Prologue.

	It was an ordinary night in Blaine, Minnesota.  Now and then the neighbor's dog 
would bark, or a car would come by, or an airplane on its way to the Anoka County 
airport would fly overhead.  However, all was not well in the blue house on the corner of 
Cloverleaf Parkway and Tyler Street.  Jessi was having a horrible time trying to get to 
sleep.
	"I can't believe it happened again," she said to herself in the darkness of her 
room.  She rolled over on her side, vainly trying to get to sleep.  Earlier in the evening, 
she had been confronted at work by a really trashy hick lady, about the "high prices" at 
Target Greatland, where Jessi was employed as a cashier.  Incidents like that had been 
happening all week, and it was wearing on her nerves.
	"There really has to be something I can do about this," she thought.  Suddenly, a 
brainstorm occurred and an idea formed inside her head.  "Hmm, maybe a little spy work 
is in order," she said to herself.  She got out of bed and began to formulate a plan.

	That same night, Greg was up late in his house practicing a particularly 
challenging marimba passage, when the phone rang.
	"Hello?" he said, half expecting a prank call.
	"Hey, it's me," Jessi said, the urgency apparent in her voice.  "Meet me in the 
T820 parking lot in 20 minutes.  It's a matter of life and death."
	"But I can't go out now, it's 11:30 pm, and it's Tuesday," Greg replied 
apologetically.
	"Don't worry about that, I swear this is too important to wait," she insisted.
	Greg sighed to himself, and then realized that his parents were on vacation for the 
week, and probably wouldn't know that he was gone, unless they had the neighbors 
watching.  "Oh, okay.  I'll be there soon."
	"Oh, and one more thing," Jess added, "wear something red and khaki."

I.

	Greg pulled into the parking lot at about midnight.  Jessi was standing in the 
middle of the lot wearing a little red T-shirt and very militant-looking khaki capri pants 
(with toggle drawstrings).  She was holding a legal pad with diagrams and notes written 
all over it.
	"Okay, so what is this all about?" Greg asked as he got out of the car.  He had put 
on a red T-shirt and khaki cargo pants as Jess had requested, but he had no idea why.
	"Well, I had kind of a bad experience at work the other day, and it got me to 
thinking," she began.
	"Oh, so this is all because some guest got you mad?" Greg replied.
	"Well, not exactly.  You see, all this week, I began to notice that the quality of the 
clientele had been going downhill fast.  I mean, where before I only had to deal with one 
white trashy person a day, I now have to deal with ten or twelve.  So I began to wonder 
what had caused the sudden upsurge.  Blaine and Spring Lake Park aren't exactly 
hillbilly towns, so I thought that maybe these people were arriving from somewhere 
else."
	"Uh-huh... so you're telling me that we're being invaded by the rednecks.  Well 
then, where exactly do you think they're coming from?" Greg asked, not hiding his 
skepticism.
	"You see, that's what got me for the longest time," Jess continued, ignoring 
Greg's disbelief for the moment, "but then, by accident really, I noticed something.  Take 
a look across the street there," she said, pointing to the lot south of 85th Avenue.
	"Yeah, it's the Wal-Mart parking lot," Greg said.
	"You're right, but look closer.  What kinds of vehicles are parked there?"
	Greg strained to see in the darkness.  Suddenly, a realization washed over his 
face.  "Hey, all the cars over there are old pickup trucks!"
	"Uh-huh.  And a lot of them have confederate flags hanging from the windows.  
So what does that tell you?" Jess asked.
	"Well, it says that there are a lot of rednecks at Wal-Mart, but we knew that 
already."
	"Yes, but since I got here, no new cars have entered the parking lot, and none of 
the trucks there have left," Jess said, as if this additional information would add new 
significance to the matter.
	"Well, so they're all spending a long time shopping.  What are you trying to say?" 
he asked, trying to end the big guessing game.
	"What I'm saying is that the Wal-Mart over there is some sort of base.  Like a 
place where all the hicks are converging so they can plot something.  Maybe even a place 
where they, ugh, breed."
	"Yeah... somehow I don't think many of those people have the intelligence to 
plan anything ahead, so I think we're safe from any plots of world domination," Greg 
said, in a hurry to end the matter so he could go home and go to bed.
	"I would have thought that too, but today, something really weird happened."
	Greg saw the concern in Jessi's eyes, and became more solemn.  "What, what 
happened?"
	"Well, I was working, right, and this lady came through my lane, and I could tell 
that she was white trash.  Of course I was still nice and everything, but then I saw her 
eyes.  They were glowing, I swear.  And I think she could sense my fear or something," 
Jess said, suppressing a shudder.
	"Her eyes were glowing?" Greg asked incredulously.
	"Yeah, like she was some sort of big, fat, smelly android or something."
	"Hmm, well what do you propose we do about this?" He asked.
	"I propose that we go across the street to Wal-Mart and figure out what's going 
on."
	"Why did I have to dress in my work clothes, then?" Greg asked, suddenly 
becoming uncomfortable in his red and khaki uniform.
	"Because, as of tonight, you and I are the Target Task Force.  Righting the wrongs 
of retail society.  Fighting the scum that dares traverse our fair stores.  Pledging our 
loyalty and our lives to the cause of Target Corp." Jess replied grandiosely.
	Dear lordy, my girlfriend is crazy, Greg thought.


