens that faced outside while Toshi continued to struggle.

  I shook my head and shrugged my shoulders in exaggerated movements.

  This is not my fault.

  I made a production of stepping onto the pressure mat, but of course, the doors did not so much a quiver.

  For a moment we were all talking at once. I was shouting at them, and they were yelling at me, but through the thick glass, not much made it through. It was even harder with Toshi’s non-stop cursing.

  I made a show of walking back to the register terminal and punching some buttons on the screen. Trying to show them that I didn’t have a way to let them in. To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure about that. I was far from an expert in the capabilities of the store’s automation and AI, but I did try what I could to find a way to open the doors. I wanted this as much as they did, if not more.

  Nothing worked.

  I looked up at the three boys who looked at me through the doors. Then I saw it. Another person was behind them, walking towards the store.

  I ran back to the door. This time, I would make a break for it as soon as the door opened. I had enough of the crazy, haunted building. I pointed out the shadowy silhouette of the new arrival to the boys, hoping they had the sense to move away from the door and give whoever was here a chance. I didn’t care who it was, as soon as the door opened, I was going to make a break from it.

  What can the store do, send me outside too?

  Instead of moving to the side, however, Ken turned around to see what I was looking at. He immediately slammed into the door with his back. Toshi was knocked aside, and even the giant Wataru was pushed away. Ken turned back to look straight at me.

  Get out of the way, you idiot. Just let someone else try to open the door.

  I tried not to let my annoyance show, even as my brain was starting to register the look of fear and panic on the high schooler’s face.

  Wait. What’s wrong?

  Ken grabbed his friend’s arms and started to drag them away from the door. It was remarkable that he even managed to somewhat successfully pull the much larger Wataru. He was screaming something, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Whatever it was, the other boys started to move on their own, and soon they were rushing away from the door. Sliding against the window as they attempted to avoid the figure approaching them.

  What’s with them?

  I looked again, and finally picked up something strange about the approaching person.

  There was definitely something off. The shadowy figure was short. Not as small as Toshi, but not as tall as Ken either. Its movement and body seemed strange too. Almost like there was no head at all, and its limbs were thinner and longer than normal. As it approached the door, the light from the store illuminated it so that I could finally make out what I was looking at. I could see it, but not understand it.

  Frog? What the—

  Just as my brain was registering the… thing, it moved. First, it turned toward the boys and its giant mouth opened and it emitted a thunderous scream. It sounded like a truck’s wheels screeching during an impossible drifting turn. High-pitched squealing on every frequency.

  The boys turned and ran into the darkness. They didn’t even look back.

  At first, the monster started to follow the boys. It moved slowly, its long legs lazily flopped forward. It turned and took a few awkward steps in the direction the boys had run, but then it stopped. Slowly it turned back towards the entrance of the store.

  I backed away from the door as I felt the… things’ eyes lock onto me. They were like sickly green and yellow balls on top of a disgusting flat head that was all mouth and no neck. It took another step toward the door, and then I noticed more movement.

  Coming out from the darkness of the street, more figures. Each one, stumbling just like the giant frog man. More than a dozen identical creatures, their eyes locked on me, opened up their giant mouths, which I could now see were full of sharp, claw-like teeth, and jumped right at the front door.

  oh shit.