Harbor freight drill press wobble

Went to a local dealer to view three brand new units. Each of them smelled of VOCs degassing like spending too much time inside a harbor freight store, got the worst headache. Not to mention every unit had paneling falling apart, trim separating, screws just smashed into exposed areas at wild angles. We were really looking forward to seeing this brand in person but it’s complete crap!
Where should I go next, jayco?

I have a 2001 f150 4.2 v6. I've built a camper in the bed and am now starting to plan my power setup. I'm new to this so I was hoping for some guidance. My power requirements are mainly to run ac all night but I'd also like to hook up a TV eventually with my playstation. I'd also like to run a small fridge/ freezer, lights and other small things. I decided to buy a pure sine wave 2000w inverter today from harbor freight, assuming I would need it. I'm also looking at a 2000 watt generator on Amazon as well as 1 single 12v 100ah lithium battery and add another in parallel in the future for more hours of power but im hoping for now that will power my ac for at least 5 hours through the night. I'm also assuming I need a battery charger. I'd like my truck to be able to charge the lithium battery and also be able to charge the battery with the ganerator. My questions: What battery charger should I consider? Should I upgrade my alternator? Is using a bank manager my best option with the alternator and what kind do I get, and where is it installed? What other things ought I consider in this setup?

Does anyone have reviews on harbor freight’s bench tools? I’ve always heard harbor freight was not good but they have an appealing price point. Does anyone who’s used them have reviews on them? Are they worth buying? I’m looking at table saws, drill presses, planners, band saws, and the like. Any help is welcome 🙏

I am looking to buy my first table saw and I know they can be pricey. I want to start with something small but probably with a 10” blade? I’m hoping to find something at a good entry point just to get started. Are harbor freight’s power tools any good?

I’m new to woodworking and power tools are expensive. I don’t want to spend a ton of money to get started but I know I’m going to have to spend some. I’ve always heard that harbor freight tools are bad, is that true? Are the things like table saws worth the money there?

Previous
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

Previous / First
Writer's note: My bad about the past few days. A stomach bug and work got in the way. But all's good.
Now learn some tragic backstory, a bit of Earth info, and the status of everyone's favorite omen of misfortune.
Enjoy.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The King was already conversing with Colonel Muhammed when James finally caught up with him in the command room. He jogged in at a brisk pace, but stopped when he saw the two of them talking on the small tablet in front of the King.
King Farrick cocked an eyebrow as he saw James. James just shrugged while mouthing "I know." and gesturing at his beard. The King shook his head as he looked back down at the tablet.
"We're just glad our people could be of assistance sir." The Colonel said. "Even if it only ended up being during the cool down after everything had already resolved."
"It is greatly appreciated Colonel." The King replied. "Seeing as the dungeon is currently erm... ruined... we'll have to let the last few of your people there out. Though they'll still be restricted in their movements." He added. The Colonel nodded, as if she'd expected as much. "As for the weapons." He continued. "Well," He sighed deeply. "I look forward to the.... paperwork.... regarding its use in necessary situations."
Colonel Muhammed let out a quick snort. "I'll see if I can get em to keep it short and sweet." She said.
The King motioned for James, who walked over. "Captain Choi is back earlier than expected, as I'm sure you know." He said as James got next to him and he turned the tablet so its camera caught James too. "I'll let you have him for a bit."
And just like that James was looking at his commanding officer while sporting a neon pink beard.
"Evening ma'am." He said with his cheesiest smile.
Muhammmed's eyes glazed over as she saw the ridiculous facial hair.
"Do I even want to know?" She asked.
"Nope." James replied honestly. "But I made friends during my trip." Then he shook his hand in a so-so gesture. "Well... one of em might just be an...." Then he rethought his standing with the Vatrian Emperor, Vateris. He also hadn't talked with command about his personal vendetta against the so-called gods. "Look. I didn't end up in prison or dead. And things went mostly well."
And suddenly a very grainy, sand-coated, hand was holding James's. He did what he could not to jump with surprise.
"By the way. Meet Glag!" He said excitedly as he panned the camera down to the rock monster's face. Glag looked at the screen with wide, amazed, eyes. James was surprised to see that Glag looked surprisingly dark, and just a little red. "He's a new companion!"
"What in the hell is that?" The Colonel asked as she peered at the screen on her end.
"Glaaaaag." Glag replied.
"Introductions done." James said. "So, what's the deal with the Zootopia duo?"
------------------------------
"Okay. It was weird at the store." Samantha said as she looked around. "But this is just plain strange."
Around them the restaurant was empty. The bistro Fletcher had brought her to, The Blue Tree, was a ghost town. A few of the staff stood at the greeting booth on the other side of the room. But other than that it was completely deserted. It was so quiet that they could hear the kitchen staff working prep in the back, for what had to be ONLY their food.
"Admittedly I think they took this a bit too far." Fletcher said abashedly as he peeked at the small menu. "This can't be cheap for the hospital, or government or whoever is funding the rehabilitation program."
There was an awkward silence for a few moments as they both tried to think of what to say. Neither of them would admit it, but it had been a while since either of them had dated.
And neither of them had ever dated in THIS particular scenario.
"So... how long have you been a lawyer?" She asked hesitantly.
"Um... about... eight years now?" He said uncertainly as he tried to do math in his head. "Close to nine. How bout you? How long were you in the Army before um.... well. You know."
She nodded. She was getting a lot better about acknowledging what had happened. But it was still a sore spot.
"I was about half way through my second term. So about six years." She answered, even though she was certain he'd probably read that in her file at some point. "Wasn't gonna reenlist again though."
"No plans to make it a career?" He asked.
"No." She said with a shake of her head. "No I intended to get out and get certified as a ration enforcement officer once I was done."
"Ration enforcement?" He said with raised eyebrows. "That's a dangerous job. Even compared to being an MP. Planning on staying near your family?"
She chuckled. "Yeah." She admitted. "My fathers shop is small and usually gets shunted by the bigger ones in the area. Wanted to stick around and keep the queues in order so it didn't happen."
"Ah. Makes sense." He responded as one of the wait staff came over.
A few minutes later, and after Fletcher had ensured that they'd been warned about Samantha's new dietary difficulties, the young woman departed with a smile and promise that their drinks and appetizers would be out in just a few minutes.
"And what got you into law?" She asked once they were alone again.
"My wife." He said, causing her to spit out the small sip of water she'd taken after asking the question. He smiled and there was a pain there. "Don't worry." He said. "I'm not married anymore."
"Divorced?" She asked, trying to figure out what was happening now.
Fletcher's mouth opened for a moment as he tried to think for a second. Did he really wanna have THIS talk on, what was hopefully a first, date. "Widower." He said softly.
And just like that she was thrown off balance again.
"I'-I'm so sorry." She said hastily. "I didn't know."
He held his hands up in warding. "It's fine." He said reassuringly. "It's been.... almost a decade now. I'm... I'm okay."
There was another awkward silence, though this time NOT because neither of them had anything to say.
Fletcher spoke first.
"She was a Paramedic." He said. "She was helping with some humanitarian work overseas and um... She got sick from some of the fallout." He nodded as he took a deep breath. "The organization she worked for was uh.... less than honorable about helping her get cared for afterwords. I started reading up on as many laws and regulations as I could to help her fight for it. But uh.... too little too late." Then he fake-smiled. "But I found out I was good at understanding legal jargon so I uh.... found my calling. I guess. Retooled my college classes and the rest is history."
"That's awful." She said quietly, not knowing what else to say given what she'd just heard.
"It was, yeah." He agreed. "But uh... thanks to that I've been able to help a lot of people who've been screwed by similar situations. So... I don't know. Guess that's something."
She smiled too. "Well you helped me." She said. "Didn't expect the ARMY of all organizations to back down from some legalese."
He pointed out at one of the windows, at the people outside walking about. Across the street a few teenagers were watching as one of them tried to levitate. The kid rose about a foot or so before beginning to wobble and then flipping over and falling on his face. The other two fell out laughing and jeering as he picked himself up.
"Between the two packs that split off and headed north and south, and all the people that have started to have ACTUAL magic powers." He said with a shrug. "I think they just have bigger fish to fry."
"Your appetizers and drinks." The server said, startling both of them.
"Ah." Fletcher said with a genuine smile this time. "I think you're gonna like the crab sliders here. They actually use REAL crab."
Her eyes widened. Real crab was rare nowadays. Then she looked at the server, who was nodding. "They closed this place and you guys serve REAL crab?" She asked.
"Sure do." The server replied with a smile. "We're one of the few restaurants in the city that gets any.
"God you weren't kidding." Samantha said as she turned back to Fletcher. "It must have cost a fortune to close a place like this for a night."
"I told you." He said jokingly with a grin.
She slumped, a little embarrassed at everything that had to have gone into this. She didn't deserve all this.
"So we'd better make the most of it before the hospital's finance department catches on." He said as he raised his glass of wine in a toast. "Again, assuming this isn't government funded. Which... it probably is."
Samantha lifted the large stein of light ale and, as gently as she could, clinked it against his glass.
"Enjoy." The server said as she nodded and stepped back.
And just like that the tone of the conversation lightened, and the rest of dinner was much more enjoyable.
--------------------------
Vickers awoke with a gasp.
Everything hurt.
He'd been beaten up pretty badly before. Had even been way too close to explosions a few times and spent weeks in the hospital recovering afterword to make sure he didn't have any unseen injuries. Then there was the time some turbulence had caused him to botch a wet insertion from a helicopter that had already been almost at the max height for a dive.
Those had all had him SORE for weeks.
This was different.
He felt both hot and cold at the same time. And not just his skin, but his entire body, inside and out, felt like they were infused with IcyHot.
And try as he might, he couldn't see, and everything was muted.
"He's awake." Someone said from outside of him. "Fetch the Archmage and master Farstorm."
"Whe-" He tried to say. But his voice was horse, and cracked as he tried to wheeze out the question. "Where?" He said weakly after struggling to swallow with a mouth that was drier than it had ever been before.
Someone touched him on the chest, and even though the touch was light and delicate he groaned in pain as every nerve in the area screamed.
And even in that excruciating moment, the part of his brain that nobody could ever fully get rid of, no matter how much training they underwent, joked.
So this is what Choi's life is like. It said sarcastically. Running through life like a marshmallow that got dropped in a camp fire every few months. Tough little fucker.
"Calm down Mister Vickers." One of those muted voices, that he thought sounded familiar, said. "We only woke you up so the Archmage could ask a few questions. We'll have you back under in a minute. Let me give you something for the pain."
"Not until the lead healer has okayed it." Another voice said somewhat harshly. "We don't even know how your Earth medicine will affect his body now."
"I do." The first voice replied. "I've used this stuff on were-people before. It works just fine. I just have to up the dosage. And Shrend knows it." The first voice, which he now faintly recognized as Choi's mom, said.
There was a pinch in the middle of a bloom of fire on Vickers' throat as a needle was pressed into one of the veins there.
And suddenly the pain, and everything else for that matter, seemed to drop away.
"Thassss..." He began. "Thasssalot... bedder."
"Shhhh." Mrs. Choi said as he felt, faintly, her touching his head. "I'm gonna take off some of your bandages so you can hear and see." She finished as his hearing cleared. "Plus we need to check your eyes and ears anyways."
A moment later Vickers' eyes opened and he was surrounded by a swirling mix of green and amber light. It was blurry, though he was mostly just happy he had any sight at all.
"Still cloudy." Mrs. Choi said as she pried his eyes open ever so slightly and looked inside. She as about to check his ears when the door opened.
Vickers turned his head with a slowness that was not intentional.
"Chief Vickers." Said the old mage who usually spoke so slowly, and looked so frail. But he didn't look or sound anything of the such at the moment as he pulled up a chair and sat where he could look at Vickers.
"Thaassss....me." He said as his head swam with whatever Mrs. Choi had given him. Probably Ketamine or something.
"I know you're in a lot of pain right now." The old mage said. "But we need to know what you saw. What was on the other side of that door before the Elemental manifested?"

