Slum Enterprise - Chapter 30

CHAPTER 30

The green smog crashed through glass. A thunderous shock wave that blew everyone off their feet. Lee is standing before the wall cloud that is coming directly at him. Velocity picks up and cuts him in two.

Lee wakes up in a cold sweat. The sleep he did get was interrupted by anxiety nightmares. He had dreams of school and university that consisted of him missing class for an entire year; he forgot that he was enrolled in or flunking an exam that barred him from graduating and escaping the studious hellscape. 

His dreams always switched themes and locations in an instant, dreams of a manic person on adderall. They were always dense mixtures in his dreams, the great mixing pot of reality and hidden truth, something his subconsciousness was trying to expose and tell him but too complex and thick to decipher. At one moment he could be at a lake side village with a bike trail and park with a great view of the water line. Then, it would morph into an urban landscape with brick apartments and tall high rise buildings. He would eventually end up on top of one and fall off and wake up just before he hit the ground.

While in the dream, Lee “felt” like he knew who he was, but not enough to employ the word “lucid.” He was trapped for wherever the ride took him, he was always a passenger, never the driver. The dreams always felt like they lasted for days, it was like he was living a mundane epic that consisted of absolutely nothing but at the same time felt like it was everything in the entire universe. 

“Confusing stuff,” he thought as he ripped off the sheets.

Lee and Murphy were successful at dropping off the supply package back to the lab zone, the techs were relieved and had an oriental style meal with the rice. Everyone's spirits seemed to have lifted. It made Lee feel good even if the good mood was only for a moment.

Scott cracked open the weapons box and found barbaric mechanisms for the act of killing: Spears, hatchets, bamboo fighting sticks, numb chucks, throwing stars, boomerangs, slingshots with metal ball bearings, and even an explosive ballistic knife. Such a funny assortment but nonetheless would help in clearing out the sales cogs at the zone of interest. Not everyone in the fight would be weaponized. The lab leaders and senior technicians would be armed, the rest would use whatever they could find or resort to fists. 

Scott stayed behind after hours and stuck to the shadows moving across the campus buildings to meet one last time with the lab leaders and divvy up the weapons. The plan was set for Friday afternoon, everyone who was capable and willing were to be ready by tomorrow by 4pm. They all felt like Soviet soldiers in Stalingrad against all odds to take on an evil force with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

Lee started the morning routine, he kissed Annie and petted the dog's head, both still laying in their respective beds. He went to work. 

“This is it,” he thought. 

Lee hoped he would come home and see his little family again at his cottage house, he had no idea what was going to happen. Annie had conferences at school so she wouldn't be worried when Lee didn't come home till late, or at least that's what he hopes will happen.

He parked the truck far away from his building's main entrance. Bums and beatniks hung around eyeing him and the truck. Lee walked past and gave a look that said “dont even dare fuck with me today.” 

He checked in like usual, both the HR SWAT at the gate were short but muscular. The goggles and face masks gave Lee the fantods. He walked to his zone, met Scott with a serious face, and sat on the cot in his raggy tent. Lee stared off into the void. Anxiety paralyzed him, he didn't move and wasn't going to move until 4pm. Stan was gone, Lee wondered what he was doing.

Scott had already briefed Lee's direct reports. Murphy did the same thing as Lee, he gave a thousand yard stare to the canvas wall. The entire team was waiting for the hour hand to strike at 4pm.

Time passed as it does. Lee heard a lot of movement. It was Lee's team getting ready to go. He could hear Scott doing calisthenics to limber up his worn out body. Joe and Matt were so engulfed in boot licking they had no idea what was happening outside their hot tent, they were still practicing for interviews at other fortune 500 companies. 4:10pm hit Lee's wrist watch. All 20 lab employees, worn, hungry, and looking for answers immediately stood up and started to congregate at the zone barbwired gates.

Lee grabbed a side saddle bag and shoved it full of papers to simulate that he was delivering the “proof of defects” he promised Mr.Berg. He and Murphy followed slowly behind the crowd. Scott forced his way up to the front to rally everyone in.

