French Fries and Flamethrowers: Nine More Disturbing Short Stories About the Darker Side of Human Nature. Vol. 3

By Glen Johnson

In an old apartment building, a group of people go about their night like any other. However, tonight is different, tonight all their lives intertwines. A night, when against all the odds, a series of events unfolds, culminating in a bloodbath.

It's a story of love, madness, sexual perversity, stalking, murder, greed, abuse, voyaging, and betrayal. Also, other, outsider's blood, stains the floors and walls; the Ukrainian mob, the French special forces, and the local police – it's a complete massacre.

Follow the complicated life-and-death dance. Read as they die one by one, causing a chain reaction that results in the building burning to the ground.

One building. Nine apartments. Nine intertwined stories. Twenty-nine dead, three missing, and only one survivor.

1 The Insomniac
Trevor Olsen owns a chip shop, and works every hour sent to keep his business afloat. He struggles to stay awake to keep up with Friday night’s drunken clientele. Due to his exhausted state, as he’s locking up for the night, he makes a fatal error that leaves a dead body on his kitchen floor. He tries to dispose of the body, but in the process, a misunderstanding makes a bad situation much worse.

2 The Taxidermist
Fredric Nolan has found a niche in the taxidermist market; small rodents posed in silly stances dressed as humans. He ups the ante, deciding to experiment with cats. Luckily, a neighbour has an abundance of them. He steals one, hoping to practice. However, things don’t go according to plan.

3 The Butcher
Anton Gruzinsky is a Russian, who owns a butcher’s shop. He uses the carcasses of animals to transport drugs around southern England for a Ukrainian gang. When he’s asked to help out in their human trafficking ring, he declines. However, his boss isn’t the kind of man you simply say no to.

4 The Florist
Elena Fisk grows orchids for a living; she devotes her life to cultivating the delicate flowers. In her attempt to duplicate the perfect environment, she builds a complicated watering system. On the spur of the moment, she buys a new plant food to test the system out – Mephedrone, or otherwise known as Meow Meow.

5 The Lovers
Nalin Nhek is a shy, quiet Cambodian who moved to England to work so she can send money home to her family. She falls in love with Isaac Tiggs, a police officer, and their lives seem perfect. However, one random event changes everything.

6 The Animal Lover
Gertrude Dodd is housebound, having grown too fat to leave her apartment. Her three dogs, thirteen cats, a parrot, and a collection of rodents keeps her company, which she prefers to humans – to her; they are loyal and trustworthy. However, none of them can come to her aid when she needs help the most.

7 The Agoraphobic
Gordon Welts hasn’t left his building in four years. As well as renting out the flats, he makes his money by selling the videos he makes with all his hidden cameras on his specialty website. That is, until one person discovers his secret and puts an end to his little money-making adventure.

8 The Foreigner
Samira Hussaini is an Afghanistan immigrant. She is quiet and polite and works as a cleaner. Or is she? Sometimes things are never as they seem.

9 The Geek
Benedict Kock is a thirteen-year-old who if left home alone every night, while his mother struggles to pay the bills. Ben is bullied relentlessly at school. However, his school project is finally finished; something that will make everyone realise that he’s not just a weakling loser.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glen Johnson
• Release date: Jun 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311883988

Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He is the author of 55 fiction and non-fiction books. In August 2014, he gave away all his belongings and bought a backpack and he started travelling around Southeast Asia. While he travels, he helps charitable organizations, writing and releasing books about their foundations, leaving them with all the royalties. His first charity book is called Soi Dog: The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter and it’s available in ebook and paperback worldwide. He has also started to release a series of books about his travel adventures as they unfold, and Living the Dream: Part One – Khaosan Road, Thailand, and Part Two – Krabi, Thailand is available from all good ebook retailers. He also loves to travel and has spent over eleven years living and travelling around the world – so far, he has explored forty-three different countries. At present, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand, but he has also lived in Mexico, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore. He is also the lead writer on the development team for a new computer game called The Seed (2018), from the creators of the award-winning S.T.A.L.K.E.R Misery mod.Why not add Glen as a friend on Facebook. From his author’s page, you can keep up to date with all his new releases and when his kindle books are free on Amazon. He checks it daily, so pop on and say hello. Don’t be shy, he’s friendly and accepts friend requests.www.facebook.com/GlenJohnsonAuthorwww.facebook.com/RedSkullPublishing and all good ebook retailers.Glen has published 174 books worldwide (via two publishing companies he owns). 55 are his own work; the other 119 are modern-classic-fiction books that can be found on all good eBook and paperback retailers.Books Released by Sinuous Mind Books, and Coming Soon –Books released under his real name Glen JohnsonNON-FICTION BOOKS –CHARITY BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Soi Dog – The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter (2015)BEES Elephants Sanctuary: A Haven for Old and Retired Elephants (Coming Soon)TRAVEL BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Living the Dream 1 – Khaosan Road – Thailand (2015)Living the Dream 2 – Krabi – Thailand (2019)Living the Dream 3 – Penang – Malaysia (Coming Soon)FICTION BOOKS –APOCALYPTIC/DYSTOPIAN/HORRORTHE SIXTH EXTINCTION SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)The Sixth Extinction 1 – Outbreak (2013)The Sixth Extinction 2 – Ruin (2013)The Sixth Extinction 3 – Infested (2013)The Sixth Extinction 4 – The Ark (2013)The Sixth Extinction 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 1 – Noah’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 2 – Red’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 3 – Betty and Lennie’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 4 – Doctor Lazaro’s Story (2013)The First Three Weeks 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION & THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES OMNIBUS (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks 1-8 – Omnibus Edition (2013)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The Sixth Extinction America 1-12 – Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The First Three Weeks The Squads Stories & The Sixth Extinction America & The Seven Seeds of the Gods 1-23 – Omnibus Edition (2017)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS – THE SQUADThe Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Echo’s Story (2014)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Coco’s Story (2014)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AMERICA SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part One: The Black Spores (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Two: False Hope (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Three: The Pods (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Four: The Long Road (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-4 Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Five: No Turning Back (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Six: A Friend in Need (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Seven: All Aboard (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eight: New Hope (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-8 Omnibus Edition (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-20 Omnibus Edition (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Nine: Keep Running (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Ten: Don’t Look Back (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eleven: Resurrection (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Twelve: Alliance (2018)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Thirteen: Abandon (2019)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Fourteen: Burn (Coming Soon)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: BOOK EXTRASThe Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book One – Ancient Egypt (2016)The Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book Two – Ancient Mayan (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: One Year On (England) (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: Clarkson’s Discovery (Coming Soon)THE ENDLESS SERIESEndless: Part One – Sorrow (2019)Endless: Part Two – Fear (Coming Soon)Endless: Part Three - Anger (Coming Soon)THE EVENT SERIESThe Event: Part One – The Last Hope (2019)The Event: Part Two – Crashing Down (Coming Soon)THE HUMAN NATURE SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)Lamb Chops and Chainsaws – Vol.1 (2012)Lobsters and Landmines – Vol.2 (2012)French Fries and Flamethrowers – Vol.3 (2014)The Human Nature Series 1-3 – Omnibus Edition (2014)Backpacks and Body Bags – Vol.4 (Coming Soon)THE EXTREME HUMAN NATURE SERIES (Extreme Horror Short Stories)Condoms and Cabbages (2015)GHOST (Short Stories)Sea of Trees (2017)Child Angels (2018)Tall Ghosts (2020)The Lost Cat (2023)HORROR (Short Stories)Quarantine (2020)Laugh Out Loud (2021)Secrets and Lies (2021)Blood Lotus (With Hathairat Phuekhiran – 2023)HORRORThe Watchers (2014)THE WAR OF THE GOD’S SERIESWar of the Gods 1 – The Devil’s Tarots (2012)War of the Gods 2 – Lilith’s Revenge (Coming Soon)THE SEVEN WORLDS SERIES (with Gary Johnson)The Gateway – World One (2014)The Keystone – World Two (2015)Even Jewel – World Three (2017)The Sleeping Gods – World Four (Coming Soon)The Turquoise Abyss – World Five (Coming Soon)Oceans of Fire – World Six (Coming Soon)Journeys End – World Seven (Coming Soon)THE SPELL OF BINDING SERIESThe Spell of Binding – Part One (2012)The Spell of Binding – Part Two (Coming Soon)THE PARKINGDOM SERIESParkingdom – Book One (2012)Parkingdom – Book Two (Coming Soon)OTHER BOOKSTales from the Lake Vol.2. Short Story: Prime Cuts (A mixed horror anthology with 18 other writers – published by Crystal Lake Publishing. 2016)Books released under the pseudonym J.G. NewtonEROTIC PLEASURES SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense)Guilty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Dirty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Secret Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Kinky Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Erotic Pleasures Series 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2014)EROTIC MONSTERS SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense/Horror/Humorous)Frankenstein’s Monster: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Dracula’s Lover: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Mummy’s Desire: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)Werewolf’s Lust: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)COMPUTER GAMETHE SEEDGlen Johnson is on the development team as the lead writer (eight writers) for a new computer game series called The Seed. The Seed is a story-driven post-apocalyptic video game set in Eastern Europe in 2026. It’s a single-player 2D interactive novel, deeply rooted in HEXACO psychology – it showcases the gravity of choice. It’s by the same team that created the award-winning game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misery mod.The Seed: Act 1 (2018)The Seed: Act 2 (Coming Soon)The Seed: Act 3 (Coming Soon)If you need to get hold of Glen Johnson, email him on: [e-mail]