II.

	Jessi and Greg walked silently across the street and arrived in the Wal-Mart 
parking lot.  Jess had been right; the number of rusty brown pickups was staggering.  
Many of them even had hound dogs lounging in the back. 
	"This is freaking me out already," Greg said, holding on to Jessi's arm.
	"Be brave, we have to get in there and put a stop to this subhuman infestation," 
she replied, holding his hand.
	The parking lot looked as though it hadn't been attended to in days.  All around 
were blue shopping carts, many of them far from the cart corrals.  As the wind gusted, a 
few of them even went plowing into various trucks, though the damage was hard to 
discern from the other dents and rust already marring the vehicles.  Wads of paper and 
blue plastic bags were strewn on the ground, and every once in a while there would be a 
blob of fast food on the pavement.
	"This is totally disgusting," Jess said, barely missing a half-eaten hamburger.
	"How did anyone let this place get so run-down?" Greg asked.
	"Well, actually, it's pretty much the same as it was before," Jess replied.
	"Oh."
	Suddenly, from behind one of the vehicles, an entire redneck family jumped out, 
banjo in hand.  Of course, there were only two people, but they were very "closely 
related," with a man and a woman filling the role of husband, wife, cousin, aunt, uncle, 
brother, and sister.
	"AAAAHHHHH!!!"  Jessi and Greg screamed.
	The man sneered, displaying a mouth of rotting teeth.  "Whatta ya think yer doin' 
here?" he demanded in a quite "colloquial" version of the English language.  He plucked 
a string of his banjo menacingly.
	Jess had to think fast.  "Umm, we're here to return a, um, shirt that I bought here 
the other day.  It was the wrong size," she lied.
	The woman waddled towards her and pinched Jessi's arm.  "Well no wonder the 
shirt don't fit; yer too skinny," she decided.
	"Excuse me, but I would feel a lot more comfortable if you would refrain from 
touching me, and would step out of my personal space bubble," Jess said, as 
diplomatically as she could muster.
	"Why Cletus," the woman said to her "husband," "That girl's talkin' the devil-
speak!"
	"I think yer right," Cletus replied, "all them big ol' words, she mus' be 
summonen' ol' Lucifer himself!"
	"Umm, Jessi, I think it's about time we made a run for it, "Greg said out of the 
corner of his mouth.
	"Yeah, I think you're right.  On the count of three, we run towards the store.  One, 
two... three!"
	Jess and Greg made a break for it, running full speed towards the glowing Wal-
Mart sign.  After a second to comprehend, the hillbillies came after them.  Cletus began 
playing some chase music on the banjo.
	"Git back here!" Mrs. Cletus demanded, her fat flowing like rivers over her 
odious body.
	"Quick!  The automatic door!" Jess said.  They raced in the door just as the 
pursuers were catching up.  It crashed shut behind them (obviously the rednecks weren't 
intelligent enough to get the automatic door to work).
	The interior of the store was even stranger than the parking lot.  Stock from the 
shelves was strewn all over the floor into the aisles.  The floors and walls were all dirty.  
There was an unidentifiable smell hanging in the air.  And the people, they all resembled 
the couple in the parking lot.
	Greg got a funny look on his face.  "All this merchandise, all over the floor, must 
zone," he said in a trance.
	Jessi grabbed his arm and stopped him.  "Wait, it's probably a trap, so they'll 
know where we come from.  Don't call attention to yourself," she warned.
	Greg snapped out of it.  "Oh, right.  So where do we go first?"
	"I don't know.  Let's just walk around and see if we notice anything suspicious."
	They began to walk through the women's' clothing department.  All the women 
shopping there seemed to have hair that was too big, and bodies that were oversized.  
They also seemed to have unusually high numbers of kids running around, despite the 
fact that it was past midnight.  
	"You'd think that by the time they had ten kids, they would get their tubes tied or 
something," Jess said.
	Greg snickered.  "Yeah, or at least come to Target to get some clearance 
condoms."
	One of the women must have overheard their conversation, because she turned to 
stare at them.  Her eyes had an eerie glow about them.
	"Greg, look!" Jess whispered.  "What did I tell you?"
	"Hey, that's freaky," he replied.  The woman began making her way towards 
them.  Soon, a few others turned and began to creep closer.
	"Umm, this is getting a little weird," Jess said, realizing that the group of women 
was closing in on her and Greg.  Jess pushed against him as their comfort zone became 
more constricted.  
	"I have the feeling that they aren't going to stop," Greg said, the uneasiness 
apparent in his voice.
	Jess began to think of a way out, and then noticed the multitude of things lying on 
the ground.  "Quick, pick something up off the floor and defend yourself!" she said.  She 
grabbed a metal pipe, and Greg found an umbrella, and they got ready to kick some 
hoochie butt.
	A bleached blonde woman reached Jessi first, and Jess took a swing with her 
pipe.  It made contact with the woman's ugly mug, but instead of a fleshy "whap," there 
was an inhuman "clang" on impact.   The pipe had torn away the skin of the woman's 
face, and underneath was a skull made of metal.  Jess's jaw dropped in horror.
	"What the hell is that?" she screamed.  
	Greg looked in her direction.  "Oh my God!  It's a cyborg redneck!" he 
exclaimed.
	"We're running, now!" Jess said, and the two broke off in a run towards the back 
of the store.  With the android hillbilly hoochies in hot pursuit, Jessi and Greg dove into 
what they assumed was the back stockroom.  What they discovered, however, was that 
Wal-Mart had more than crappy clothing and shoddy imitation merchandise in stock.

