Work For Love

"At Mumart we pride ourselves on putting our humans first." The darkness slowly gave way to light and showed the bright sun in a blue sky, below was a boxy building where people hurried and scurried around with big smiles.

The energetic yet soft voice continued. "Although we greatly value all other visitors and team members, 80% of our customers and 70% of our leadership are fully human. As you participate in the Mumart experience you will clearly see the human heart at the core of our company. For example, we have shaped the responsibilities and experience of every position in the Mumart community to be in line with human expectations. We provide stability and growth in many diverse ways. At every level we look forward to seeing you in us."

The screen faded and the sterile lights came back on. John Hampstead looked around trying to see if anyone had gotten a bad feeling from the video the video. None of the fifteen other new hires seemed concerned. A few looked excited and several looked bored.

A high pitched voice with a strange metalic undercurrent said,"Now everyone, you are ready to scurry off to join your departments. Remember our core values and dont remove your name tags." The speaker was the store's people controller, a short cold woman wearing business casual and wedge heels, with the strong features of the Salini species who in the past had preyed upon the people they lured to their deaths in the wild.

She opened the door and John followed behind a few others out of the bland training room and onto the salesfloor. where for some reason the lights constantly cycled between bright and dim with many other levels in-between. The radio blared a strange mashup of two pop-country songs he didn't like. Some of the people headed off in pairs or groups, but he was by himself the only hire to the fresh food department.

He walked through long aisles with tall shelves filled with bicycles, paper, chips, and many other things all towering over his head.

The blue sky was barely visible through the few small skylights, and strangly it looked like there was a bright star far above. It was five P.M. his shift had started at four P.M. and he would be there until twelve A.M. he was slightly nervous, nothing about the place put him at ease.

He roughly remembered the store's layout from the tour the people controller had given them a few days ago. He picked his way as well as he could. But the sections seemed strange, the aisles didn't fit together in the way he remembered or any order he could figure out. Trying to follow the numbers proved even more confusing.

He saw very few customers, most of them either blankly staring at shelves or holding items and studying them with pained expressions. He hoped they wouldn't ask him for anything. He looked for another employee, but he had no luck. There was no one at the paint mixing desk. And he saw no one even though he often heard the rattle of metal carts. He glanced behind frequently since he often felt that someone was just behind him.

He stumbled out of a cleaning supplies aisle, which had potting soil on the opposite endcap, and found himself in a surprisingly large central area. He looked around and saw a tall man in a t shirt and jeans with a full cart waving at him. John walked over

"Well," the man said, "this isnt me, but I need" the man whispered something.

"Im sorry sir what did you say?"

"Now Now, I don't get it often, but I need it badly. Its for my wife you understand and our occasion. Where are you hiding it!" the man looked om the verge of angry tears

"Sorry, I mean I didn't hear you the first time."

The man stepped nearer and said very low and slow, "Baking powder."

"Oh! of course, I'll help you find it, but I'm new so let me try and find someone who knows." John turned looking around for a rest room sign or somewhere an employee might be. He saw down another aisle someone pushing a cart and headed off at a fast walk.

He got to the corner but it was a dead end he looked and looked but there was no one. He headed back to the center, but the customer was gone.

"Some people" he said then picked the diper aisle which he seemed to remember leading to Fresh food. He followed it and turning the corner quickly he slammed into someone. They both yelled. He looked and it was a beautiful brunette with blue eyes, wearing a name tag. "Seriously!" She said angrily, "walk where you're supposed too."

"Sorry I'm new I was looking for fresh food."

"Then try the deli its pretty good." She said standing up. They were about the same height.

"Oh no, I meant the department." He said

"Oh! Yeah I forgot that's what they renamed it. We just call it food. Head back the way you came, and go up the cleaning aisle then follow the chips then the wall will take you there."

"Thanks! my name is John." He said smiling.

"Yeah I can see that." she said coldly, then She grined and stook her hand out, "Just kidding. I'm Evelina,"

They gently shook hands. "You'll want to get that badge changed before the weekend."

he looked at hers and saw that it was a chaotic mix of letters, punctuation, and strange symbols all in different fonts and none of them entirely on the dotted line.

She smiled again at his confusion, "Hang in there I'm sure I'll be seeing you."

"Thank you." He said. She walked off the way she had been going. He turned to go his way, but as he did he noticed two things. She had a great ass and a tail!

Her ass was big and bouncy and hugged by tight dark blue jeans. The tail was reptilian and long with red scales, it swiched behind her.

He was very conflicted. She had something, some spark that he liked, he felt drawn to her and yet that tail. Also that spark may be a warning of dangerous fire.

He walked down the aisles following her directions. He soon found himself standing by a wall of yogurt and staring across several frozen bunkers at a wall of sweet smelling bread.

