Chapter 19

"The Brave, The Stupid, The Cowards, The Clueless"

A/N I really appreciate your reviews! I love hearing from people who read this story, and anyone who takes their time to reach out to me in a review...well it means so SO much to me. You're beautiful and awesome! -So, if you are wondering what these "creatures" look like. I'll describe it. Look up the "spined orb weaver" and then look up "Goliath bird eating spider" then combine them. Then make them twice that size. In this AU, they are a rare and deadly type of spider from South America. There, have fun with THAT nightmare.

Sakura opened the door to her apartment as quietly as she could, making sure to shut it gently and locking it behind her. She woke up early to a mass group text from Obito, stating that certain employees were not working today and would only come in for the team meeting at noon. Madara's phone had received a text too, but it had not wakened him. He was deep in sleep and she decided to let him rest. She did, after all, prevent him from going to sleep right away last night. She went to her favorite coffee shop, and got two lavender mochas while she let Madara rest. Tiptoeing through her living room and slowly opening the door to her bedroom, she took in the sight of the man sleeping in her bed.

Madara's face was so peaceful. She noticed that he seemed to prefer sleeping on his stomach. Locks of his black hair falling over his sleeping features. She hated to wake him from such a state. But it was 10am, and the team meeting was in two hours. He probably needed to shower and get a change of clothes.

As calmly as she could, she walked over to him and leaned down to whisper into his ear. "Madara, its 10:00". His eyes popped open at her words, his whole body shot up and he tried to get out of the bed. Unfortunately the blanket had been folded under him and his feet did not hit the floor, but his top half did. Face-planting the carpet he lie there in a daze.

"How could I sleep this long?!" He exclaimed, freeing his feet from the blanket trap and sitting upright with a groan. "I can't believe I'm late."

Sakura had tried to stop him from tripping but she wasn't quick enough, all she could do was help him stand up and sit on the end of the bed. Seating herself next to him, she rubbed his back with her hand. "I was trying to tell you before you freaked out, Obito texted us and some other employees that we have the day off today except for a meeting at noon. You're not late, you're fine!"

Madara's looked at with his one visible eye, the other hidden behind his hair. "Really? They decided that without me? Ohhhh, Hashirama, you asshat." He mumbled. He stretched his arms outward with a yawn, and scratched an in itch above his temple. "I'll need to leave soon, get a shower at my house…is that coffee for me?" He inquired, pointing at steaming cup in her hand. She smiled and handed it to him.

"Its a lavender mocha from my favorite coffee shop. I love how it tastes, and smells." She laughed when Madara sniffed it suspiciously.

"Since when did they start dressing coffee up, its just caffeine…" He remarked, taking a tentative sip from it. "Is there even coffee in it?"

Sakura bottom lip shot out in a pout, "Well how do you taken your coffee then?"

Madara didn't even skip a beat. "Hot and bitter like my women." He smirked while taking another sip. He hated sugar and cream in his coffee, and lavender was definitely foreign, but he choked it down anyway to please her. "I like my coffee strong enough to grow back a severed limb."

Sakura grimaced, their difference in age was showing a little. 12 years apart, and he had a very different way of operating than she did. "Well, next time I'll just tell them to scrape the bottom of the coffee pot and put the sludge in a cup for you." She said with a laugh. Madara looked over at her and grinned,"Exactly. Now where is my phone…"

She got up and walked over to her dresser, where she had set his phone down on the top after reading the group text. Handing it over to him, he took it and blinked at the screen, and then set it down on his lap. "I should go..." He got up and grabbed his pea coat hanging on the dresser knob, and put it on, buttoning up the front. "I need a shower, and a change of clothes, if I leave now I can be at the store by noon."

Sakura walked him to the front door, and he bent down and kissed her lips tenderly. "Thank you for the coffee, Sakura." he moved in to kiss her cheek. Sakura looked up at him with a curious look in her eyes.

"What?" He asked.

"Did you…enjoy last night?" She said slowly.