Hello, so I got my first bike and we've done a bunch of work to it so far but recently the clutch went out. So I went on eBay and ordered some brand new clutch and friction plates for the bike. It's a wet clutch so we drained the oil and took off the cover to the clutch we replaced all of the clutch plates and friction plates. When we went to go put on the pressure plate to the clutch assembly everything was lined up "that I know of" and we started to torque down the 4 clutch spring bolts. My torque gun is from harbor freight and I've tested that it does work but every time we torque it down it never clicks and torques past the spec it needs which is 106in.-lb. I just snaps the pressure plate every time we've tried 3 different times. So we tried trouble shooting we first thought it was the springs themselves (because they were super hard to compress) we put in the old springs and it did the same thing. I genuinely don't know what's wrong with it and need help. I am in no way a mechanic let alone a motorcycle mechanic but I'm trying my best. I have the manual and videos/pictures I can post here if anybody needs them to understand a little better. I've tried to explain the best I could. We have also used motorcycle specific oil so we don't believe its the clutch and friction plates sticking because even when we torque it down a little (so it doesn't break but no at spec) the pressure plates don't push out and disengage at all.

Hello,
I’m installing a class 1 hitch on my 2010 Honda crv and the YouTube video shows the guy using a small grindecutter to widen one of the holes to fit the backing plate through.
I have a 4inch angle grinder and of course a drill and drill bits. I’m thinking of pressing against the hole with the drill in full speed and widening it that way. I’m scared that the angle grinder will cut too much bc the blade is 4inches.
What do you guys think would this work ? I don’t want to buy a tool I will use once

