Locked. The alarm set and the windows barred. This is what happens when you are taking a nap during your shift in your secret place at work. It’s probably not the smartest thing to do while working because of the possibility of getting caught and fired but it's a normal Tuesday for me. Before I continue with my current situation let me introduce myself my name is Eric Russell I am 22 years old and a busboy at this crap restaurant on the far side of town. 

Normally during my shift, I bus a few tables then hide away in my spot which is a little nook in the right corner of the walk-in, there is a small space between the fridges and the shelves full of produce. I stacked a few crates against the wall so it would be slightly more comfortable to lay against, I set my alarm for however long I plan to stay in there and catch up on sleep my noisy roommates deprive me of. When I woke up I noticed it was real quiet besides the hum of the air conditioner. I left the walk-in and stood in the empty kitchen, the kitchen is never empty. I stepped forward and peaked out of the window on the kitchen door leading to the dining area and looked around. No one. I raised my eyebrow and bit my bottom lip slightly before walking through the double doors. I went straight to the front of the restaurant, in the large pane windows in the front of the restaurant I saw nothing but white and black. Remember those old TVs your grandma has with the antenna things on them and you can’t catch a good signal to watch analog channels? It looked like that outside. I grabbed the handle to the front door and pulled. Locked. I turned to the right to check the light on the alarm that was sitting on the wall near the hostess stand, red. Shit. 

After realizing I had been locked in for the night I also noticed my ass was locked in during a blizzard. I pulled out my phone and checked the weather, it was indeed a blizzard, a horrible one from what the weather app reported. It said the storm would last into the morning and bring more than twelve inches of snow. I checked the battery on my phone, 8 percent. Awesome, stuck at work with no charger and I doubt there is one around because we don’t have lockers in the back. I put my phone back in my pocket and turned my back to the front door. I looked around the dining area when my stomach let out a loud growl. You know the ones that make you grab your stomach for a second because it hurts a bit. 

I walked back to the kitchen and went into the walk-in to see what I could eat. I searched through all the different containers full of prepped ingredients and marinated meats for the next day. I managed to find some macaroni and cheese that needed to be heated up and a container full of prepped salad we give to our customers for free before their entree. I grabbed a bowl and filled it with the cold macaroni and cheese and laid a healthy amount of salad on a plate. As I walked to the microwave I heard a noise that seemed to be coming from the vents. It sounded like a cough, it echoed through the vents and was so slight if it hadn’t been so quiet anyone would have missed it during opening hours. I turned and looked around the room. 

I stiffened and my heart raced for a few seconds. I had to psyche myself up and continue making my way to the microwave. I nuked my food and dressed my salad with the ranch we kept in squeeze bottles in the small fridge by the prep tables. After grabbing a fork from the utensil stand by the kitchen doors I walked to the bar to the far right corner of the dining area and set myself up to eat. As I sat down and picked up my fork when I heard it again. I sat up straight, I froze, my ears listening intently for any signs I wasn’t alone. This time it sounded louder. I stared ahead of me at the mirror behind the bar and my eyes darted to everything I could see behind me. Nothing. No one is here. It could just be an animal or maybe wind coming in from a hole somewhere. 

Again I brushed it off and ate my food quietly, once done I took the dishes to the dishwasher and placed them inside the machine. I grabbed a water bottle from the giant cases by the walk-in and left the kitchen. I stood there for a minute deciding what I should do. I could call my manager but I doubt he would answer, the guy never picks up his phone. I can’t call my roommates because last week they got wasted and decided to play beer pong using their phones as a ball thus breaking them. I have no family in town, they all live hours away. I don’t talk to my co-workers so I don’t have their numbers either. Which made me decide to try my manager, I looked for his number in my contacts and pressed the call button. I brought my phone to my right ear when I heard it start to ring. It rang 5 times before going to voicemail. I left a message saying I was stuck in the restaurant after hours and if he could let me out and fire me if he has to. I checked my phone battery, 5 percent. Damn! 

