Chapter 235 - First Day Of Work (2/2)

'Maybe I should drag him along...?' Laz thought to himself.

It was a long time before anyone got to sleep.

Laz woke up in the morning to do his normal exercise routine, only to find that Julia was outside working out as well. She had taken the approach to getting up earlier so that she could train with him, seeing how strong he was. The didn't really interact with each other while doing so. At first, Julia just did stretches and weight training, using weights she had gotten from who knew where.

Laz was different. He would have normally liked to run, but in this small space, that was pretty impossible. As such, he focused on intense still training such as holding himself upwards in a one handed hand stand or working his muscles by lifting himself into a tree and coming down upside down like a cat. Of course he also spent some time hitting the log. After enough hits, he would take the blow back as though he was being attacked and defend against it with his body. Doing so allowed him to work on taking hits without it being damaging to his life.

When he finally sat down to rest, Julia walked forward and looked over at him to which Laz shook his head ok. It was him allowing her to use the log for her own purpose. As he watched her go, he noticed that she still had that flowing water form, but that something was off. Her hits were like bee stings towards the log without an ounce of power behind them. Although she hit it many times and felt the blow back, it was at most like a gust of wind. Laz couldn't help but wonder if she was scared of it or something.

After watching her do this for a straight five minutes, Laz lost his cool and walked inside. He was done anyway and wanted a shower, leaving her to enjoy herself alone.

After a few hours, everyone else was up and dressed and ready for the day. With Benny leading the way with Madison, they soon arrive at the crab shack. Laz couldn't help but wonder for a moment if he had an affinty with shacks or something. But either way, he didn't let it bother him.

After gathering together in the closed dinning room, everyone filled out paperwork while being introduced to the members of the staff that would be training them today. Laz looked around and saw at least twenty other people here besides his group. He really had no idea that so many people would be needed to run such a small place. But that confusion was cleared up soon by a d.i.c.k named Chad.

'For f.u.c.k's sake...' Laz couldn't help but swear to himself as he got a load of Chad. He was a typical pretty boy who also happened to be the son of the owner. He was going to be working with all of the newbie's as a way to get some management experience before running some of his parent's other business.

'The guy honestly looks like a rich asshole...' Laz thought as he listened in.

Basically, the idea was that they would be staying open twenty four hours during the course of the season and that all the new help was going to be working the off shifts. Basically, overnights. For the week, they would be training in the morning/afternoons and learning the ropes after which they would work the overnight hours in which Chad would be the manager.

”Now then. I would like to go around the room and ask if anyone has any experience in this business,” Chad said with a smile that could make women swoon.

”I bet he bleaches...” Laz whispered to Benny and Eddy, causing them to laugh. Chad's hair looked way too unnatural. Benny and Eddy didn't have a likeable impression of this guy either since not only was he good looking, but he was also rich. They originally wouldn't have like Laz either, seeing that he was unnaturally handsome, but after spending some time with him, he was just another guy to them. And besides, since he was doing this job, it was assured that he wasn't rich.

Or so they thought.

After a quick around the room to the rest, they finally got to Laz's group. Madison, Angie and Steph had no experience what so ever. Despite that, Madison was going to be a greeter and seater while Angie and Steph were going to serve the masses as waitresses. Of course this only came after a long bit of flurting with them, causing Laz, Benny and Eddy to get more annoyed. Abraham was just looking around and taking things in, totally unaware of the other guy's annoyance. When it came time to Julia, she didn't say much, but Chad had a weird look on his face when she said her name. After what seemed like a bit of internal debate, he placed her as a greeter as well.

When it came time for the guys, Benny and Eddy ended up as waiters while Laz was apparently going to be a bus boy. He mentioned that he had experience serving, but it seemed like Chad was annoyed with Laz for some reason known only to him and wanted him away from the customers and the other staff.

Finally, it was Abrahams turn.

”What experience do you have?” Chad asked with a smile. He seemed much friendlier than he was to Laz.

