We delivered couple more deliveries before my tiredness got off me but I can't take a nap even for a minute. I can't shake off the fear of meeting Mr. Burnwood, my boss. I found myself nibbling on my thumb and my leg shaking up and down repeatedly. The thoughts of having an audience with him terrified me more than any horror movies I've watched, and I have watched a fucking ton of them. This is all because of an infamous rumor about him. We had driven in silence, so I tried to break it by speaking my mind.
"Is it true that he once killed a man in the HQ?"
"Who?" asked Scrap.
"Mr. Burnwood. I heard that he shot a guy."
"From who?"
"I got my sources." It was from an old friend of mine, Robert Sempere. He too was a Deliverer but circumstances made him quit (something about being with his dying mother) a month ago. He then works an office job with good pay to last him. I now look back at the occurrence of his death, strangely enough, it was a week after I had this conversation with Scrap.
"It's True." Scrap answered
"How do you know?
"I was there when it happened."
"Tell me what happened. I'm curious and the silence is fucking killing me."
Scrap stayed silent for a while contemplating whether or not he should tell the story. We took a right turn and then he decided to speak up.
"Well, at that time, It was the early days of the Deliverer service, business was thriving, the technology not so great as it is now but was innovative and incredible, and I was a newly made partner assigned to a man named Kurt Sampson."
"Didn't know you had another partner before me?" I interrupted
"Well, you never asked."
"Tell me more about him."
He gave me a look and said "You want me to continue the story or talk about my old partner. Which one?"
"Tell me about him first then get back to the story." I answered
"Well, we talked from time to time and tried to have a good relationship. And we did. He sleeps late because of his habit, or should I say routine of watching something till he sleeps which is around three to four in the morning. He always had those baggy eyes that closely resembles a corpse. I do enjoy our pointless discord with each other, even though I'm always right he still likes to launch an argument. But I still enjoyed them. Come to think of it he reminds me of you."
"Must be handsome then." I inquired
"Much more better than you." We chuckled a bit in the van. Scrap made a left turn before speaking up again.
"He was a very hard-working man, a good man."
I opened the dashboard inside was a snub nose 45 revolver (the same gun I will use to kill a cop), some folded papers, a pen, and an opened bag of lollipops. I opened my headgear, put it on my lap, and took a lollipop from its bag. When I was unwrapping the lollipop I asked "How's he now?"
"He's dead"
I almost dropped my sweet that was already in my mouth from the surprise. I caught it midfall and instead of eating it I just held it in my hands.
"Shit, man. I'm sorry to hear that." I sincerely sympathized
"It's fine."
"How did he die?" I asked.
"He got the virus and I had to dispose of him."
I didn't say anything back. I was afraid of saying something that will make me regret asking and hate myself but I also didn't want to keep my mouth shut. I had to say something but Scrap decided to ramble on.
"His eyes were turning red and his skin emerge spots all over..."
"You can stop."
"He was screaming in pain, coughing blood all over, scratching his neck like something was inside blocking his airway..."
"Alright, I get it, stop."
"I had to end his suffering so I took that gun from the dashboard and shot..."
"STOP!" I screeched. "Please for the love of god stop!" I wanted to puke just imagining it. I've seen my fair share of victims of the virus and they do not look good. The first few times I've seen them they were burnt to a crisp. Now, they come with a stretcher, their body covered by a white cloth, and blood can be seen spreading over them. Each time they were brought to the HQ everyone would stay put in silence and observe them. Witnesses of the dead knowing they could be next.
We didn't talk for a good minute until Scrap decided to speak.
"Want me to continue with the guy-who-got-shot story?"
"Sure. Why not?" I replied with a sigh.
"Where was I? Oh yeah, I got assigned to Kurt and It was a couple of days after that, that we had to do a delivery, as per usual. But when we came back to the HQ, a man took off his headgear."
"Shit man. Why the fuck would he do that for?"
"Well at that time the outfits were different from the ones you're using now. It was bulky and a little hard to breathe, so the complaints say. They also said at the end of the day and I quote 'The headgear is so full of sweat that it could be a fishbowl.' and that part wasn't an overstatement.
