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"Ge-Get ready for a surprise!"
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“Liam and Drew's expose about their boss leaves them in for a rude awakening.” |
Monster is a bonus story in the Walmart exclusive Tales from the Pizzaplex #2/#3: HAPPS and Somniphobia and chronologically the Tales from the Pizzaplex series' 25th story. It was written by Andrea Waggener.
Characters[]
- Drew's Family
- Drew
- Carly
- Drew's Father
- Drew's Mother
- Drew's Grandfather
- Liam's Family
- Liam
- Liam's Father
- Liam's Mother
- Mr. Burton
- Shauna
- Rianne
- Mrs. Gomez
- Mr. Schmidt
- Rob
- Deb
- Tracy
- Cecilia
- The OId Biddy
- Zoey
- Thompson Family
- Mrs. Thompson
- Mr. Thompson
- Mrs. Pritchard
- Pete
- Ralph
- Mr. Crawford
- Olive Ferguson
- Mrs. Tinker
- Leila
- Greg
- Unnamed Serial Killer
Locations[]
- Justa Pizza
Plot[]
Best friends Drew and Liam work part-time at Justa Pizza, a pizzeria owned by a friendly old man named Mr. Burton. Drew has gotten rather petty recently thanks to a fortune his family inherited after his grandfather’s death. He constantly complains about his father putting the money into Drew’s college fund instead of a new truck or his cell phone bill. Liam can’t stand Drew’s complaints about his family, as Liam’s father is abusive. Drew also tends to slack off while working, much to Liam’s annoyance. Liam’s girlfriend wants a “special” night for their senior prom, and while he and Drew agreed to split costs, the minimum wage the two are paid isn’t enough. Drew is the editor-in-chief and main writer for their school’s paper, and he decides to write an exposé on Mr. Burton, who he personally hates for his low wages and nice personality.
Drew dreams of becoming a bestselling writer and influencer, wanting people to hang on his every word. He’s unsure how to approach the exposé, initially wanting to dig up Mr. Burton’s past, but on the drive to his parents’ country club he sees a billboard put up by a strange old man reading “DEMONS LIVE AMONG US. THEY’RE MASTERS OF DECEPTION!” While Drew doesn’t believe Mr. Burton to be a literal demon he frames Mr. Burton as a psychopath, using parallels between demonic subterfuge and inconsistencies in the service industries’ values. He ends the article with a call to action against Mr. Burton. Liam’s given a copy of the paper once it comes out and is ashamed of Drew. While their little town has a small weekly paper, Drew has made sure the school paper circulates faster by releasing it three days a week. Drew’s article makes an impact as only a few employees have shown up to work. They’re mad at Drew, but Mr. Burton apologizes and gives everyone a dollar-per-hour raise. Business picks up again, but Liam sees Mr. Burton washing blood off his hands in the bathroom.
Liam tries his best to ignore Drew, but they are paired together for a history presentation on aspects of Celtic folklore. At Drew’s house, Drew suggests they should do their presentation on shape-shifters and reveals he’s been researching the topic. He claims that Mr. Burton may have powers, and brings up a recent string of bad luck including getting dumped (although he immediately got a new girlfriend) and blown tire. Liam can see the rage in Drew and doesn’t protest against his ideas. Later, Drew writes an article claiming the raise is ultimately worth nothing due to taxes and social security deductions. Drew’s next article again ends with a call to action, and at work Liam sees Mr. Burton lock his office door. Later, Liam sees Mr. Burton flash an angry look at Drew.
Drew’s articles get worse, accusing Mr. Burton of health violations which brings an inspector to Justa Pizza. Liam confronts Drew over the lies, but Drew says they need to put the enemy under pressure to draw him out. While Drew’s SUV is worse and he already has a new girlfriend, he continues his smear campaign against Mr. Burton, accusing him of covering up a child’s death and assaulting an employee. These trigger protests against Mr. Burton. Liam’s surprised to see his kind neighbors in the crowd and tells Mr. Burton it will all blow over. That night, Liam has a nightmare about Mr. Burton hiding in his closet. Four days after the protests start, Drew is cheered on by a few protestors when he drives by. He feels like a hero as he stops by a gas station, where the clerk and an old couple compliment his work. Recognizing his current status as a celebrity, Drew writes more articles featuring interviews and continues the idea of Mr. Burton being a psychopath. Drew admits to himself that the articles started as a way to punish Mr. Burton, but now he’s the town’s white knight.
On the day of the junior class’s history fair, Drew and Liam’s presentation is a huge success. Drew, however, reworks the presentation to further his anti-Burton cause. The crowd applauds as Liam slips away to see his girlfriend, who reveals she and her family are conspiracy theorists. Later that afternoon, Drew arrives at Justa Pizza furious over a cracked engine block in his SUV, but Liam doesn’t care since he’s warned him in the past about it. Instead, Liam confronts Drew over hijacking the presentation and lying about Mr. Burton, to which Drew responds that he just hates when someone pretends to be nice and then screw you over. As Drew complains about his low pay and his brand new girlfriend, Mr. Burton exits the pizzeria and fires the two. Drew quits instead, but Liam begs to keep his job. Mr. Burton regretfully lets him go, unable to pay him without revenue. Liam is furious at Drew, but Drew claims Mr. Burton isn’t so innocent and he constantly moved towns in the past.