“Team,” Scott said. His voice was still "normal" because HR SWAT were walking their routes outside in the halls. 

“The time has come. This slum, it was forced upon us. We have been left to die and rot in the ditches. It looks to me given the circumstances with inevitable society collapse that the people must band together and face the music.” The faces in the crowd nodded with agreement.

“We are not alone, the campus labs have finally united under a common purpose, against a greater evil threatening to take the worst parts of humanity and shoved it down our throats. We have the most zones, the most employees, and the greatest ambition to strike back with a message; the workers will not stand for this. I know you all want answers, I want answers, we all want a change for the good. The company must pay for what it's putting us through. The world and way of life is not sustainable like this. Why were the slums created? What purpose does this serve? The stress and anguish the slums puts on us is passed down to our families and communities. To me, it seems like they want to rot everything away. Let our message be the death of inaction. You all know the plan, help Lee get that VP back to the collection point at the old shipping docks. Suit up boys and girls.” 

Scott finished his speech and unlatched the gate and pushed it gently open and peered out to see if the coast was clear. The team would only come out in batches of two not to raise suspicions.

Lee had given back the Colt 1911 to Scott the day before. He was last in line with Murphy so it took awhile for him to reach Scott again. Finally, they met face to face and Scott again slipped the gun back into his belt and covered it with his shirt and jacket. The gun felt powerful and hot like it wanted action, it wanted to be used for destruction. Scott patted him on the back and gave him a smile and said “good luck my young lad,” and signaled for him and Murphy to file out and head to the sales and marketing zone.

The bodies began to dissipate like phantoms behind piles of garbage and blend in with the surroundings. He even spotted other lab leaders and technicians he had only met in passing before the slums existed. It felt busy but it still looked desolate. Lee found a barrel fire near one of the hall corner walls that hid from view from the HR SWAT guarding the sales/marketing zone borders. Scott and Murphy followed in behind him with the Air Filtration Lab lead. Lee shook his hand quickly and wrung his hands against the orange flames. 4:23pm. It was time to meet Mr.Berg again. 

Lee left the warmth of the fire and swung around the corner and walked right towards the front gate. The HR SWAT all aimed their heads at him as he approached. They pulled out their clubs and patted them against their padded legs to show Lee that they meant business. Lee quickly glanced through the fence and saw that it looked sparse. It gave out a dreary silence, the cogs inside were wrapping up the week and eager to get out and blow off steam. 

Lee checked in with the gate guards and explained that he had a meeting with Mr.Berg at 4:30pm. They must have been prepared because they offered no resistance. The guards let Lee back in. Then he saw Mr.Berg emerge from a dark alley of tents and met Lee.

“Great to see you,” he said with an evocative smile and motioned with his arms to follow him to the VP tent. “I hope you're ready…the VP is very anxious to meet you. I see you brought data?” He pointed at the brown saddle bag.

“Yes, of course, I'm a man of my word.” Lee said with tension in his voice, he had a feeling like this was a trap. 

Lee thought that the cogs were hiding in the canvas tents with big clubs waiting to put a stop to all of this nonsense. He did his best to keep his composure. Mr.Berg walked fast through the interior thicket of the zone and reached the opening again where Lee was the day before, right on the front steps of the VP tent. Lee admired the construction of the hot tent. It has the same quality as the ones he saw back at the Nature Reserve. The canvas was thick and stretched tightly around the steel frame. He could feel heat coming off of it and hear the hum of its own generator hiding behind in the back.

“Now Mr.Collins, I’ve put a very good word in for you. I'm sure this little problem will be quickly resolved with rewards for the both of us. I thank you for bringing this issue to my attention. I know it was a high risk endeavor, but you seem to be a man with an ‘executive’ written all over you.” Mr.Berg winked while he was speaking loud enough in case the VP inside was listening.

