Chapter Text
Frank happily hummed as he brought in the cart full of dolls from the back all the way up to the front counter of Toy Zone. He looked at every single greedy customer's face, knowing very well that tonight would be the night when all the money he'd ever dreamed of would come to him. He giggled. This would be a night to die for.
"Okay, everyone," Lex said in her usual monotone customer service voice, "Who's up first?" which caused one customer, Sherman Young, to rush up to the counter eagerly.
"Oh, look, a valued customer! Good morning, sir! Can I get you a Tickle-Me Wiggly?" Frank said happily to Sherman Young. Lex just shook her head as she picked up a Wiggly Doll and dropped it on the counter. "Yes. In fact, I would like all of them," he said enthusiastically. Lex's jaw dropped in shock as Frank just stared at Sherman. "Wait, what?"
A murmur spread through the line.
"What did that guy just say?" One shopper with a scarf cried out.
Frank barely broke eye contact as he asked him, "Excuse me, sir, did my ears deceive me, or did you say you wanted to buy all of them?"
"Yes," Sherman replied bluntly.
Frank took out a calculator and began to crunch the numbers. "As in, the entire stock of 850 Wiggles at $49.95 each? That's— "
"$44,999, including sales tax."
At that, Frank's eyes lit up in excitement. He was gonna make so much money. "Would you like them gift wrapped?" he asked sweetly.
"NO!!" a voice suddenly cried out, and a familiar woman wearing a black cape stomped up towards the counter. " No! No, no, no, no, no! He can't buy all the dolls! Some of us have been waiting in line forever!" She gestured out to the line behind her, who was getting antsy.
"Hey, what's going on up there??"
"I think someone's trying to buy all the dolls!"
"I better get one!"
"Sorry, lady. First come, first served, all sales are final." Frank said to her smugly, "Could I interest you in a Gummy Bug Maker?" Linda glared at Frank before turning to Sherman. "Oh, you should be ashamed of yourself, you disgusting little pervert! What's a grown man going to do with 850 dolls?"
Sherman's eyes lit up. He'd been waiting his entire life for someone to ask him this. "Well, one will say in the box for posterity. One will be used exclusively for bath time." Linda backed away in disgust as Sherman continues to describe what he will use each doll for. "This is unbelievable!"
"Hey, lady! If you're going to make it with the hysterics, take it to Macy's!" Frank yelled, causing Lex to let out an involuntary laugh. Linda's eyes hardened towards the two; if looks could kill both would be nothing more than ashes. "How dare you!" Linda pulled out her phone and began to talk to her husband. "Are you hearing this, Gerald? Yes, call my attorney!"
Meanwhile, the rest of the line began to get restless at the news that they heard.
"Listen, I've been waiting here all night, and I am not leaving here without a Wiggly!" one man barked.
"And I'm in a hurry!" another bellowed out; the rest of the line began to protest against the sale as a man started to stride up to the front to Linda's aid.
"Hi, Gary Goldstein, attorney at law; I was a little further back in line?" The man introduced himself, much to her relief
"Gary, thank god!" Linda cried as she leaned on him
"Are you aware that my client, Linda Monroe, suffers from a rare, little-understood anxiety disorder? And that any lasting medical conditions that may arise from stress caused on these premises are your liability, sir?" he explained. " I hope you have your finances in order! Get ready for audits! Audits up your ears! Audits in your yin-yang! Audits at your wazoo!"
Linda turns to the shoppers behind her and smugly mouths, "audits."
Frank groaned even though it was unlikely that Linda's case would get to court. He didn't want to deal with all this crap, not on the holiest of nights. "All right, all right, all right! We're gonna try and be fair!" Gary and Linda nod at each other in approval, Gary returning to his place a little further back in line.
"We're gonna put a limit on how many Wigglys each customer can purchase. One per person, are you happy now?" he announced. The shoppers made various sounds of agreement while Linda looked outraged again at the announcement. "No! Of all the arbitrary numbers, why one? It should be a nice, even number that we can all agree upon, like four!"
Everyone else made various noises of dissent, which infuriated Linda even more.
"Well, you can buy less if you want!" she screeched.
"I thought all sales were final," Sherman said quietly at Frank.
"Look, you're not getting all the Wiggles, you sicko!" Frank snapped
Sherman huffed. "Well, now you'll be hearing from my attorney!"
Sensing another opportunity, Gary runs to the front of the line to help Sherman.
