The Dead-Hauler

I stand here among the dead. Their eyes opened wide and their gaze piercing, even though there is no longer a soul, you can still feel them looking at you. There are maggots and flies swarming and wiggling all around. It just makes this job all the more worse.

I didn’t want to be here. But I need to be here. I am to move all of the dead from this area to a cargo box, so that the bodies can be burned. I do this, I get a place to eat and sleep for one night. Food isn’t that available anymore and whatever food is available and producible is controlled by small organizations that have formed their own governments.

There are different factions in the region and each one holds onto something that the other needs and they do trading so that there can be some order in all of the chaos. I happened to luck out, if you can call it that, to get this job on the train. The organization I am working for currently is the Combustors, they are in charge of shipping and handling all of the trade routes, so they are probably the most important. They also take a cargo box or two from each route of the dead, so they can be taken to the incinerator.

It’s sad to know that so many people die and all they can do with the bodies is burn them. You can’t bury them anymore, not because they will come back, but because of what the body holds onto after death. From what I was told, every one of us is a vessel for the sickness and the only way to ensure the sickness is not spreading is to burn the bodies of every single person. No exceptions. It’s said that the bodies decay at an accelerated rate, it usually takes a body’s internal organs 3-5 days to decay but because of the sickness it only takes one. This is why the Combustors and their train are so important, they take the bodies away from our organized society and bring them to a massive incinerator. They do all this within the 24 hour window.

Because this job is so high risk, there aren’t many people that jump at it. I did though. I really needed the food and a good night's rest. I haven’t had a warm meal in months. All of the slob food that is free isn’t that good tasting, the texture is sticky and clumpy, it’s really cold, and they don’t tell you what’s in it. I guess risking my health for a nice bit of hot food and sleep couldn’t be helped. The reason a lot of people like me don’t get a lot of sleep is because we sleep outside unprotected from the night-terrors. Ever since the sickness came into the world people have had trouble sleeping and further progressing to their eventual death. This is why so many people die. They die from starvation and sleep deprivation. A lot of people can’t stomach the slob and sometimes the night-terrors are too much that they die in their sleep.

I remember one time I was choking from a night-terror and I felt like I was going to die and suddenly the annual alarm blared and woke me. I coughed so hard and took a deep breath after I woke up. I have never been so thankful for that alarm. These alarms are in place to wake everyone up at the sametime to help lessen people from dying in their sleep. The less people die the less sickness we have to worry about. But wouldn’t it be better to feed everyone and give them a place to sleep? That’s what we all wish for. This isn’t a democracy, it’s sustainability. Not sustaining us the people dying everyday, but sustaining that the people in charge stay in charge and keep controlling the food, the transportation, the shelter, and the wealth.

So, anyway. I have to haul the dead from the designated area to the cargo box using a hazmat suit and my own two arms. There are about 30 of us all together doing this work. 15 people each cargo box. That’s usually the amount of people needed to haul the dead in the time it takes for the other workers to unload and reload food and supplies from the other cargo boxes. If we do a good enough job hauling the dead. There is a good chance you can keep your job as a Dead-Hauler or get a promotion to Food and Supplies. This all depends on whether or not your Hazmat suit isn’t damaged and your skin is exposed to the dead bodies. If you're pretty healthy and all you need is food to be able to continue working. You have no long lasting health conditions that could compromise your work. Then you are the type of people that can stay with the train crew.

You can tell that these bodies are decaying fast, their skin is a bit sticky and it sticks onto the suit, and when you carry them it feels like they are squishy on the inside. I was trying to make haste and move as much as I could and then suddenly I got one of the personnel in charge come tell me,

“Dead-Hauler go join the people on the cargo box, too many people on the ground and not enough on the box.”

So I made my way there and asked what I was supposed to do. They explained that I have to stack the bodies in rows to keep the box organized so that we can fit all of them in here. I looked at the box’s interior and it appeared that it had more than enough room for all of the dead that were there. Me and this other guy Rufus started grabbing the arms and legs of these people and moved them into the cargo boxes on the left side. While the other crews moved their bodies to the right side. Rufus was telling me how long he’s been doing this job and how good the food and board is. He then began to explain the stacking system and how we have to do it this way. I began to understand the system in place and we were getting it done pretty quickly.