Does anyone know how to get out of a Starbucks contract?
I just started my new job and I already want to quit. I REALLY want to quit. Because this shit isn’t normal. I mean, is it? Do you guys have experience with this type of shit, or is it a normal thing when moving to the city? I’m a small-town girl so I’m not used to this. We didn’t even have a Starbucks. Just a diner that had been broken into multiple times over the years.
Do you know the bad feeling you get when something bad is going to happen, but you ignore it for the sake of staying sane? .Yeah.
It was one of those situations.
But I needed cash. I needed a job. College in the city is expensive, especially in my mid-twenties. Uber Eats every night and various subscriptions, such as Netflix and Spotify—as well as basic living needs required cash. So, naturally, I looked for part-time jobs I could use to fill up my weekend and nights. When it came to job hunting, I was fairly lazy. So, the Starbucks job kinda came out of nowhere.
I wasn’t even looking for it. I was applying for a job in the local music store when it caught my eye. Someone to work late evenings and nights on weekdays and Saturdays. The job description didn’t say much, just basic pay details and a full paragraph dedicated to talking about “The Starbucks Family”. Skim reading it, I skipped to the APPLY NOW button and sent in my resume via email. Two hours.
It had taken two hours to get an email back offering a video interview the next day—and a guaranteed job if I didn’t screw it up. The video interview went well to my surprise. The woman who conducted it acted more like a friend, asking me what my favorite movies and TV shows were, and then going into detail about her own.
It didn’t even feel like an interview. More like a chat. Which was exactly what the email said it was going to be. The interviewer was my mom’s age, a total mom-like persona. She offered me iced tea before laughing and realizing we were on a video call. Her cat popped up halfway through her introducing several staff members by name. A large tabby whom she picked up and hugged to her chest. I wasn’t sure what to do except repeatedly say, “Aww.” and force an even bigger smile.
The woman who for some reason did not introduce herself finished the interview with a more formal and thorough talk-through of rules and regulations. Which went in one ear and out the other. I think I was too excited about the job as a whole. There’s something almost mythical about working at Starbucks. I’ve seen barista TikTok complaining about customer service and harping about in the back rooms. It looked fun. Plus, free drinks? I figured working at the famous coffee chain would at least have benefits and freebies.
The woman spoke to me for almost two hours about certain drinks, telling me I would be trained up, and then going on to explain the dos and don’ts in a working environment. It was kind of patronizing, but I figured she had to be to remain professional. I tuned out when she started talking about a certain “feud” they had with another store down the road. The woman didn’t go into detail, but her expression did darken significantly when she leaned closer to her screen and repeated the phrase, “Do you understand me?” I had to backtrack and try and go over what she had been saying, but I had found myself mesmerized by the gilded sword in the background. It hung from the back wall in all of its glory, and I was having a hard time trying to figure out why exactly a Starbucks manager had a sword hanging from her wall.
“Sim?” Inclining her head, the manager cleared her throat. “Did you hear me?”
I did. Sort of. Under no circumstances must I visit or go near 2nd Street Starbucks. If I did there would be dire consequences and I would face losing my job, or worse.
I wasn’t sure what “or worse” was, but from the way her expression twisted from funny-cat-lady to a potential employer, I didn’t want to ask.
Yikes.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “I can’t go near the 2nd Street store.” I almost choked on a glass of water I had been slowly sipping throughout the interview. I had been sweating most of the day, dying in the intense June heat. It was a lot cooler in the evening in the city, but I was used to draining at least ten glasses a day. “Is that real?” I couldn’t help asking, pointing to the sword behind her.
I know you are supposed to maintain a certain professional persona and façade during professional work interviews with potential managers. However, I really wanted to know if that ancient thing was real, it was driving me crazy. Because questions were arising in my head: How did she get it? Was it hers? Was it for some kind of aesthetic and feng-shui, or was there more to it? From the look on the interviewer’s face, she seemed startled.
Whipping her head around, her strict grey ponytail hitting the screen, she nodded before turning back to me, her gaze flicking down to what I presumed was a script she was reading off—or maybe she was skimming through my printed-out resume. I wanted to ask her more about the elephant in the room, but she seemed satisfied with answering my question with a nod. She asked me more questions, mostly about my work ethic and if I enjoyed working in a team and independently, if I had any special requirements, and oddly—if I had ever held a firearm. Now, that caused alarm bells. Along with the gilded sword dangling from this forty-something-year-old’s lounge wall, I was definitely starting to question the exact nature of what I would be doing at this job. Serving coffee was an obvious one, though I was pretty sure Starbucks barista's didn’t require military-style training.
When I didn’t know what to say, she seemed to back-pedal. “Oh, it’s in case of a robbery.” She said. But her expression stayed stoic. Speaking in the tone of being joking, but not being joking. “It is rare. However, it is a precaution we must take.” Choosing her words carefully, the interviewer steepled her hands in front of her face, leaning her chin on her fingers. “Our employees are given basic fire-arm training in the instance that one day we may face a difficult situation. Now, I am not saying it is inevitable, but due to certain behavior throughout the years, it is, of course, better to be safe than sorry.”
“Oh.” I tried to smile. “No, I haven’t,” I paused, hoping my lack of ability to hold a gun wouldn’t screw up my chances. “But I can learn?”
I said it like a question because it was a question. I was questioning myself why exactly I would take up my time learning to shoot a gun I most likely never would need. To my surprise though, the woman’s smile brightened and she looked down at whatever she was writing.
“Of course,” she said. “Sim, I am very happy to hear that. We love employees who do their best to learn and thrive in our working environment,” she paused and typed something on her laptop before her gaze found mine. “I’ll put you down for lessons on Friday mornings. How does that sound?” Before I could answer her—because I was starting to seriously question why she was so obsessed with training me to use a goddamn gun—she was nodding to herself. “I will put Jude in charge of you. I think he is working on Friday, so your induction and welcome can be completed in the morning…”
She trailed off into her own murmured conversation to herself before clearing her throat. I jumped. I didn’t mean to jump, but her whole presence was putting me on edge. The lady had been nicer on the phone, and earlier on in the interview when she was grilling me on which Frozen character was my favorite.
“Okay!” The interviewer gathered up her paperwork, beaming at me through the camera. “Can you start tomorrow? Let’s say…” her eyebrows furrowed together. “5:30? I will not be there for the first hour due to certain obligations,” she traced her lip with the tip of her index. “However, I have four employees working the front desk, I’m sure they will give you a warm welcome.” I noticed something twitch on her lips. It was almost like she was trying to stop herself from laughing—which was childish from a standpoint where I was the younger one, while she was the senior. She was supposed to be setting some kind of standard, and yet for some reason was more inclined in teasing me about workplace friendships, and apparently how “close” my colleagues were. I wasn’t stupid, I knew what friendship was like in the workplace. It’s not “real” because you’re all there to do a job, not making lifelong friendships.
“I’m looking forward to meeting them,” I said when she snorted out a laugh that twisted up my gut.
"Absolutely," she responded. "The team is very close, so don't take it personally if they're initially cautious. I'm confident that you'll all become great friends! Kai is a kind-hearted sweetheart, while Ana may seem standoffish initially, but she'll warm up to you once you get to know her. Jude, on the other hand, will be your guide during the orientation, so it's best to stay close to him. In fact, it's recommended to shadow him during your first few hours since he's our top performer! Frankly, Sim, I can hardly wait for you to meet them! They're a great group!" This woman seemed to suddenly discover the use of expletives, or maybe she had noticed I visibly wanted to crawl into the ground. The way she was describing the other employees, I was expecting cartoon characters when I walked through the door.
“Right,” I said. I was starting to regret applying. “I’ll be there.”
She ended the call with a bright smile, and her stupid cat walking on the keyboard, causing her to squeak out in horror. I shut my laptop, my cheeks burning. Well, that went…? Well? Could I really say it went well when the manager had spent the last five minutes implying my work colleagues were going to hate me? Fuck.
I didn’t want to go. I trashed my application and deleted her number from my phone. But the morning after, however, I came to the quick realization through precious morning caffeine, that I needed cash. So, no matter how much I didn’t want to go—I had to. So, I headed to classes and tried not to think about it. It was 5:34 when I stepped into the familiar glow of the famous store—not before being stopped in the middle of a crowed by a girl wearing bright pink ray-bans and a scowl. “Do you work there?” she turned and pointed to the store.
I shrugged. “I guess.”
She scoffed, slipping off her ray-bans and fixing me with a bitchy smile. “Your funeral.”
Normally, in situations when strangers say odd things to me on the street, I just laugh it off. But this? This seemed personal.
“What?”
The girl didn’t say anything before turning and walking or rather running away.
Well, that was weird.
After that encounter, I was weighing the positives and negatives of taking up the job. The positives would be cash and something to occupy my mind away from classes, and the negatives were being stuck with insufferable colleagues and a manager who was the embodiment of unprofessional. The store was pretty empty when I stepped through automatic doors, reveling in the cooling fan blasting icy cold air in my face. A dark-haired college girl had her back to me, cleaning tables. But I noticed her stiffening up when I took a step forward. She straightened up like a cat going into territorial mode, before relaxing and holding a two-fingered hand up.
The store was empty so I had no idea who she was signaling to. It wasn’t a greeting to me—I had no idea what it was. I was halfway to the counter before a guy popped up out of nowhere, mid-way through drying a cup with a washrag. His hair was the first thing I noticed. Bright red.
In contrast to his pasty skin, this guy would definitely stand out in a crowd. He was my age or maybe a little older, mid twenties, with a wide smile and not much of anything else, kitted in a short-sleeved shirt, and a Starbucks apron over the top.
I expected quirky cartoon-like weirdos and I got an average Joe. I wasn’t complaining.
Initially, I thought this guy was just another jock-like college guy. But looking closer, the friendliness in his eyes wasn’t sincere, and his smile was strained. Keeping up a professional attitude, he regarded me with a smile, leaning across the counter. But his eyes kept flicking to the door in quick succession like he was waiting for a certain someone to come in. “You.” He pointed at me, trailing his finger to the door, swiping hair from his face with his hand. The guy was bouncing on the heels of his toes, I noticed. He couldn’t stand still, like a hyperactive child. “You’re Sim, The newbie I’m supposed to be training.”
I nodded, offering a nervous wave.
“Jude.” He introduced himself, though clearly distracted, his gaze flicking to and from the door. His facade was friendly enough, but very fake. It was the same smile I presumed he flashed at customers who complimented his looks. “Hey, Sim.”
Instead of holding out his hand for me to shake, he folded his arms across his chest. Jude cocked his head, drinking me in before his lips broke out into a beam.
"Shall we get started?"
Jude started the tour, showing me the store itself, then the back, the storage room, the staff room, and bizarrely, a wooden door which he referred to as, “The Drink”. I had no idea what that meant, but I made a mental note to steer away from it.
