Kayo wiped his hands on his apron, already stained with grease and mystery sauces he hadn't been able to identify since noon.
The room was filled with the sound of sizzling of the flat-top burners while the heavy aroma of meat, fried vegetables, and burning oil lingered in the air.
His legs were already aching, and that wasn't even the dinner rush yet.
—Order up, two burgers! One no tomato, one extra mayo!—he shouted into the crowd, passing two plates down the line.
Jeremi, the new guy, was burning onions again. Kayo reached over, killed the heat, and stirred the pan before they could turn bitter.
—You're not making incense, pay attention to the food—he snapped at Jeremi. He didn't even mean to sound harsh, it was a reflex, a combination of the late hours and stress he's had to endure for the past month. His life was heat, noise, and routine.
•••
Thankfully the manager had enough sense left in her to let her employees go home for the weekend, and so they were able to close before midnight.
Kayo had always liked the night urban atmosphere. There was something enchanting about the rows of streetlamps being one's only source of light.
He would often walk home with his older sister, Teresa, who wouldn't allow him to walk through the city at night alone. The worried, almost paranoid sort. Unfortunately, she seemed to have caught some virus recently. Nothing serious, but enough to keep her home for a while.
I could cut my journey in half through here.
Kayo contemplated the dimly lit alleyway in front of him. He knew it was a shortcut, he'd used it many times before, but always during the day. It scared him at night, and it was probably full of rats anyway.
Nah, I think I'd rather be chewed out by Terry than risk getting stabbed by a junkie.
And so he took the scenic route, as Terry would often call it when complaining about Kayo being late again.
Instead of taking in his surroundings, Kayo pulled out his phone, typing a short message to a contact labelled "Spare Parts" and hovered his finger over the send button.
im omw, boss let us go early
After returning his phone into his pocket, Kayo picked up the pace. But there was something wrong. Behind him was a second pair of footsteps, matching his pace but not his rhythm. Kayo knew it wasn't a prank, as none of his coworkers lived near him. And so he ran, full sprint.
For a second he felt like he escaped as the footsteps faded into the distance.
First there was a brief silence. A click. Then a bang. Kayo's vision flashed from yellow to red in an instant, and then the world went dark as his body hit the pavement, blood pooling beneath his head.