Fallout.

“...Hello? ...yeah of course I'm at home. ...Uh huh. Yeah. ......Marcus is the one handling that, isn't he? ......Seriously? What about Re—right, alright. ...no I don't care if you people will sort it out. I can be there in 10 minutes. ......no I'm fucking coming in. If he thinks it's a good idea to try doing this on my day off, he will learn. I'm going to make a fucking point here. ......Hell yes you people are lost without me. Yeah, I'll be there. I'm heading for my car now.”

Almost as if an unearthly force was approaching, the front door to the store wasn't so much as unlocked and slid open as it was ripped off of its frame. Everybody on the floor noticed Autumn storm in and walk immediately over to customer service and grab a telephone.

“Attention, I would like to see everybody to come to the front of the store for a meeting.” Her voice teetered with impatience throughout the entire store over the intercom. “That includes everybody currently working on the truck and Mikey, who figured it was a good idea to call me into work.” Everybody ceased their work and shuffled out of the stock room to the front of the store. Johnathon and Remilia came out of the main office as well, the latter holding a sandwich.

“I don't see this ending particularly well.” Johnathon muttered.

“What's going on?” Alma asked. “And where's Marcus?” Autumn stood in front of the store, hair done up in a ponytail, her token brown-framed glasses absent. Most particularly noticed was her attire.

“Now, I know what all of you are thinking.” She paused. “Scratch that, I don't. Because I'm not an idiot. But I know you have questions.”

“I have a question, Ms. Autumn.” Alma raised her hand.

“No you don't, put your hand down before I put it down for you.” Alma timidly lowered her hand.

“So you probably have a few questions. Like 'Why are you not wearing your glasses?' and 'Why weren't you at work earlier and decided to show up fifteen minutes before we open?' and that old chestnut, 'Why are you in a sports bra and yoga pants?'”

“I can answer that.” Remilia spoke up. “Is it because you're putting on weight again?”

“Yes, Remilia. That's exactly it. I'm hoping to lose enough weight to go down a cup size so you'd stop staring at my breasts like you're going to steal them.”

“They're nice boobs.”

“Yes I'm aware.” There was an awkward cough among the staff. “But the real reason to that is because I was at the gym. I was at the gym because it's my day off. And I was at the gym most definitely because ever since a hopeless ball of sunshine has taken up a parasitic existence at my established residence as of late, the gym serves several vital services in keeping my work ethic and composure at this store efficient. With Mr. Smiles at my house, the gym is the only place I can go by myself and reflect on how overqualified I am for this job and how every single one of you doesn't deserve to even be carried by my success that's bringing this store into the third best in the region. The gym is the place where I can reflect on how miserable every last person's existence in this store is without somebody vomiting rainbows in my general direction attempting to explain the contrary. And most importantly,” Autumn cracked her knuckles. “The gym is the place where I look for sparring partners but most of them turn me down at this point because I've broken 14 bones in the past three months, none of them mine because I'm able to take what excess bile I've saved up working in this hellhole and expel it onto complete strangers.” Everybody remained silent. “Which brings us to THIS current situation. HEY MIKEY. COME ON OUT. I SEE YOU HIDING IN WOMEN'S, SOME PLACE SUITABLY APPROPRIATE FOR YOU.” Michael trembled a bit and stepped forward. “I won't bite, come here.” He was cautious like a wild animal accepting food from a stranger, looking at Autumn's hand offered forward while he slowly stepped towards her.

“Now dearie...” The look on Autumn's face couldn't really be described adequately to articulate what Michael felt. Her skin was glistening from sweat, like a pearl dropped into water. Her smile had her lips closed, yet made it clear that there were teeth hiding behind them. And when Michael looked into her large amber eyes, he saw himself in a void, surrounded by a ring of fire. And if he didn't look away, he was going to be incinerated.

“You must've had a Hell of a good reason to get Johnathon to call me into work. Did somebody die? I don't see any blood or anything. Did Remilia finally snap and kill somebody?”

“Hurr.”

“Because if not, I'm about to.” Her false smile faded a bit and her eyebrow raised. “Actually, did she kill Marcus? Where the Hell is he?” She shook her head a bit and looked back at Michael.

“So out with it.” she sneered. “What in Jesus's merciful name was so important that you had to call me from home to come in?” There was awkward silence as everybody couldn't help but look at Michael, standing in the ring of fire, incapable of being helped by any of them. “MIKEY.”

