We put out our ciggies and grumbled.  Five minutes break and it was back into the heat of the storage room of the big box store.  We not only had to restock the shelves of the storefront but also had to act as a local distribution center for the smaller brick-and-mortar storefronts around town.

Our unofficial leader, the lead thug, da man with the connections, Cliftonyte, nodded across the alley.

“Lookie here, guys.  We got us a dame carrying the biggest schlong I ever seen.  Hey, snookums, you get that off of King Kong or what?  ‘King Kong’!  Huh-huh.  That was funny if I say so meself.”

The woman in question set down her load and motioned Clif’ over to her.  “I don’t know who you are but as far as I’m concerned, you’ve lived one day too long.”

Clif’ laughed and flicked his ciggy butt at her. “Here’s a little fag fer ya.  Bet it’s all you can handle!”

“Clif’, man, we gotta get back inside ‘r the boss’ll have us all fired.”

“You don’ worry none about the boss.  She works for my family.  She’s like my sister’s husband’s wife’s brother’s husband’s wife, or somethin’ like that.  Watch me take care of this shite dirtyin’ up our dock.”

We walked down the dock with Clif’, acting like we knew what we was doing but keepin’ our distance between him and her.  As far as the big red shiny thing sittin’ on the ground a few feet from her, I was curious.

I nodded and the rest of the guys walked around the woman to sit what this half-machine, half-animal object was all about.

“So, big boy, looks like your gang is backing me up instead of you.”

“Naw.  They’s just keep you cornered in case you chicken out and try to run.”

“Before I kick your ass to the Moon, I want you to know my name is Agirita.  I’ve had a rough few days.  I may be tired but it’s turds like you that give me energy.”

“Don’ matter to me none whether your dog died and they repo’d your truck.  I bet your mama wears Army boots and likes skanky tacos, if you know what I mean.”

“You know, you are the second baby boy I’ve encountered this afternoon.  What is it about grownup men who left their brains in kindergarten?”

“You think I got no brains?  You think I’m stupid or somethin’?  I’ll have you know I have my licence to cut your guts up and feed ’em to your daddy and make him lick your mama’s boots on the Internet.”

“Ooh.  I’m scared.  Besides, my father’s dead, you worthless waste of breath.”

By this time, they had circled each other twice.  We were peering into the mouth of the machine thing when I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.  “You guys see that?”

I heard a swooshing sound and turned to watch Clif’ and Ag-uh…Ager something start swinging at each other, both landing some pretty hard blows but standing their ground.

The swooshing sound returned but this time it came from behind me.  And a smell…like rotten flesh hanging out of one of our dumpsters next to the butcher shop that hadn’t been cleaned in a few weeks.

I followed my nose and slowly rotated my head so I could keep one eye on the fight and one eye on what the fellows had dug out the machine thing.  Maybe…

“Guys?”

They were gone.

I snapped my finger to get Clif’s attention.  “Hey, Cliftonyte, man.  Where’d the guys go?”

“How the hell should I know….ooph.”  He took a kick in the shin.  “Hey, time out here.  They go back inside?”

“No, Clif’.  You’re between us and the dock.  You’d’ve seen ’em walk past ya.”

We all heard a blop sound, like someone making a big burp.  Stuff flew out of the back of the machine and all over my legs.  “What the fu…”  I could see the nametags and ID lanyards of the guys mixed in with a bunch of goo.

“Clif’, man, this is weird shit.  I’m going back inside.”  I pointed at the Ag lady.  “Anything comes of this — the cops get word a fight’s goin’ down — and we’re all goin’ back to jail.  Anybody ask, I’m tellin’ them you and this thing did it.  Clif’, let’s get out of here quick.”

Clif’ nodded and waved me aside.  “Hey, I own this block.  Ain’t no problem gonna happen if you keep your cool.  This fine lookin’ dame’s just gonna walk on past us like nothin’ happened, aren’t ya?”

She shrugged.  “Hey, it’s ass-kicking day and you’re my special guest.  I don’t think you’ve received the grand prize yet.”  She swung around to land a massive kick in Clif’s groin and BAM! something shot out from the machine, grabbed Clif’, and sucked him into it.  Her kick missed and she fell.

“Where he’d go?”

When my best buddy had told me not to take drugs that make you trip, I thought he was just pulling my chain.  Now, though…  it’s like flashbacks from one of my worst trips, when ghouls and goblins in ghost stories of my youth came to life, nightmares having conversations with me while they ate my soul.  Hours and hours of torture and then I woke up at a friend’s flat, soaking wet with sweat, half my shirt in my mouth.

“That machine thing just ate him!”  I was freaked.

She laughed.  “It what?  Are you kidding me?”

“Then…then…then…” I couldn’t find words, me the smooth talker.  “Then where do you think he went?  Vanished into thin air?”  I sliced my ID badge through the reader next to the warehouse door and pulled on the handle.

Suddenly, and I mean suddenly, I felt a searing pain in my ankle and a voice in my head that spoke only one word.  “Die!”

And I did.

In those slow-motion movie-like flashes of light before I died, I felt myself jerked off the dock, dragged across the ground, flung into the air and then darkness enveloped me just before I had this last thought: Had I clocked out before I stepped out on the dock?