Chapter 20 Part 2 – Call for Obstruction

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So far, Barry has signed his soul into servitude to Satan on Earth. He desperately wants out of his contract, but Margery, his demon boss, tortures him with her magical cigarettes when he refuses to follow orders. She’s forcing him to transport concentrated evil energy from Denver to Trinidad, Colorado, where demons dump the substance down air shafts into an abandoned coal mine. It’s forming a rift that will soon open The Gates of Hell and spill Hell’s refugee camp onto Earth.

Knowing how bad life will be for both humans and demons once the gates open, Margery and senior driver Vern ask Barry to help plug up the air shafts. He agrees until he finds out they plan to sacrifice innocent children down into the hell hole. To get Barry back on board, Margery contracts Nina, his love interest. She promises to release Nina from servitude and give her to Barry if he follows through on the plan. Otherwise, Nina will suffer.

Barry has no choice but to transport a box truck full of kids to Trinidad. On the way, Trisha, an Angel’s Apprentice seizes the truck and agrees not to kill Barry if he turns informant for the angels. When he agrees, she hands him Vern’s head to deliver to Margery. An hour later Nina picks up Barry on the side of the road. They have their first kiss after being attacked by huge spheres from heaven. Later, at the Trinidad warehouse, Margery attempts to get information from Vern’s head but fails.

The Courier Series is about Barry White, a twenty-something computer geek with an overbearing mother, no prospects of finding a girlfriend, and an unemployment record that’s made him pessimistic he’ll ever be happy.

In Call for Obstruction, Barry has just lost his fourth jobs in the past year due to corporate downsizing. Desperate for employment, he jumps at the first position he’s offered over the phone, driver for OTG Courier Services. Shortly after meeting his new boss, a tiny yet fiery old lady named Margery, she coerces him into signing a questionable employment contract he soon regrets.

The Courier was originally written as a twitter novel @TheCourierNovel in 2009, and the same year it won the Annual Textnovel Writing Contest. Later parts of the story are still tweeting.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

W. J. Howard lives near Denver and writes horror, fantasy and sci-fi with a bit of comedy mixed in. Wendy is also the Co-op Manager for Visionary Press Cooperative, leading an innovative way to publish.

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In the bathroom, Nina’s standing in front of the mirror, wiping tears from her cheek with a long piece of toilet paper, hanging nearly to the floor. She cries harder when she sees me.

“Don’t let Margery get to you. It only encourages her to torture you more.” I turn on the hot water and pull a half dozen paper towels from the dispenser. “Here. Wet them and bring them back to the table. And hurry.”

“You do it. She’ll just find something else wrong.” She comes across beaten down, the same way I was my first day. I’ve never seen her hair so messy and the rest of her appearance so unkempt.

“It’ll be worse if you don’t bring them back. She likes to torment the new drivers.” I wet the towels and squeeze out the excess water. “Seriously, she paralyzed me and made me piss my pants my first day.”

Nina chuckles and takes the wad of wet paper towels. “Tell me this is a dream.”

“I wish I could.” I pull some dry towels from the dispenser. “Here. Take these too. She’ll probably want to dry off.”

“I’m so glad you’re here with me.” She stretches up on her toes and kisses the air like she’s kissing my cheek. Nina smiles, then runs from the bathroom.

My cheek tingles as if her lips had touched my skin. I lean over the sink and look at myself in the mirror. Now is not the time to get involved with Nina. God, please help me stay focused. Help me help you—

A single tap at the window interrupts my pitiful prayer. Sounded like a rock hit the glass. It happens again. I walk over and peek through the window. Tricia’s crouched under a bush, about forty feet away from the building. She’s waving at me to join her outside.

The window’s unlocked and slides open to the left on the metal track easy enough. Luckily there’s not screen to take off. I lean my head out and look for Oscar or anyone else who might see me. No one’s there, so I hop up on the sill and jump out the window onto a gravel drive.

Trisha’s hiding inside a cluster of sticker bush. “Get in here,” she says.

“How? The thorns.”

“Would you rather be seen with me or get a few scratches?”

Sure enough, thorns prick and scratch my arms. Droplets of blood form on my arm, but just as quickly heal. “Damn it. It hurts,” I complain. “Find a safer place next time.”

“Safer place? Do you have any idea what would happen to me if Margery catches us?”

“Fine. What’s up?”

“There were no kids in the trucks. Margery used you and Vern as decoys.”

“What?”

“You heard me,” she says. “So where are the children?”

“How should I know. Margery said the plans going down tonight, but I assumed you guys taking the kids changed that. If you don’t have the kids . . . . Oh shit, the van locks.” I stop short, thinking how Margery’s a mastermind who set us all up.

“What about the locks?”

“I have a master key to the vans, only Margery changed the locks for this morning’s run.”

“You think she put the kids in the vans? And wait a minute. You said the plans going down tonight? What else do you know.”

“Nothing. I swear.”

“This is not turning out like I’d hoped. Barry, you’ve got to find out if she snuck the kids past us in the vans. We have to stop her from sacrificing those kids.”

“Anything else you want me to do?” I say all snide like.

“Something next to impossible,” she says. “I need you to find a breach in the shield around the Bellow’s Ranch. A way for the white warriors to get in and save the kids.”

“Exactly how do you expect me to snoop around for that information?”

“You want out of your contract?”

“Of course I do.”

“Then you’ll figure it out.”

“And, if Margery finds out what I’m doing, you going to be there to help me.”

“Of course not.”

I lower and shake my head as all my regrets flood my thoughts.

“I’m sorry, Barry. You signed the contract. There’s nothing I can do to help you.”

“Why can’t you make me one of those white warriors. Let me fight with them.”

“That’s not an option for you. You’ve dug yourself in too deep. This is your mission,” she says. “Have faith and you’ll figure out how to bring down the shield. When you do, Barry, come back here, to the bush, and look for me. I’ll be waiting.”

I crawl out from under the bush and climb back inside.

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