Original Source: Pixabay
Overlay Images are NFTs that I own - One & Two

It was a quiet day at the Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory in Normal Town. The town was busy, all the citizens were hustling and bustling. Normal Town was always busy on the weekends, and it was Friday. Everything had just kicked off, vendors lined the streets to set up and sell their fresh produce, art, and trinkets. This was every weekend in Normal Town. It was like a flea market that came to life on the weekends, and closed down during the week. This was because during the week, most of the town either worked at the Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory making pickles or JarJar's Jar Factory making jars that pickles go in. Normal Town was far from normal as a large part of the food consumed in the town was pickles. This was because the town was very far from any other towns and the people of the town believed that pickles were a superfood that would help the townsfolk live long, happy lives.

Image Source: My NFT Collection - Finney

Finney was the foreman of the Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory and he was in his early 50's. He worked day and night, normally shifts that were between 14 and 16 hours. He made enough of a living to support his wife and son with nothing left over. Normal Town was a very poor town and the people that lived there typically never left. Finney was working one of his very long shifts on Friday and it was regular day of pickle making. He walked around the factory ensuring only the highest quality pickles were produced. He was a stickler for good-quality, crunchy pickles. He had been working there for nearly 35 years, following in his father's footsteps of being the pickle factory foreman. As he walked the aisles of the factory, scanning the jars of pickles going down the conveyor belts, he greeted all of his employees with a smile.

Late that Friday night, Finney was making his final rounds around the Smirkin' Gherkin as he got ready to head home for the night. He noticed one particular jar of pickles on the conveyor belt that he didn't think would pass as a good quality jar of pickles. He grabbed the jar from the conveyor belt and looked around the room.

"What kind of factory do you people think we are running? This jar of pickles is unacceptable and will not bear the Smirkin' Gherkin name." he said as he slowly walked around the center of the factory.

The factory workers all looked around and continued the pickle jarring process, no one making eye contact with Finney.

"Who can tell me the 5 Principles of Pickle?" he shouted.

The factory workers looked around, no one raising their hand.

Finney walked over to one of the most tenured pickle packers and asked him to list the 5 Principle of Pickle.

The man stepped up and said, "Yes sir, the 5 Principles of Pickle are Length, Girth, Texture, Color, and ..."

"AND?!" Finney questioned, loudly.

"Smell, sir." the worker said, intimidated.

"Very good, thank you." Finney said as he walked to the back of the factory with the jar of unacceptable pickles.

As he walked to the back of the factory where he does product testing, he looked down at the jar in disgust. The jar of pickles didn't pass any of the 5 Principles of Pickle standards and he could not believe that his workers missed it. He sat the jar of unacceptable pickles down on the table and opened the jar. He brought the jar close to his nose for the smell test, and cringed. He then grabbed one of the pickles from the jar to perform the taste test. He bit into the pickle, and it was far too soft... Failing the texture test. He spit the chunk of pickle back into the jar with the rest of them and was whisked away to work on one of the machines as he heard it malfunctioning.

While Finney was off trying to get the conveyor belt running again, a fly was buzzing around the open jar of unacceptable pickles. This fly had somehow gotten past their insect shield and was looking for something to eat. The fly buzzed around and lit atop the edge of the pickle jar. Finney walked back over to put the lid on the jar and place the jar in the disposal area. When he grabbed the lid and closed the jar, the fly was crushed against the top of the lid causing its bodily fluids to drip down in to the jar. Something weird happened that night and Finney had no idea.

He went home to his wife and son to have dinner before bed. It was a normal weekend night and pickles were on the menu. Dinner was pickles n' beans again because that is all that his family could afford. He knew that he could bring home as many pickles as he wanted but was too kind hearted to do so. The family ate their dinner and talked about the day before heading to bed. If only Finney had known the horrors that awaited the townsfolk...

Back at the Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory, work was still going on. It was a 24-hours factory and the over-night shift had just gotten started. The workers were humming and the jars of pickles were flowing. The factory janitor was walking to the back of the factory to visit the restroom when he peered over at the disposal area. He noticed one single jar was sitting on the table to be disposed of, but the lid was nowhere to be found. There was pickle juice all over the table and the jar had been knocked over. He walked over to investigate to find that there was only one piece of a pickle in the jar. The piece that Finney had spit back into the jar. The rest of the pickles were nowhere to be found. The worker thought nothing of it and cleaned up the mess then returned to work cleaning the jarring machine.

Suddenly, the factory lost power. The Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory had a generator, so it was no problem. The janitor went outside to the storage area to turn the generator on when he saw something he couldn't believe. He saw a giant pickle that had grown arms and legs wandering around the storage area. Shocked, he shouted "Hey, who are you?!"

The giant pickle slowly turned to face him and he noticed that it was covered in sores.... It was a zombie pickle. It started slowly lurching in his direction and he ran to warn the workers. There were at least 5 zombie pickles based on the amount of pickles that were normally in a jar. The janitor ran into the factory to warn them of the horrors he had seen, but he was too late. He ran in to the sight of the factory workers huddled in a corner scared, the other 4 zombie pickles lurching toward them. The janitor quickly grabbed the only thing he could think that would help in the situation - a fire extinguisher. He ran to the pack of zombie pickles and sprayed them with the fire extinguisher in hopes to slow them down so the rest of the workers could get out. The zombie pickles stiffened up and stopped moving. The janitor and workers ran out of the factory to warn the town. Luckily, there were not many people living in Normal Town so it was very easy to run down the street yelling "It's a zombie pickle apocalypse! Run! Get out of town!"

The janitor knew he had to save the townsfolk. After warning everyone, he ran back to the factory with Finney to deal with the zombie pickles. They ran inside the Smirkin' Gherkin Pickle Factory to vanquish the zombie pickles with machetes. The door flew open and the janitor ran toward them swinging. Pickle juice flew everywhere, the zombie pickles groaned and moaned. Finney and the janitor were able to cut the zombie pickles down and save the town. The janitor had never felt better about himself. He went home and went to bed a hero.

The end.