Madara sighed and pulled her into a hug. "Its not that I didn't enjoy it. I did. Its just not something I would be really eager to do in the future. That and…when I say I'm exhausted, I really am that tired." He placed a finger to her chin and tilted her head back till her eyes met his. "I really did enjoy spending time with you though. Thank you for that." He smiled at her, and she returned the smile, even though something small was bothering her in the back of her mind that hadn't yet manifested.

Madara gave her another warm hug and started out the door calling behind him, "Oh Sakura, there's going to be a thunderstorm tonight, bring your umbrella!"

She acknowledged him and waved, as she lowered her hand she saw someone else approaching, passing Madara on the walkway. They stopped and looked at each other.

Ino.

Sakura stepped outside and walked over to the two. Madara was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and Ino was sizing him up suspiciously.

"Who are you?" She asked with a flat tone. Madara's eye twitched a little.

"I take it you're Ino?"

"Yes, I'm Sakura's friend, who are you?"

Sakura approached them and stood between them, Madara was squinting at Ino with his eyebrows furrowed.

"My name is Madara."

Sakura felt herself being pushed off to the side as Ino's face went from suspicious to elated in two microseconds. She wrapped her arms around Madara, pinning his own against his sides. "OH I'M SO HAPPY TO FINALLY MEET YOU!" She squealed in delight. Madara felt the wind being squeezed out of him as he tried to wrestle himself out of her vice-like grip.

" Can't breathe…!" Ino finally released him. He straightened up and fixed his coat, which had become wrinkled with the "attack". Ino didn't skip a beat.

"Sakura! He's so cute!" she squeaked. Sakura pulled her over by her arm and whispered into her ear.

"I know Ino…trust me, I know. But you aren't supposed to be making a big deal about this, remember? The "no one can know about us" talk we had a while back?"

Ino tilted her head and then nodded vigorously. "Yes of course I remember."

"Well you're being rather loud, and I think you're scaring him." She nodded towards Madara, who's eyes were wide, staring at Ino with a defensive stance.

Ino waved at him and turned back to Sakura. "Oh he'll be fine. Anyway, I came by to drop off the phone charger you let me borrow. I have to be back at my father's shop here soon. Okay, kiss kiss! Love you!" She pecked Sakura on the cheek and turned to walk away, pausing at Madara and giving him a once-over. Satisfied, she grinned and sashayed away down the path.

Madara looked over at Sakura with a raised eyebrow, pointing behind him. "She was undressing me with her eyes, wasn't she?".

Sakura shrugged and then thought about it. Then she nodded. "Yep, she was probably doing just that, knowing her."

"That's not comforting…"

Sakura laughed as she lifted herself up to kiss his cheek. "You'll be fine, just don't ever be near her after she's had a few whisky sours. Alright, well, I'll see you at the store!" She blew a kiss at him and walked back to her apartment, hearing Madara calling back to her, "That's still not comforting you know!"

—

Qualimart was packed full as customers filtered in and out through the doors, preparing for the coming thunderstorm that evening. Spring thunderstorms in this area were violent, with constant lightning, hail and, once in a rare while, a tornado warning. Every employee knew that the second the weather reports gave a 40% or more chance of inclement weather, they were going to be slammed.

Karachi shook the excess rain from his umbrella and closed it as he walked through the front doors, sidestepping the bustle of customers while he made a b-line for the time clock. He saw Naruto and Obito talking with Temari at the bottom of the stairs. Temari was wearing a scowl on her face and tapping her foot impatiently.

"This is stupid. I had plans this weekend, and all of a sudden I'm working the night shift?" She spouted off indignantly at the hapless assistant manager. Obito glanced down at his clipboard and sighed in resignation.

"Yeah, I know, its not convenient at all. But the plus side is that all your hours will be double pay for that night. I'm salaried, so it won't make a lick of difference to me." He looked up to see Kakashi approaching with his umbrella tucked under his arm. "Ah, Kakashi…I hope you received notice about the nightshift tomorrow evening?"