Looking around he wasn't sure what to do. He'd only been told to go over there and help out. He walked past the bread and saw that the aisles behind it were turned so that each end faced it instead of all running parallel to each other.

He started walking past them and saw a spill on the far end of an aisle that was only pickles on one side and Jelly on the other. He started walking toward it, as he got close he saw that it was a broken jar of pasta sauce. The smell of cooked tomatoes and herbs was strangly unpleasant.

He looked at the mess and looked around, but saw no one and nothing to clean up with. He stepped around it, accidentally crushing some glass, and looked down another aisle seeing nothing. He went back to the spill and stood by it. He looked at his phone and waited a few minutes watching for anyone to pass by

When no one did, he started backtracking to the training room. When he got past the bread wall he saw a sign in the middle of the yogurt that read, "Spill Station" he walked over and found paper towels, gloves, and plastic bags, but he noticed that according to the diagram it should have several more cleaning items. He took what it had and an orange cone then went back.

He put the gloves on and picked up larger glass peices with a few layers of towel put them in the plastic bag. Then wrapped the paper tightly around his shoe and started gathering the glass and sauce together and shoveled it into the bag. He dipped the towel in the stinking sause and used the damp towl to pick up small bits of glass. He had gotten most of it when he heard.

"What are you doing!"

He turned and saw it was the girl from earlier. "Cleaning a spill." He said.

"Ok buddy. You're doing it wrong. And what are you doing over here anyway?"

"I'm the new hire for Fresh food."

"Oh! Since you're our new guy I'd like to reintroduce myself. I'm Evelina the Lead Food. I take care of this area and keep the bosses from fucking with everyone, when i can."

John laughed, "Nice to meet you again im looking forward to working with you."

"I'm sure that will change." She said

"Yeah if you're a bad boss."

"Im the worst."

"Just my luck."

"Stay positive budddy. Alright let's start with spills. We don't have time to clean and it's actually really dangerous to, So." She suddenly kicked the bag of glass and it sloshed under the aisles then she dragged her shoe along the ground scraping more under. "You'll want to wear steel toe boots or shoes for that. "

"What the fuck! doesn't it rot?" He said.

"Dont ask! But no it doesn't with them under there."

"Whos them?"

"How should I know? nobody does. Something else from far behind the stars, probably. Now I'll show you how to stock." She walked back where she came from.

He followed discreetly looking at her swishing tail and her wide rolling hips. Again feeling cold revulsion and the simmering passion. But he scolded himself and willed himself to think of her as only a coworker and a mentor.

She stood next to a metal cart with three flat levels and a collapsing ladder. "This is a topstock cart, I'm waiting for them to make a bottomstock cart. I'd relate to it more." She smiled at him

This flashbanged him. he barely kept a straight face and nodded the way only someone who doesn't understand something does.

"Anyway the ladder and the three shelves helps you work all levels of an aisle. As you can see I have a bunch of cases here. These are from today's truck. we have to work them now because they should've been stocked hours ago. But they got lost until I found them."

She picked up a large brown box with the words Smacker's Grey Jelly 8x32 printed in black. He picked up another, identical except smaller and with 20x8 written on it.

He followed her and she pulled out the Mumart standard five inch curved dagger for boxcutting except hers was missing the plastic protective pieces which on his covered ninety five percent of the blade. she quickly cut the tape on the box. Then moved the jelly on the shelf and put the new at the back and then moved the old to the front. leaving no room at the front and about an inch at the back.

"That's called rotating we don't really have time for it, but its important over here unlike in produce. Usually if we have to rotate more than two items we take the products out of the cases and put it on topstock." She said

"Doesn't that make it crowded?" He said

"Yes. Now read the price tags to find where your item goes."

She went back to the cart and watched him stock his box slower than she had even though his shelf was empty. He felt nervous around her. But he was trying to take his time since he didn't want to brake anything. "Alright thats all for this aisle" she said.

"How can you tell" he asked looking at all three packed levels of the cart.

"I make sure that I load the cart carefully so that I can tell what and how much for each aisle. Now, we go to the next closest, which is the pancake mix. " she yanked the cart along behind her and there was a crash.

He froze and stared at the broken bottles of oil. They glemed in ways that oil shouldn't. She quickly walked over and started kicking it under a shelf. He started to help but froze again when the shinning pool turned thicker and deep red like old blood. It changed to thinner than water and was a hew of poison green which turned blue then purple and all vanished before she could kick it under. even the glass melted away and there was no sign of anything except the concrete floor was slightly discolored.

"what the fuck!" He said.

"Oh that happens sometimes I guess it's something they do, it kinda creeps me out."

"Good, because it really creeps me out!"

"Well I hope you stick around to get used to everything. you're nicer than most of the new hires."