“Uh... well,” he stammered.

“'Uh well?'”

“We needed somebody to sign off for the shipment after the truck unloaded and Remilia went on lunch.” Autumn's eyebrow twitched a bit.

“...are you fucking shitting me. I just. I don't eve—MARCUS IS THE M.O.D., IT'S HIS GODDAMN JOB. DON'T GO FUCKING CALLING ME IN ON MY ONLY DAY OFF THIS WEEK JUST BECAUSE OF THE MOST TRIVIAL BULLSHIT IMAGINA—actually wait no seriously where's Marcus now that I think about it?”

“He went into the bathroom and never came out.” Alma said. Autumn facepalmed.

“Oh are you kiddi—did Remilia actually kill him this time? She's been threatening him for months.”

“I wouldn't go into the men's bathroom to kill him, I know what goes on in the men's bathroom.” Remilia said.

“...I don't know why you know what goes on in the men's bathroom but okay.” Autumn began walking through the shoe department to get to the restrooms. “And I swear to God Mikey if you move an inch from where you are I will give Remilia permission to kill you.”

“I have my boxcutter just in case.~” A glimpse of a dark smile peaked through while everybody shivered in unison. As Autumn approached the men's bathroom, she heard moaning coming from it.

“Marcus, what in God's name are you doing to yourself in there?” she shouted outside the door.

“OH GOD IT HURTS, AUTUMN.”

“Marcus, we're here for you. We won't actually do anything but watch, but we'll be here watching.”

“THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE.”

“...Jesus Christ did Remilia really try to kill you this time?”

“No, dammit.” Remilia shouted across the store.

“I... I ATE JACK IN THE BOX BEFORE I CAME TO WORK.”

“Oh merciful God we've lost him already.” She sighed and walked back over to the group of associates, all watching Michael as he hadn't moved an inch.

“You didn't move, did you?”

“No, ma'am.”

“You remember that there are security cameras that I can check later to see if you're lying, right?”

“......yes, ma'am.” She noticed the pause. She looked at the associates.

“You're going to tell me if he moved. Did he move?” Nobody said anything. She approached Alma.

“Alma.” she flatly said. The young girl gulped. Granted Alma was taller than Autumn, Autumn was not a petite and bubbly cheerleader body type like Alma. Autumn for all her elegant facial features and curves was built like a woman who had just gotten out of prison, and she fought like one too. She did not need height to look down on people.

“Ms. Autumn.”

“Did Mikey move?”

“...define 'move.'”

“That's a good enough answer.” She turned to the associates. “Now, since I still have much, much excess bile that I've yet to dispose of through sheer exercise, I'm going to run laps around the store. And all of you idiots are going to join me for wasting my time.” There was silence. Autumn started laughing to herself and the rest of the associates started laughing with her. “Ahahahahaha GO. I'M FUCKING SERIOUS. START RUNNING. GO GO GO, MOVE YOUR ASSES.” And everybody immediately started jogging. “Except you three.” she referred to Johnathon, Remilia and Michael.

“You.” she looked at Johnathon. “Go back to fixing our digis. I want the software up to date by the time we start markdowns tomorrow. And punch me in when you go back into the office so we can have an M.O.D. on the clock to sign off the truck.”

“Will do.”

“And check on Marcus in a bit to make sure he hasn't expelled his heart out through his rectum.”

“I don't want to, I know what goes on in the men's bathroom.” he muttered.

“You.” she looked at Remilia. “Make sure they keep running for 15 minutes. I'm going to go back home after this nonsense.”

“Got it.”

“And leave the ones who drop on the ground, just make sure to drag them off the floor before the store opens.” And then Autumn turned to Michael.

“As for you,” she slowly approached him as he trembled yet didn't shift from his position. “I want to fire you for crap like this, but be grateful you still have some uses to me on my road to success out of this place.”

“T-thank you.”

“Instead I'm going to punish you in a different way that made you wish you were fired.”

“...oh god what?”

Inconspicuously enough, Michael went home for the day and the security footage from the camera in front of the store had the previous ten minutes edited out by Johnathon as Autumn went home. The only thing Alma and her co-workers noticed was Mikey went on sick leave. Or at least that's what they heard and they didn't want to ask any further questions.