The silver-haired produce DH shrugged and adjusted the scarf that always covered his mouth. "Yeah, I got it. I'm all for it to be honest, I need that extra pay. It'll be nice to work with some silence as well. Is there a meeting starting upstairs?"

Naruto nodded and proceeded to wolf down a sandwich he'd been holding. Talking with his mouth full he turned towards the time clock to punch in his number. Temari grimaced when a few bit of sandwich debris hit her sweater. "That's disgusting! You should close your mouth before you chew!"

Naruto swallowed the last bits of his sandwich and glanced at her. "You should close your mouth before you talk.".

He laughed and ran up the stairs with Temari giving chase while yelling," OH REALLY smart ass!?".

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and shrugged. "Ohhhh, nightshift is going to be fun, I can already tell."

—

All the employees condemned to work overnight were packed into the break room, seated at the two large tables pushed together, with Kiba and Shino seated in the middle. People had scooted away from Kiba. While Naruto could be a messy eater, Kiba was in a league all his own. With a jelly donut in each hand, he dripped filling every where, completely missing the napkin laid out in front of him.

Kakashi took a chair next to Guy at the end; Sakura, Temari, Hinata, and Obito sat in the front. Everybody was talking amongst themselves, sharing their plans for the week, or their opinions about working overnight on such short notice. When Madara walked into the room, the chatter dissipated into silence, with the occasional cough, or the sound of Kiba enjoying his donuts (to everyone's disgust). The store manager sat down at the center chair, laying out a few papers on the table. He surveyed the room briefly before taking a deep breath and addressing everyone.

"Okay, so…let's begin. I'll keep it brief, first off I-…Oh for the love of- KIBA! You're getting DEBRIS on me" Kiba looked up when he heard his name and swallowed, smiling.

"Oh…yeah, sorry, heh." He licked his fingers and put his hands on his lap. Jelly still lingered on the corners of his mouth.

Madara blanched a little at his employee and then coughed, turning his attention back to the others. "Where was I…Ah, yes. So the way this is going to operate is everyone showing up at 12am, shift will end at 9am. That's nine hours to get the inventory done. Produce is behind, according to Kakashi, so we will tackle that first. There's also overstock that has been stuffed into the overhead in the produce receiving area that needs to come down."

Sakura raised her hand to ask a question. Madara nodded towards her, his expression placid and unreadable. "Yes, Ms. Haruno."

Sakura cleared her throat and pointed to Guy. "Will Guy's crew be doing the inventory as well? Or just the ones assigned the one overnight?"

Madara had a pen in his hand and he tapped it absentmindedly on the table. "Guy's crew will be performing their normal duties, all of us here will be doing the inventory and, like I mentioned, the tasks in the produce department."

Sakura's eyes were locked with his. Without realizing it, she started biting her lip. Madara noticed and quickly averted his gaze down to his stack of papers. "There's not much else to discuss here, I printed out the most pertinent information, like night procedures, and you all can just read it on your own time. Obito, pass these out." He handed a stack of papers to his assistant manager who got up and began handing them out.

Madara cracked open an energy drink and took a drink. "Ah, I forgot. Tobirama will be joining us tomorrow night. I'll be working at his store next week for their overnight in exchange."

Temari piped up. "I don't see why we need to do this at all, its a stupid plan." Temari was never one to mince words and when she was pissed, she was pissed.

Madara's eyes flicked over to Obito for a second, who pretended to be distracted with something on his clipboard. He let out a sardonic laugh. "Oh, I get it, I know. Trust me, I agree. But my authority has been undercut by a certain genius who apparently knows better than me." He playfully (not so playfully) slapped Obito on the shoulder who winced in suprise. "Right, Obito?"

Sakura hated having to pretend she didn't have anything with Madara. Here she was, seated only two chairs away, and she couldn't even smile at him the way she wanted to. When she was biting her lip, she didn't even notice it until Madara's eyes narrowed and he looked away so suddenly. But this was what she agreed to, and this was the way it had to be; but she didn't know how long it could last this way.