The backrooms of the store turned into a labyrinth. The place was covered in mold, peeling paint on the doors and old rugged floor tiles. Jude spoke way too fast like he was intentionally trying to confuse me. By the time I was struggling with my apron, he was turning on his heels with a brow raised. “Your hair is too long so you need to tie it up. You can shadow me this evening but don’t get in my way. We have two twenty-minute breaks and during them, we are contractually obligated to go down to the Second Street store and throw eggs at their windows—ooh, and the girl you just met who didn’t say a word? That’s Ana. You will get used to her.” His smile reached a level of fake I didn’t think was possible. “Why don’t you follow me?”
“What?” I managed to hiss out when Jude was leading me down a long, winding corridor that dipped into various rooms, out-of-order elevators, and the creepiest set of stairs I had ever seen leading into the pitch dark. I was still trying to register his words.
Jude twisted around with a frown. “What’s up?” He nodded at a passing blonde girl who shot me a smile, and hive-fived Jude before disappearing through a door.
“You throw eggs at the store down the road?”
The guy’s lip twitched into the start of a smile. He turned around, quickening his pace. “Did I say that? Obviously, I was joking.”
I stumbled after him, knocking into a dark-haired younger guy carrying a tray of cupcakes. He and Jude seemed to exchange words without speaking before Jude gestured to the stranger. Somehow, I figured out their telepathic conversation through eye movements and strained smiles, they weren’t talking about me. “That’s Kai,” Jude said, pushing through the doors back to the main storefront. He took a customer’s order, retaining that stupid smile. “If you need any help with making those annoying TikTok drinks that take a millennia to make and have probably broken several Geneva convention rules?” He playfully knocked into me while preparing a drink, his hands knowing where everything was, preparing and serving a latte in a matter of minutes, “Kai is your guy! He runs our social media page and is practically a connoisseur on the next big trend. He'll deal with zoomers."
I was slowly starting to ease my way into this job, and my colleagues seemed pretty cool. Jude actually helped me all the way through the evening, introducing his home life and how he grew up as he cleaned tables and conversed with the others—always throwing me into their chatting so I didn’t get left out. I ended up sorting through cookies and making price labels with Aurora, the perky blonde who high-fived Jude earlier. She spoke to me like we had been best friends for years, and that part of her charm made me instantly adore her. She was tiny for her age, but a menace when it came to her sharp tongue and language. I didn’t think a tiny thing like her could swear like a goddamn sailor, but it was cute. Jude and Aurora had a sibling-type thing going on, though every time I caught Kai’s eye, he was smirking. It seemed everyone knew they had a thing except them.
I was actually having fun with the others, bobbing my head to the radio while serving a group of kids, when Jude, who was next to me, seemed to go rigid all of a sudden. His laughing smile carved into something else. I had never seen an expression change so fast.
But he wasn’t the only one. Aurora, cleaning tables and giggling at Jude’s joke, straightened up, her eyes flashing to the door. Kai’s head snapped up from where he had been grinding coffee. Following their gaze, I found myself face-to-face with the manager who interviewed me. But unlike the night before, she was not smiling. The woman dropped her bag at the door before marching towards the counter. Jude leaned over; his expression apprehensive.
“Well?”
His eyes as well as his tone had darkened significantly. All of my colleagues had taken off these masks, these facades of joking smiles and bright eyes, and now I was seeing a glimmer of what they were hiding. What Jude had been looking for all evening, sneaking glances at the door. I watched his gaze follow the manager as she paced back and forth, chewing her nails. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know.” She finally said, lifting her head. Her lips were twisted. “But.” She said, spitting each word, as she rounded the counter, helping herself to coffee. “You’re going to pay a visit to them right now, and…and sort this out once and for all.” Her voice resembled that of a mother talking to her children. She was assertive to them, her eyes piercing. Do you understand me?” The woman nodded at Jude. “You can go.” Her eyes found mine. “Take the new girl, she needs to be inducted.” Finally, she turned to Ana, who was standing in the corner silently. “You are too. I need brains, and Jude is just brawn. Keep him on his toes, young lady."
With a hint of sarcasm in his tone, Jude uttered a brief "Thanks," and then proceeded to take a coffee cup and a Sharpie. Swiftly, he scrawled some words on the side of the cup, before placing it inside a bag and plonking it in front of me. As Jude reached for his coat at the back, he put it on over his green Starbucks apron, creating a striking contrast with his denim blue sherpa. With his mop of red curls, this guy was in no way going to be as incognito as he thought. "We'll manage the conversation,” he said hurriedly, visibly excited. Jude seemed to lead the others in their expressions, his confidence and wit causing them to brighten up, adapting wide smiles. He shoved his hands in his pockets, “All you gotta do is hand them this, okay?”
“Is that a good…” Kai drifted off on whatever he was about to say, ducking his head when Jude shot him a glare.
“I think it’s a perfect idea!” The manager beamed at me. “What a way to fully bring you into our family!”
I took the coffee cup (the empty coffee cup) hesitantly. “What is it?”
“It’s a gift!” Jude said, moving towards the door in long strides. It was all too noticeable that this guy was practically vibrating with an energy I had never known. It was almost manic. “I want to let them know we appreciate them! Y’know! Rival to rival.”
Kai stepped in front of him on the way out.
“Be careful,” he said in a low hum. Aurora joined him, but she wasn’t speaking, her left-hand tugging at the waistband of her jeans. “Keep your head down when you go in because they’ll be expecting you—and they’ll be expecting a retaliation.”
“Relaaaaax, it’s Cora! We used to date!” he cocked his head. "I think."
“I mean it. "
Jude’s gaze found mine for a moment before his smile grew. “Well, we have enough eggs don’t we?” He grabbed my arm, pulling me along. Ana was already gone. I could see her figure already slinking down the street, bleeding into the shadow.
When the two of us hit the cool night air and Jude quickened his pace into a power-walk, his eyes set forwards, jaw set, I figured I should ask what his deal was. If this guy was serious about vandalizing a rival Starbucks, and not just that, urged by his manager, then I had to say something.
The thought of ending up in jail being petty over a rival store made me feel nauseous.
“So, what is this about?” I asked, catapulting myself into a half-run to keep up with him. The guy had abnormally long legs, so he was halfway across the sidewalk while I was barely two steps in front. “Aren’t you taking this a little too seriously?”
Jude didn’t reply, instead remarking on the sky being filled with stars.
“Hey, Ana!” He shouted. “Wait up!”
Second Street Starbucks was like walking into a palace. I could tell why these guys were rivals. The place was a three-floored beast, a glass building made up of a Starbucks downstairs, a library, and a private apartment. I found myself mesmerized by the twinkling lights on the door, the mini water fountain through large windows showing an even bigger storefront with rich-looking wooden tables and reclining chairs. The store was closing. When we stepped in front of the door, there was a sign which clearly said CLOSED on the front.
Still, though, Ana pushed her way through it, followed by Jude, pulling me along with him. Two employees were working, a guy with short blondish hair mopping the floors, and a girl standing at the counter, going through the register. The moment we stepped inside, the guy cleaning up stopped mopping from side to side, his fingers visibly tightening around the mop handle. “Hey there!”
With one of his best fake smiles, Jude raised his arms in surrender. “We’re from the Starbucks down the road. We come in peace, don’t worry!” He gestured to me.
“Can we talk to your manager?”
He took a step, his lip twitching, eyes glinting, which caused a stir in the air. The girl at the counter stopped flicking through a wad of cash in her hand and delicately put it down, and the guy turned to face us with wary eyes.
As Jude took another stride forward, his movements resembled a dance, and I noticed he was having fun teasing them. His eyes sparkled with a childlike glee that was unexpected for a person in his twenties. "Would you like to try our latest coffee recipe? It's like sipping on liquid sunshine." He nonchalantly brushed his jeans, and I half-expected him to pull out an egg. “But…” Jude took another step, and Ana situated herself behind the blonde boy, her expression blank. “You’ve already tasted it, haven’t you?”
The girl behind the counter finally stopped counting cash, delicately placing a wad back inside the register before leaning forward, an amused smirk curving on her lips. “Jude.” Her voice was a low murmur. “I didn’t think I would see you here so soon.”
“Cora.” Jude’s lips quirked. “Trust me, I don’t want to be. But hey, it's the boss's orders.”
She inclined her head, her eyes drinking all of him in. The girl rested her fist on her chin. She was surveying him like a piece of meat. “And you obey her?”
His grin widened, and I saw his hand once again brush the front of his apron. “Like a dog.”
“You know her?” I hissed out, grasping hold of the coffee cup in my hand.
“Cora?” Jude turned to me. “Oh yeah, we used to be the Romeo and Juliet of coffee shop rivalry — back when we were both newbies, and our store kidnapped me as a last resort. To keep the peace, I stayed.” He shrugged. “That’s what I’m told, anyway.”
Starbucks lore was getting dark.
These guys had to be joking around.
I took a step back, eager to head towards the door and be as far away as possible from what I was pretty sure was going to be a lot of eggs, and several arrests. “You worked here?” I couldn’t believe my mouth was still moving and forming words as I took slow steps back. Before Jude caught my arm.
“Apparently.” He said, dragging me back by his side. “Why don’t you give ‘em’ their gift?”
Fuck.
Unwrapping the bag and pulling out the cup, I nodded and took slow strides toward the counter, placing it down in front of her.
Cora frowned, before picking it up, her gaze going to the side.
“Go fuck yourself 2nd street bloodsuckers.” She read out loud, her brow raising into her hairline.
Shit.
“I should probably go.” I managed to say, backing away. “I don’t think is the job for me—”
The latter half of my words exploded in my head when something slammed into my ears, a physical force sending me to my knees. Initially, I didn’t know what it was. It sounded like a nuclear bomb had gone off. When the ringing in my head subsided, I was aware I had my head buried in my knees, my hands clamped over my ears.
But when I tried to listen past the relentless shrill ringing in my skull, I heard them one after the other. Pop, pop, pop! Gunshots. The crack of each bullet ricocheted in my skull. It was a robbery, I thought dizzily. We were being robbed. No, Second Street was being robbed. When I lifted my head to try and find Jude and Ana to see if they were okay-- I expected them to be cowering like me, Jude, under the table, muffling yelling into his hand, and Ana, calmly pulling him to safety. But that wasn't what I saw. Instead, I must have been fucking imagining things. Jude had not moved from his spot-- and perfectly melded into his hand, was a gun. A gun he was holding like a pro, his hands wrapped around the butt, index teasing the trigger.
His trajectory was directly between Cora's eyes. Jude had not been the one who shot the gun. In fact, neither had Ana, who was still standing stiffly behind the blonde guy.
It was a girl behind the counter who had come out of nowhere wielding the type of gun I expected to see in movies. I noticed from his stance Jude had maybe stepped to the left and then the right to avoid being hit, but the way his demeanour was fully and completely relaxed sent shivers creeping down my spine. "The deal is off, Cora," he murmured. "You fuck with us, so we fuck with you." he lowered his gun slightly, his eyes darkening. "Where's Ren? He came here to sniff you out, so where is he?"
Cora seemed remarkably calm. She started to raise her hands, her lips forming the words, "I don't know what you're talking about" before she stopped, her body going limp. It took me a disorienting moment to realize Jude had taken the shot, followed by another, both landing right between her eyes. When Cora hit the ground, the whole world around me exploded.