Okay, I need to figure out what to do. I could break a window and get out but I can’t even see where my car is parked so even if I got I wouldn’t know where I was going. I sighed and walked to the office on the right of the dining area. I entered the office and sat in my manager’s chair propping my feet on his desk and looked around the room. It was white, dull, random papers covered the walls, yellow and blue sticky notes all over his computer and his stupid pen sat on the desk, he loved to click that damn pen our face when he making a point. I rolled my eyes and put his pen in my pocket. Screw that guy. I kept looking around the room when I noticed the outline of a door. There was no doorknob or threshold but it definitely was a door. I rubbed my finger along the thin seam between the door and the wall and felt a slight chill against my finger. 

I gently pushed on the door and it clicked open slightly. I grabbed the door and opened it all the way. I leaned in the doorway and it smelled like animals and hay in the room. I felt around the inside of the wall for a switch and flipped it on. Lights turned on to the left side of the room revealing metal cages. I stepped into the room and there was a long hallway that was closed off. There was no back door at the end of the corridor. I walked further down and the cages were full of animals. Cats filled the first cage to the left, then dogs, a few rabbits filled the third cage I stopped at the fourth cage, it was full of snakes in separate tanks. I just stood there staring at all these animals. I felt my back begin to sweat and my heart was racing. Why in the hell were all these animals here! This would explain the weird smells some customers would complain about when they sat at the bar or near the office. I stood there stunned in disbelief. I suddenly felt a strange sensation, as if someone was watching me. I heard the noise again. 

It was clear as a bell. The weird cough noise. I was frozen where I stood. I couldn’t move. My brain was full of millions of questions and possibilities but none at the same time. I forced myself to turn around slowly and came face to face with a person. His face was ragged, his beard was scraggly and long. His eyes were sunken in and wide full of fear and hunger. He reached out and grabbed at me. I screamed at the top of my lungs and jumped back, hitting the metal cage full of tanks behind me. The cough was from all the men, women, and teenagers trapped in these cages!  I ran as fast as I could to the end of the corridor and found a door to my left. I opened it and was overwhelmed with the stench of death. I slipped on something and hit the floor. 

I landed on my hands and knees, I got up leaning on a table for support. It was blood, it covered the table that looked like an examining table in a doctor’s office. Animal carcasses were hung on hooks like a butcher shop. I felt the macaroni I ate earlier beginning to come up my throat. I forced myself to swallow and ran out of the room and hit a door across the hall. I burst in, the door hit the wall hard enough it bounced back halfway. I slipped again, this time I slid forward and hit a table just like the other room. I was bent over the table when I caught myself and my chest was completely covered in a thick, dark sticky liquid. I screamed and started wiping my hands on my pants and stepped back. My eyes wide and my heart pounding against my chest, I could feel my pulse in my throat. 

I looked around the room for a way out. There were bodies stacked neatly on shelves against the walls, blood covered the floor, and oh god the smell. It was worse than the room before! This time I couldn’t fight it and up came the macaroni and salad I ate. I heaved until my stomach was empty. My face was cold with sweat, my brain was foggy and I just wanted to go home. I wanted to be in bed and surrounded by the safety of my room. I frantically searched for a door, I was not going back into the corridor full of people and animals now that I had seen whoever was doing this to them. I found a door just like the one in the office, I hit it with the side of my fist and grabbed the door, and ran through it. It was dark and cold, I crossed my arms over my chest and felt around for a light switch. I found a switch on the right of the doorway and turned it on. I wish I hadn’t. 

I was in a freezer. It was a freezer full of the animals and people they had butchered! I kept my eyes down and noticed a small door just like the ones I had previously gone through. It was small enough to fit a person through the hole, I went down on my hands and knees, pushed the door, and opened it. It was the crates I use for my secret spot. They were blocking the way. I pushed the crates aside and crawled through the hole and I was back where I started. I ran out of the kitchen and into the dining area. 

The blood that covered my clothes came to life in the fluorescent lighting. I grabbed a handful of napkins at a nearby table and tried to wipe the chunks off me. I grabbed my phone and turned on the screen to call the cops. The damn thing was dead! I threw it across the dining area and plopped down on my ass just sitting there. I rocked slightly back and forth crying. At dawn, my boss will be the first one here to open up the restaurant.