Her mind snapped back to the present and she realized she'd been zoned out. Madara had already dismissed everyone and she found herself seated alone, save for her manager gathering his papers and setting them on top of his clipboard. He felt her looking at him, and returned her gaze.

"I take it I was boring? Your eyes have been glazed over for a while." He said with a smirk.

Sakura smiled and stretched her arms out, letting out a silent yawn. "Maybe a little…but no, It's not that. Um…" She got up and walked over to him, bringing her voice down low. "Will I be seeing you tonight?"

Madara didn't take his eyes off his clipboard, getting up from his chair and pushing it under the table. "…Not tonight, Ms. Haruno, and…" He lowered his own voice to barely above a whisper. "That's something to say in a text, and not while we're working…"

She was slightly taken aback by his bluntness. She knew why, but even knowing why, she still didn't expect him to be so deadpan about it, no one was even within earshot.

He motioned for them both to leave the break room. When they parted ways she smiled at him, but he did not return it; turning away and heading back into his office where closed the door behind him.

Feeling slightly dejected she made her way downstairs. She needed to buy some energy drinks if she was going to try to stay up all night tonight. She was disappointed that she would have to rely on those to stay awake, and not Madara keeping her company.

Why didn't he want to spend the night with me? Her stomach felt a little sour. She added "antacids" to her mental list of things to get before heading home.

—

In Sakura's opinion, night shift was so much easier than day shift. Even though her body was having a hard time adapting to being awake when she would normally be sleeping soundly, she could focus so much better on her tasks without customers haranguing her every time she turned around.

She had arrived at the store at midnight, along with several other employees. Shikamaru had been yawning so loudly that Kiba could hear him through his air pods. But then again, everyone was exhausted. Sakura herself had only slept about two hours that day, before her body's internal clock dinged and left her wide awake since about 4 that afternoon.

She hadn't heard from Madara at all that day. She had hoped for a phone call, or even a text, but it didn't come. She told herself that he must have been sleeping, like she had tried to do. That nagging feeling she had been ignoring now crept from the back of her mind to the forefront. Madara was, and remained, difficult to read. When he saw her in person, outside of work, he was affectionate and attentive. But then there were days she didn't receive so much as a text from him. Deep down, she knew it was selfish, but she craved his time, his attention. It seemed the days she wanted it the most, were the days that he dropped off the radar.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of glass breaking and Madara's booming voice echoing from the isle next her.

"MOTHER PHEASANT PLUCKER!"

She set her scanner down and darted over to the baking isle, only to be stopped mid-run by Madara's extended arm. "Don't. A few bottles of olive oil slipped off the shelves. Broken glass." he said placidly, a stark contrast from his previous volume and tone.

She looked down to see olive oil and bottle fragments covering the floor in front of her feet. Obito appeared at the other end of the isle and sighed. "Ah, that's just…great. I'll get the mop and bucket." He said and took off. Madara bent down proceeded to pick up a couple of bottles that had fallen, but not broken.

"I'm going to need a wet rag to get the oil off these, then they can go back on the shelf. Ms. Haruno, can you go to the utility cabinet and wet some of the cleaning rags?" He looked at her with that typical expressionless face. She hated that. But she nodded and went to retrieve the rags, bumping into Kakashi and Temari along the way.

"Hey Sakura, have you seen Mr. Uchiha around?" Asked Kakashi. He had been showing Temari something on the scanner.

"Just now, actually, there was a olive oil spill, I'm getting rags right now. He's in the baking isle." He gave her a thumbs up and left towards isle 8, leaving Temari alone with Sakura.

"Is it just me, or does Kakashi always look at women like something out of one of his raunchy books?" remarked the blonde stocker, setting the scanner down on some boxes of overstock. Sakura laughed and then they both jumped as the store seemed to shake when a resounding *boom* echoed around the store. The storm had moved in, and the lightning was crashing outside. This lighting strike must have been close by. The lights flickered slightly but remained on.

"Yeah, that's not ominous…" muttered Temari. "I think I'm going to go help Shikamaru with produce in the back. The truck came yesterday, but he said there's just so much of it."