III.

	"Okay, I think we found out what happened to all the semi-normal Wal-Mart 
shoppers," Jessi said.
	She and Greg surveyed the scene before them.  There were maybe a hundred 
people with their wrists tied behind their backs, and their mouths taped shut with duct 
tape.  They all looked pleadingly towards the two red and khaki clad individuals.
	"What in the world does this mean?" Jessi said.  They rushed to untie the people.  
	There was a scratching sound on the door.  "Oh my God!  They're trying to get 
in!" Greg exclaimed.  He ran to the door and slid a metal curtain rod in between the 
handles, holding it closed for the moment. 
	"Marni!" Jess said, noticing that her friend was amongst the imprisoned.  She 
rushed to untie her. 
	"I'm so happy to see you guys!  My family and I were here, and we were 
shopping, and suddenly we were surrounded by some really scary looking people with 
glowing eyes... and that's the last thing I remember before waking up here," she said.
	"The androids must have trapped all the humans here in the stock room.  But 
why?" Greg asked.
	"That's what we have to find out," Jess said.  There was a sinister cyborg groan 
from outside the door, then a loud crash.
	"They're breaking in!" Marni exclaimed.  There was a louder crash, and the metal 
curtain rod holding the door began to bend.
	Jess took charge of the situation.  "Everyone!  Get as far away from the door as 
possible, and find something to defend yourself with!" she ordered.
	The throng of people went rifling through the various boxes and stacks of 
merchandise, grabbing whatever they could.  Jess stumbled over one of the boxes.
	"Dammit!" she cursed, rubbing the spot on her behind where she had landed.  
Then, her eyes lit up as she saw what was inside the box.  "Hey, a box of hunting rifles!  
This is the one time I'm thankful to the NRA for being such a stubborn group of 
dumbasses," she said.  Nearby was a box of ammunition.  "Greg, Marni, grab a gun and 
load it, we have some android target practice to take care of."
	Marni and Greg followed her lead, loading guns and readying for battle.  There 
was another crash, and the rod bent again.  Then, with one final group effort, the androids 
burst through the door, and homed in on them.
	"It's time for some mad 'Matrix' action!" Jess said, and she let the first shot fly.  
Marni and Greg soon followed.  The bullets pummeled the androids, ripping the 
polymerized flesh away from their bodies, but that didn't stop them from giving chase.
	"I don't think this is working," Marni said as she took a step backwards.  The 
synthetic hicks were closing in fast.
	"Quick!  Down here!" said a voice amongst the crowd of imprisoned humans.  It 
was a woman, standing beside an opened hatch in the floor.  While still taking shots, 
Jess, Greg, and Marni ran to the trap door, herding everyone else in first.  They dove in 
and at the last moment, and pulled the door shut with a "thunk."  They could still hear the 
scratching noises from the beings outside.
	"That has been one close call too many," Greg said, catching his breath.  The 
group was now in a dark, musty area underneath the store.  Jess flicked on a flashlight.
	"Hey, where'd you get that?" Greg whined.
	"From my Target Task Force utility belt, of course," she said smugly.  "You'll 
have to earn yours.  Everyone else, stay here," Jess said to the group of people.
