[Strong Language]
I was always scared of the last day of the month since I started working here. I performed my end of the month ritual in my office, two Xanax bars and half a whiskey flask to chase it down. My cell phone read 9:45pm, which meant it was time to meet the managers on the inbound docks of the warehouse. I drank the rest of my whiskey flask and quickly filled it up again in preparation for the long walk to dock door 18.
I stepped out of my office and awkwardly looked at Bertha, the overweight secretary.
“Bertha, have all managers called in present?” I asked.
“Yes, all three called in and are waiting for you.” Betha said.
On my way to the warehouse floor, I got a call from Krassy, the Director as well as my boss.
“I’m heading to door 18 now Krassy, everything is in place.” I said.
“Have you been drinking!?!? You’re slurring your words.” Krassy said.
“Absolutely not!” I said with a slight slur to my words.
“Personally, I don’t much care what you do so long as you don’t fuck this up.” She said.
“I can pull a lever Krassy, I know the drill, I don’t need my whole crew with me. Hell, they’re all brand new and I honestly think it’s just a bit too soon to expose them to this.” I said trying not to slur my words.
“Well, considering you handpicked this group of fine young men, I am assuming they have the balls to do the job. I want them in full understanding of the job duties tonight so we can finally put a rotation on who pulls the lever every month. I can already sense you’re getting a moral judgement lapse, get the rookies on board so you can take a break from this.”
“I always get the job done; you can’t say I ever failed you.” I said sincerely.
“Your old counterpart, Bart, use to say the same thing until he got a moral judgment lapse and refused to pull the lever. Getting a demotion is no different than getting your dick cut off in this company. I would hate for you to end up like Bart.” Krassy said.
I cringed when she mentioned Bart and hung up the phone. I made it to dock door 18 and huddled up the new managers for a quick rundown. The pills had me feeling a little too relaxed, and the fact that I had gulped down the rest of my whiskey flask was not helping my normally exceptional oratory skills.
“Alright assholes, it’s a simple fucking job! A fucking truck parks it in that fucking dock door around fucking 10pm. A guy gets out of his truck and asks you for fucking paperwork. You give him the fucking paperwork and tell him to go fuck himself. He verifies the load is ready, and he tells you to go fuck yourself. Next, you pull the fucking lever and go home so you can fuck yourself. Any fucking questions so far?” I said with a slight bit of drool coming out of my mouth.
“What’s the name of the company sending the load?” Asked Q, an older white bearded well-built man in his late 40’s.
I was going to tell him, but I had just realized more drool was starting to come out of my mouth. I handed him the paperwork so he could read for himself, and so I could pull out a handkerchief and clean my mouth up.
“S. C. P.? What the hell is that?” Q asked.
“Spectacular Cocksucking People!” Said Chris Summers, a husky broad shouldered man with glasses and pants that fit way too tight.
Everyone started busting out laughing, including me. I actually laughed so hard that I almost forgot why I was so nervous and paranoid earlier.
“Wait guys, I’ve heard about them! They’re a government organization that handles entities and other worldly creatures.” Said Richard, a nerdy looking kid with red hair.
Everyone immediately threw their coffee cups at Richard, drenching him in a heavy Folgers dark roast smell. Chris pushed Richard aside into the trash cans to clear a straight path towards Q. He walked up and grabbed the paperwork and took a careful look before saying.
“You guys are fucking idiots! It’s not S.C.P., it’s S. E. P. That’s not a C, it’s an E with the middle line faded out. There isn’t any SCP foundation, it’s just a myth, but it does look like somebody drooled on the paperwork.”
All the managers looked at me wiping the last bit of drool from my face, and I gave them a thumbs up to confirm dipshit Summers was right. I started to laugh again when I saw Richard slip and fall on the coffee drenched floor after he had just got up. The other managers joined in, and we filled the air with sarcastic roaring derogatory remarks towards Richard.
All laughter ceased when I heard the bang of a truck against the closed dock door. The managers stared at me as my face turned pale. I vomited chunks of Campbells chunky chili with beans, my lunch earlier that day. With one shaky hand I motioned for everyone to follow me.
The truck driver and his partner met me where they always did, next to the security entrance about 3 doors away from door 18. I grabbed the paperwork out of Q’s hand and signed it before handing it to the driver. I never spoke to the driver or his partner in the 10 years I had been doing this. They always wore the same black combat helmets with goggles, automatic assault rifles draped over their shoulders.
