Chapter 3: The Rejectz

In the back lot of Bergduffs Department Store, a delivery truck pulled up. The driver parked and got out just as one of the employees opened the back door. He ran out, angered and relieved all at once.

"'Bout time!" he exclaimed. "That shipment was due over half an hour ago! We were supposed to be open by now! We've got customers waiting!"

"Yeah, yeah," the driver replied without a care. He went to the back of the truck and opened it. "You know how the streets are in this town. Maniacs on the road. Honestly, some days you can't tell the difference between a drunk behind the wheel and the Joker behind the wheel. Here, sign this."

He held out a clipboard.

"Let me get the boss; I'll be right back."

The employee ran inside, and returned about five minutes later followed by a lady in her late forties, wearing a business suit, tight orange hair, and too much make-up.

"The merch is here, Mrs. Ericson. He needs you to sign the papers."

She scoffed.

"About time!" Mrs. Ericson grabbed the clipboard and began to fill out the paperwork. "Honestly, we had to close the top floor to the public, it was so chaotic! You should see the crowd. They're so eager to get these things it's nuts!"

She finished signing, then thrust the clipboard into the driver's hands.

"The least you could do is help unpack the cargo."

"Not a problem, ma'am," said the driver.

A few more men came out of the truck and began to help him unload it. Some men from the store came out to help. It took nearly fifteen minutes, getting the boxes from the trucks to the elevators to the top of the twenty-story building. There was much huffing and puffing, but before long, every box in the truck was lying in front of a huge wall, which seemed to be nothing but shelf. When the last box was unloaded, the men got back in the truck and departed.

Mrs. Ericson watched as the truck rolled away, relieved that the merchandise, at least, was finally here. She turned and went inside to deal with another problem that had just come up.

"Ma'am, how are we going to deal with the crowd now that they know the stuff is here?" asked a cherry saleslady.

"They can wait until we get everything shelved," said Mrs. Ericson. "No use tearing our employees to get at them."

Up on the twentieth floor, where the merchandise was being unloaded, one of the employees was opening the first case.

"I can't believe these things are so popular, Anthony" she muttered. "They're so ugly."

"Hey, whatever sells, Trish" said Anthony, her coworker, just as quietly. "Teens especially are crazy about them. And they came out in time for Halloween."

He pulled out a box from one of the cases. It was about the size of a Barbie box. The box was black and shaped like a coffin, with a lid made of clear plastic. It cased a Frankenstein monster figure. Looking closely, one could tell that one foot was slightly bigger than the other. Across the lid, in freaky green letters, it read, "Rejectz." Right underneath it, it said, "Franquie." Anthony pulled out another one, this one a werewolf, "Wulfgang," ("How original," Trish muttered) with one arm longer than another. The toys had been given defects on purpose, like the toys that were usually tossed into a recycle bin at a factory, to be torn apart either be made into new toys or fixed.

Trisha groaned.

"Just add on to that Gothic culture we live in now..."

"Sure. Sellers like these only help to increase the paycheck."

Trish rolled her eyes.

"What sort of wacko gets the idea to ruin toys on purpose, then sell them?" she asked.

"A genius," said Anthony, putting more of the Rejectz on the shelf.

"That was a rhetorical question..." Trish muttered.

She opened a new case. This time, there were vampire dolls---or at least, she assumed they were---all of them dressed in a black V-neck one-piece outfit with a little leather jacket, finger-less gloves, and tall thigh-high boots. The doll had one wing, sort of like a bat. It was small, more for a back decoration than a flying instrument, but it looked like a piece of another toy, like a gargoyle or something. What really caught her attention was that the doll ("Nyghtmare") had two left hands. Trish shrugged and put the doll on the shelf with the others. She was quick to move on to the next case.

"Stupid Rejectz," she muttered. "Why can't we stock normal dolls anymore?"

Her back was completely to the Nyghtmare doll, where she was in view of the green, glassy eyes. Unknown to her, they took on a quick glimmer...as if she had heard.

Trish went over to the main entrance from the stairway. She opened it and came out.