"Wow they must be dicks!"

"Yeah we get all kinds of characters here but they don't last."

"Do you like this job?"

"I hate it, but I wish I could like it." She said looking sad.

"what do you mean?"

"I could like this place if it wasn't for all of them. and I could care about my section if this company cared for me at all. But they don't so I don't. Now let me show you the other kinds of stocking."

He was going to ask if she was sure she didn't care, But she seemed to want the discussion closed. So he followed along watching for the next shock to his system.

She led him to a couple aisles over and he saw an aisle of frozen vegetables across from an aisle of breakfast bars. Here she pulled the cart to the middle of the aisles and then picked up a strange object, like a rectangular box although it had very unsettling angles and reflected a light that was pale as though it was made of some otherworld metal. She handed it to him and he shuddered although it was warm to the touch and very light weight."You have to sing to it." She said.

"I know I'm new but you don't have to fuck with me" he said.

"I'm not. Here I'll prove it." She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned over the thing. he could smell her hair it was a clean fresh smell like flowers, but beneath it was a warm human smell. Her personal scent and it destroyed his focus and his calm it was the sweetest perfume to him. He was seized with the urge to hold her and kiss her. Then that overwhelming urge evaporated leaving no trace just like the spill earlier as he heard her soft lullaby singing of uncomprehendable words softly like a lullaby "yalg nalgth yib. Thub wraki kreck. Yalg nalgth yib. Thoi wraki Kreuk. Yalg yi nal ow Ling."

Without a sound the thing came unhinged in several places and slid away so that he was carrying a sheet of the metal with several ordinary boxes of granola bars on it. He stared at this. she continued "See thats how it works."

He couldn't speak.

She looked at him quickly becoming annoyed, she took the sheet from him and said, "Well do you get it or not."

"Do the words matter?" He said.

"I can never remember them, they form themselves"

"I couldn't remember them with you here"

"What! What does that mean?"

He hadn't meant to say that and he turned very red "I just mean you didn't say them clearly."

"Well excuse me. Let's see you do it better. " she roughly grabbed one and thrust it into his hands.

He hated himself for all of this interaction at his core he wanted to win her over. But he felt committed now he couldn't backtrack he had to plough through. He tried to sing something softly mimicking her.

His voice cracked then he was too quiet then his mouth was dry and he was too loud. She started giggling then cackling at him and he turned even redder. Then he put that one down and picked another up he tried again on this one and did better but it refused to open. She looked very pleased and said, "Its ok, you can practice while I check on the yogurt and the alters. Just do your best sweetheart."

That was too much, he glared at her but she walked off. He swore beneath his breath. He took a deep breath and tried again determined to open the damn thing.

He started again with a cold fury he willed it to open he glared at it with a deadly stare then suddenly it opened. He realized he had been singing but when he fished for the words they wriggled away. He dismissed it and decided he would show her what he was made of. He would stock this aisle at least if not the entire cart before she got back.

He rushed over to the shelf and stocked then tossed the plate onto the cart and grabbed the next singing to it as he turned back to the shelf. He kept up a fast pace but suddenly he turned and looked around something wasn't right.

The lights were doing their normal thing. The radio was playing strange horns and flutes but it had been for awhile. Still he felt his hair standing on end. But one glance at the packed cart and he was back to his fanatic pace.

Then he felt it and heard it just behind. Whooshing air and a high pitched hissing like pressurized air leaking out. He spun around and saw something that scorched his brain with an apocalyptic blaze. A pulsing wall of oozing grey green unnatural life rushed toward him at terrible speed. He fled scrambling and screaming stumbling and catching himself swinging his limbs as if he was swimming. He reached the end of the aisle and tried to turn but instead slammed into a wall of candy. He picked himself up and started to scramble off when he saw that he was enclosed by that terrible thing it had him trapped in a semicircle he looked up and started to fling himself up the aisle, but it moved faster and now it was the roof above him cutting him off from all freedom. It smelled of rot and mold it choaked him and began to close around him. He could do nothing but collapse and scream.

Then it sprung back quicker than it trapped him, and his wide eyes saw it speed away down the aisles. She was speaking but he couldn't hear he couldn't move. He dimly knew something was building but really he didn't know anything or feel anything.

He laughed he cackled he howled. He felt he breathed and he lived he danced around and he saw her wide blue eyes and lovely dark hair. He grabbed her and kissed her and they danced around while he laughed like a madman.

Soon he felt tired still happy, happier than he had been in a long time and very free. She talked to him now as he slowed down their mad caper. "John are you alright?"

"I'm great, I'm really great. Its just a lot!"

"Yes you're right. You could have died you know."

"Thats just what I was thinking that's exactly what I was thinking. But you saved me."