“After you,” Mr.Berg stepped aside from the tent flaps and Lee moved them out of the way to walk in. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted Mr.Berg slither back into a dark alley just around the hot tents edge. 

The flaps had a magnet closing system so they snapped shut with a loud click. It was very bright inside, massive shop lights produced a white glow. The floor had wool carpeting with thick carpet pads underneath to prevent them from sliding around. To the right, two executive assistants were typing away at small desktop computers with cathode tube monitors. To the left, a nice brick fireplace with logs turning into hot coals. It was a giant rectangle with the long side extending in Lee’s view. Overall it looked like a Victorian mansion. All the furniture pieces were from that time period. At the end of the room was a dark mahogany desk, the wall behind it was tiled with the company logo (A green planet earth with the G.E.S name underneath in proprietary font.) 

Behind the shadowy desk a man sat writing on quality letter paper, “a memo perhaps,” Lee thought. He didn't really know what to think, it was a different world. A domed ecosystem for the VP to manipulate and control the masses of the most valuable department. Lee’s mouth was starting to get dry and he couldn't swallow.

“Ah, my boy Mr.Collins…Lee come on in, we have so much to talk about in such little time.” The VP rose from a throne-like chair and walked around the desk. In the middle of the room were two green rugs with two black leather couches facing each other. In the center of the couches was a coffee table with glasses of water already poured.

“Come to my meeting area Lee.” The VP said. He looked very comfortable, the gap in job titles meant that he had all the control over Lee.

Lee reluctantly stepped forward and met the VP at the couches. The VP was standing on the right side of his couch.

“Please sit,” the VP said. They both sat at the same time. The VP crossed his legs and reached over and took a small sip of water and  leaned back and stared at Lee with a wide smile. Silence ensued, Lee didn't want to make the first move, he was going to wait him out and stall. 

The VP was clean in a casual black suit with no tie. He, like Mr.Berg, had white hair but it was well trimmed. He had on new trendy glasses, skin was very pale and looked to be very skinny underneath the ruffles of fabric. This was the common executive formal. Not to mention he was a little taller than Lee, likely 6 '1 or 6' 2 since the CEO had a strict rule that all of his understudies must be shorter than he was.

“Well stop fooling about, what is it you want to say, it's Friday by god, the wife and kids are waiting and you have to explain what to do about this defects issue.” The VP uncrossed his legs and leaned in.

“I don't think I can get through this quickly if you want the whole story,” Lee said nervously. “Im afraid I'll miss some critical detail that would much confuse the the active listener in an already stressful environment." Lee was using big corporate talk and throwing in a lot of fluff, it had to burn seconds off the clock.

“Get on with it, or go back where you came from, I'm surprised you got this far…”

“This critical issue needs to be well documented and preserved so the right actions can be formulated, then the correct implementation procedure can occur and solve this silly mess.” Lee said. “This isn't some small contract, this is company wide, 33% of all sales in the next 2 years will cease, that number is a bankrupt number. The warehouse stock is anywhere from 30-45% defected. This is my best estimate based on lab defect data acquired from the last 2 fiscal years up to our current quarter. I want something in return for this information. Mr.Berg and I can assure we have been diligent…” 

“Oh knock it off,” The VP jumped in. “you and the young generation, so tip toey, so lacy, so willing to impress with no hard work backing it. Where is your dignity? You all have it so easy. Just think, you come in here and expect me to reward you. A bonus? Higher salary? A promotion right the hell out of here. You think you can become like us, is this your ticket into the good ol boys club, the elite levels? What game are you paying Mr.Collins? I only allowed this to have a little fun. You sir are going under the bus and I will be taking this wonderful data and head right over to the CEO and make the necessary corrections to save the company.” The VP did bunny ear quotation marks with his pointer and middle finger on both hands as he said this.