	Greg, Marni, and Jess proceeded along what turned out to be an underground 
passage.  The condition of the walls deteriorated until they were nothing but dirt.  The 
group could hear drips of water around them, plopping onto the metal walkway.  It stank 
like old, rotten merchandise all around them, but that was to be expected in such a trashy 
establishment.  They made their way down a staircase, and realized that they were in a 
large room.  There was a mechanical hum droning all around them.
	"Hmm, where are we now?" Jess said to herself.  She scanned through the 
darkness with the flashlight, and suddenly found herself face-to-face with Marni's dad.  
He stared at her from the inside of a liquid-filled glass tube.  Jess panicked and dropped 
the flashlight, then screamed.
	Greg noticed the same thing a second later.  "Oh my God!  Marni, your parents!"
	Both Marni's mom and dad were hooked up to multitudes of hoses, and were 
suspended in huge glass cylinders filled with some nasty-looking blue liquid.  They both 
stared out from their prisons, but seemed to be unaware of what was going on.  Marni 
found the light switch at the other end of the room, and the chamber was instantly 
illuminated, revealing its imposing size.  There were computers all over the place, and a 
ton of blinking lights and buttons.  Both the floor and the walls were constructed of 
brightly polished metal, and it gave the area a futuristic look.
	Marni ran to her mother and pounded on the glass.  "Mom!  Mom!!!  Can you 
hear me?" she said.  There was no noticeable response from her mom.  "Mom!  Mom... 
why did you have to go shopping at Wal-Mart so late...?" she began to sob quietly as she 
collapsed to the floor in defeat.
	"Oh, Marni, we'll find a way to help them," Jess said, giving her a hug.  Soon 
Greg joined in.  As the three of them sat there, they heard the sound of footsteps coming 
from the passageway they had recently exited.  Jess turned to look, and saw the 
unfortunate group of shoppers they had left behind walking towards them.  For a moment 
she was puzzled as to why they had followed, but her confusion was short lived... their 
eyes were glowing sinisterly.
	"I think we're in for some more trouble," Jess said, disengaging from the group 
hug.  Marni and Greg turned to look and uttered a collective gasp.  It was almost 
overwhelming... one hundred androids with a badass mean-streak, against the three of 
them.
	"Well, it's been nice knowing you guys," Greg said, surrendering.  
	"Hey, you can't just give up," Jess said indignantly, "we have to keep fighting 
until the bitter end."
	Greg wasn't paying much attention.  "I never really thought it would end this way, 
you know?  I mean, who imagines himself dying because of some androids?  I always 
thought I would become a famous band teacher, win some awards, and maybe even get 
married..."
	"We'll make it out of here, I promise," Jess said.  She grabbed hold of his hand 
and braced herself as the androids began to encircle them.   As they drew in closer, one 
of the more toothless of the male androids pulled out a syringe.  Marni screamed in 
horror as the needle plunged into her arm.  The ensuing injection caused her to lose 
consciousness and drop to the floor.  Greg was next, gasping in panic before meeting the 
same fate.  
	Jess began to quake with fear.  The pain of the needle in her arm was the last 
thing she remembered before falling to the floor in a flood of darkness.