Sakura agreed. She had looked in the stock room for produce when she arrived earlier, and she did not look forward to pushing all that "vegetation" to the sales floor. There was also a ton of seasonal crap that had come in and the only place with room was the overhead in that stock room. Someone was going to have to go up there on top of the high shelves, and bring it down. She hated heights and hoped Madara wouldn't assign it to her. She may be sleeping with him, but he regarded her like everyone else while on the clock.

Temari followed Sakura to the utility cabinet in the back by the cold box, talking the entire time. Well, more like complaining. She and Shikamari had been arguing and she was lamenting the stupidity of men.

"…and then he had the nerve to zone out completely when I was trying to express to him how he never listens!" She vented, and Sakura could have sworn she saw steam rising over her head as she continued.

Sakura was in her own head space, thinking about her own relationship, but she nodded and made sure to add a few "hm hmm's" and a "giiiirl" in her responses so that Temari would think she had her full attention. Grabbing the items needed and wetting them at the sink nearby, the two women made their way to the baking isle.

Madara was still standing there, with Kakashi talking his ear off about Game of Thrones head canons. Sakura could see the annoyance on Madara's face, noticing his eye twitch every time Kakashi started a new sentence. He interrupted him when he saw the blond and pink haired duo round the corner. "There you are. Just toss the rags over to me and keep a couple for yourself. Just start over there. Wipe down the bottles that aren't broken and put them on the shelf. I picked up the broken glass while you were gone." He caught the rags Sakura tossed at him and handed one to Kakashi. While the four employees wiped down bottles, Kakashi couldn't help but notice how Madara was sliding his rag up and down a bottle of extra virgin olive oil with his hand. He smirked and started laughing.

"What's gotten into you?" Madara asked with an irked expression.

Kakashi pointed at the bottle, "Ha, the way you're wiping that down…I guess that bottle isn't "extra virgin" anymore, ha ha!".

Sakura and Temari started laughing with Kakashi, but Madara wasn't amused, he raised his eyebrow shot the three a scathing look. Kakashi didn't have time to blink before the rag Madara had been using hit him in the face.

"Jackass." Madara said with a bit in his tone. He looked at Temari and Sakura, and rolled his eyes at them. "Finish this up, I'm getting on the PA to call our team to the produce room."

Sakura watched as Madara left for the office. Shrugging nonchalantly, she helped clean up the rest of the spill, gathering the olive oil-drenched single-use rags for the trash. Kakashi yawned and stretched, scratching an itch on his arm. He rearranged his scarf and turned to his co-workers.

"I'm heading to produce, I'll meet you guys there. Man, I'm tired, I wonder if Madara will notice if I take a cat nap by the potatoes."

Temari glared. "I'll notice, and then I'll beat you with a sack of potatoes."

"Yeesh, calm your tits, its was a joke." Kakashi waved his hand dismissively and walked away, leaving Temari irked.

"I hate the men here…"

—

After their ten-minute break, Madara's team met back in the produce room. The lightning was getting worse outside and they could hear the wind and the hail even indoors. It was bad enough that even the smokers in Guy's night crew didn't even go outside for their cigarette break. The lights in the store had blinked off and the on again, but otherwise there was still power.

Madara and Shikamaru, along with Kakashi, had unloaded all the potatoes, onions, and carrots out to the sales floor, but there was still so much to do. Naruto, who had been with Kiba the whole time horsing around at the front of the store, was being punished with moving all the watermelons under Madara's watchful eye.

"Okay, there's enough room to move the seasonal items down from the overhead, any volunteers to go up there?" No one raised their hand and Kiba had his headphones in on full blast. The Uchiha called his name, nothing. He walked over and pulled one of his earbuds out, "AM I DISTURBING YOU, KIBA?" He shouted at the hapless employee.

"That was a little much…" muttered Kiba, twisting a pinky in his ear. Madara slapped his on the back.

"Thank you for volunteering! You're coming up to the overhead with me!" He said with mock excitement. Kiba followed behind him, muttering under his breath.