Liam continues to have nightmares about Mr. Burton. Drew’s next article is “Monster!”, which focuses on a long string of missing persons (many of them children) in a handful of small towns linked to an active serial killer. While Drew doesn’t outright claim Mr. Burton’s the killer, he reveals Mr. Burton lived in every town. Ignoring Drew becomes harder as his popularity grows larger. A few days after the history fair, Justa Pizza limits opening hours to Friday and Saturday evenings. Drew writes that the law enforcement task force formed to find the killer believes they look perfectly normal, then urges readers to find and unmask them. The next day, the old man’s billboard says “WE MUST RID OUR TOWN OF ITS EVIL.” The town council holds a meeting to discuss getting Mr. Burton to leave. The protestors chant “Reveal yourself” and make signs reading “SHOW YOUR TRUE FACE!” Liam’s girlfriend believes Mr. Burton is a shapeshifting demon and only stays with Liam for prom. Liam tries visiting Mr. Burton in his apartment above the pizzeria, but gets no response. At home his mother reveals there will be rally to get Mr. Burton to leave.
Liam watches the rally the next day, seeing at least three-fourths of the town attending. They all agree they need to drive out the evil from their town. Liam runs away and wonders if he’s the crazy one, and discovers that Drew wasn’t lying about the killer or Burton’s past. He emails researchers hoping to get more info. After another nightmare Liam confronts Drew and, after looking at Liam unfocused for a couple of seconds, he lifts up his sleeves to reveal bandages. Drew says Mr. Burton is responsible and shows Liam scars covering his arms, chest, stomach, and back. The scars on his back make it look like Drew was flayed over and over, and he claims he doesn’t want to tell others so he doesn’t cause a panic. Drew’s scars, some of which are old, convince Liam that waiting for the researchers is pointless. Drew claims that Mr. Burton warned him not to tell anyone and would say Drew made everything up. Liam is confused over how anyone could fake the scars, and with his nightmares and observations of Mr. Burton, as well as his discoveries of his past, Liam now believes Drew.
Drew heads to Justa Pizza the next day, imagining the fame he’d get if he drove Mr. Burton out of town. His recent injuries had been from attempting a coup the previous day, and today he hears Mr. Burton in his apartment arguing about going against his beliefs. Drew sneaks in through the pizzeria’s back door and finds notes on Mr. Burton’s insurance policy, concluding that Mr. Burton plans to commit insurance fraud by burning down his pizzeria and collecting the insurance money. He hadn’t really been sure Mr. Burton was the serial killer, but is vindicated to have evidence Mr. Burton’s a criminal. Drew writes about Mr. Burton’s plans, and when the article comes out the largest crowd yet surrounds Justa Pizza. The presence of police means Mr. Burton won’t burn the pizzeria down and, desperate to live through his ultimate triumph, Drew sneaks to the back door where Liam is waiting. While Liam believes Drew about the scars, he accuses Drew of lying about Burton burning down his restaurant, claiming he only did so to rile up the crowd. Drew loses his patience and shoves Liam aside, knocking him into a dumpster.
Drew’s altercation with Liam and the crowd’s wrath fills him with energy. He finds Mr. Burton at his desk crying and knows Mr. Burton isn’t literally a monster, but believes none of it matters now. Drew enjoyed messing with him, bringing up a decapitated rat he left for Mr. Burton, explaining the blood Liam saw. Drew grabs a can of kerosene from the kitchen as Liam wakes up and enters the pizzeria. Mr. Burton runs but Drew catches him and throws the kerosene. They fight over a lighter and Mr. Burton explains he wasn’t going to go through with burning the pizzeria. Drew doesn’t care and just wants people to know how powerful he is, having orchestrated everything and created the narrative. Drew overpowers Mr. Burton and the crowd cheers as Drew lights the kerosene. Mr. Burton dies instantly and the fire spreads to Drew, who simply laughs as Liam escapes. Liam turns back to see Drew raise his fists above his head. Drew looks at Liam as the fire burns through him and his body collapses. A breeze reforms the smoke into a shape faintly resembling a horned demon. The crowd celebrates as Liam leaves.
Liam is traumatized by the image of Drew’s burning body. Reflecting on Drew’s lies, Liam realizes all of the scars were actually from stupid accidents caused by Drew’s carelessness. Confused on Mr. Burton’s past, Liam opens his laptop and finds an article revealing the true serial killer was caught. He cries over the realization that Mr. Burton was truly innocent, and he decides to write a special edition article about Mr. Burton, revealing the true killer was caught and telling the crowd who badgered Mr. Burton to look in the mirror if they want to see a monster. Liam anticipates outcry, but his article makes no impact. Drew’s latest girlfriend starts dating the football team’s quarterback while Liam’s girlfriend starts dating the team’s star running back. Drew’s status becomes nothing but a memory as everyone forgets him. The fire department boards up Justa Pizza and a rumor starts that a national franchise will take over the space. Everything goes back to normal and life goes on.
Trivia[]
- This story was originally meant to be included in the 5th book, then the 7th book, but was replaced with GGY and Bleeding Heart each time, respectively.