"Are they it? Are they it?" asked an anxious girl in the front of the line, another twenty minutes later.

"Yes, said Trish.

She unlocked the entrance to the section of the Rejectz display. The crowd, mainly preteens and teenagers, ran inside and attacked the shelves holding the Rejectz dolls. Boxes fell over. The once neat shelves were ruined. Several times two kids grabbed the same box and fought over who got it first, before one of them got smart and realized there was another of the same figure just in reach.

The poor employees were all but mere moments away from just jumping behind the counters and cowering in terror of getting crushed to death. A wave of teenagers formed a long line, and all were anxious to make their purchases. The cashiers went as fast as they could, which was not fast enough.

Despite the troubles cause by the Lock, Shock, and Barrel a few days ago, Halloween Town seemed back in order again. With only two days left until Halloween, it was almost a miracle that things were back in order and on schedule again. The town looked three times as spooky as usual, now that the new decorations were up and working. Jack walked around the streets, smiling at everything he saw. Spider webs were draped in every corner. Pumpkins were lit. Eerie sounds echoed as he walked down the streets. Even the graveyard seemed more terrifying that usual. Best of all, there was no sign of Lock, Shock or Barrel.

Jack was so happy that he was skipping through the streets with joy. He praised everyone he saw, gave helpful feedback, and generally tested things once in a while before merrily moving on his way, getting more and more excited as Halloween approached.

That joy was short lived, however, when cries of "WATCH OUT!" began to pour into the streets. Jack barely moved in time as the Mayor's hearse barreled down the streets, knocking over everything in its path. It was headed towards Town Hall---and towards his beloved Sally, who was just coming out of it. Jack ran, as fast as he could, grateful that his long legs allowed him to catch up to the runaway hearse quickly.

The hearse was gaining, now bouncing up the steps to Town Hall. Sally was just now seeing the hearse. Her big rag doll eyes got even bigger as it pummeled towards her. She cowered; covering her face with her arms, having no place to get away. She suddenly felt something grab her, pull her out of danger in the nick of time. There was the sound of metal crashing into stone, and then an engine dying. Sally opened her eyes, to look at a very relieved Jack. Jack held her close.

The door opened and a very dizzy looking Barrel came tumbling out. Shock came out giggling, followed by Lock, who was snickering wickedly. Both of their laughter stopped almost instantly, as they looked up the most perturbed face of Jack they had ever seen. The threesome gulped.

"What are you three doing in the Mayor's hearse?" Jack asked softly, but sternly.

It was this tone that made the threesome both fearful and guilty.

"Well---" started Lock.

"We just wanted---" Shock carried on.

"---To see how it worked!" Barrel finished.

All three looked at the ground.

"I see," said Jack.

Almost half of Halloween Town was here now.

"They can't get away with this!" screamed one of the witches.

"This time they've done it!" growled the werewolf.

"Look at this! Everything we fixed!" cried one of the vampires.

"Ruined!" all four exclaimed at once.

The Mayor came up. He was a typical politician---two faced (quite literally, I am afraid) and unable to do anything on his own. His happier face was showing right now.

"Come on, move along," he said, trying to sound cheerful and keep his happy face on as long as possible. "I'm sure it's not too bad---"

He came up---and his smiling face immediately turned to the back so his frown was showing.

"---MY HEARSE!" he exclaimed. "WHAT HAPPENED TO MY HEARSE!"

Lock, Shock, and Barrel smiled wickedly at him. The Mayor, being as slow and stupid and vulnerable as they thought, was easily their favorite target. He was one of the few who still feared them after their "change of heart." Jack looked down at them. His foot tapped threateningly. The threesome's smiles disappeared.

"What happened," said Jack, "is Lock, Shock, and Barrel went against the rules. This was no prank, you three. This was deliberate destruction of property, and someone almost got hurt. I already warned you once. I'm not warning you again. This year, no trips to the Mortal Realm for Halloween."

"Aww!" whined Lock.

"But Jack---" Shock started.

"We just wanted to---" Barrel tried to continue.