"Yeah, don't lean to close to the edge, buddy…"

Tobirama walked into the stock room, chugging a Monster. He looked around at all the boxes and produce still sitting there. "Aw come on. This place is a pit!"

"Your face is a pit!" Shouted Madara from up in the overhead. "Nice of you to show up 3 hours late!"

"You're welcome!" he replied with a big grin and curtseying. He went to grab the scanner sitting in its slot next to the overhead door. His elbow bumped the big red button releasing the emergency locking mechanism, everybody jumped when it slid down, slamming shut. Madara was startled by the noise and almost overbalanced atop the overhead shelves. Bracing himself against the wall he yelled down at Tobirama. "I almost fell, you bastard!"

But the white-haired manager just laughed at him. "There's a sad word- "almost"…wait, how do I open this?" The overhead door was electronically locked, and couldn't be opened manually, it wasn't at all like the doors in his store. Kiba and Shino walked over and pointed at the keypad on the right side. "There's a code you have to punch in, the doors were replaced last year after Naruto drove the forklift through it." Naruto protested indignantly to that statement.

"I did not drive the forklift through the door! I sort of…bumped it, and it collapsed. That door was broken and ancient and it was asking for it!"

Madara had sat down on the shelf up above, his legs dangling over the side. "What about my foot, Naruto? Was it asking for it too?"

Naruto raised an eyebrow, "Doesn't ring a bell…"

Shikamaru sighed and stepped forward, "Okay, well, can we just get this open? What was the code again? Such a pain, I liked it better when this was a manual overhead door."

Madara called out the numbers rapidly, "2568790259."

But before he could punch the numbers in, a loud boom echoed around them, lighting had struck a power line, blowing a transformer. The power went out, along with the all the lights. There was a brief panic as people scrambled to get turn on the flashlight functions on their phones. Sakura quickly shined her light around her, piercing the pitch black darkness. "Everyone okay? What happened?".

"Transformer, probably. Ah, shit." barked Kakashi. The overhead doors, being electronically powered, couldn't be opened now. Whatever company installed them did not install the manual override, he noticed. The bars the locked them into place were immovable. What time to discover that little oversight.

"We're stuck in here." He said, kicking the door with his foot.

There was noise on the other side, Guy's voice called out to them. "You guys okay in there? I can't open the door. Power's out!"

Madara shouted back, "No shit, really??"

"Well, we can't work if the power's out! The generators only power the refrigeration! So I'm gonna have my guys sign out for the night, 'kay Madara?" Guy bellowed in his naturally loud voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Do what you have to do, I guess. We're just going to have to wait a bit for the power to come back on. Go ahead and just sign your guys out, Shikamaru will log it into the system later."

Guy tapped his fingers on the metal door in acknowledgement and said goodbye. His footsteps could be heard getting quieter as he walked away. Madara sighed in exasperation, tilting his head back till it touched the wall behind him. "This is fucked up." He muttered.

Kiba hated the dark. He sat pale-faced on a box of oranges, clinging to his phone. "I hate this, I don't like this. We're gonna die in here!"

Shino slapped the back of his head. "Knock it off, you ninny! Its just a storm, the power will come back on, in the meantime, we just need to wait. Probably for only an hour or two."

Temari sat on one of the low shelves, playing solitaire on her phone. She couldn't check her Facebook or Instagram because she had no wifi, and the storeroom was practically a cellular dead zone, everyone had one bar or no bars. Finding a match, she tapped it with her thumb, blowing a stray hair from her face. "If we die, it'll be from boredom. Can't even message my bro in here…"

Sakura looked up at Madara, who had his arms folded in frustration. This night was definitely going wrong, very fast. Obito had climbed to the overhead, and seated himself next to Madara. He noticed Sakura looking up at them with her light and smiled. "You good down there, Sakura?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking maybe we can still organize some of this inventory while we wait for the power to come back on!"

Madara raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. "Yes, yes we can do that. Obito and I can toss down some of these lighter boxes and-…what was that?"

