The Watchwomen

Prologue, Part 2: Faux Feminism

This is Part 2 of the Prologue for "The Watchwomen". Last time, we were brought to the abode of Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, and introduced to the Birchwood Estate and its family, consisting of Bryan Birchwood, his late wife Belinda Birchwood, their infant son B.B., and the Birchwoods' loyal assistant, Allie Bannister. After Allie successfully tucks B.B. into bed one night, she and Bryan go stargazing on the roof of the Birchwood Estate mansion, with Bryan wistfully reminiscing over his late wife and her wishes to fly amongst the stars, with Allie suggesting that they make those wishes a reality.....while also making a slightly unwanted pass at Bryan in the process. Allie then alerts Bryan that there's something that she alone needs to attend to; something that's off the estate's lot. Seeing no reason to intrude on Allie's privacy, Bryan allows her to use his car while he himself heads to the master bedroom to prepare to go to sleep after the conclusion of their stargazing adventures. This time, we find out just what Allie Bannister is secretly up to.....

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-Abandoned Costco Warehouse, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States-

Allie Bannister's destination was a somewhat dilapidated Costco warehouse about half an hour away from the verdant expanse of the Birchwood Estate. It was formerly one of many; a store which was ridiculously exclusive and required a membership to shop at.....a concept that made Allie scoff dismissively just thinking about it.

Nowadays, though, most people—if not everyone—left it alone. No one went anywhere near it anymore, there were no delivery trucks in the eastern loading bay, there were no more cars in the front parking lot—usually—and the logo's letters, though still glowing somewhat through the darkness of the night, were now flickering intermittently, showcasing their poor condition. The building had been sold, the labor force had completely relocated elsewhere, and arrangements had been made by the city to demolish it.....arrangements which ultimately never came to pass as Salt Lake City soon became more preoccupied with other matters. Though all of the shelves, packages, pallets, and merchandise had been totally cleared out—only leaving behind a massive building with loads of empty space—the building itself was never destroyed.

And Allie Bannister was headed there for a rather sinister reason indeed.

She drove Bryan's car into the parking lot while surprisingly not being the only vehicle on the premises; on most nights, there weren't any cars, but tonight was different.

Soon, she spotted her "Reserved" parking space, perfectly nestled near the main entrance to reduce her walking time as much as possible. Pleased that no one else had taken it, she parked Bryan's car neatly within the white lines on the sides, used the keys to turn off the engine, and exited the car before locking it behind her and walking through the Costco warehouse's automatic doors.

The building had fallen victim to a collective outfit of rough, gruff-looking criminals that, for the most part, all wore dark green tracksuits with white stripes—often in pairs—running up and down the sides of their outfits. Some had noticeably built muscles, some had extensive tattoos, some had missing teeth, and some even had blackened fingernails.

They were the worst of the worst in Salt Lake City, and they had turned the dilapidated Costco warehouse into their own personal hideout. They had made great use of the massive, empty space, taking the opportunity to set up numerous round tables with folded steel chairs around the edges, hang punching bags from the ceiling, set aside certain areas for weightlifting, and forge their own "kitchen" and "living room", so to speak.

The thugs were mostly an unorganized force, often going on sporadic, unplanned hit jobs with varying degrees of success.....that is, until Allie Bannister had found them and quickly worked her way up their ranks, eventually becoming their de facto leader. Completely unbeknownst to Bryan, who only believed her to be a humble servant of Birchwood Estate, she had a completely different life entirely when he was away.