3 Deadly Drabbles - Let's Go Shopping

Markets, malls, and deadly garden centers

Checkout

Every man has a breaking point, a moment where the accumulation of wrongs turns him feral. For Brad White, it was hearing that the store special he had come for was sold out.

Brad believed the whole sale had been nothing more than a scam to get people into the superstore. Rather than brushing it off, he vented, wielding an axe from the hardware section.

Now, he stumbled to the checkout area is the store while people ran, screaming for help. Tired, he plopped the severed head on the counter and heard a voice say, “unexpected item in baggage area.”

Fountain

Bill could almost hear the sound of his credit card bill growing as his mail order bride once again tore through the mall picking up items she didn’t really need.

Sitting by the fountain beside the food court, Bill fished a coin out of his pocket, closed his eyes, made a wish, and flipped it into the fountain. The splash echoed.

For a moment, nothing happened. His wife continued to shop at some lingerie store across the way. But then, the building shook and a large portion, the one containing his wife collapsed. Time to shop for a new bride.

Garden Center

Working in a superstore was not what Emma had envisioned for herself after college, but the job market was grim. Landing a job in the garden center made bearable.

She started her day by watering the plants, noticing a strange new addition. It was a tall, spiky plant that looked like something from an alien planet, plus it seemed to be growing out of the concrete floor.

Leaning in for a closer look proved to be a mistake, as a spike flew from the plant and into her eye. As one with the plant, she watched the planets future death.