Sakura followed his extended forefinger to the direction of the fruit shipment. Shining her light over, she didn't see anything. "What am I looking for, exactly?" She asked.

Madara nudged Obito and whispered something in his ear. Obito furrowed his eyebrows as he tried to focus on an area next to the bananas crates. There was a sudden skittering sound. Sakura felt her skin crawl and instinctively she hopped on to the second shelf from the floor. She didn't know why, but she felt the urge to be off the floor right now.

There was a scratching sound behind Kiba and he startled with a jump. "Is that a rat?" He exclaimed. Kakashi had been reading the back of a box of Hamburger Helper when Kiba jumped.

"Do you know how much sodium is in just 1/2 a cup of this shit-..wait, what are you talking about, what rat?"

Kiba pointed at the large stack of crates about ten feet away from them. "Something moved over there." Kakashi shined his light over the crates but didn't see anything.

"I think you're just hearing things, Kiba."

Madara knew what he saw. Well, what he thought he saw. He hoped he was just tired and it was a trick of his mind. The cellphone lights whipping around could have just created odd looking shadows. Like when a child thinks they see something in the corner of their room at night. Obito nudged him with his elbow, Madara looked at him to see Obito's eyes wide with terror, even in the dim lighting, he could tell his face had gone a shade of gray.

"What's wrong with you?" He asked in a whisper. Obito didn't reply, instead he pointed a trembling finger towards a shadowy area near a shelving unit by the bay door.

"…There…" he said in a shaky voice. Madara followed his finger to the shadowed corner. First he had to squint, but he saw nothing. He was about to tell his assistant manager to quit being a kid…but when something shifted in the shadows, his eyes became wide. Something with many legs. Skittering.

"Ahem…guys? Guys?!" He shouted down to his crew below. Their conversations died down and they turned their heads up to look at him, confused by the urgency in his voice. Kiba shouted up at him, "What's up?"

"Er, get off the floor, now." Madara didn't know how to say it without causing a panic.

Shikamaru looked around the floor with his flashlight, "I don't see anything, is there a spill?"

Madara furrowed his eyebrows in frustration, "You know what? Time's a factor, Shikamaru, can you guys just…just get off the floor."

There was a sudden loud and terrifying shriek, causing everybody on the ground to jump and whip their heads around. Temari was backing up, her phone's light pointing to a space behind a stack of empty crates. Madara saw it before they did. "GET OFF THE FUCKING FLOOR!". He needn't had said it, before he finished the sentence there was a scrambling of feet and shouting as the crew climbed onto anything that would get them off the floor. Sakura saw it, plain as day, and when she did, she realized she wasn't up high enough. Grasping the bars that braced the overstock, she climbed up to where Madara and Obito (who at this point was near comatose with fear). Feeling a strong hand grab her forearm, she looked up to see Madara, leaning over and pulling her up like she weighed nothing to sit twixt him and Obito. Sitting down and panting breathlessly she looked up at him, eyes wide, "Did you see it?"

"Why do you think I'm still up here?" He replied, feeling the need to draw his legs back and cross them. "You saw it up close. I only saw the shadow it cast on the wall, there's more than one.."

Sakura's mouth went dry and she subconsciously licked her lips to wet them. "Sir, what are they?"

"Satan's chihuahuas, that's what!" Obito had found his voice and cut in. Madara gave him a sideways glance. Sakura expected a sarcastic remark, but Madara silently nodded his head in agreement.

Kiba had no room next on the shelf with Sakura now sharing space, and was half dangling on the side, clinging to the railing. He shouted to Shino, who, unlike the rest of co-workers, was calmly seated on the lowest shelf, staring inquisitively at the skittering movements in the shadows. "Shino! What are these things?!"

He cleared his throat before delivering his answer. "From what I can tell, these are Mortalitas Conrepos, or Creeping Deathlings."

Temari was clinging to Shikamaru who had climbed up on a stack of overstock. "That means absolute shit to everyone here, Shino. Elaborate please."