IV.

	"Jessi!  Jessi, get up!" Greg whispered intensely, nudging her limp body.  She 
began to stir, finally shaking off the effects of the injection. 
	"Greg... where are we?" she managed weakly.  
	"I don't know, I can't see a thing in here," he replied.  They were surrounded in 
complete darkness, and the room was cold, and from all Greg could tell from feeling his 
way around, it was empty as well.  Marni was also nowhere to be found.
	Jess began to cry softly into Greg's shirt.  "It's all my fault," she said, blotting her 
tears on the fabric.  
	Greg hugged her closely and ran his hands through her hair.  "It's not your fault, 
you just wanted to do a little good for the world.  And I could have said no, too..."
	"A little good for the world?  What pathetic creatures you are!" boomed a 
resounding voice that seemed to come from the very walls of the room.  Jess screamed 
and Greg gasped.  The lights in the room suddenly came on, and the brightness was 
almost blinding.  When his eyes had adjusted, Greg noticed that the room was actually 
quite a bit bigger than before and was gunmetal gray, with all sorts of blinking displays 
and monitors covering the walls.  In the middle of the room were three more shafts of 
glass.  The outside two enclosed Marni's parents, and the third...
	"Marni!" Jess exclaimed.  Marni was suspended inside, and looked to be 
unconscious.  The liquid bubbled within, causing her arms to bob up and down phantom-
like.
	"Finally, my return is imminent!" said the menacing voice again.
	"Return?  Who the hell are you and what have you done with our friend?!" Jess 
demanded.
	"Silence, fool!  I have been awaiting this moment for so long.  For years I 
have been confined to this underground prison, forced to dwell in darkness until the 
one day when the perfect conditions would allow me to return..."
	"Yeah... okay," Jess began, "You sound like a total wacko with delusions of 
power.  I mean, c'mon, why would anyone live underneath a Wal-Mart?  It's got to be ten 
times as trashy underneath as it is up above."
	"...Now the trinity of father, mother, and child has been completed, and I 
shall return to rule the globe!" the voice continued as if there had been no interruption.  
The floor began to rumble rhythmically and with growing force.  
	"Who the hell are you?  Are you Satan or something?" Jess begged the empty 
space.
	"You're close, I am Sam Walton, creator of Wal-Mart!  Mwa ha ha!" He 
cackled devilishly.  A huge figure tromped into the room causing the walls to buckle 
from the stress.  The demon was inhuman, with a reptilian body, and glowing bloodshot 
yellow eyes.  He was dressed in a huge blue vest with a yellow smiley face on it, 
identifying him with the Wal-Mart chain.
	Though the sight of the Sam-beast was quite frightening, Jess would not be 
deterred from having a well-deserved spaz.  "Who the hell do you think you are, keeping 
us in captivity in this s*%@ pile you call a store?  I am going to kick your sorry Godzilla 
ass back to Alabama where it belongs, and then I will personally blow up every f*@#ing 
Wal-Mart in the country, even if it takes me the rest of my life!" she huffed, her eyes 
wide with adrenaline-induced fury.
	"Um, Jessi," Greg whispered, "Maybe you shouldn't get this guy mad, especially 
since he's about 30 times bigger than us."
	But Samzilla was far from being angry.  "I like you, you have spunk," he said, 
sounding intrigued.
	"Yeah, and I'll shove my spunkiness right up your wretched ass," Jess replied, 
becoming more militant by the second.
	"Maybe it would help you to understand if I tried to explain my unfortunate 
situation," Sam said.
	"This ought to be good..." Greg muttered.
	"You see, a long time ago, Wal-Mart was a grand, glorious company, fresh 
with new ideas.  Our stores were so clean they shone like the sun; our employees 
were friendly and helpful.  However, being based in the south began to take its toll.  
The cleanliness of our stores began to deteriorate, and the employees began to 
interbreed.  Soon the only people who would show their faces inside were the 
rednecks and hillbillies.  When Target opened its doors in Minnesota, its creators 
captured me and locked me in this foul, pitiful underworld.  But I have been 
waiting... I created my android servants, biding my time, and now the time has come 
for my return!" explained the demonic entity.
	"Well, screw you, I don't care," Jess replied.
	"Oh, my little Target girl, why don't you join with me... we could infuse the 
Wal-Mart gene pool with some new blood," Sam offered, using his slimy hand to hold 
Jess' chin.
	She began to gag with disgust.  "Ugh, oh my God!  That is so disgusting!  Can we 
say, 'fate worse than death?'" 
	This angered Mr. Walton to no end.  "Fine!  If you aren't with me, than there's 
no reason for me to stall any longer."  He reached for a group of plastic tubes that were 
attached to the cylinders containing Marni and her unfortunate parents.  He attached the 
open ends to his arms and legs, and then flipped a switch on a wall panel.  The blue 
liquid began to flow through the tubing and into Sam's body.
	"What are you doing to them?!" Greg demanded.
	The demon inhaled with apparent exhilaration.  "I am incorporating the bodies 
of the blessed three into my own, making me invincible!" he growled.  He began to 
grow in size, and was soon pressed against the ceiling of the room.  Jess and Greg looked 
at each other, and both decided that it was time to get out of there, and quickly.  They 
raced up the metal staircase just as pieces of the stone canopy began to crumble and fall 
in rather large chunks.  When they got to the trap door in the floor, they had to use all of 
their combined strength to get it back open; the androids had reinforced the lock quite 
well.  When they finally burst through, they found themselves surrounded by a rainstorm 
of falling boxes.  The quaking had spread itself to the surface already.  It became more 
intense, and Greg and Jessi threw themselves through the door just as Sam's head split 
through the floor, throwing debris in every direction.
	"I have a bad feeling about where that freak is going to head first," Greg said, as 
they passed through the aisles of merchandise en route to the front door.
	A wave of horror spread over Jess' face.
	"Target..."

