Darren never liked his job but at the moment it paid the bills. As much as he wanted to spend all day at home playing games on his Playstation four, he also enjoyed the basics necessities of life such as heat, electricity to power that game console up as well as some food in the fridge to keep him alive. It was the simple things that kept Darren reporting for work at nine in the morning every weekday, ever week. There was also another reason to show up for work: security. Barricades for your door cost money. Guns and ammo were not cheap. On the advice of his mother, he opened a savings account and pooled money into it each year; his annual slush fund for the Purge.
The whole reason her mother suggested it was to get extra food, an extra lock or something to keep the door standing. She wanted her son to use it to protect himself in the big city. Out in the country, hardly anyone did anything out there. People have far too much respect for one another to do anything. Every year since he moved to the city, his mother would always ask Darren to come home for the Purge, but Darren was confident that he would be all right. He was always good to his neighbors, he was respectful at work and he even donated time and money to charity. Darren made this effort not just to be nice but collect enough good will to convince everyone that he wasn't worth the effort every year the Purge came around.
Darren never went out for the Purge, but whenever he was at work he could tell just by looking around who was going to stay home and who was going to go hunting. People would look at each other differently as the Purge started to crawl up. Things would get a little tense around the office. Women would wear more conservative clothing out of fear that men would get ideas and visit their homes to rape them... or worse. In an act of complete genius, there was one company that offered employees a raise if they chose not to kill any fellow workers. Other bosses and CEOs chose to go on vacation that month. The Purge only occurred in America so a vacation to Canada, The United Kingdom and even Hong Kong wasn't out of the question whenever the Purge came around.
When Darren arrived to work, things were a little more tense than usual. He could feel the anger in many people's eyes. It wasn't a good sign to Darren as he kept to himself and made his way to his cubicle. As he sat down at his desk, his friend Ryan was already there and searching the internet for information on something.
"Dude, what the hell is going on?" Darren quickly asked.
"It's not good." Ryan answered, "There's word going around that there may be layoffs. The second quarter numbers are terrible and now the fat cats are going to trim the fat. A lot of people are worried that some of that fat is going to be trimmed here."
"Seriously?" Darren replied with shock. "Do they have any idea what month it is?"
"I know!" Ryan said as he pointed to his screen. "The top brass doesn't give a shit. They'll be on a plane to other countries long before that siren goes off."
"That's such bullshit." Darren said as he sat back in his chair. "People are going to be super pissed less than a week before the Purge. How smart is that?"
"Maybe the CEO is hoping we'll take this all out on management." Ryan replied, "Maybe this is their way of cutting that fat from the system."
At that moment, as if he was aware that someone was talking about him, the manager showed up at their desks. "Gentlemen."
"Mr. Myers." Darren replied respectfully. "Is there something we can help you with?"
"Yes." Mr. Myers replied, "We are having a meeting at ten o'clock. I'd like you both to attend."
"Is that so?" Darren said as he hopped out of his chair. "Good news I hope?"
"I didn't say that." Mr. Myers replied.
"Well, that's not going to cut it for me." Darren said as he stepped closer to his manager.
"Excuse me?" his manager said, somewhat shocked. "What exactly are you saying?"
Darren stepped closer to the point where they were face to face. "What I'm saying is if you give me or my friend here any bad news... the next time we meet will be next week, after the horn goes off. You get me?"
Mr. Myers didn't know what to say. His eyes even bulged a bit when Darren made the reference to the Purge. He had just threatened to kill his boss. Usually making such threats alone would be grounds for a firing, but firing someone a week before the Purge was also not a very wise thing to do.
"What makes you think I'm even going to be here when that horn goes off?" Myers then countered.
"I guess I could always visit your Dad at his retirement home." Darren suggested, "Or your brother and his beautiful daughters. Are you going to take all of them out of the country with you?"
Ryan was still sitting at his desk, but his mouth was gapping open. He couldn't believe the words that were coming out of Darren's mouth. In all the time he had known him, Darren had never spoken of the Purge as much as he was doing right now with his boss. Darren didn't even like his job but there he was, threatening to kill someone and his family at the next Purge if Myers and his people even considered letting him go.
Mr. Myers composed himself and straightened his tie. "You know what; you guys can skip this meeting. Get back to work and do us proud!"
"Thanks Boss, you mind if we also take an extra hour for lunch?" Darren asked, basically taking a mile instead of an inch. "I'd like to visit a friend who isn't feeling well."
"Of course." Mr. Myers replied, "If you guys are ahead of schedule by lunch, I can't see why not."
"Thank you, Sir." Darren said as he playfully slapped Mr. Myers on the shoulder. "I hope you have a great day today!"
As Mr. Myers walked away, Ryan stood up and gave his buddy a mighty high five. "I can't believe you just did that!"