Me and Rufus picked up this one body and we noticed on their body was a tattoo of a heart shaped locket that had a text around it saying, “Open my heart”. It was on their lower stomach on the right. I thought it was a weird tattoo and Rufus suggested that we should cut open where the heart is. Rufus believed that the tattoo was a message. I told him it was a bad idea, because there is a risk of him cutting his suit. We moved the body to the area we’re supposed to and Rufus started cutting it and I was looking out for him. I didn’t like this one bit and I know we’re gonna get in trouble for meddling with the dead bodies, especially cutting it open. When he made his cut and started feeling around he pulled out what was the most crazy thing I ever saw. In this body was a small box, big enough to fit a ring inside it. We moved the body and Rufus opened the box, what he found was a rolled up piece of paper. I was now more curious. I wanted to know what was written on that paper. He unrolled it and it said,

“There is no Sickness. Do not board the train. Do not eat the food. Do not take the job. Break your chains bef-...”

We looked at each other and thought about what was going on. Who was this person and how come they had this inside them. Did all of these bodies have something inside them? We went back to work and started looking at the other bodies we were moving and never noticed any tattoos on them. When we got back to where we cut the other body we decided to look inside another in the same spot. Rufus cut open this other person and he dug and guess what? He found another box. It said the exact same thing. But it had the missing text we needed to fully read the message.

“Break your chains before the reset. You have 24 hours.”

Now we were both anxious and frightened by the message. What reset? What’s wrong with the food? There is no sickness? How come we shouldn’t board the train? What job aren’t we supposed to take? There are so many questions that we need answered but only me and Rufus know about this and decided to keep it that way. We know that if we tell anyone about what we discovered there would be consequences. We kept loading the cargo box and finally we were finished. Rufus discarded the evidence of us knowing about the notes inside the bodies. We don’t know if all the bodies had it, we just know that the two bodies Rufus cut did.

After we are done moving bodies our hazmat is hosed down with water and a really powerful disinfectant, this disinfectant is used not only to clean the suits but to cause harm to whoever is wearing a torn suit, this is how they find people who are exposed to the dead. They line us up side by side and have us stand with our arms up and legs spread. If someone’s suit is torn somewhere they will know, because that person will be screaming in agony. Once we pass the disinfectant test they will spray us with water one last time. Well you wouldn’t believe it or you probably do. Rufus failed the disinfectant test. He cut his suit when he was cutting those bodies. He yelled so loud he scared the rest of the Dead-Haulers. The Tester went up to him and shot him with a dart and he instantly collapsed. Two other high-up Dead-Haulers took him away. The rest of the crew got lucky. None of us tore or ripped our suits anywhere.

After we are done with our hazmat test. We take off our suits and are air dried by a big powerful fan. We are then directed to an area on the train where we will get to have our room and our food. Just imagine a regular sized train, okay, now imagine a train that is wider and taller. This train is practically a living place for a lot of workers. You have everything you need and you get to travel to all the trade routes.

While I was sitting in my room all I could think about was that note and Rufus. I didn’t realize I was so deep in thought that my food was getting cold. I was so hungry but my stomach was turned by what happened today. I looked at the food and wondered what was wrong with it. Should I bother eating it at all? I was so hungry and tired. I begged myself not to eat it because of what the note said. I took a few scoops of the delicious smelling meal they made for me. It tasted amazing. But I stopped myself and tried to lay down. I felt myself drifting into a sleepy mood. When suddenly a train attendant knocked on my door and told me that Management is calling all Dead-Haulers to the Lounge.

I got up and thought about why we had to go to the lounge. I know if I don’t go I will draw suspicion.

We all sat in the lounge for several minutes and then the Manager arrived and started to assign promotions and throwouts. He arrived at me and said,

“You will be joining the Dead-hauler team. Good luck.”

I said, “Thanks.”