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FRENCH FRIES AND FLAMETHROWERS

NINE MORE DISTURBING SHORT STORIES ABOUT THE DARKER SIDE OF HUMAN NATURE

One building. Nine apartments. Nine intertwined stories. Twenty-nine dead, three missing, and only one survivor.

Glen Johnson

-Sinuous Mind Books-

Published by Sinuous Mind Books Publishing at Smashwords

Smashwords Edition

Copyright Glen Johnson 2021

Cover designed by Sinuous Mind Books

Glen Johnson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead or undead is entirely coincidental.

Bible quotes taken from: 21st Century King James Version. Common English Version. New International Version.

For –

Lisa Cleveland

CONTENTS

Prologue

The Occupants of the Apartments

1 The Insomniac

2 The Taxidermist

3 The Butcher

4 The Florist

5 The Lovers

6 The Animal Lover

7 The Agoraphobic

8 The Foreigner

9 The Geek

Epilogue

About the Author

1 The Insomniac

Trevor Olsen owns a chip shop, and works every hour sent to keep his business afloat. He struggles to stay awake to keep up with Friday night’s drunken clientele. Due to his exhausted state, as he’s locking up for the night, he makes a fatal error that leaves a dead body on his kitchen floor. He tries to dispose of it in the only way he knows how, but in the process, a misunderstanding makes a bad situation much worse.

2 The Taxidermist

Fredric Nolan has found a niche in the taxidermist market; small rodents posed in silly stances dressed as humans. He ups the ante, deciding to experiment with cats. Luckily, a neighbour has an abundance of them. He steals one, hoping to practice. However, things don’t go according to plan.

3 The Butcher

Anton Gruzinsky is a Russian, who owns a butcher’s shop. He uses the carcasses of animals to transport drugs around southern England for a Ukrainian gang. When he’s asked to help out in their human trafficking ring, he declines. However, his boss isn’t the kind of man you simply say no to.

4 The Florist

Elena Fisk grows orchids for a living; she devotes her life to cultivating the delicate flowers. In her attempt to duplicate the perfect environment, she builds a complicated watering system. On the spur of the moment, she buys a new plant food to test the system out – Mephedrone, or otherwise known as Meow Meow.