V.

	Night was ending as Jessi and Greg raced across the gravelly parking lot.  As they 
reached a safe distance from the Wal-Mart building, Jess fell to a stop, and bent forward, 
obviously out of breath.  A track star she was not.  
	"Jessi, c'mon!  We have to get across the street fast, before he gets to Target!" 
Greg said hurriedly.
	"Greg, what will we be able to do once we get there?  Throw rocks at him?  He's 
too big, and too powerful.  He'll stomp on us like the ants we are to him.  Not to mention 
the demolition job he'll do to my store," she said, sighing hopelessly.
	Greg walked over to her and looked her straight in the eye.  "Don't you dare start 
talking like that, after all we've been through already, we can't give up.  The people of 
this country deserve a clean, wholesome discount store experience, and that's in jeopardy 
right now, especially if we sit here and do nothing about it.  Yes, he's big.  Yes, he's 
ugly.  And he's certainly the most gigantic redneck in existence, but that can't stop us.  
Not when our store is in peril."
	"Wow, you're good," Jess said admiringly.  "You're right, if we don't do 
something, no one will.  Let's go!"  With her newfound energy and will to fight, she 
continued running towards the Target store, and not a moment too soon; Samzilla burst 
from the building just as Jess and Greg were crossing 85th avenue.
	"Rooooaaaar!" he uttered, in a strange layering of his voice with Marni's, her 
mom's, and her dad's.
	"Whoa, not cool," Jess said, as they reached the Target parking lot.  Behind her 
and Greg, Sam was tromping through the Wal-Mart lot, stepping on a good portion of the 
pickup trucks there.
	"I can hear them inside him," Greg said, nearly in awe.  As the beast drew closer 
and closer, Jess and Greg grew more frantic; they had no idea what they were going to do 
once he made it over there.
	"We could dig a hole and he would fall in it," Jess suggested.
	"I don't think so, Jessi," Greg replied.
	"He's almost here.  I'm scared."
	"Me too."
	Jess walked over to Greg, and suddenly became very calm.  "You know, I've 
wanted to tell you this for a long time, Greg.  And now that it seems we're not going to 
be around much longer, I think I can finally say it.  Gregory Asplund, I love..."
	At that moment, Sam came tromping into the parking lot.  Jess gasped in horror, 
and Greg yelled with surprise.
	"Ah, my young friends, I see that it is time for me to end your sorry 
existences," Sam roared, with the other voices evident in his.  "What a pathetic way to 
end two pathetic lives.  I shall see you in..."
	"Stop!" came a loud female voice from out of nowhere.  The three other 
individuals turned to the source of the sound, which was none other than Marni's sister, 
Staci.
	"Staci, run!" Jess said.  
	"No, no, not the fourth!" cried the monster.  "The prophecy really is true!"
	"Huh?  What prophecy is that?" Jess said, relatively clueless.
	Shuddering, Samzilla quoted from memory,  "From mother, father, and child 
shall come, the sacred triad making one; but enter fourth, unseemly sum, the trinity 
shall come undone.  I'm doomed!"
	"I still don't understand what the hell that means," Jess said, puzzled.
	Greg to the rescue.  "I think it means that while Marni, her mom, and her dad give 
Sam his evil power, the advent of Staci, the fourth, disturbs the balance of the three and 
causes their power to become useless.  Thus, Sam goes back to the underworld and we 
can continue our happy lives."