Jack glared at them. His foot tapped even more dangerously.

"...Please?" Shock asked sweetly.

The entire threesome looked up at Jack, with big eyes and as innocent looks as they could muster. They were not very convincing.

"No," said Jack. "I already told you what would happen if you caused such ruckus around town again. You chose not to heed that warning."

"No fair!" Barrel exclaimed.

"We just wanted to see how it worked!" Shock sniffed.

Jack shook his head.

"You know how to ask."

Shock crossed her arms and pouted.

"You're mean, Jack!"

"Yeah!" Lock said in agreement.

"We're going home!" Shock exclaimed.

She turned and began to storm off. Lock and Barrel followed the suit. As soon as they were gone, the crowd looked more than relieved.

"Thank goodness we don't have to deal with them again," the Big Witch said.

"Yeah," said the Cyclops. "Halloween will be so much easier without them."

Jack sighed heavily. Sally placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You did what you had to do."

Jack gave her a warm smile.

" know, baby doll. I know."

Over half an hour later in Bergduffs Department Store, the chaos had settled down and most of the customers were gone. Trish took a deep breath.

"Seriously, Anthony," she said, "what is it about those things?"

"I don't know," said Anthony. "I over heard some were limited edition. Maybe that's why the craze today."

"They've been out for over a month!"

"Perhaps a new one came in," said Anthony. He looked over at the shelves. "All that chaos and we still a third of them left."

He went over to straighten them. Trish sighed and followed. How much she hated these things. They were monsters---deformed monsters. Frankenstein's monsters, werewolves, mummies, vampires---speak of the devil. The one she picked up was one of the Nyghtmare dolls---possibly the same one she scorned at earlier. Like it mattered. Without a second thought, she shoved it on the shelf---then took it back.

Trish looked at the face, the white skin, the black hair---the sweet piercing green eyes. She smiled slightly. She looked at the other figures. Despite their purposeful deformities, they were---kind of cute. But still. There was nothing about them that made sense to start a craze. Trish remembered a few years back. The Treasure Trolls. Those stupid electronic Giga pets. Beanie babies. Furbi. They were all stupid crazes that died out eventually. Who starts these things, anyway? Trish looked at the doll still clasped in her hand. Oh, heck, why not?

Knowing there might be more Rejectz-crazed teenagers, Trish looked for a place to hide the box. Making sure Anthony wasn't looking, Trish quickly went behind the counter, placed the cash in the register, and locked the doll in one of the cabinets underneath. She then went over to help Anthony re-organize the boxes.

"I hate Jack!" Shock shouted as she entered the tree house. "He hates us! That's why we can't go out for Halloween!"

Lock and Barrel soon followed behind her.

"I know!" Lock agreed. "He's never liked us. Just because we worked for Oogie once."

Shock picked up a pillow and threw it down on a bug. She then jumped on it, crushing the bug underneath.

"Maybe if we didn't take the hearse---" Barrel tried to start.

Shock punched him.

"It was your fault anyway. You were the on who pulled that lever!

Barrel kicked her back.

"You were the one driving!"

He and Shock fell to the floor, beating each other up. Lock grabbed their collars and bashed their heads together.

"Knock it off!" he exclaimed. "The point is, we can't go out this year. Which means---"

Shock thought, then smiled wickedly.

"That we must---"

Barrel, being the slowest and last to reply as usual, thought, then got it.

"---Find a way out!"

The threesome nodded in agreement.

"But how to do it..." said Shock.

The threesome sat down in a circle on the floor.

"Hmm..." they said in unison.

(A/N: I have the rest of this story written out. It is a personal rule that I do not post until a story is finished, to guarantee to my audience that the rest of the story will come. I will not be like those authors who write a chapter, post it, then go onto write the next one. Some of these authors tend to leavea story at the first chapter, or worse, in the middle, and then never come back to it, which can be nerve-racking.

Back to my original point, depending on how many reviews I get will depend on whether or not I post the rest. I will only continue if readers are interested. My goal is a minimum of five.)