"Hi, Gary Goldstein, attorney at law. Are you aware my client, Sherman Young, is being discriminated against—" Before he could finish his sentence. Linda ran up to him. "Shut up, Gary!" she screamed and then kneeled him in the groin, "Ooh, right in the subpoena!" he groaned as he stumbled to the back of the line.
"Alright, forget this line." a man in the trench coat snapped. "I'll give you $500, cash, for one Wiggly!” Everyone gasped at his declaration while Frank yelled in joy, "Now there's an idea! Would you like it gift-wrapped?" he chirped.
"Now, wait a minute!" Suddenly, the man with the scarf pushed the man in the trench coat away, holding up cash as well. "I'll give you 700!"
Then Lex came out of the counter, "No, everyone, back in line!" She tried to push both men back into line. "Shut the fuck up!" one of the men shouts as he shoves her away.
"Hey, get your hands off her!" Tom yelled, horrified.
"Fuck you!" He yelled back.
Not noticing the chaos, Frank stood on the counter holding a Tickle-Me Wiggly doll above him like it was Simba.
"Show me the money, people! Show me the money!" He cheered.
"$800!" The Trench coat man yelled
"$400," Charlotte screamed, causing Toby to cover his ears.
Meanwhile, everyone else in the line doesn't seem as happy as the others
"$3." The Homeless man said quietly
"Can I use these coupons?" Gary said
"This ain't right; I lost my job when the plant closed!" one man argued, forcing everyone out of the way to Frank on the counter, "I can't afford 3, $500 for a doll! A Wiggly is $49.95!"
"Sorry, pal, the price just went up! Supply and demand is a wonderful thing!" Frank said cruelly. "Whoever pays the most for a Wiggly gets a Wiggly!"
As the other shoppers began rifling through their pockets for more cash, the ex-plant worker decided that he had enough. "Well, if you're not gonna sell me that doll, then I guess I'm just gonna have to take it!" With a green flash in his eyes, the man ran and tackled Frank for the Wiggly doll.
"Woah! What the fuck! No!" Lex screamed, freaking out at the scene. The other Shoppers cried out in alarm but seemed a lot more off than their earlier cries as something a lot more hungry began to slip into their voices.
"Hey, hands off the merchandise, pal!" Frank screamed, panicked as he fought for the doll. The ex-plant worker just growled at him as the other shoppers began to advance on them both. The green in their eyes finally consumed their irises as if they were wolves sighting their prey.
"That guy's got a Wiggly! He's got a Wiggly doll! "The homeless man cried out.
"Well, if he gets one, then I want four!" Linda screeched.
"Give me that doll!" the man in a trench coat roared as he began to punch the man in the back and try to grab the doll.
"No, give it to me!" Tom yelled, running after him and punching him in the face before grabbing onto it.
And then everything descended into chaos.
Everyone begins scratching, punching, and fighting one another for the dolls. The man wearing the trench coat and Gary was trying to choke each other as they tried to grab onto the doll. A random woman and Linda began to screech at one another as they pulled the Wiggly from each other, screaming that it was their doll.
"It's Mine!"
"It's Mine!"
"It's Mine!"
"It's Mine!"
As the crowd continued to fight over the doll, a lone boy was in the middle of the scene.
"Mom! Mom!!" Toby called out in the chaos, looking around fearfully. His eyes saw a man and woman screaming.
"Let go of the fucking Wiggly, you bitch!"
"You asshole, he's mine! Go find a Gummy Bug Maker for your little bastard," she yelled. Then in an instant, the man grabbed her hair, causing her to scream.
"Then died," the man growled at the struggling woman before slamming her against the wall five times. Toby was frozen on the spot as the man ran from the scene. The woman slumped off the wall to the floor, crimson red bleeding out of her head. She wasn't breathing. He whimpered as he slowly backed away.
This is not a regular Black Friday...thi- this is hell.....
Then, he saw a familiar sweater in the crowd.
"Mom!" He yelled out and tried to hold her sleeve only for the man in the trench coat to grab the back of his shirt, spinning him around. "Where's the doll!!!!" he yelled in Toby's face, a little bit of spit coming out. "I don't have it. Please, I just want my mom," he whispered fearfully, causing the man to growl in frustration before letting go of Toby. But not before kicking him in the back, causing him to fall. "No one needs some brat running around here. Now get out!!"
Ignoring the pain on his side, Toby just ran out of the store, and much to his shock and horror around him was even more chaos.
More fighting, More screaming. More deaths.
But Toby just kept running and running, trying to ignore the screams, the yelling, the tearing of flesh. Then he saw a trashcan nearby the playground.
