The trio smiled, well aware they had an agreement and they understood what the job at hand was. Phelps poured a third round for himself and did not offer the boys a second pour. He swirled it again, staring into the cup and when he looked back up at the two still sitting there watching him.
He said, "Is there a reason you're still sitting on your asses? Get the fuck up and out and get moving boys. What you got to do is going to take you the better part of the night. Now you two get outta here, and you do it now damn it! Go, go, go!"
Both men almost tripped over each other racing to try and be the first to get out of the office. Neither man had ever been happier to leave somewhere in their entire life. Phelps yelled at them as they were pushing out the door, "Hey take the envelopes too dip shits. Think of it as a bonus and I guarantee that offer won’t happen twice. You make sure you drive safe. I'd hate to be the one sitting in that semi cab and having to worry about those fumes and liquid in that tanker."
Neither of the men needed to be told that they did not want to inhale any of the toxic fumes that were in that truck, today hadn’t been their first day. Matt grabbed the envelopes handing one to Bill and pushed him through the doorway and back into the waiting room outside of his office.
Chapter Six
Night Shift
Matt gripped Bill‘s shoulder and said, "Hey are we really going to go through with this?"
Bill said, "Well I didn't see you running and throwing the money back in his face. You gotta do what you gotta do brother, unfortunately, we don't always have the best options put in front of us. But yes, I plan on driving that rig down and drop it off somewhere and dumping all that shit out of there."
Matt said, "Aren't you worried at all about what is going to go into the ground? You know how bad that shit is they put in there to make those chemicals. There is no way the stuff that's left over is any good. What about the farmland? I don't think my spots going to work."
Bill said, “I think I got a pretty good idea where we could dump it off.”
“Where?
”
Bill said, “Simple, we go dump it off at the cemetery, you know damn well people only go there twice a year to visit their kin. Memorial Day and Veterans Day and probably when the people died that's about it. Might be why you don't see too many fresh flowers. Hundreds of people out there nobody worries about what they're doing because they're dead. I can't say I'm an angel cause I don't go see my mom either.”
“So you want to go dump it with the dead bodies, is that what you're saying?”
“It’s either that or we could go dump it on farmland we're going to be eating off of. That sound like a good time to you? You want the cow you’re going to eat to be sucking down grass covered in this shit?”
“Hell no I don't, shit you’d probably end up with cancer. So sounds like we need to hit the cemetery huh?”
"It’s the only thing I can think of man, other than dropping the money back off with Phelps but I can't imagine the shit storm we'd be looking at if we try to tell him we didn't want to do it. He's putting everything into us, all the faith, the company, and the town’s well-being. Hell, we are almost heroes doing this. It's a lot on a man's shoulder to tell you the truth."
Matt nodded his head and opened the envelope pulling out a stack of twenties that had to have been at least eight hundred dollars. He knew he’d be able to pay the mortgage on his house for at least a few months if not longer. Bill did the same whistling as he ran a finger through the stack letting it fan them. He saw the large amount staring back at him which solidified their intentions. They both tucked the money back in their overalls. The struggles running through their heads were stressing the two men out a little less now. Matt looked down at his hand tossing the keys up and down in them thinking of what he was about to go and do. He knew the guard downstairs already most likely had the truck gassed up and ready to go.
They nodded to each other and hit the button to go downstairs. They took the elevator to the loading docks where a guard was sitting out back having a cigarette. When they came out he pushed up off the side of the building and stubbed out his smoke. Matt walked up waving a hand, the guard pointed at one of the semis. The two looked at it and saw the large liquid container was attached to the back of it.
The guard said, “You boys take that one, you understand. Don't take any other one, you take just that one and when that son of a bitch is empty you bring it back, park it and then forget you ever saw it. You got any questions, because if you do I don’t give a shit. Oh and Phelps radioed down and reminded me to tell y’all don’t go fucking this up.”
He pulled out a fresh smoke from inside his jacket and the two could see a blue envelope sticking out of his shirt as well that looked much like the one they had been given. The men nodded and shook their heads climbing into the cab, both of them wondering if this was just another stepping stone on the way to hell that they went through with it. Matt turned the truck over and checked the air brakes. Bill strapped on a seat belt and cranked the radio the Devil Went Down to Georgia was blaring over the speakers.
