The Apocalypse Contract

CHAPTER 5 - SYDNEY

Even though she knew it was coming, Sydney nearly jumped out of her skin when the door buzzer sounded.

She pressed the button on her apartment's intercom panel and leaned close before speaking into it. "Hello?"

"Hi, this is Samantha with Bexley Cable. I'm here to install your modem."

Sydney buzzed her in and then retreated to the sofa. She turned sideways, feet up on the cushions, and stared at the door. A few minutes later someone knocked. She got up and walked over, unlocked the door but left the chain on, then cracked the door open a few inches.

A tall red haired woman peaked through the opening. "Are you Sydney Rossiter?" she asked.

"Yeah. That's me."

"I'm Samantha. I'm here to install your modem."

"Sure. I was expecting you. Well, not you specifically, but someone from Bexley." That was a dumb thing to say, Sydney thought. She struggled for different words that better reflected her true intellectual capacity. Nothing came to mind.

"I'll need to do that from inside the apartment," Samantha stated.

"Oh. Right." Sydney stepped back, took several deep breaths, then unchained the door and opened it. Samantha was wearing jeans, a tool belt, and a blue jacket with the Bexley logo on it. A cardboard box was tucked under one arm, and she held something like an oversized multimeter in her other hand. Sydney stepped back and gave a little nod with her head to indicate she should come in.

"Nice place," Samantha observed as she entered, "reminds me of my college apartment. To bad about the carpet, though. I bet there's some gorgeous wood floors under that. Probably red oak from up state. All these old buildings were made with that."

Sydney retreated to the sofa. "I think you're right. You can see some of it in the closet. No carpet in there."

Samantha grinned. "I knew it."

"I asked my landlord if I could pull it up. The carpet that is. He said no. Wood floors are too expensive to maintain, he said. He would rather just replace cheap carpeting."

"Bummer. That's why I finally bought my own place. I can redo my floors in decoupage and nobody can stop me."

"You did that?"

"Oh god no. But I could if I wanted to, that's the point."

Sydney couldn't think what to say. She was still trying to imagine what decoupage floors would look like. How would you walk on it?

"Well, anyway, I should probably install this modem. Where does your cable come in?"

Sydney pointed. "Over there. Next to the desk. I haven't used it in several years."

"No worries. I'll do a continuity test before we hook up." She set the cardboard box on the desk, then scooped up the end of the coax cable and attached it to a connector on the multimeter-like gadget. She tapped furiously at the gadget's keys while staring intently at its LCD screen.

"Would you like some tea?" Sydney asked not out of politeness but as a reason to retreat to the kitchen nook. It was farther away from the desk area.

"Mmm. Tea. Yeah, that'd be nice." Samantha didn't look up from the gadget.

Sydney got up and headed for the kitchen but noticed her door was still open. Should she close it? If she left it open, anyone could wander in. But if she closed it, she would have no easy escape route. She resolved to close but not lock the door and take a chance that Samantha would not suddenly turn into a raving psychopath.