I was dragged to the ground by Jude, as he dived across the floor, pressing himself into the back of a table, twisting around, and taking out the barista who almost shot me in the face. There were five of them, all of them good shooters. Too good. Ana easily took out a blonde and brunette with her own magnum, followed by a bald guy who crashed through the counter which collapsed under him.
Jude fell into a manic shoot-out with a guy who would not give up, and after several attempts, re-loading, and attempting to finish him from the ground, my colleague got tired and stood up, dropped his gun, and leaped across the counter. I didn't know what to watch. Ana, who was destroying their coffee machine, or Jude, who snapped the boy's neck with a single twist of his fingers, before ripping out his eyes. He hauled the dead guy over his knees, grazing his teeth across the pasty flesh of the boy's neck, his eyes flickering. I wouldn’t say they turned a different color, but there was something inhuman about them, a certain tint around his iris. "Urgh."
He shoved the corpse away, jumping up. "He reeks of it." Treading through broken glass and pooling red on the floor, my colleague grabbed a cup, downed it, and then spat it out. “That.” He sputtered. “Is the worst fucking thing I’ve ever tasted.”
Ana stepped in front of him, handing the boy his gun. “When one of any clan is murdered for with no reason, there is an imbalance, and the coffee is tainted. We must restore the balance before this gets out of hand,” she surprised me by speaking, with a tinge of an Aussie accent. The girl side-eyed me before shooting Jude a knowing look. “Don’t let her get in our way.”
“Aye, aye, captain.” He mocked a salute before nodding to me. “All right! Sim, you grab a sample. We’ll go find the altar.”
Something ice-cold slipped down my spine.
“What?”
“Cool it. It’s more fun than it sounds,” was all Jude responded with. “Grab the samples.”
I was running on adrenaline, doing exactly what he said. I grabbed two coffee cups. “What do we do now? We go home, right?”
He swiped at his lips with a sound of disgust. “Are you kidding? No, man. We get coffee which ain’t tainted.”
Ana took out two guards in the back before leading us both through a heavy metal door that led into tunnels, tunnels, illuminated by candlelight. “You just killed multiple people,” I finally managed to choke out, following the two of them deeper into the dark. “Over coffee.” I couldn’t resist a nervous laugh that spluttered into a cry. “You just murdered seven baristas over fucking coffee!” I found myself backing away at points, scanning for a way out, an exit away from this fucking nightmare.
Jude turned to me, the glitter in his eyes reflected in the candlelight. “Oh, please,” His voice echoed down the tunnel in a chuckle. “Do you really think this is just about coffee?”
I didn't understand what he meant until we came to the end of the tunnel, which dipped into an alcove leading us into a large cave-like room. Drawing his gun, Jude scanned the dark. "Anyone in here?" He said, and Ana hit him. Silence answered, and I found myself paralyzed to the spot. I didn't know what to stare at first. The ten-foot-tall Starbucks Siren looming over us, illuminated in flickering orange candlelight, or the old swimming pool filled to the brim. When I took a step forward, my foot sunk into something soft, and I made the mistake of looking down. Bodies.
I guessed that was "The Drink".
I felt myself fall back, but Ana's warm arms were guiding me away from decomposing flesh which decapitated heads poisoned in a way that I could almost call ritualistic. There were bodies everywhere, all of them curled up or had died in a position of prayer. Jude crouched in front of a guy still in his Starbucks apron. His eyes had been cleanly plucked from his skull. Jude's expression was beautifully sombre in the candlelight. "Fuck, dude," he whispered.
"Looks like they got you."
“Which explains how they got their hands on our recipe.” Ana pulled out her gun and clicked off the safety. The girl’s eyes were suddenly sad, her lip wobbling. I had a hard time believing a girl who had taken out three baristas at point-blank range was crying.
"Through him."
“What is this place?” I whispered. "What the fuck are you doing in here?”
Jude straightened up. Ana moved behind him, and I noticed her hands holding her gun were trembling. She raised her arm, pointing it at the back of his head. Jude didn't retaliate, only sending me a sickly smile. "It used to be ours," he said. "Until other stores started opening, and it became a fucking free-for-all." Jude sighed, rocking back and forth on his heel. Ana's trigger finger followed his movements. "We have a peace treaty..." Jude trailed off. "Sorry. HAD a peace treaty." He nodded to his colleague. "Second Street has always been obsessed with this particular blend we have that other stores don't." His lips curved. "They're greedy, and thought they could fuck with us. First, they took our last manager. He was like a dad to us. Sliced him up and sent us his head." He gestured to his friend. "And then they took Ren. They brought this shit upon themselves."
As he spoke, Jude dropped to his knees and closed his eyes, bowing his head in front of the Siren. Ana didn't move. "Are you ready?"
“Always.”
I screamed, slamming my hand over my mouth when this time when Ana shot Jude point blank in the back of the head. When his body crumpled to the ground, something inside me snapped in two, and I couldn’t breathe suddenly. I thought the two were playing some kind of sick game before I caught unmistakable seeping black pooling across the alter.
In the blur of orange candlelight, it was almost a mesmerizing sight. “Shush!” Ana sent me an annoyed look, before gathering his body in her arm. “Make yourself useful and grab a bucket,” she said, stumbling towards the pool. I watched her, my heart diving into my throat. When I didn’t move, Ana hissed out and twisted around.
“Did you not hear me?!” she yelled. “Get a bucket and start collecting it!” The girl gestured towards a large, rusted pipe looming over the pool, a stream of murky brown water leaking into the pool. When I started forwards, the girl shook her head. “Not yet.” She said, before heaving Jude’s body and throwing him into the darkness. I heard the splash, but I didn’t even see his body hit the surface. Part of me wanted to demand what the fuck she was doing, but I did what I was told, with trembling hands, grabbing a bucket and shuffling over to the pool edge. Ana hissed out again. “I said not yet!” Before I could speak, she held a finger to her lips. “Do it now!”
“The pool water?!” I shrieked.
She raised a brow. “You think that’s water?”
Before I could coerce some kind of speech, I was interrupted by what felt like a sudden earthquake. The ground rumbled under our feet, and I hesitated before dropping the bucket into the water and scooping up as much as I could. I quickly realized it wasn’t water. It was thick with the constancy of blood, coffee brown and yet sticky and warm like blood.
Above us, the pipe seemed to come to life, a brand new stream of murky brown solution coming down in a waterfall. I didn’t think about the pieces of flesh floating on the surface, the decomposing heads I caught bobbing around, or the fact that I was dipping my hands in blood. Coffee and blood. My stomach was trying to projectile my lunch, but I swallowed it down. I took advantage, managing three buckets before Ana was grasping my shoulders and pulled me back. I didn’t realize I was sobbing until she was handing me a handkerchief, and I was staring at her and it, like, “What do you expect me to do with this?!”
Still in shock, I tried to get another bucket full before she dragged me from the pool edge. “You can stop now,” she said. “We have enough.”
"Enough what?!"
I staggered back when the surface of the pool rippled. I don’t know what I expected to come out.
Dead bodies?
Decapitated heads?
Not Jude, covered in the brown murky shit I had filled the buckets with. When he broke the surface, I almost threw one of the buckets at his head. Despite being covered in coffee and blood, his skin was oddly free of flaws. The guy was also really naked, which should have been a minor problem compared to what I was seeing, which was a real resurrection in front of a ten-foot statue of the Starbucks siren. Which was completely normal.
But I still found my cheeks heating up. Jude ran a hand through soaked curls sticking over his eyes, shaking them like a dog before pulling himself out. I couldn’t help noticing there was no gunshot wound. It was almost as if his body was completely new. I took in abnormally grey-looking skin, like dead flesh, before averting my gaze. “Did we do it?” He gasped out, immediately covering himself. Once out of the pool, he knelt on the ground, sucking in breaths of air before seemingly realizing the state of himself.
“Fuck. I didn’t think this through.”
“I did.” Ana reached into the backpack she had brought, pulling out a shirt and jeans, reverting her eyes, and throwing him the bundle. “Get dressed.” She said, But there was a slight smirk on her lips. “Yes. I think we managed to appease them.”
“Sweet!” Jude grinned, dressing quickly. He sucked the tips of his fingers. “Mmm.” He nodded at Ana. “That tastes a lot better.”
He gestured to her, and to my disgust, the girl delicately licked his fingers and nodded with her own smile. “It tastes like cherry blossom.”
His eyes fell on me, and I saw that inhuman gleam in his eye—that had been very much there before he was resurrected in a pool of coffee. His lip quirked. I could still see coffee-- or blood dripping in thick rivulets down his temples and cheek. “Should we?”
Jude turned to Ana. “I mean while we’re here, right? We can induct the newbie.”
Immediately, I knew what he was talking about. I stepped back, but he was following me, getting closer and closer until his breath was in my face, and I was teetering on the edge. I sensed something in his eyes, something I never expected from a man who knew exactly what he was doing. Envy. Another step, and I would be falling into what I was sure was a pool full of decomposing bodies and resurrecting coffee. “Not now,” Ana murmured, and Jude snapped out of it, taking a step back.
“Buzzkill.” He muttered.
But he did step away, allowing me to inch away from the pool.
“Later,” Ana said. “She’s shaken up. We can do it first thing tomorrow.”
To my surprise, there were no cops at the scene at Second Street. Because there was no scene.
The store was back to normal, and I didn’t have the energy to question why. When we returned, Aurora wrapped me into a hug I tried to get out of as quickly as possible, eager to get the fuck away from that place. But. I had to finish my shift. I had watched a man resurrected by coffee in a fucking Starbucks shrine, and yet somehow I had to keep making drinks until my shift ended. It was nearing closing time when the doors opened, and I found myself face-to-face with the girl from earlier. The one wearing the pink ray-bans.
She didn’t say anything, but the blade of her knife grazing my gut told me everything I needed to know. With a knowing look when she slipped off her raybans, she pressed something into my hand before leaving, and I handed it to the manager, who opened it up, almost died laughing, and then threw it in the trash.
“You work for psychopaths.” I managed to get out, sidling in front of Jude while he was clocking out.
“Also, didn’t you… didn’t you fucking die?”
Jude didn’t look up from his phone. “It’s complicated.” His lip quirked. “You’ll find out tomorrow during your induction.”
“But… you work for these people!” I lowered my voice. “And you’re not trying to get away?” I gestured to Kai and Aurora standing by the door, the two of them locked in conversation. “None of you?”
Jude frowned, and I caught the first hint of annoyance. I had only seen this guy smiling, so seeing him scowling was quite the change. “I’m sorry, do you… do you think I have a choice?”
He surprised me with a laugh. “Me? A choice? You really think I wake up every morning and WANT to do this shit?” He got close, his breath in my ear. “You came here willingly. I didn’t. In fact? I don’t even remember coming here. My interview, my first day? Nothing. I don’t even remember my time at Second Street.” He threw a towel at me before I could coerce words. “Finish clearing up, all right? I’ll see you tomorrow for induction.”
There was something cruel in his smile like he was waiting for whatever my induction had in store for me.
I couldn’t help myself. When everyone was gone, and I was tasked with locking up, I picked the discarded note out of the trash, smoothing it down.
“You pieces of shit just declared war. Sleep with one eye open! 😊”
Cora xx.”
….
I cut my finger with a knife this morning. When I sucked it and grabbed a band-aid, I tasted coffee. I went home and threw up coffee.
I am peeing coffee.
I showered 8 times and I still fucking smell of coffee.
I don’t think I’m going to go to work tomorrow.
Edit: There’s been a break-in— and the manager wants me to come in early. Jude and Ana woke me up in the middle of the night to go over tactics. We are taking down Second Street during closing time.
I guess I am going to work tomorrow.
Does anyone know how to use a gun?