"He was totally going to lay us off." Darren said as he sat back down.
"Totally!" Ryan said as he also sat back down at his desk. "Do you think he's got the balls to lay anyone off at all after that?"
"I hope not, but at least it won't be us." Darren confessed.
"This is a first." Ryan confessed, "Should I be extra nice this year?"
Darren smiled as his friend. "Let me just say that this year I will not be staying at home and playing video games behind a barricaded door."
"Hold on," Ryan said couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Are you actually hunting this year?"
"Yes, I am." Darren replied, feeling rather cocky about it. "There is a reason why I've been hitting the gym all year. I've lost over sixty pounds and gained a lot of muscle mass. I am pumped, both physically and mentally."
"What good any muscle mass do if you're shot in the first five minutes?" Ryan asked, seriously concerned about the welfare of his bud.
"This year's slush isn't being spent on defense." Darren replied. "I've been hording ammo for the past four months since I decided to go out."
"You're serious about this?" Ryan asked.
"I am." Darren replied. "I'm going hunting with a friend of mine. This is going to be his last purge and I've promised to have his back."
"What friend are we talking about?" Ryan asked.
"Jeremy." Darren answered. "The chemo didn't work. He's got less than six months to live. Since he's going to die anyway, he wants to take as many people with him as he can. He asked me to help him. I owe him one so I said yes."
"Holy shit." Ryan said in absolute disbelief. "You're going Rambo on is this year."
"I got more than enough guns and ammo for you." Darren offered with a grin. "I could use someone to watch my back too."
Ryan smiled and couldn't help but consider it. "What's the plan?"
Darren pulled his chair over to Ryan's desk so they could talk without being overheard. "Jeremy has a pretty decent plan. He's got a black van that a friend of his has been working on ever since we agreed to hunt. It's heavily armored, the windows are bullet proof but it looks totally harmless on the outside. I'm not even going to show up for work. We're going to use the twelve hours before the sirens setting and up scoping territory. We're going to park near a rather dense suburb about a few hours before the sirens go off and spend the whole night doing smash and grabs in as many houses as we can."
"Smash and grabs?" Ryan asked, somewhat confused.
"We're going to break into a home, and offer these families a choice." Darren explained, "Give us all your jewelry, money and other valuable shit or die."
"You guys are going to make a fortune." Ryan said as he thought about it.
"Exactly." Darren confirmed. "There are going to be some who try to be heroes or refuse to give us anything, so Jeremy will have plenty of people to off. The best case is we to steal enough money for Jeremy to live his last few months in comfort. Worst case he dies during the purge and doesn't suffer."
"Worst case is you die with him." Ryan countered.
"Once Jeremy bites it, my plan is to take off with what we have." Darren replied, "Go back to the van and high tail it to somewhere private to count our money."
"That sounds interesting." Ryan admitted. "I'm tempted to join you."
"I'll give you one more good reason to join me." Darren said as he stood up from his desk. "Hey, Amanda!"
There was a very hot looking red head walking down the hall. She stopped and turned around when she heard her name being called out.
"Hey Darren, how are you today?" Amanda called back.
"I'm doing great." Darren replied, "How is that new lock I gave you working? Is the place secure for next week?"
"Thank you so much for that." Amanda answered, "The doors look pretty secure this year. My mom thanks you too. Should be a quiet night."
"Yeah, same here." Darren said as he waved. "Have a great day!"
Ryan was once again shocked beyond belief. "What the fuck was that?"
"That is your reason to join me." Darren said as he sat back down.
"You're going to kill Amanda?" Ryan asked.
"No, of course not!" Darren replied, "Probably just rape her. You know how bad I've wanted to get it on with her. And since she's using my lock..."
"You have the passcode!" Ryan finished for him. "You're going to have no problem getting through the door!"
"Exactly." Darren said as he offered him his hand to shake. "Are you in?"
Ryan took a deep breath and then shook his friend's hand. "You bet your ass I am."
"Excellent." Darren said as he went back to his desk. "I'll let Jeremy know you're coming along. Give me your shirt size so he can get you a bullet proof vest."
"Sweet." Ryan replied as he started to look online for some stuff of his own.
"Just try to keep this on the down low." Darren repeated. "The last thing I want is our plan getting out. Okay?"
"No problem." Ryan said as he winked as his bud. "We are hunting this year!"
"Fucking right we are." Darren said with a wide smile. For the first time since the Purge became a yearly event, he wasn't living in fear. This time he was the beast. He would be the one dishing out the pain. Everyone else will be seeking shelter from him. The thought made Darren feel stronger and even a little powerful. His stare down with Mr. Myers was proof of how confident it made him. With only a week left until the big night, Darren and Ryan kept talk to a minimum as they both made preparations. That year's purge was going to be a night neither of them would ever forget.