	"And that's why I said stop!" Staci continued.  She stepped closer and Sam shied 
away.  "Give me my family back!" she ordered.
	"Never!  You'll have to fight me to the death!" He grabbed one of the metal 
light poles from the parking lot and brandished it like a sword.  
	Staci's eyes began to glow.  She reached out her arm, and bits and pieces of 
parking lot garbage began to collect in her hand, telekinetically drawn into a metal long 
sword with which she slashed the air menacingly.  "Bring it on."
	With Greg and Jessi watching in awe, Staci and the bestial hell creature began to 
duel.  When their weapons met, sparks showered into the air, and the two onlookers 
gasped in amazement.  Sam came after Staci, and she blocked just in time.  She pushed 
him away, and took stabs at his underbelly.  He shrank away as she got closer and closer.  
The air above was filled with flashes of lightning that punctuated the action taking place.  
	"C'mon Staci!" Jess cheered.
	"Yeah, let's see some 'Matrix' action!" Greg added.
	"You asked for it," Staci said.  She planted her sword in the ground, and stood 
there, gathering power.  Sam saw this as a golden opportunity and rushed at her, but he 
was milliseconds too late.  Staci shot into his body like a rocket, causing it to contort in 
strange ways.  Then, his body began to glow brighter and brighter, until it exploded in 
every direction, leaving Marni, her dad, and her mom sitting on the pavement, looking a 
little dumbfounded.
	"All right!  That was so cool!" Jess said, rushing to Staci's side.  All three of them 
went over to help the rest of the Hamilton family.
	"Ugh, what happened?" Marni asked, rubbing her head and sounding a little 
groggy.
	"I think we had better wait a while to explain that," Greg said. 
	"What about this mess here?" Staci asked.
	"Oh, the cart attendants will clean it up," Jess said.   They all walked to Greg's 
car as the sun was rising in the eastern sky.

Epilogue.

	"So yeah, I guess all I can say is that it was pretty weird being inside that crazy 
guy's head," Marni said.
	Marni, Staci, Jess, and Greg were at Friday's talking about their adventure over a 
plate of Sesame Jack chicken strips.  Jess tapped her fork against her water glass, getting 
everyone at the table to pay attention.
	"I think there are three people here who deserve a great deal of recognition," she 
began.  "Marni, for going through everything you did.  Staci, for killing that stupid S.O.B.  
And Greg, for actually going along with my plan, even though you probably thought I 
was totally crazy.  Thanks guys."
	"Aww, anytime," Greg said, hugging Jess.  
	"And so, Staci and Marni, for your exemplary work in the heat of battle, I bestow 
upon you the honor of being members of the Target Task Force."
	Marni and Staci looked at each other, but decided that being part of Jessi's little 
"club" couldn't be that bad.
	Greg motioned for Jess to talk to him off to the side.  "Jessi, remember when you 
were trying to tell me something just before we got attacked in the parking lot?  What 
was it?" he asked.
	Jess turned red and looked a little embarrassed.  "I, uh, well, just wanted to say 
that I love... I love... Final Fantasy 8.  Yeah, that's right, you know what I mean?" she 
winked at him.
	"Oh, dear lordy, what a funny girl."
	They enjoyed the rest of their dinner together, glad for their lives to be peaceful 
once again.

THE END 


The Target Task Force in:
The Great Wal-Mart Infiltration
By Jessica Silver