Resistance Is Useless

“Here you go,” I handed the elderly woman the money she withdrew from her account. “Have a nice day!”
I spun around in my chair and ran my hand through my hair. It was pretty slow this morning since we only opened a half hour ago. I looked at the clock and it was eight o’clock on the dot. I had another seven hours until I could leave.
Working at Provident Bank wasn’t the best job ever, but they were the first people to hire me a year ago. You have to deal with rude and demanding customers, and still keep a smile on your face. I worked for a little over thirteen dollars an hour and only made around $36, 000 a year. Barely anything, but it got me by just right.
The office phone on my small desk behind the counter rung and I reached across my cup of coffee to pick it up.

“Provident Bank, how can I help you?” I asked.
“Karina,” I heard Suzanne’s voice. She was the bank manager.
“Suzanne?” I asked, “Where are you? Are you sick?”
“Look, I’m running late and the armored car comes in about ten minutes,” She said. “He knows what to do, just make sure everything goes smooth, alright? I trust you.”
“I, uh,” I stumbled over my words. “Y-yeah, that’s fine. I got it. I know the combination and everything.”
“Thank you so much! I should be there no later than nine. There’s heavy traffic on the highway,” She said.
“You’re welcome. I’ll see you soon,” I hung up and leaned back in my chair.
I got a funny feeling about this. I had never needed to open the vault for anything even though I knew the combination. Hell, all the employees did. The vault combination was no secret for sure.
I knew coming into this job that there were risks. I’d never had to deal with any before, but I felt nauseous all of a sudden. The Brinks armored truck came every Tuesday to give us a new “shipment” of money for the bank.
I can do this, I thought. I’m doing a favor for Suzanne.

I watched the rest of my co-workers clock in with their coffee and breakfast, going to their work stations. I looked up at the clock again; they’ll be here any minute now. The next person to walk through the glass doors was in fact a guard with black bags stacked on a hand truck.
I lowered my head to pull my high heels back on my feet. I always took them off behind the counter. I heard a yell and a scream as soon as I stuck my feet in my shoes. I lifted my head up quickly, nearly hitting my head on the desk.
I screamed too, when I saw what was going on. Four or five people -they were moving too fast for me to even count- dressed in black wearing costume masks and holding guns. Very big guns. The kind you rob banks with and kill people with one shot.
“Get down!” They screamed at everyone who tried to run. I sat frozen in my office chair. “Get your ass on the fucking ground!”
One knocked the guard over while one locked the doors with some kind of tie. The others were busy collecting everyone’s phones, knocking over all the computers, and disconnecting things.

“Give me the fucking keys!” He screamed at the guard. I watched the guard take a ring of keys from his belt loop and handed them to him.
Common sense kicked in and I reached my hand under the desk to sound the alarm.
“Don’t you fucking dare,” One yelled at me, jumping over the counter with ease and pushing me out my chair onto the floor. “I’ll fucking blow your brains out if you even think about calling someone.”
I swallowed and sat on my knees scared to death while he collected the money in the drawers behind the counter. . The only thing I could think about was that I was probably going to die today.
“Yo, Jay!” One guy yelled, tossing a different set of keys to who I assumed was Jay. Saying his name was a dead giveaway. I’ll make sure the cops find these guys and give them thirty years.
Jay ran off to the back with the keys, probably to the surveillance room to ruin all the tapes that were recording this.
“You, get up, let’s go,” A taller one said.
I looked around for a minute and stared at him.
“Did I fucking stutter?!” He screamed, “Get the fuck up!” He grabbed me by my arm and pulled me up.
I stumbled in my high heels. I noticed a small tattoo of a skull and crossbones on the right side of his neck just below his ear. I made sure to remember that when the cops asked, if I even live.

He dragged me to the vault that held all the money and stood me there with him and another guy on both sides of me. They both held guns pointed directly at me. I could barely stand up, I was shaking so much.
“This is not your money, you understand?” The tall one with the tattoo said.
I nodded, and avoided eye contact with him.
“What time is the bank manager coming in?” He asked. “We know who she is.”
“Nine,” I said, keeping my eyes on the floor.
I watched him look at the clock from the corner of my eye, “We got thirty minutes. Go.”
I put my shaking hand on the combination lock and my mind went blank. They’re going to kill me if I don’t open this thing, I thought.
“What? What’s wrong? Open it!” The other one yelled at me.
“I-I f-forgot the combination,” I stuttered.
“What?” He asked, raising his gun. “Stop fucking around! Open the goddamn vault, bitch!”
The one with the tattoo put his gloved hand over mine, “Take your time, okay?”
I nodded and mentally thanked him for stopping before his friend put a bullet through me. I took a deep breath and concentrated.
It’s not my money, but it’s my job, I thought.
I finally got the combination right and opened the vault. They grabbed their empty bags and threw in as much cash as the bag could hold without the handles breaking. I sat back down on the floor and let the tears come.
As soon as I saw them pouring liquid on the computers and tapes, I thought it was gasoline until the smell of bleach filled my nose and entered my lungs. I coughed from the smell.
“We gotta get out of here,” One announced to the other three.
Another taller one, it was probably Jay, kneeled down next to where I was sitting. I turned my head.
“Where’s your purse?” He asked.
I pointed to where I was sitting before they came in. I always kept my bag behind the counter. As if robbing a bank of thousands of dollars wasn’t enough, they wanted my bag too.
He walked over and picked it up, then grabbed me.

“You’re coming with us.”