5 The Lovers

Nalin Nhek is a shy, quiet Cambodian who moved to England to work so she can send money home to her family. She falls in love with Isaac Tiggs, a police officer, and their lives seem perfect. However, one random event changes everything.

6 The Animal Lover

Gertrude Dodd is housebound, having grown too fat to leave her apartment, but with the aid of a walking frame, she can still shuffle around her flat. Her three dogs, thirteen cats, a parrot, and a collection of rodents keeps her company, which she prefers to humans – to her; they are loyal and trustworthy. However, none of them can come to her aid when she needs help the most.

7 The Agoraphobic

Gordon Welts hasn’t left his building in eighteen years. As well as renting out the flats, he makes his money by selling the videos he makes with all his hidden cameras on his specialty website. That is, until one person discovers his secret and puts an end to his little money-making adventure.

8 The Foreigner

Samira Hussaini is an Afghanistan immigrant. She is quiet and polite and works as a cleaner. Or is she? Sometimes things are never as they seem. Within a moment, everything can change. A French Special forces team is in the building looking for her. Instinct and training takes over.

9 The Geek

Benedict Kock is a thirteen-year-old who if left home alone every night, while his mother struggles to pay the bills. Ben is bullied relentlessly at school. However, his school project is finally finished; something that will make everyone realise that he’s not just a weakling loser.

Whereas the locations in this book are a fusion of real and imagined, the events and characters are merely fabrications of my overactive imagination – you hope.

Glen Johnson

Please note that I am an English author, so I use English spelling throughout. You will see doubled letters (cancelled), ou’s (colour), ‘re’ (centre) ce’s (licence), ise’s (realise), yse’s (paralyse) as well as a few other slight variations from American spelling.

"Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other."

Ephesians 4:31-32

"The Bible tells us to love our neighbours, and also to love our enemies; probably because generally they are the same people."

Gilbert K. Chesterton

Prologue

Everyday is a struggle. We get up; we go to work; we eat; we sleep, and then we restart the whole repetitive cycle.

We are so busy in our daily lives that we ignore those around us. We pass the hungry on the street with their dirty outstretched hands. A crying baby in the stranger’s arms. The old woman struggling with her heavy shopping. A toddler screaming while having a tantrum. The middle-aged couple arguing on the subway train. The lonely old man staring blankly out of the greasy bus window.

We complain we have no spare time, but what fleeting free time we do get we spend vegetating on our backsides watching countless hours of mindless TV, program after mundane program. Or we would rather sit in a dark room, on our computer, and chat to our friends on social network sites, rather than going to see them in person.

Our neighbours are strangers to us. They are the sound of wall vibrating bass music, or the incessant barking of a dog, or the thumping of shoes, or the banging doors, or the crying baby, or the loud argument.

We spend every hour of everyday pushing people away, because we simply do not have the time.

The Occupants of the Apartments

"A one in a million chance, you have heard people say. It could happen, there’s always a one in a million chance." That’s an astronomical improbability, the likelihood of multiple situations conversing into one single parcel of time, or location. As unlikely as your numbers coming up on the lottery, or the lone walker in the hills getting struck by lightning, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time when some deranged psychopath decides to pull out a handgun and randomly spray bullets into a crowd. However, these things do happen.

For you to be that one in a million person, where something unforeseen changes, or ends your life, is as likely as the sun rising tomorrow.

For that one in a million, implausible event to happen, not once, but repeatedly, all within the confines of one building, is highly implausible. However, there’s always that one in a million chance that circumstances had been building, lining up, preparing for one such event – that one in a million event...

1

The Insomniac

It is a waste of time to get up early and stay up late, trying to make a living. The Lord provides for those he loves, even while they are sleeping. Psalm 127:2

"Thirty-six!" Trevor Olsen shouted to be heard over the sound of the drunks chatting and laughing loudly. Friday night was bitter sweet. It was one of his busiest nights, but he had to put up with all the drunken wisecracks and insults, and the occasional brawl, and it was still early; he didn’t shut until 3 AM. These were the early birds, the people who had been drinking since early evening, and had already hit their limit, or had one too many sambucas.

