Just A Drill

Mark stood out in the enormous parking lot, staring at the building and trying to drown out the blaring alarm sound by humming Oops, I Did It Again to himself. He was just beginning to sway to involuntary dance moves when Joseph shuffled up to him.

“Hey man, can I bum a smoke?” Joseph asked.

Mark begrudgingly reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the pack and handed him a cigarette.

“Why don’t you buy your own? Mooch.”

“I’m trying to quit, so I’m not buying packs anymore.” Joseph put the cigarette in his mouth and waited expectantly.

“Fuck,” Mark said with exasperation. He pulled out his lighter and lit Joseph’s smoke for him. “At nearly $7 a pack don’t expect me to carry your habit for you!”

Joseph walked away with an overwrought, sad look on his face. Mark rubbed his arms, wishing he had brought his jacket with him. Why did there have to be a fire drill when it was like 40 degrees outside? Hundreds of people were milling around like confused farm animals. He could see Doug ambling towards him.

“Did you hear about the Risk Management guys?” Doug asked. Mark shook his head no. “Apparently, Brent thought it was a real fire and began shoving and trampling people in the stairwell trying to escape – about 6 people are severely injured, if not dead. Nicky was explaining a joke to someone with her hands and threw a cup of scalding hot tea in some HR temp’s face.”

Mark nodded, staring down at the pack of cigarettes in his hand.

“We’ve been out here for like 15 minutes, how much longer you think it’ll be?” Doug asked while he hopped from one foot to the other.

Mark shrugged his shoulders and placed a cigarette of his own in his mouth. He was bringing the lighter up when Shaun grabbed it from him and began walking off towards the building.

“What are you doing?” Mark shouted to him.

“They want a fire?” Shaun called back. “I’ll give ‘em a fucking fire!”