THE MOMENT
"You wanted to see me, Boss...?" Charlie opened the door to the office; but, stopped. His boss was nowhere to be seen and instead, a handsome man in his 30s sat behind the desk. He wore a royal blue suit with a metallic chrome tie and gestured at the seat across from him. "Who are you?" Charlie asked. He was smart enough to follow the instructions of whoever was behind the desk; but, he still had questions.
"My name's Orion, I represent Chroma Corp.," the man said.
"Oh, right," Charlie nodded. He'd heard the name a lot lately; but, wasn't entirely sure of its significance. He tended to ignore details until they mattered. He knew it was a large corporation and given Orion's current seat, likely an important one. He thought back to a few memos that he didn't study closely enough and assumed their company was recently bought out, or something along those lines. He did some quick math and knew he had enough savings to get by for a few months while he found another job if he needed to. He didn't worry much. "What can I do for you?"
"You've missed a rather important deadline and I was sent to look into it," Orion said. "And, if you're asking, I'm guessing you haven't actually completed the necessary paperwork," he added as he pulled a clipboard from the drawer.
“Yeah, I’ve got a bit of a backlog,” Charlie admitted. But, he hoped he could play it off. “Lately it’s felt like I’m the only one showing up to work,” he shrugged. “You’re the first person I’ve seen this morning.” He was glad he found a note on his desk directing him to the boss’ office, he had a few complaints about the lack of support.
“I see,” Orion chuckled. “Well, we can get this sorted out quick and easy.” Orion grabbed a pen and put it to paper as he asked the first question. “How do you feel about vampires?”
“They suck!” Charlie laughed at his own joke as Orion kept a straight, expectant face. Charlie realized he expected a proper answer and shrugged. “They’re fine I guess. They’re not real, so I don’t give them much thought. Is that really an important question?” he asked.
“It’s quite relevant,” Orion nodded. “If given the choice, would you like to become a vampire?”
“No,” Charlie shook his head. That was an easy answer. “I’m a morning person, I like the sunlight, and not too thrilled about the idea of drinking blood,” he said.
“Oh, good,” Orion replied. “That actually makes this easier…,” Orion’s hand flew down the sheet checking boxes and scribbling notes. Finally, he slid it across to Charlie. “Sign here, please.”
“What am I signing?” Charlie accepted the pen but didn’t sign right away. He wasn’t stupid.
“This is your assertion that you opted out of being turned. After this, you can go back home and start packing. Assuming you have anything you want to take with you, or you can leave it all behind. Chroma Corp. will provide all your necessities, including your new home.” Charlie made a point to pull the pen further away from the sheet.
“Pardon?” he asked.”I’m moving? To where?”
“That’ll be up to you, of course. Chroma Corp. has a variety of Earths available to choose the location you prefer.”
“I don’t want to move,” Charlie said. “I have friends here,” it was a white lie. Orion didn’t need to know his private life; and, he refused to be moved without his consent, or even proper notice.
“If that were true, we likely wouldn’t be having this conversation,” Orion chuckled. “I’m afraid you have limited options at the moment. Allow Chroma Corp. to give you a new home, or don’t,” he said.
“That’s easy, I don’t want it,” Charlie replied. Orion shook his head.
“I’m going to assume you don’t know what that entails. This Earth belongs to vampires now; you’re the only human living here. At the moment, you’re protected because you haven’t submitted the necessary forms. Once I turn this in, your protection ends.”
“What?” Charlie laughed and shook his head. “This is a joke, right? I’m the last human? How can you even make that claim; have you met everyone else?” It wasn’t Orion’s main point; but, it was the only one Charlie could manage mentally. It was the only one he had an answer to.
“We can make that claim because Chroma Corp. has been working on this for a little while now. These forms went out several months ago…,” Orion said. “Everyone else has come to an agreement and either been turned into a vampire or moved to an alternate Earth.” It wasn’t just the office. Charlie had noticed less and less traffic over the past few months. He noticed an uptick in vampire content online and assumed it was due to the Fall season. Things he didn't realize he'd taken in began clicking into place. A lot of minor things suddenly made more sense.
"You're serious?" he asked. "Chroma Corp. can just hand a whole Earth over to vampires?" Orion chuckled.
"It's not quite that simple; but, sure," he nodded. "If you disregard the countless negotiations and contracts we've arranged with the world's leaders, that's essentially it."
"I guess I'm out of a job now... are you hiring?" Charlie asked. He decided to finally sign on the dotted line. If nothing else, it sounded like he had his choice of homes.
"Chroma Corp. is always on the lookout for sharp minds and hard workers," Orion chuckled as he took the sheet back and inserted it into a manilla folder. Then, he stood and made a gesture at nothing. A tall black portal opened in the office next to Charlie. "Unfortunately, you don't qualify as either. But, let's see if we can't pick out a nice home for you," he added as he walked into the black hole.