I could hide there.
Then he quickly crawled inside the can, which had little trash, much to his relief as he tries to calm down. His fear slowly got replaced with something else: guilt. He just left her-he left his own mother in there with a bunch of murderous nutjobs. Not just that- he watched someone die. He could still see the bloody face of that woman...the way her eyes stared at nothing. A sob escaped from his mouth, but he covered it.
You're not going to cry. They'll hear you. You just need to wait out the ride for a few minutes, and then you'll go back. I didn't abandon her. I just need space away from everyone. When everything calms down, then you'll go back. You'll go back.
As the chaos raged on, Toby just hugged himself in the tight space. I hope it's true .
Tim hummed happily to himself as he, Paul, and Emma walked across the mall parking lot, which is surprisingly void of anyone else.
"Is that a bad sign?" Paul asked nervously.
"What? People are focused on Black Friday, not a crappy Christmas movie."
"We should have just watched something on TV."
"Come on, Paul, you're the one who suggested this. If you really don't want to watch this movie, you should have just chosen the multiple other kids movies."
"There were none I could think of," Paul stated indignantly, "It's the only new kids' movie coming out."
Emma laughed. "It's all right. I'll make it up to you after the movie."
"You don't need to. I mean, just being with you two is good enough already."
Paul and Emma smiled at each other sweetly. Tim just playfully rolled his eyes, none of them paying attention to the loud noises on the other side of the door. "If you two are finish-"
"IT'S MINE."
All three flinched at the sound.
"Emma, what was that?" Tim asked
"IT'S FOR MY KID, GET YOUR FUCKING OWN!"
"It sounds like there's a fight going on," Emma said.
"Oh no," Paul whispered, knowing what that meant.
"Something is wrong,'' Tim exclaimed worriedly. "I mean, something is very wrong."
Emma looked at the two. "It's okay. The likelihood of anything happening is slim to none."
"DIE, YOU BASTARD!"
What the hell is going on?
~Well, why not come in and find out~ A voice said
"That doesn't sound like nothing," Paul replied.
"I'll go first."
"Wait-Emma- that's not a good-"
But Emma ignored him as she walked to the door as if in a trance.
Do I want to go in?
Yes, you do want to,~ The voice told her
I don't want to go in.
That's the way to get what you want. The voice replied, She could feel the voice smile , So join the party, Emmy .
Emma was about to let go of the door, about to just go back to Tim and Paul. Something was fucking wrong, and she was not going to be involved in anything, but... another part of her was worried about Tom and was curious about what the fuck was going on.
Emma took one deep and shaky breath. "It's probably nothing."
When she opened the door, it was pandemonium. The scene was filled with people pushing each other apart, trying to grab hold of at least one Wiggly doll; the screaming from the injured hurt the fighting, pieces of Wiggly fluff all over the floor, and lastly, bodies all over the floor covered in blood, their eyes closed or open and a few seemingly not breathing.
Emma screamed at the scene and nearly tripped. Paul quickly caught her while she held on to him tightly; Emma looked at Paul fearfully. The only thing Emma could say was, "What the fuck!" Paul looked at Emma with a similar expression, "I knew these dolls would cause nothing but trouble."
"What was the noise about?" Tim asked apprehensively.
"Something is very wrong," Paul said. "We need to get out of here. We can call the police and tell them that there was a severe riot-"
"No, wait," Emma said."Tom was there. He might be in trouble."She turned to Paul. " You take him home. I'll go look for Tom."
"Wait," Tim said. "I want to help."
"No, dude, it's too dangerous. For all I know, these people are crazy enough to hurt a kid-"
"I want to see my dad. I don't want to lose him. I can't lose him!" Tim shouted, causing both Emma and Paul to freeze up. Emma already knew that the kid lost one parent. She can't even imagine how he would react to losing Tom. Emma grew frustrated for a moment. She didn't want to bring him along for obvious reasons. But knowing Tom, the stubborn bastard, he probably still was in there trying to get the doll even if it does mean getting killed in the process.
She sighed. "Okay, but you got to stay close to us, and if anything gets as bad as I think it will, Paul, take him back to the car and drive as far away as you can."
"But-"
"Paul!" Emma shouted, "Just promise me nothing bad will happen to him. Just keep him safe."
All went quiet for a moment before Paul let out a soft "Okay,"
"Okay," Emma said quietly. "We have to get far away from this shit storm. I know a place."
And with that, all three of them began to run towards the back of the mall.