Matt said, "You think that's a bad sign?"
Bill shrugged, “It might just be a kick ass song brother. It probably doesn't have anything to do with the bad karma we’re going to be picking up real goddamn soon but like I said, at least we aren't dumping it on citizens. We’re taking it out to the dead, they aren’t going to give two shits.”
Matt put the truck in gear and pulled out slowly. Phelps stared down at them from his office a drink in one hand and a smoke in the other. As they drove away he looked at the lights of the city thinking of himself as the savior as long as he didn't get caught.
They took the drive slowly as directed and took their time going down the empty highway. The words of Phelps ringing in the back of their mind that they did not want to be in a crash with the waste that was in the back of the truck. They drove through town thinking about the citizens, lying to themselves that they were doing some good for everyone including themselves. Matt pointed where they were pulling in and Bill swung out of the truck helping him navigate the big rig that just barely fit on the small gravel road that ran behind the cemetery.
When Matt let the truck roll to a stop they walked up over the hill looking around at the cemetery and making sure that everything looked on the up and up, as expected it was as dead as could be. People seem to have had better things to do on a Friday night. They went back down looking at the rig and started attaching the hose so they could dump the waste in the exact spot they wanted to. Bill walked over to turn the second engine on to push the liquid out faster and Matt snapped, “Leave that damn thing off. We don’t want the sounds of that engine making someone come over here and seeing what the two of us are doing. There ain’t no explanation about what we are doing that is a good one.”
Bill removed his hand from the lever looking at it and said, “You do realize this is gonna take the entire damn night don’t ya?”
Matt shrugged, “Just think of that envelope in your pocket and see if you can find it in yourself to do a night's work. I mean hell, once you get the liquid coming out, you don’t have a damn thing else you need to do but sit on your ass, that ought to be something you should be able to handle right?”
Bill patted the spot on his chest and realized it probably was just the right amount of money to buy his time for the entire night. Matt thought about the bulge in his pocket and said, “Are you sure he gave us enough money to be doing this? Maybe it's not too late to back out. People go finding out what we did tonight they might hang us up in a tree, or run us outta town.”
Bill pulled the handle to release the waste answering Matt's question. To confirm he said, "Is there ever enough money Matt? Just think, this is a week or two worth of pay you didn't have to do a goddamn thing for but drive a truck, pull the lever, and try not to let your insides eat you away."
“Are you trying to make me feel better Bill? You aren't feeling guilty about this either are you by chance?”
Bill said, "Screw you, man, I'm not trying to make you feel better. I'm trying to make myself feel better. I know it's wrong, I know we probably aren't doing any good but I gotta keep a job for a little bit longer until the government shuts that damn dirty place down. Might as well do it. There ain't shit around here for work and goddamn if I want to leave. What do you think those houses are going to be worth if we have to up and go? There ain't anywhere to go to. On top of all that bullshit, there's a gas shortage and a fucking recession about ready to start. Do you want to be out of a job during that, with no way to get nowhere? We'd be screwed man. We do this, that's all there is to it, it's simple. I'm trying to make myself feel better and I don't need to up your thought process at all."
Mouth open scratching his head Matt said, “You ate a lot of paint chips when you were a kid didn’t ya? I don't mean like one or two, I mean like you scraped a goddamn house and then made breakfast didn't you?”
Bill said, “You just make sure that hose stays up on the cemetery grounds, by morning that should be soaked in and we will be gone and nobody will ever be the wiser.”
The two men walked away trying to stay clear of the fumes from the chemicals. They both waited impatiently not realizing the chemical was too thick to make its way quickly into the ground. The heat from the day, which had still not cooled, was already starting to make it evaporate and go up into the atmosphere. The storm clouds that were rolling in we're now infected with the same chemicals they had been paid so well to get rid of, for the Evans factory.
The two men climbed up on top of the hood drinking a few beers in celebration that they hadn’t gotten fired, and as well that they had made what was to them a small fortune.
Bill said, “You think we gonna go to hell over this?”