Shino took note of a single spiny leg sticking out of a crate of bananas. "They are native to the Amazon Rainforest. Very rare, they form small colonies, up to twelve or 13 in number. From the noises I'm hearing, a whole colony has joined us here tonight. Fascinating!"

"What's so fucking fascinating?!" shouted Tobirama, he had no space to climb up anywhere, stuck at the bay door exposed. Madara could see he was positively petrified.

"You may want to keep your voice down. These are deadly, large spiders. Sensitive to vibrations, even voices. They are fascinating because they are aggressive, and yet they went unnoticed in this shipment. The good news is they will die within 24 hours, this is not a survivable climate for them."

"That's not comforting," Muttered Obito, drawing his legs closer to his chest.

"It wasn't meant to be. They are fast moving. I advise we find a way to get that door open, and get out of here. As much as I love a rare insect or spider, their venom can kill a man in ten minutes, and the only anti-venom is in South America.

There was a quiet gasp as the severity of the situation sank in to everyone's mind. Then, to everyone's horror, one of the creatures emerged from its hiding place behind the crates. Spines jutted out from its back, bright yellow speckles dotted its otherwise white and black coloration. Eight giant, primal eyes shimmered dully in the dim light. The sickening sound of clicking could be heard as its fangs moved together and apart.

"MOTHER-FUCKING CRAP BUCKETS!", Tobirama, who had been stuck on the floor, jumped near his own height into the air, scrambling to climb the shelves. Madara didn't even have time to process his own horror before he had the sudden weight of Tobirama's body falling on top of him.

"DAMMIT TOBIRAMA!" The sudden addition of another person on the top shelf caused the overhead to wobble a little. They all sat frozen in place, not even breathing as if a breath may fully unbalance their refuge. When the wobbling stopped, Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down at Madara, then to Tobirama, then back down at Madara. An immediate urge to laugh and vomit at the same time struck her senses. The white-haired manager had inadvertently straddled the Uchiha in his desperation to get on the shelf, he had a look of horror on his face. Madara stared up at Tobirama, his jaw set hard. He spoke barely above a murmur, "Here's what's going to happen. You're going to get off of me without making eye contact. I'm going to get up, and the we will never speak of this again." Tobirama nodded silently in agreement and began to move himself when the sound and sight of a camera flashing and taking a picture hit their ears. All eyes darted down to Naruto, who had his phone pointed at them.

"Oh this…this is pure GOLD! You couldn't pay for blackmail like this!"

Tobirama and Madara indignantly shouted in unison, "I will murder everyone you ever loved and cared about you weasel!"

Shino, however, killed Naruto's good humor. "Guys, we don't have a lot of time. These things are getting bolder. We need to figure out how to get the bay door open."

Madara dusted himself off and pointed down the narrow walkway to the end of a hall. "The electrical unit for the bay door is over there. Someone could get in there and flip the switches that connect it to the same generator used for the freezers. Just need to get over there."

There was a long pause as all eyes were on him, expectantly, silently. Madara felt the stares, and it dawned on him. "Oh heeeeeell no, nope, nada. I have things to live for."

Sakura spoke before she thought it through, "I'll go with you, I think you're the only one who even knows how to work on the unit." She said quietly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Madara darted his eyes over to her, his eyes radiating a part-terrified and part-betrayed expression. "Thanks a lot, Judas!" he snapped.

The skittering sounds became more numerous as the one spider that had revealed itself, shifted back into the shadows. The others joined, moving and shifting stealthily around objects. Kiba inched up as high as he could, his heart pounding, the sounds sending chills down his spine. "You're going to have to move fast Madara, and I guess Sakura too? I think they're getting antsy"

Sakura peered down the hallway, a little red light above the fire alarm pull was the only illumination in the dark over there. It seemed like something out of Resident Evil. She gulped visibly. "Why did I volunteer for this…?"

Madara tested the edge of his pocket knife, "Impulsivity and no situational awareness?"

"Wha-?!"

"You heard me. Now start climbing down. If one comes after me, I'm using you like a bat to beat it to death."

-To be continued in chapter 19…