Co-Authored by me and u/Research-Apart, a big thanks to u/Acceptable_Egg5560 for letting us use Tarlim, and for helping write him
Well that took a while, hope it was worth the wait, the next chapter shouldn't take as long
CW: >! Gore and violence !<
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____________________________________________________________________________________
> Access File: Hybris (9)
[OPENING FILE]
Notice from Department of Extrasolar Records: These records were discovered in a floating black box data recording in the Gliese 832 system. These transcriptions contain the memories of prominent individuals who were directly involved with the events detailed below. The components of the transcription technology used are under review by the Department of Xenotechnology, and any transcriptions found within the data logs will be transferred directly to the Department of Extrasolar Records for further processing.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Memory transcription subject: Tarlim, Venlil Civilian
Date [standardized human time]: April 4, 2143
I don’t know how long I was in hiding for, I just remember hearing the screams of people outside before falling asleep when it all died down. I got up from the floor and peaked out of my closet to see if there was a break in before leaving it entirely. I checked my front door to see if the locks were still locked and, luckily enough, it was still intact. I set out a sigh of relief before walking back to my living room and slumping back down on my couch. I took my medication as I picked up my datapad from the floor, hoping everything that happened earlier was just a bad dream. The first thing I noticed was that my pad spat back an error message. That was strange, the infrastructure was too developed to not have net access in the middle of a city.
Glancing up towards the window, I noticed a strange red hue coming from behind the curtain. I set my pad down on the couch as I got up and walked to the window. I could feel my paws begin to shake as I grabbed the curtains. Anticipating the worst, I hesitantly opened the curtains and peaked outside. It was worse than anything I could have expected: The remains of dead Venlil littered the street below as more continued to pile on. Orange blood coated the surrounding building walls as mutated Venlil ripped apart anyone they got their paws on. One of them eventually came across a mother and child attempting to hide underneath the surrounding rubble. It didn’t hesitate to attack the woman before another mutant came by to try and steal its catch. They fought each other relentlessly, trying to keep her in their grasp. Their claws tore deeply into her skin and muscles as they fought, causing her to scream from the unimaginable amount of pain. She took one last look at her child and yelled at him to run before her throat was torn off.
The child ran for his life, dodging around rubble and mutants and for a brief moment, I thought he might make it! Then a mutant Krakotl swooped down over him, a barbed tendril emerged from its beak and stabbed the pup in the shoulder. Screaming in pain he was lifted into the air as the mutant flew off to Protector knows where. As I swept my gaze across the city, similar scenes played out: survivors ran through the streets, slipping on pools of blood as they were pursued by packs of mutants; doors and windows were smashed to pieces as people looted for supplies; buildings were engulfed in flames as malfunctioning fire traps and improvised weapons were set off; mutants of every conceivable species rampaged through the city, attacking everyone they could find.
I fell to my knees as I vomited from the sight of the massacre outside. The blood, the gore, it was too much! My consciousness was escaping me as my heart pounded in my chest. I was hyperventilating, I was going to die, everything swirled around I was, I couldn’t-
Focus.
Breathe.
Calm.
Forcing the tirade of emotion back I shakely I got back up and looked back outside, only to lock eyes with one of the mutant Venlil. Its head turned to stare at me, its eye solid black with streaks of red running through it. For a moment, we simply stared at each other, before it started to run towards my apartment complex in a strange loping gait. It was picking up speed with every step and soon ran on all fours, galloping over rubble and trappling eviscerated corpses. I stumbled away from the window and ran to my door. There was no spehing way that I was fighting that thing. Right when I unlocked it, I heard the shattering of glass behind me. In the corner of my eye I could see the monster clambering through the window, shards of broken glass tearing at its flesh. I went through the door as fast as I could as it regained its posture. The moment I closed it behind me, I heard a loud thud behind me, signifying the mutant had attempted to lunge at me, ‘How the speh did it reach my window!? I’m four stories up!’ I thought before running down the hallway.
As I ran down through the hallway, I could see the place was in ruin: the walls that lined the hallway were torn and covered in streaks of Venlil blood as the lights above flickered unrhythmically. I zigzagged from door to door, looking for somewhere to hide, but every apartment was locked. I soon heard the bang of a door being knocked off its hinges from down the corridor. I felt my heart pounding, threatening to burst out of my chest at the exertion, but I pushed on. I briefly considered the elevator upon reaching the end of the corridor, but realized power to it was most likely cut. I ran to the stairwell and raced down it as fast as I could, taking two or three steps at a time. I could hear the creature burst into the stairwell as soon as I reached the first floor. That thing was fast, too fast.
I ran through the hallways of the first floor and saw that most of the apartments had already been broken into. The people who used to live here are either dead, mutated, or in hiding. I could feel my legs starting to ache from running so fast for so long, but I couldn’t stop. I could feel my quads beginning to tear underneath my skin as my heart pounded vigorously. I could try to hide in one of the open apartments, but what difference would that make? I would just be waiting to die. I can’t keep running like this, I need something to defend myself with.
As the pain within my legs began to set in, I decided to run into one of the open apartments anyway to escape that thing. Upon entering, I ran through the ruined apartment and went straight into the bathroom to hide. I closed and locked the door as quietly as possible before taking stock of the room. Compared to the rest of the apartment, hell the rest of the complex, it looked disturbingly normal. I looked around for a few moments to see if there was anything I could use in case that thing does find me, but there was nothing. Then I noticed a window looking out onto an alleyway. I went to the window and fumbled at the latch and pushed it open. Quickly crawling my way through, I stumbled slightly as I hit the ground. Looking around, I spotted an abandoned shipping crate sitting against the wall. I shifted my weight and prepared to run when I heard the cracking of splintering wood behind me. I sprinted down the alleyway and slid behind the crate without bothering to look behind me. There was more cracking and splintering and the twisted pants of the mutant. Cautiously peeking around the crate, I saw it stepping out of the window frame. The shattered remains of the window sitting on the floor below it. It stalked down the alleyway towards me, its eyes scanning for any sign of its prey. Ducking back behind my crate, I frantically searched for anything I could use to fight. As I shuffled further behind the crate, I felt my paw brushed against a discarded wrench. someone had likely been performing maintenance on the exterior pipes and the wrench had been left behind. Gripping it tightly, I got myself into a crouching position and prepared to move at a moment's notice…
After a moment of silence, I heard a woman’s voice, “Tarlim, are you there? I heard a window break from around the corner,” she said
My ears peaked up at the voice, could that be…
“Barlen?” I said quietly.
“Barlen, keep your voice down!” I called out, I didn’t want her to get killed.
“Sorry” she replied, more quietly this time.
“There was a mutant crawling around here,” I told her.
“I saw it, it went the other way, it must have seen easier prey,” she responded.
I let out a sigh of relief and slowly got up to my feet, leaning against the crate, the wrench hanging loosely at my side.
“Thank the protector, it’s good to see a friendly face…”
I looked up, and sitting on the crate, was the creature.
“It’s good to see you too,” it said, perfectly mimicking Barlen’s voice.
Its three petaled mouth opened wide before pouncing at me. In a stroke of luck my body twisted and smacked it across the head with the wrench in my hands. It was hit so hard so quickly, I knocked out a couple teeth before it fell limp next to me. I took a few steps back before repeatedly hitting it in back of its head with the wrench in my paws. I don’t know how many times I did it, I just kept going until brain matter was exposed.
When I was sure it was dead, I fell back against the wall and sat down as I dropped the wrench next to me. I could feel my heart beginning to pound from exhaustion as I tried catching my breath.
Thoughts began to race through my mind as I stared at my paws in horror. This thing was not only incredibly fast and agile, but it was also capable of replicating voices. ‘How did it know Barlen’s voice, and how did it know it would work on me?’ I thought for a moment before remembering the press release prior to all of this. They showed a living planet, no bigger than a large moon, sitting motionless in the sky above as it formed an eye. I still remember the feeling it gave me: the horror was so great, I tried to convince myself before falling asleep that none of this was real; all of this was just a bad dream and I needed to wake up, but I knew that wasn’t true. I slowly turned my gaze up towards the sky and saw that thing looking down at us, looking down at me.
What if the reason why the mutant was able to figure out what voice to use to draw me out was because it wasn’t on its own? What if all those infected aren’t senseless monsters, but they were that thing’s puppets. They all bend to its will without question, and I have a reason to believe it can see through their eyes too.
The sound of distant roars quickly snapped me back to reality as I sat with my blood covered paws. Picking up my bloodied wrench, I slowly made my way down the alleyway and out into the street. I could feel my heart screaming in pain at the recent exertion, not once have I ever pushed my body so hard in my life. Carefully peering around the corner of the apartment complex, I scanned the street before me. It was completely deserted and any possible living thing that was here is either dead or in hiding. I took one last look around before leaving the backstreet. Creeping between overturned cars and mangled corpses, I kept my eyes peeled for any more of those mutants nearby. I was in such a fearful state, I could feel my body tense up at every unidentified noise and shadow. Twice I spotted mutants prowling the streets, but I was able to avoid them by staying hidden. Eventually, I circled back to my apartment building after making sure the coast was clear. I kept my eyes peeled and listened closely to my surroundings as I made my way upstairs. I can see all the damage that thing left behind as it chased me. I’m glad I was able to kill that thing when I did because if it had caught me I would be more than dead. I eventually reached my apartment four stories up and looked in from behind the door frame. The room was a mess: shattered glass and ripped curtains littered the floor as my window remained permanently open; my furniture was broken and torn into as everything else beyond the living room remained untouched. I looked in the dining room and saw my pack was still sitting on the table. After checking my bag to see if my pills were still there, I quickly searched for any food and water before making my way back outside. I needed to find somewhere safe.
As I crept through another back alley, I tried to remember the directions for the shelter. We were supposed to memorize their locations in the event of a raid, but I had for some reason not been included in the regular drills. Fortunately, they were not that hard to find, which seemed like a possible design flaw in retrospect. My musings were interrupted when I felt my pad vibrate in my pack. Confused, I reached in and pulled out my pad. I was honestly surprised it was getting a signal now. I looked at the alert and it says as follows:
“This is an emergency message sent to any and all remaining survivors of Dawn Creek and abroad: all emergency shelters within the surrounding cities have been compromised and any surviving Venlil are to find a place to hide and a weapon to defend yourselves with. These creatures are incredibly strong and agile and will do everything in their power to kill you no matter the cost. If you want to survive, you must follow these steps to the word:

1. When it is silent and a mutant nearby, stay still and hold your breath. These things have incredibly sensitive hearing and can hear your breathing from up to six tails (12 feet) away.
2. Stay out of sight and make sure they don’t see you. It is said that all of these creatures are somehow connected telepathically and function as a hive mind. If one of them sees you then they all know where you are.
3. Do not listen to them. If they fail to find you, they will mimic the voices of your close friends or loved ones in an attempt to draw you out. If you hear a familiar voice, do not respond.
4. When faced with a mutant, you must kill or maim them if you want a chance to escape. If you don’t then they will continue pursuing you. These things do not get tired and can chase you for miles without end.
5. If you survive an attack with an infected Venlil and they manage to breach skin or their bodily fluids enter your body in any way, it is recommended that you self terminate for the safety of the herd. It is estimated to take an eighth of a claw before whatever substance in said fluid enters the brain and converts you from the inside out.

May the protector save us all.”
I silently stared at the screen in mute horror after reading the last line. Every shelter in the area had been compromised and anyone taking refuge there was more than likely dead. Just how many died unable to escape as their friends and family were torn apart? The Arxur, on some level at least, killed for food, but these things didn’t do any of that: They don’t eat what they can and leave whoever left is alive to make more meat, they eviscerate any living thing they lay their eyes on in the most painful way possible. To say they’re as bad as the Arxur would be putting it lightly. These things are far worse than anything any species has come across. I looked up at the sky for a moment as I held my pad in my hands. Its eye staring down at us from above as it watches these creatures it has created mutilate my people.
‘If this thing is truly as powerful and dangerous as Tarva says, then just how old is this thing? How many species before us have been mercilessly slaughtered by it without a second thought?’ I thought to myself as I stared at the planet above.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps from down the road. I felt my heart skip a beat before running to hide behind a turned over car. I pinned back my ears and cautiously looked over the side of the car and saw a small group of exterminators in their suits scouting the area. Not once in my life have I felt so happy to see them. I got out of hiding with my paws up to show I wasn’t infected. Upon seeing me, they put up their flamethrowers on the ready until one of them recognized me.
“Tarlim!? You’re alive!?” One of the Venlil exterminators exclaimed as he took off his mask.
“Treven!?” I exclaimed in response.
‘Of all the exterminators I could have run into, why him?’ I despondently wondered.
“I honestly thought a freak like you would die first. Seems like I was wrong,” Treven said mockingly, “How did you survive anyway?”
My grip on the wrench tightened. Even after everything that had happened, they still couldn’t let go of their prejudices.
“I don’t know. I guess I was lucky,” I replied simply.
Treven scoffed, “Was it the same luck that almost cost me everything?”
I stood silent at his response. I couldn’t believe that after everything he was still acting like this… this… stupid, selfish PRICK!
“Everything we've ever cared about, is gone.” I said, struggling to control my voice.
I spread my paws out, gesturing to the destroyed city around us.
“We’re facing down hordes of biologically impossible creatures controlled and created by an entity unfathomably more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen before!”
I noticed just then that I had been slowly stalking towards him, the wrench trembling in my paw.
“And your main concern is your SPEHING CAREER!?” I shouted.
Even now, this asshole still blames me for something HE did to himself. It was infuriating that this selfish speh was mad at me for losing his job even though they were the ones who almost killed Malcos!
I was about to shout again until one of the other exterminators, a white Venlil, came by and slapped Treven in the back of the head; the blow was hard enough to send him stumbling. Before he was able to respond, his mouth was covered by their coworkers' paw to keep him from speaking. It felt somewhat good seeing Treven put in his place, but I was confused on why. It wasn’t until he moved away from Treven when he decided to stay quiet and marched towards me with an annoyed yet fearful expression in his swaying tail. I was grabbed by the wool around my neck and pulled down to his line of sight before he started loudly whispering.
“Are you trying to get us killed!? We are literally at the ground zero and your shouting might have given away our position!” He quietly exclaimed, “We already had to deal with a horde on our way into the city and lost almost everyone. The six you see used to be a group of over two hundred exterminators!”
My heart sank after realizing what I had done: Not only did I possibly make our presence known, but this small group before me used to be multiple station's worth of exterminators. I was at a loss for words at my cluelessness and kept my mouth shut after I was let go. The Venlil in white soon signaled everyone in the group to continue moving forward and to keep their eyes peeled.
As we continued moving through the streets of Dawn Creek, we eventually heard the crunching of bone and sound of flesh being torn off from around the corner. The noise sent a chill up my spine and was extremely discomforting. I glanced at the exterminators surrounding me and saw them show a more fearful expression than me. If it was true that this group used to consist of a hundred exterminators, then they likely bore witness to seeing their comrades be torn to shreds first hand. Seeing something like that would be hard to live down, especially when the people you love are the ones being mauled to death.
The thought of what these people went through to get here changed how I saw them for a moment. Knowing what he had to witness, I began to rethink how I saw them when we crossed paths. I felt bad for them for a moment until I heard that loud crunch again, but this time it was louder.
The leading exterminator looked around the corner before continuing down the street. It was strange how empty the town was considering it was crawling with infected just a claw prior. They might have found new hunting grounds since this place is absent from life, but considering one of them has already seen me and the group there should have been at least a pawful chasing after us by now. They know we’re all alive, yet refuse to take action. Something is going on and I have a feeling it might pop up soon.
The sound of crunching became progressively louder as we quietly walked. The leading exterminator raised a paw, then slowly peered around the corner where the sound had come from. He stiffened suddenly, his entire body froze up before desperately diving back behind cover. Another exterminator, the mute one I think, grabbed him by the arm before he could collapse. The leader walked up to them, careful to not make any sounds that could attract attention.
“What’s wrong? What did you see?” he whispered to the point man.
He simply pointed back towards the crunching sound as his arm shook with fear. The leader’s tail swished in annoyance as he moved to the corner. Curious for myself, I followed closely behind him to take a look at whatever was out of view. He shot me a look of annoyance when I brushed up against him, but he didn’t object to me seeing. We both peered around the building towards the street with my face almost sitting on top of his head. My breath hitched in my throat as I saw what was standing there: feasting on a Mazic in the middle of a trashed shop was a massive, grotesque, monstrosity of a Venlil. It stood over 5 tails [3 meters] tall with tendrils of red flesh that shot through its bare skin. The muscles on its body were so large it seemed like they were on the edge of bursting out of its skin, and its enormous paws looked like it could wrap around my head with ease; its legs looked like they were about to explode from the sheer mass held within them. Not only that, but what separated it from the other infected was its face: it was the only one I have seen so far that didn’t have a split face like the others. This one was different for some reason; regardless, I didn’t want to get this thing's attention.
Placing a paw on the leader's shoulder we made our way back to the rest of the group. One of the exterminators walked up to us.
“What’s happening?” she asked.
“There is some kind of super mutant up ahead, we need to find a new route,” the leader whispered back.
“Well where are we going?” I interjected, “all the shelters have been taken out.”
“Before we found you, we sent out a distress signal in hopes anyone will come for us,” The leader responded, “We never got a response so we focused on trying to find a way out.”
“Do any of you have a map so you know where you’re going?” I Inquired
“No, unfortunately. Our pads ran out of power half a claw ago and we don’t have any physical copies, so we don’t know which streets to follow” The leader replied solemnly.
“I lived here for years, so I might be able to help you escape. Just follow me.”
I stepped out from around the corner only to see that the same monster from earlier was now towering over me. I slowly turned my gaze up from its bare stomach and looked at its blood covered face: it bared its large, razor sharp teeth as it stared at me with its circular pupils. I could tell one thing by just looking that it wanted only one thing, to feast.
My heart jumped upon locking eyes with it. I slowly backed away as my whole body trembled with fear. I tried to speak to tell the others, but I was too focused on the beast before me.
“Tarlim? What’s wr-” he cut off, most likely from seeing the creature now stepping out from behind the corner…
Everyone else began backing away after laying their eyes on this thing. Everyone was silent for a few moments until one of the exterminators began running and screaming. When the spell broke, the monster leaned forward and roared at us, causing nearby rocks and windows to tremble from its immense volume. Within a split second, it charged forward with its size hiding its speed; we dove out of the way as it rushed towards the running exterminator. The leader and Mute grabbed their weapons and tried to shoot at the monster, but it wasn’t enough to slow it down. Charging forward at an impossible speed, it soon reached the fleeing exterminator and grabbed the screaming Venlil with its massive paw. With a sickening crunch, it bit down and tore off a chunk of his head. The screams soon turned into senseless noises before it took another bite. His body soon went limp after his brain was completely destroyed. Once he was finally dead, the beast quickly chewed through the rest of the body until there was nothing left. The mutant stood still for a moment, its wet panting the only sound on the empty street. We all stood still ourselves, staring at the monster in horror. Then, swiveling around on its foot, it turned to look at us. Its red pupils glistened with overwhelming bloodlust as it stared from afar. It reared its head back and roared again before charging at us. The rest of our herd showered the creature in a hail of bullets as I frantically looked around for a way out. Spotting an industrial plant down the street, I quickly ran towards it and pried the doors open. The heavy machinery would make it harder for the beast to maneuver, I hoped.
“Quick in here!” I shouted towards the others.
As soon as I shouted, I inadvertently got the creature’s attention. Locking its red pupils on me, it charged towards me. I ran away for dear life into the facility only to feel its paws grab my leg with its vice-like grip. Before I could even attempt to free myself, it threw me across the street like I was nothing. I spun in the air for a few seconds until I landed on top of one of the turned over cars.
Upon impact, I felt some of my ribs break as both glass and torn metal stabbed into my skin. I lifted one of my bloodied arms and saw multiple pieces of glass sticking out of my wool with some of them big enough to go through the bone. I tried to scream out to the others for help, but the pain I felt from just breathing alone was already too much to bear. I looked over at them as they began running away from the scene. I saw the beast get down on all fours before pouncing towards the group with great speed. Despite their distance apart, it was able to close that gap in less than a second. One by one, it killed and tore them asunder with its large, powerful claws and razor sharp teeth until there were only the mute and leader left.
I managed to fight through the pain and get up from the wreckage with blood still dripping from my wounds and flowing down my body. I took a deep breath and shouted as loud as I could in their direction. It stopped what it was doing and looked towards me from afar. It stood on its hind legs and looked at me with a somewhat surprised expression.
“HEY! OVER-” I was quickly cut off from coughing up blood as I fell to my hands and knees, “over here!”
The internal damage done was too severe for me to push myself any further than I already have, but I needed to give the others time to leave. I got myself back up and locked eyes with the mutant.
Right when I did that, it did something strange: rather than run, pounce, or even roar, it quietly walked up to me with its blood covered claws at its side. I was confused about what was happening and I didn’t know how to react. Should I attack, should I run, what could I do that wouldn’t provoke it? Once it was within range, I reacted impulsively and hit it in the face with my wrench. Although I was able to cause a slight bruise, its head didn’t move an inch and the wrench was now destroyed.
‘Oh speh’ I thought for a moment before getting grabbed by my neck and lifted into the air.
I struggled to set myself free as I repeatedly bashed the deformed wrench into its arm. I could feel my windpipe get actively crushed as it slowly tightened its grip. I eventually dropped the wrench and started doing whatever else I could to set myself free: I kicked, clawed, and hit the beast as hard as I could, but to no avail. As I reached the edge of passing out, I heard a voice.
“Tarlim, look at me,” it said calmly with a deep, raspy voice.
I looked around for a moment before hearing it again, but this time it was in front of me.
“I want you to look at me, Tarlim,” it said once again.
I soon realized where it was coming from and who was saying it once I looked at the mutated Venlil. It was that creature who was speaking.
“You did everything you could to try and get out alive, but you failed,” he said serenely “Now you’ll die knowing everyone you ever knew and cared about is gone.”
My eyes widened when it spoke. I tried to respond, but I wasn’t able to say a single word.
“I had fun chasing you and those exterminators, Tarlim, but now it's time to move on.”
Its mouth opened wide, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth layered on top of eachother. My vision was fading rapidly, and my body went limp as I accepted my fate. Just before I completely lost consciousness, I heard the faint roar of a ship's cannon and the crushing force around my neck vanished. I felt like I was sinking through an ocean as I fell to the ground, dull spikes of pain ripping through my shattered body. I tried to look up to see what had happened, but everything was too heavy, too dark
I just
Wanted
To
S l e 3 ppe..4!u
[Subject consciousness lost Memory transcription ended]