Matt said, "Nah, but if we do, there's a damn good chance Phelps and Thornburgh will be down there with us."
The ground nearest to the two men began to bulge. The grass that covered the soul's eternal resting spot was starting to rise and fall. Over the next few hours, hands slowly began to push their way out of the ground. When the truck was nearing empty it was almost midnight. Bill slid off the truck and said, "Come on let's see how it looks up there. Make sure you go grab a couple of those masks. I don't want to be breathing in that shit if you know what I mean."
Matt nodded and said, “You wait here, I got to drain the king off.”
Bill laughed saying something about the troll king which earned him a finger pointed back at him as Matt walked away. Bill said, “Just make sure you grab my mask with whatever hand you don’t take a piss with.”
“I’ll try my best to remember, don’t let any of those graves suck you in man, you know how hungry they get around midnight.”
Bill said, "Now damn it that ain't even funny, you know how creepy it is being out here with just you at a cemetery this late. I don't want to be any longer than I need to be. So if you could take your delicate ass over there to urinate and get moving, we could get the fuck outta Dodge."
Matt said, “It’s beyond me how you can drink a twelve pack of beer and be yet to take a piss. There’s something wrong with your plumbing man.”
Bill grabbed himself proclaiming, “Oh there ain't no complaints on this down there buddy.”
Matt walked off laughing as hard as he could. "Yeah and there ain't any complaints because there haven't been any customers."
Bill yelled, “What the hell do you know?”
Matt didn't answer he just laughed as he walked away. Bill started to walk up the hill a little when a branch snapped. Bill screamed and shined his flashlight around. He didn't see anything. When he heard the noise a second time he aimed the light and two black eyes stared back at him. He wasn't sure what it was eating, but there was a possum sitting in the grass its head the only thing sticking up from the space. Bill clutched at his heart rubbing it. He said, "You are one lucky little bastard that I don't have my piece on me or I'd blow your damn head off."
A second crack went off and he laughed as he said, “Oh I ain’t getting scared all damn night long. If it’s another damn possum I'm going to get me some rebar out of the back of the truck and crack these right upside the head. I ain’t takin’ no shit from no animals.”
He turned around yelling trying to scare whatever it was away thinking how much he hated country critters at times. When he shined the flashlight down at the ground he saw no animals. What he did see was a muddied blue pair of suit pants. This was worse than the animal and scared the absolute shit out of him. He screamed dropping the flashlight and tripping over the weeds tangling his feet in them. Everything went black around him and all he heard was the slow shuffle of feet and a groan.
Bill said, "What the fuck are you doing out here in the middle of nowhere? Christ, you are lucky I didn't shoot you. You realize how dangerous it is walking around scaring the shit out of people late at night. You must be shit faced, damn man."
There was no answer. Again he called, “He - he - hello? Wh - Who is there? I didn’t mean ya no harm I promise. You just scared the hell out of me. I got a buddy here with me, so you best just get on outta here. You ain’t got no business being down here this time of night.”
He tried to push himself up but fell back down. The slow shuffling and moans were making their way closer to him. Bill tried pushing up but slipped back on his face in the wet weeds. He rolled on his back and only saw the dark of night staring back at him. The feet finally kicked into Bill's legs and Bill made the mistake of kicking at the stranger's shins as hard as he possibly could. The kick did the opposite of what he was hoping for and he kicked the stranger's legs out from beneath him. Bill screamed as the wet mud covered stranger fell against his body and the man's weight made him try to push to scramble away. He tried shoving the man off, but he was too big, bigger than Bill and very stiff.
Bill took a whiff and couldn’t figure out what the hell he’d been in it was a stench like he’d not smelled yet before, there were no signs of health from it at all. Bill grasped around finally getting the flashlight. He brought it from the side whipping the back end of it into the things face once and then a second time. Something fell on his face showering it and Bill shook at it rapidly brushing them off. He flicked at whatever it was picking something up and realized they were teeth. He put the light on the man’s face and when he did he saw dead eyes staring at him. Maggots were crawling out of his eye sockets and his nose had been almost completely rotted off, his face had holes in it and the maggots were everywhere now falling on Bill’s face as well.