Rise Of The Fuglies
Chapter 1
Her name was Alice. She could read. She could spell. She even finished high school with straight C pluses. In her mind she was just another average all American girl. Except for one thing. She was big. Voluptuous she was once told. But if truth be told? She was straight up fat. Not fat like she was anywheres close to casting on my 600lb life but Alice had always been a big girl.
Alice had fans out there but she never knew it. People in higher places that secretly shadowed over her to keep her from danger. High powered attorneys that she had never even met going out of their way to keep things what might be in her best interest. Thwart the bullies that she would never even see coming. Divert the customers looking to pick a bone with her. But there was one thing that Alice never...and I say never...would have ever come close to figuring out. She was on Dirty Bird's list. A list that obviously would never go very long. And the name of that list? The "Do Not Kill List". Her radiance and willing to carry the torch of kindness despite the malicious ignorance of her peers had eventually landed her on Dirty Bird's "Do Not Kill" list.
Not many people were on the Do Not Kill List. The people that were on the list didn't even know it existed to know they were on it. Only one man knew about the list and that was Bob Miller. Better known to law enforcement as "Uncle b" but Bob Miller was a lot harder to track these days being as there were so Gosh dang many of them.
Alice ran the cash register with accuracy as she always did which kind of came with the territory of working at Wendy's for I dunno say 8 years? 8 years and still only a part time entry level crew member. Alice didn't care. She'd lived at home all of her life even though she was now into her thirties. No man had ever impregnated her although there were times she thought she had come pretty close. She didn't have a dime to her name but at the same time her parents really weren't extorting her. She was close to her family and they had gotten used to the fact that there was a good chance that when it came to clinging to the nest she might be a "lifer".
Alice had no criminal record but she had been fired from many waitressing jobs before the fast food chain had finally taken her under their wing and assuage the angry customers she had left for them to deal with. Besides....What did they expect for minimum wage? She would get better over the years right? Wrong. Her bitchy little gossipy coworkers always had it out for her. She knew the prissy little high school girls always talked bad about her behind her back but over the years she had just learned to accept it. Although on occasion she could eavesdrop on the ignorance she never gave them the satisfaction of letting them know she overheard them. Alice was just as consistent with her positive attitude as she was with her weight. 32 year old Alice was just who she was....Alice.
The din at Wendy's steadily grew as it became closer to the lunch hour. The turnover rate at these kind of jobs was just down right ridiculous so Alice was somewhat in a good mood that the new trainees wouldn't come flocking in until past the dinner hour when things finally settled down. She was sick of training people only to see them win a $200 scratch off ticket a week later and never return. Greasy fries sizzled in the background along with popping sounds from the frozen fries coming into contact with extreme temperatures. In about 30 minutes it would be Alice's turn to shine and prove to her coworkers why she deserved to get paid fifty cents more than everyone else. She was finally learning to get faster at the register and she was doing quite well at making proper change while knocking them out of the batter's box one by one.
The smell of her favorite men's cologne captivated her attention as the next customer stepped into the batter's box. It was a well dressed man that didn't belong in a greasy environment like this. Perhaps Panamera Bread was closed and he just needed a coffee?
Alice cleared her throat. "Can I help you sir?"
The man in the dark suit said not a word. Not did he smile. Alice couldn't even detect even the slightest movement in his jaw. Did somebody die? Was this scary Matrix look-a-like man here to bear her some bad news? Had the attorneys lied to her about keeping the debt collectors at bay? Who was this man?
Alice remained cordial. "I'm sorry sir I didn't hear you...may I take your order?"
The agent of death didn't even bother to remove his sunglasses for her to be able to tell if this was some kind of joke. He kind of reminded her of those statue people that freak people out at the beach when they discover they came in contact with a former military ops retired sniper looking to make a few bucks on the side.
Customers began lining up behind the agent hoping to make him uncomfortable so he would hurry along and place his order. Finally there was a small twitch in his Jowl before the man reached into his suit pocket and plucked out a business card. Alice was completely being taking off guard but she kept her eyes focused on the business card hoping it might lead to her dream of a modeling career.
The man left the business card on the counter for her face down and then promptly vamoosed from the building. Weird Alice thought to herself. She promptly picked up the card and flipped it over so she could read it.
DIRTY BIRD IS ON THE LOOSE
34.568456743 -76.764899054
WTF? Alice thought to herself. That's when a moment of dÃjÃVu struck her and all the pieces came together. As if the strange numbers weren't freaky enough, it was the name "Dirty Bird" that grasped her attention. The higher ups were talking to her in code but she didn't know why. Higher ups that purportedly posed as stray sheep except they weren't really sheep. They or "He" was in fact a wolf in Sheep's clothing. Bob Miller. Who was the man in town that had suddenly changed his name to Bob Miller?