The two drivers performed the same routine I had seen so many times, one would first ensure the dock door was open, then they both pulled a set of levers specifically designed for them, lowering a steel cage that pressed against the dock door. One would go back out the security door to hit a button inside the truck and raise the end of the truck door, so the cargo was visible. After so many years, I trained myself not to look at the cargo, I just stared away in the opposite direction.
Next, I would wait for the thumbs up as I looked at the armed driver left inside with me. Once he gave me a thumbs up, that meant most of the cargo was out of the truck and in the caged in area, and I would pull the lever from my control panel. Before I pulled the lever this time, I leaned over and vomited some more, the anguished cries from my managerial staff looking at the cargo made me wonder just how incoherent my speech was that night, and maybe they didn’t understand a damn thing I said earlier in the day when I told them not to look at the cargo.
“Shit! Those are people!” Chris said startled.
After I hurled up all the chili left from lunch in my stomach, I saw the driver give me a motion like he was tapping his watch, he was basically telling me to hurry the fuck up. I took a big sigh and pulled the lever that opened the trap door and simultaneously started the grinder the trap door led to.
The managers were silent, one passed out as I heard the thud of his head hit the ground. I heard the screams that still haunted me every time I did this, the cries for their mothers, pleading to God, and sometimes they just said “Fuck You” as loud as they could before the scraping sounds of tearing flesh and cracking bones drowned out their screams.
Occasionally a few stragglers would huddle to the back of the truck thinking they could avoid the human paste they were about to be. If that happened, the inside driver would radio the driver that went outside, and he would hit another button. When that button was hit, the entire back wall of the trailer would move forward pushing everything out into the unavoidable grinder. The bright side to this was that it didn’t take very long, it was just intense to sit through.
When it was all done, I pushed the lever in the opposite direction, and we were done with that month’s special delivery. My managers were pale and silent as I rounded them up into my office to debrief.
“We will start rotations next month starting with Chris.” I said sitting in my desk chair.
“I can’t do this, I refuse.” Chris said.
“I aint doing this either.” Q said.
I banged my fist on the desk to shut the two idiots up, then I looked over at Richard and noticed him calmer than anyone in the room, he had a slight grin on his face that sent a chill down my spine.
“Chris, I would imagine that your wife would have liked the chance to refuse being strangled to death; But you didn’t give her that option, did you?” I said glaring Chris in his eyes.
I got up from my desk and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, I poured some into 3 coffee cups for the guys before I continued talking.
“This company had to do a lot of work to make sure you guys could walk off death row. You all got the full spa treatment, facial modification and everything. If a company could pull that off under my good word that you guys were worth it, what do you think they will do if you fuck up at this point?” I said right before I downed my coffee cup full of whiskey.
Everyone stared at me for about 5 solid minutes until nodding in silent understanding.
“What exactly was that delivery for?” Q asked.
“Local grocery stores, that’s why I’m planning on going vegetarian next month.” I said.
I answered a few more questions then watched the managers slowly walk out of the room. Richard turned to me when it was just him and me left in the office and asked me for which local grocery stores specifically that shipment was going to. I got a sick feeling in my stomach when he asked me, but I wrote down the locations on a piece of paper for him. He smiled and left the room.
Richard was on death row for murder, but they found some of the remains of his victims prepped like steaks in his kitchen. He was having the time of his life, and it made me uncomfortable just being around him, but I needed someone dependable for this kind of work, he was the only guaranteed bet.
I walked out the front door at the same time Bertha was walking out. Normally I just ignored her unless I had to talk to her, but a kind of liquid courage came over me and I felt the need to express myself to her.
“I do respect you; you know that right?” I said
Bertha just stared at me blankly.
“It’s not easy to make a moral choice for people like us in a place like this, but you did. I just wanted you to know, I’m still happy you’re around Bart uhhh I mean Bertha. I’m sorry, I’ll get used to it eventually. I just don’t have the courage you do, I’m too afraid I’ll lose my…well you know, that’s why I keep to the end of month routine. They must have put you as my secretary to remind me, it’s fucked up.” I said sincerely before walking to my car.
I drove by a local fast-food chain before heading home and bought a veggie burger.