I said number thirty-six! He slapped the cheesy-chips down on the counter.

Cheer’s mate, said the skinny, intoxicated teenager, who didn’t look old enough to drink, and who had a rip down the front of his bright yellow Mackenzie tee shirt.

Trevor had taken over running the small fast-food joint when he was twenty-six, after his mother and father died in a car crash. The chip shop was their dream, not his, but he felt compelled – in honour of their memory – to continue it. He was now forty-six and had been working behind the hot grill for twenty years.

Trevor was balding fast from the stress, and even though he worked every hour sent, he was still severely obese, with thick stubble covering his triple chins.

The fast-food joint was located within the city of Exeter, in the county of Devon, England. It sat just off the city’s main shopping avenue; Fore Street, on North Street, just down a side road. The location was perfect. There was a Mega Bingo hall a few shops down, with the multistory car park to one side and the Guildhall Shopping Center directly opposite. During the day, he has the shoppers and those walking back to their cars. Early evening he has the old people from the bingo hall, and during the night, he has the drunken louts who stumbled past on their way home.

On Trevor’s left was Nalin Nhek, who took the orders and worked the till. She was twenty-two and had a rake thin body like a dancer and long hair so black it was almost blue. She was Cambodian, from the country’s capital city of Phnom Penh. She had been working for him for almost six months. She was never late, and she never argued, and was never rude, and hardly ever spoke unless doing her job. She was the shyest person he had ever met. In addition, as an added bonus, she was the girlfriend of Isaac Tiggs, a man who lived in the same apartment building as him. Another bonus was the building they both lived in was directly above them.

Trevor stood at the counter that was mostly made up of the huge fryer, with the counter for serving at one end and the cash register, with a hatch to get into the front of the shop at the other. There was a glass display cabinet attached to the fryer, full of battered sausages, fish, burgers, pea fritters, pies, and saveloys.

He gave the chips in the fryer a toss, and checked the battered haddock. Then he moved over to the large flat grill and flipped the burgers and added a square of cheese to one, and strips of cooked bacon to another, and cracked an egg onto the hot skillet.

Cool. Coool. ‘Av yaa got anny ketchup mate? The teenager swayed from side to side, and used one hand to prop himself up against the counter. He tried to use his free hand to pick up his chips, but missed.

It’s right next to you, Trevor stated as he wiped his hands on a dirty cloth that hung from his apron, and then he shovelled more chips into a Styrofoam tray and dumped a scoop of grated cheese on top for the next customer.

Ha-ha. Yup, so itts iss! The drunk proceeded to pour five helpings worth over his congealing cheesy-chips, and a puddle next to his tray. He kept blinking, but not in unison; his eyes were erratic; one would close for a second, then when it opened the other would close for a few seconds. He slammed the plastic bottle back on the counter, and then seemed to notice Nalin for the first time, even though she had served him only minutes before.

Alrigh’ gorgeous. You’ree a-a pretty li’le thing, aren’t ya? He blatantly stared at her flat chest. Then in a heartbeat, as if forgetting she was even there; he stumbled out the door, pushing two bigger guys out of the way in the process.

Trevor could hear shouting, then a fight breaking out just around the corner out of sight.

Obviously, the two thugs punching the kid’s lights out for bumping into them, he thought. I guess all that ketchup will go to waste.

God I’m tired.

He leaned against the counter for a second. Everything blurred, and the sounds faded.

Just a few minutes sleep.

Nalin’s accented voice next to him was all he could hear, like a sweet lullaby.

Trevor always felt like he was about to collapse, yet the moment he lay down to sleep, he became wide-awake. He was currently on temazepam prescription sleeping tablets. However, just like the loprazolam and lormetazepam, it was not working. He cannot remember having a full night’s sleep since his parents died twenty years ago.

Trevor was so desperate for a good night sleep, that over the years, he had let his doctor try everything, stimulus-control therapy; sleep restriction therapy, relaxation training, paradoxical intention, and even biofeedback,