”I can cook.” Abraham said, somewhat shyly.

”Excellent, but you will have to prove it. You can work in the kitchen today, but if it doesn't work out, you will be busting tables with the pretty boy over there,” Chad said, pointing at Laz.

'Ah. Ok. Now this makes sense,” Laz thought, laughing to himself. Chad was jealous.

After a few introductions to the current staff and getting some uniform shirts, everyone was off to their own stations to learn.

Laz actually had a decent time with the older man who was training him.

”Alright. It's real simple what we do. Pick up dishes, clean up the table and the area around it, set out new placings and bring the dishes back to wash them. Piece of cake. When you don't have anything else to do, you can clean up the kitchen. I'll tell you this right now lad, chefs are a messy bunch and arrogant pricks. So you'll have to toughen your skin to work here,” the older man nicely advised him.

”Sure thing gramps. My skins pretty thick already,” Laz said proudly. It felt weird for him to be doing stuff like this since any job he had worked prior to this would end up making him a hundred times the money for much less effort. Of course, many of those jobs had been illegal, but still.

Turned out the old man was just doing this after retirement since his wife didn't want to watch him sit at home all day and do nothing. After chatting with him for a bit, Laz felt like this old man was rather similar to how his grandpa would have been, without the mental problems.

As far as working in the kitchen went, Abraham astounded the chefs with his ability to cook almost anything on the menu after he was told what he needed to do. His knife work was superb and won him an instant spot.

Everyone else was also doing well with their trainers and they prepared to open for the lunch rush around eleven. It would be slow going at first, which was what everyone needed.

The day progressed well and one thing that Laz was thankful for was that in his position, he was mostly invisible. Since he looked like a poor worker, he was treated as such. Had he been a waiter, he would have had to take care of the customers close up, causing himself to be noticed. This was something that Chad didn't want to happen since as long as Laz wasn't around, he was the hottest guy in the place.

Laz didn't mind in the least.

Just when he was clearing a table however while keeping his head down, he over heard a conversation that caused him to pay close attention.

”You hear about it?”

”About?”

”The people. The disappearances.”

”Man, that's only some hearsay. Come on. Just cause some tourists get lost, it don't mean people are missing.”

”That's the strange part, ain't it? It's only the tourists. Makes it that much harder for the popo to find them, don't it?”

”Just shut up man. Don't talk about no shit and no shit will come find you. Thems the rules, ya know?”

”Seriously?”

”Seriously.”

'People missing huh?' Laz thought. As he finished cleaning the table and heading towards the back, he saw the old man happily washing dishes and set his bin down next to him.

”You seem way too happy washing dishes there gramps,” Laz said with a smile. After several hours together, they felt pretty comfortable with each other.

”Heh. You see, there's something you don't know. When I wash dishes here, I get paid for it. When I have to wash them at home, I don't get jack shit.”

”Doesn't it keep the peace with the missus?”

”At my age kid, nothing makes a woman happy anymore.”

”So this is your escape?”

”Catch on quick huh?”

”Hey. I heard some people talking about people going missing. Hear anything about it?” Laz asked, watching the old man put the dishes into the washer after rinsing them off.

”Come with me kid.” The old man led the way out a small back door used for receiving deliveries and lit a cigarette before talking.

”People are being taken, people who won't be missed, you know? I hear about it from some friends. You live around here and you will be noticed if you go missing. If you're just visiting though, chances are you won't be noticed for a while. On top of that, even the people that have gone missing aren't really being reported. See, if something like that gets out, it will affect the festivities and they sure as hell don't want that. So everything's hush hush. Now, in your case, you're working here so you should be fine. Right now they only aiming for the easy to miss ones. But, heed my advice boy. Stick with a group. And if you find yourself alone and surrounded by some unsavory types, run away. No being a hero now.”

Laz listened to his words and nodded his head, but he was having a different plan in mind.

He wanted to find these people since that would give him the information he needed.

For the first time since he got here, Laz was excited. He was going to be hunting again, real soon.