Chapter 22 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.

After Margery sets up Barry as a decoy and Vern loses his head, Barry agrees to help Trisha, an angel’s apprentice stop the sacrifice. He finds a map of tunnels to the ranch where the sacrifice will take place and gives it to Trisha. At the same time, Nina tries to escape. Fed up, Margery sends Oscar and Barry to purchase the essence of a demon from a vending machine. She plans to posses Nina with the demon to control her.

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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“What the hell does a demon essence look like?” I ask while sliding the last coin into the machine, then shuffle to the left and brace myself for whatever comes out.

“You will see soon enough.” Oscar presses a sequence of flavors: cola, orange, lemon-lime, orange, orange, cola, lemon-lime, as if entering a code. He pauses. “Get ready. It will slither out like an anaconda ready for a meal. I will grab the end that comes out first, then pull it out a length of three feet. You grab the other end before it comes all the way through. Hold it away from your torso or it will try to enter your body.” He hits orange one last time.

The cooling system kicks on and the motor purrs before it amplifies into a screeching whine. When I look around the side of the machine, I see the plug, laying on the cement, and it’s not plugged in. Why should I be surprised.

All at once there’s a clunk, the same sound you hear when a soda can drops out of a vending machine but louder. The machine shuts off.

“Come closer,” Oscar says.

I don’t move though.

A black curvy tip, a cross between a bird’s beak and a rattlesnakes tale, hedges its way out. The thing is connected to a jagged diamond-shaped head, and it twitches, as if sniffing at the air. Oscar grabs it. “I said, come closer.”

I’m still holding back. The thought of touching the thing makes me shiver, and having it in my hands means it’s another step closer to possessing Nina. I don’t want to be a part of this. I can’t do it.

Oscar’s still holding on tightly, but the thing’s powerful, bucking and clattering against the inside of the machine. “Grab it or I will let it bore up your ass hole.”

I step forward and lean over the opening. “Ready.”

Oscar tugs it away from the machine and what comes into view appears to be a spine or backbone, but more ornate than a human’s or animal’s. Portions of it are similar to spiky fossilized dinosaur bones. I take it in my hands and hold it cautiously while it continues to resist. There’s a pinpricking on my palms from the bristly surface. I keep it at arms length while it bends and veers toward my torso. Oscar was right about two people needing to carrying this thing. The longer we hold it, the more wildly it bucks, almost as if it’s gaining strength the longer it’s in our world.

“Hurry,” Oscar says and turns to go back toward the garage.

The whole while I’m thinking about Trisha’s insistence that I do what I’m told around here. But playing a part to a human possession has to qualify as stupid.

We enter the garage and Margery calls out, “Bring it to the break room.

“On our way,” Oscar shakes his head. “Again, she has to make a mess of the break room.”

I pause. “I can’t do this.”

Oscar growls when he nearly lets go of his end. He turns back to me. “You can and will,” he says and pulls the spine to prompt me to move, “unless you want one possessing you too. Besides, I told you she won’t remember the insertion.”

He’s not helping. Although I’ll be of no use to Trisha if I’m possessed by a demon. “Let’s go.”

Around the corner, into the break room, Nina’s gagged and tied to a chair. She sees me and bounces and moans. The look in her eyes begs for my help.

My stomach is in knots at the sight of her and I have to turn away.

“Enough of your whining,” Margery says to her, then snatches away the spinal column with her demon claw. It goes limp in her hand.

I curse in my head, realizing she could have gotten the damn casing herself. She’s not doing this to control Nina. She’s doing this to control me. “Is it really necessary to keep her tied up like that?”

“What, it doesn’t turn you on to see her like this? I kind of like the way she looks, all helpless.” Margery’s sonorous laugh echoes across the room. “Besides, I need her as still as possible when I shove this in her gut.”

Nina lets out a muffled scream and hops forward in her chair, attempting an unachievable escape. Her breath labors until she’s hyperventilating. I rush to help her, but run into the back of Margery’s scaled hands. She hurls me half way across the room at the same time Nina tips in her chair to one side. Her head crashing onto the floor, and her body goes lifeless.

“Get him out of here,” she tells Oscar.

“I thought you needed help,” Oscar says.

“Look at her. She’s out cold. The little bitch has a way of ruining everything. If she doesn’t wake up, I’ll get this demon in her in less than a minute and without the satisfaction of hearing her scream,” she says. “Have him help you ready the trucks. We leave for the ranch right after her demon settles into its new home.”

Oscar picks me up by the back of my t-shirt and drags me out of the room.

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