"No I didn't. I was just in time to see but I don't know how you're alive. They'll want to question you. Just say yes or no when they want and it will all be over. Then you can quit if you want" she said.

"I thought since you aren't human you had the power to save me from that thing." He said

"No I'm human the tail is just a prop I bought on clearance. That thing is a martmoth they used to work beneath this place keeping it clean but now they are dangerous causing mayhem and sometimes killing." She said.

They stood there breathing heavily and staring at eachother, while thinking about dark things lurking in corners and behind the gleeming stars. Suddenly they heard clicking heels. It was the people controller and she was carrying a clipboard.

"You two believe you encountered something." she said dryly.

"Yes, that martmoth tried to kill me" John said.

She glanced at him coldly then checked a box "And did this alleged sighting occur on our sales floor?"

"Yes, right over there."

The controller glared at him then turned to Evelina "Why cant he answer correctly?"

"I'm sorry It's his first day mam." She said.

"Yeah you sent me out here just a couple hours ago" John said.

The controller didn't even glance at him, "Then why isn't he trained correctly, If this is how little you care about proper procedure I don't see what business you have in this company. "

He saw that Evelina had a thin layer of ice covering wells of rage as she answered, "I understand mam."

"Well I'll bring it up with the store manager in due time. Let's finish this before I'm late for lunch. Did you feel that there was a danger to store property?"

"No"

She checked a box

"Is this something you plan on mentioning to anyone not present at the time."

"Yes"

She paused, "I'd recommend saying, no, this isn't something to gossip about it's a serious matter that needs to be handled by responsible people."

"I agree."

She moved to check a box. "That's why I'm going to tell responsible people about it." John said.

She scowled at him then sighed, "Just can't help yourself. " then checked a box and walked away.

"Fucking evil creature." Evelina said. "Alright if you want to quit we can do it quickly just hand me your stuff and I can do the paper work."

"No I'm staying this shit doesn't change anything. We can make this place a little better and take care of eachother. We work well together. And you're too gorgeous to be unhappy." He held her shoulders and closed the distance between them as he spoke. She wrapped her arms around his back and they were stuck together like magnets then their lips met. He felt like every flickering light in the building suddenly blazed at its brightest. The electric surge of her touch was overwhelming.

He plunged his hands down the back of her collar feeling the soft skin and the tense muscles beneath. He rubbed them and felt her shudder and melt into him. He broke the kiss and rested his chin on her head, "Can you even relax at home?"

She suddenly sobbed and buried herself deeper in his neck, "No. I can't. I just,,, I can't"

"Shhh, everything's ok. We'll take care of eachother" He kissed her head firmly. She kissed his neck lightly and they held eachother.

She giggled and licked his neck. How do you smell so fucking good?"

He laughed "I was wondering the same about you. I could just eat you up." he said. Suddenly kissing her and pulling her against him. She rubbed herself up and down against him and pushed into him. He felt wild and couldn't stand it. His cock buldged against his tight jeans and enough was enough. He pryed her off and ripped his belt off and his pants down to his knees.

She stared transfixed by the tent in his boxers. "What's the matter honey? Too big for you?" he said.

"You're just right baby." She said and went to her knees pulled the boxers down and wrapped both hands around his thick shaft then kissed the tip while jerking him slowly. She tried to deep throat him but quickly gagged and switched to licking his base while jerking him off.

"Fuck you have sucha good cock." she said while rubbing her thighs together. "Come on baby put it in me." She groaned not budging from her knees.

He pryed her hands off him and pulled her to her feet then yanked her pants down. She was still rubbing her thighs together, and he saw the wetness dripping down them from deep in her trimmed dark bush.

He gripped her big ass his hands digging deep into the muscled cheeks he lifted her up and she kicked her pants off and wrapped her legs around his back still wearing the steel toe shoes. He lowered her down to his cock and soon he was pushing against her entrance.

Her lips opened around him and he quickly hilted himself inside groaning out while she panted. He started thrusting quickly with his hips while lifting her up and down. she bit his ear and flexed her muscles tightening her walls around him. She squeezed him tightly but he held on he was going to make her cum first. He picked up the pace and smacked her ass making her moan. She shuddered and he felt the tightest grip and went blind as he pumped his load into her depths. He pulled out and set her down onto her feet. They leaned against each other both smiling and breathing heavy with flushed faces.

"Oh shit!" he said pulling up her pants" I can't believe we did that here and on the clock!"

She laughed "Don't worry they fuck us all the time anyway. I'm not ready to work though let's start our lunch." She said.

"Sounds good. How about pizza?" He said.

"I was thinking we go to my car and we have a little more of eachother" she said running her fingers along his neckbone.

"Both."

"Both."

[Author's note: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed.]