A couple of weeks later…
Okay, is it twisted that I'm actually hoping that something evil will show up at my place of work? Though her Slayer spidey-sense had tingled a bit when she first started at Umbrella, the job had proved to be, ultimately, quite boring. Buffy twisted her neck to look at the clock on the wall. 9:16 p.m. Ugh. She was taking the four to midnight shift this week and it went way, way slower than the day shift, since there were only two other security assistants, Gary and John, there with her. Right now, Gary was "in the head" as he insisted on terming it, and John was studying for his real estate broker exam. Well, maybe checking the monitors again would take up about… a minute.
Monitors 1-10… clear. Monitors 11-20… clear. Monitors 21-30… imagine that: clear! How about 31-40? Yeah. Clear.
*thud*
Buffy let her forehead drop to the desk at her station.
John looked up from his studying. "You okay there, Buffy?"
Buffy, without raising her head from the desk, said, "Yeah, I'm fine, John. Hey, the wood-like material they use to make this desktop is kinda neat up-close. Pretty patterns."
"Yeah, yeah. So the job's a little dull. But it puts money in the pocket, right?"
Buffy raised her head to look at John. He was the silver lining sort of guy. Cute. She smiled tiredly. "Yes, for about eight microseconds. Then it goes into the pocket of the supermarket, the telephone company, the electric company… stupid, lucky corporate pockets."
"That's tough. I only have to support myself on this salary until I get into real estate, but you gotta look out for your little sis. Hey, Pritchett seems to like you, though. I bet you'll have no problem getting your six-month raise."
"I hope you're right. That means I only have five more months of beating the ends into submission until they meet."
Gary, back from the head, strolled back into the room. "Anyone check the monitors recently?"
Gary was slightly senior of Buffy and John, and took it very seriously. Except when he needed those 30-minute bathroom breaks, of course. Buffy said, "Yeah, I checked 'em a couple minutes ago. All clear."
"Well, let's look alive, guys. Umbrella ain't paying us to chat. Keep your eyes on those monitors." Gary went to his station, sat down, propped his feet up on the desk, and promptly let his eyes glaze over.
Buffy and John looked at each other, John went back to his studying, and Buffy - *thud* - let her forehead rest again.