The VP began to reflect and daydream about the better days. He remembered when sexual harassment wasnt even consider a probelm with HR. He bought stocks at pennies a share, now it was worth 2000 times more. The employees actually wanted to work and respected their superiors. Employees had tangible hard and soft skills and could do the job with low pay and be happy about it. The last few years had been so different, change had swopped in like a hawk taking away a stray cat on the side of a highway. The workforce was ruined in his opinion, everyone wanted more more more while offering nothing in return. 

“I got mine, they need to get theirs, why should I help them when I had to work so hard to get here. The sacrifices I have made justify all this.” the VP thought.

“Good day Mr.Collins, I take no pleasure in dealing with you lab low lifes. All you do is cause trouble. Go back to your greasy work cogs and oily machines.” The VP’s tone signaled that this was the end of the conversation. Lee panicked and stood fast and tugged on his belt underneath his shirt and felt the handle of the Colt 1911. He gripped it hard and pulled it out but did not point it at the VP yet.

The same time Lee pulled the pistol, Murphy and Scott on the other side of the fence had every lab tech on campus in position. Scott waved his hand and singled to charge as fast as they could into no man's land. All the lab employees let out a large collective battle scream and ran towards the HR SWAT.

Back in the tent, the yell was heard and broke the attention of the VP. He stood rapidly wide eyed and began to shake with fear. He knew what was coming but the gun Lee held to his side prevented him from moving. The assistants felt that everything was extremely off. They knocked over the computers and ran out the back entrance. It was just Lee and the VP in the tent. 

Lee pointed the gun at the VP and told him to sit down or he’ll be happy unloading this thing right into his chest. The VP obliged as he knew Lee had the royal flush. Outside they could hear bodies clashing, it sounded like an engine backfiring one thousand times instantaneously.

“What it the fuck is going on, Lee what the hell do you think you’re doing, this is the biggest mistake of your life.” The VP yelled. “It sounds like a goddamn war zone out there…”

By this time, the HR SWAT was out of commission, some even fled out of fear of actually being seriously hurt or killed. The lab technician army knocked the gate down and beat the gate guards into the cold concrete floor. All the sales cog left packing up where blindsided and were forced to counteract the attack. They desperately wished they could be drinking and hitting on waitresses at the local bars. By now the HR SWAT had called it into headquarters.

“Shut the fuck up, I cant stand anymore of your bullshit, get with the picture you old shit pusher.” Lee yelled over the noise now getting closer to the tent.

“Oh how deeply you are fucked.” The VP responded. “Oh just imagine the paperwork, the court trials, the revoking of your engineering license and degrees, you sir are a dead man walking the green mile.”

“Say anything else and I'll shoot, sit there and be patient, my team is coming in and you don't want to know what they would like to do to you.” Lee said. The VP shut it because he couldn't risk it, the situation was hot and about to get hotter.

The VP understood what was about to happen. Lee and his band of technicians were pulling the shipping/procurement kidnap operation. They wanted to get to the CEO.

The commotion outside was approaching rapidly. The fabric walls didn't do much for sound damping. The minutes passed and the battle cries began to die down. Soon it was only the shuffling and rattling of feet and equipment. Only a few coherent shouts and orders were being yelled. 

Finally the tent flaps blew open and Scott and Murphy came running in all covered in blood blotches and dirt all over their battle worn clothes. Scott had the rope in hand and Murphy ran up and stood next to Lee still pointing the gun. Murphy signaled to hand the gun over, Lee placed it in his palm and Scott tossed over the rope.

“Tie him up,” Scott said. Lee went over and smacked the VP on the face for good measure and swung him around on the couch and hog tied his legs and arms behind his back. He then tore off a piece of his shirt and used it as a blindfold. The VP squirmed and squealed just like the pig.

Lee, Murphy and Scott came over and picked him up. The VP was yelling obscenities so Murphy pistol whipped his temple. It was silent again. The 3 of them felt an incredible rush of adrenaline and excitement, it filled their soul, the idea of justice was floating all around their heads. Lee started to create a mental list of all the questions he was going to ask the CEO, the idea of him actually meeting him was becoming real.