"So, back to the story, the man took off his headgear, and everyone around him just scrams away, and guess who was in the crowd at that exact time?"
"Burnwood?"
"Yup. He was with his bodyguards and was about to walk out until it happened."
"What he do?"
"While everyone was running he took a gun from one of his bodyguards, came right up to him, face to face, and shot him straight through the head."
"Bullshit," I exclaimed
"It's true."
"Then explain how he got the gun so easily, how he can run right through the crowd coming at him and just shoot him? Tell me how?"
"Well, for your first question, the bodyguards were human, so they aren't used to stuff like this. He possibly hired them because they look big and strong. During that moment they were scared out of their lives, so it was not surprising that they would freeze up. For your second question, he didn't run, he walked, it's easier and the man just stood there confused and frightened. An easy target I would say. It's kinda funny actually."
"What is?"
"The fact that that could be avoided if he would just wait a few minutes and walk to his van or even opened it beforehand in the van."
"Man, some people are just dumbasses and unfortunate."
"Not the phrase I would use but true."
------
Ten minutes after the conversation we arrived at the new destination. Looking at the building I could see some of the walls have cracks in them, some bigger than the others. Each level has four windows on each side and was repeated for all of the levels, the same features for all the other buildings.
"Alright, I'ma go up. Give me the tablet."
Scrap gave me the tablet for the signature but in the van, I use it for entertainment purposes. I grabbed the small package for the patron from the back of the van. I exited the van and walked to the building and had a better vision of its texture. As I peered closer to the walls I thought 'I could probably fit my fist through those cracks'.
As per routine, I went inside, went up the elevator, go to the patron's room (which is 508), and rang the doorbell. I then uttered the word "Delivery!" and await an answer from the telecom.
When telecom did answer a woman's voice came out.
"Just put it in the box." her voice sounded like she just got out of bed.
"I still need your signature ma'am."
"No, you don't. Now, give me the package."
I started feeling irritated "Ma'am I can't give you the package If you don't sign for it."
"Just put it in the box, there's no trouble."
"I'm sorry, but there is. Now just sign it and I'll go on my merry way."
"Why can't you just give it to me."
"It's protocol, I can't just ignore it." my voice was on the borderline of being loud.
"Fuck protocol."
That's it. She just fucking pissed me off.
I replied to her retort loud and clear " Fuck you! Either you sign for the fucking package or I'm staying here knocking on your door and keep fucking knocking until you give me your signature!"
"You are a rude asshole."
"And you're fucking bitch."
"I won't sign it." her voice was deep.
I stood there thinking what should I do to get this bitch's signature. I decided to be creative a little.
"Listen bitch, I got gun in my van, and since you being so persistent about not giving your signature, I'ma go back down take my gun, come back up, shoot the door, if that's not enough I'll fucking kick this door down cause this...(I tapped the door)... won't stop me. After that, I'll go inside and force you to sign it, physically. And if you are still ignorant I will just shoot you and mind you I have connections for this kind of thing...so...what will it be?"
Everything was a lie, of course, but it still took a minute until she replied, probably was scared, I hoped.
"You wouldn't dare."
"I got nothing to lose. I got no parents, no wife or girlfriend that includes kids. Basically, I'm a worthless guy that no one would miss...so, yeah, I would dare"
That wasn't a lie. I really thought that; there were already a couple of times I thought of killing myself but was too scared to do it. I would just sit down and watch something to vanish the idea. That was probably why I've been sleeping late all the time.
------
In the end, she signed it, not saying anything and being obedient. I went back into the van and was still astonished that it worked, I seriously thought she would just call it bullshit. Scrap was waiting for me in the van still in the same position as I left. As I opened the van's door Scrap moved and looked at me (When I first started as a Deliverer, this scared me a little but I got used to it now) and asked about how the delivery went out, possibly because my face looked dumbfounded.
I entered the van and closed the door and replied with a question "What was the name of the woman I delivered to?"
Scrap sat in the driver's seat fishing for the answer in his robotic head. A couple of seconds later he answered "Susan Catherine. Why?"
"She's a fucking bitch."