"Superfoods
For Vegetarians And Vegans Or Who?
I have heard so much about superfoods and their benefits. What's your experience and what do you think about them?
Are there such things as superfoods? Gogi berries, cocoa beans, nibs and powder, noni juice and powder, maca root powder, acai berries and powder, hemp seed powder, camu camu berries and powder, green-tea extract, blue mangosteen, cod liver and fish oils, green powders and pills made from green grasses and their juices and algae such as spirulina, and chlorella are all claimed as raw superfoods by many people in the raw-food movements. I found that it is mainly within the vegetarian and vegan raw-food groups that people seek superfoods. It is helpful to understand why they must have superfoods.
Consider that humans have acidic and short digestive tracts producing acidic digestive fluids and harboring acidic bacteria, and 80% of teeth are designed for cutting, extremely similar to carnivores. Herbivores have mainly alkaline and very long digestive tracts producing vast amounts of alkaline- digestive juices and bacteria, and all teeth are molars for grinding vegetation. Rarely are there healthy long-term raw vegetarians and vegans. Usually, the more committed ones hit a wall at 7 years. Others that cheat may spend a decade or two before they hit the wall. Often, the wall is serious disease such as cancer. Half of my cancer patients were long-term vegetarians and vegans.
Ninety-nine percent of human vegetarians and vegans cannot get enough protein and fats, and lack minerals and an array of nutrients from their diets. Ninety-nine percent of their bodies are unfulfilled and unsatisfied. I know from 6 years of subjective and objective experience as a raw "balanced-diet- eating vegetarian evolved to vegan." I and ALL of the vegetarians and vegans I knew were usually malnourished with eating disorders. I adhered to it 99.9% of the time. Others were much less tenacious. However, occasionally, uncontrollably yet consciously, I stretched and contorted what foods were truly raw, trying to force reality to conform to my adopted concepts of vegetarianism and veganism.
I did not realize the irrationality of believing that humans were optimally healthy as raw-food vegetarians and vegans. I had accepted the false information that our digestive tracts were more alkaline like other primates, and herbivores. I was so malnourished, anytime anyone told me about a superfood such as amaranth "grain of Egyptian gods", I consumed it. However, all such promises of superfoods resulted in my slow but steady deterioration to 96 pounds at 5'8".
Primal-Diet-eating athlete Scott Wheeler of Australia for example won the race at the Raw Games in Hawaii November 2008. All of the other runners were vegetarians or vegans, some mostly raw and some not.
Ninety percent or more of all of currently purported superfoods are processed and not truly raw. They are not fresh so they lack enzymes. Whenever foods are dried, bioactive enzymes are inactivated like a dead auto battery. They cannot be resurrected any more than we can resurrect ourselves from dead. Therefore, even dried fruits are not really raw because they lack bioactive enzymes.
Although Native North American Indians lacked our laboratory sciences, they knew the inferior nature of dried food. They had empirical science called experience. Empirical awareness and knowledge is much more valuable, containing wisdom rather than conclusions based on chemical theories and hypotheses.
Each summer, Native Americans made large supplies of a mixture of dried meat and fat, sometimes adding berries. It is called pemmican. It would be eaten in case they could not find fresh kill. Eating pemmican would prevent starvation, fatigue and bodily deterioration. The process of making pemmican was time-consuming, both hunting and preparing it by drying, beating it until it became flour, soaking it in the sun with warmed fat, drying it in the sun and sitting near it and occasionally pressing it into 90 pound dried hard blocks. By spring, if they did not consume it, they buried it because they knew it would not be optimum for their health.
Let's take a look at the processes that so-called superfoods undergo to see if they are truly raw. Noni juice is chemically or heat processed to prevent fermentation in bottles. The chemical process utilizes kerosene derivative or alcohol. Both are natural but toxic. All "superfoods" that are powdered must be thoroughly dried so they do not cake and stick in the machines while being ground. When hard foods such as cocoa beans and roots are ground into flour, the machines reach a temperature of at least 176° F (80° C), cauterizing the foods.
Cauterization seals the food and makes it harder. It is therefore harder to liquefy and takes more time to digest in the digestive tract. Also, any metallic minerals in the foods will be released by the heat and be more toxic. Claims that such foods are 100% raw and have more antioxidants are false, after drying and cauterizing/cooking. They have the opposite effect in varying degrees.
Whole leaf grasses and fruits also have to be completely dried and hardened for powdering. Rarely are any grasses sun-dried. Usually, they are kiln-dried at temperatures above 118° F (48° C) and up to 138° F(59° C). They are also subjected to the same friction-heat from machines during the powdering processes that reach at least 176° F (80° C). They are not raw because all enzymes are destroyed and the food is cauterized/cooked. Also, we are not herbivores that can properly digest vegetable matter, especially when dried. The only exception is chlorella; I have experimented and found it to be somewhat beneficial. Commercial liquid green teas are all steeped in boiling water.
Sometimes, kerosene derivatives, distilled alcohol or other chemicals are sprayed on those foods to breakdown the oils and force them to dry faster. Since kerosene and alcohol are natural, they may legally call the product "All Natural." They know they mislead consumers and they do not care. Their interest is to supply products for abundant profits rather than produce quality products for which they obtain less profit.
The same is true of acai, camu camu, gogi, and noni. There are many beneficial claims about those foods so most people who consume them believe my analyses of those foods are wrong. However, consider that people feel better because most of those foods are high in carbohydrates and raise the blood and nerve sugar levels causing hyperactivity.
Raised blood and nerve sugar levels are not indications of health. In fact, they are indications of bodily harm. Columbia University found that we store 70-90% of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs), byproducts from spent high-carbohydrates, in our bodies for a lifetime. AGEs are cancer feeding byproducts that cause many ill effects, including arterial sclerosis by attaching to venous and arterial walls.
Also, infusions of powders cause increases in hormones such as adrenalin, also elevating energy levels but not to healthful benefits long-term. All endocrine glandular production is for emergency purposes only. For instance, adrenaline is for fight and/or flight. We are supposed to derive our energy from foods that supply fats, proteins with little carbohydrate, rich in enzymes and bacteria. If we were to eat proper raw foods rich in fats and proteins, and digest and assimilate them properly, most of us would have improved energy and stamina. After many years of eating a proper diet, we would develop tremendous energy and stamina. Like primitive Eskimos, we could live happily in the most strenuous climates and environments.
Cocoa beans (cacao), nibs and powder contain theobromine which is similar to caffeine and a nerve irritant. When cooked and/or processed, that neural irritant is a free radical. It often stimulates hormones such as adrenaline, testosterone and estrogen, making people think their new energy is healthful.
The only truly raw cocoa bean retains it moist skin and must be hand peeled. In small amounts it may be briefly ground in a coffee-bean grinder or blender without reaching high temperatures to retain its rawness and nutrition. I discussed the benefits of eating small amounts of raw cocoa beans in the earlier PD newsletter issue Vol. 7, Oct. 30, 2007. I have a correction to that. Cocoa beans do not contain the nerve stimulants/irritants caffeine or theophylline. They contain theobromine of the same family as caffeine and theophylline.
Fish and cod liver oils must have all proteins removed on which bacteria can feed, according to USFDA standards. That requires heat and/or chemical processes to separate and extract proteins. Two companies claim they produce their fish oils without heat or chemicals but they add processed oils as preservatives. Although that is a small amount, those preservative oils have been heat and chemically processed. How much fish oil is lost to the heated and processed preservative oils? How much of the fish oil will be contaminated by the processed preservative oils? We can glean an idea by the fact that they add enough to prevent the oil from being predigested by natural bacteria. If all of the oil is prevented from predigestion, how much will we not be able to digest? How much will the contaminated preservative oils contaminate us?
As a civilized race whose members eat processed and chemicalized-food, we require air-conditioning and heat in our homes and transportation to sustain us or we cannot work, play or eat. Our perspiration would reek. So many people I know who exercise reek of old stinky sauces, especially tomato sauces. They have a body odor like the outdoor garbage bin of fast-food Italian restaurants or pizza parlors on a hot summer day. That odor is from chemically produced flavorings and fragrances added to tomato sauces to make flavor and odor consistent. Civilized man is now the weakest organism on this planet.
"Superfood" is a misnomer. All lack enzymes and little can be digested and assimilated. Some contain nerve irritants and other chemicals that cause the body to produce hormones that flow through blood and nerves, elevating a sense of well-being without elevated true health. Therefore, the body's responses to "superfoods" indicate toxic responses. Calling any processed food superfood is the same as calling supplements magic bullets. However, if I were to judge any food as superfood, one would be honey that was unheated above 92° F (33° C). Another would be bone marrow from completely organically raised animals, fresh and raw in bones."

I can get this very powerful 2000 CFM negative air machine for a couple hundred bucks (less than a standard home depot/harbor freight 500 CFM dust collection setup). It's used but in good working condition. I am considering mounting it outside my shop and then running ducting to my tools. It seems to me that this negative air machine is just a more powerful dust collector as the motor inside looks like a bigger version of the ones on standard large bag dust collectors, and with proper setup (filters, cyclone etc) it could make a very good and very cheap solution.
I also have the option to mount it inside and add a 99.97% at 0.3 micron HEPA filter as it may suck cold air into my shop at a rate that is super uncomfortable in the winter. But the shop is disconnected from the house so at least it won't be sucking warm air out of my house and driving up my home heating bill.
Am I crazy for thinking this is a great idea :)?