Incinerator

A new story, at long last. This one is a little over a thousand words, so it's a quick read.

Incinerator

The alarm chimed for a third time and immediately a dark orange flame sprouted from the huge concrete pipe. The tower of fire raged for a few seconds and ten abruptly shut off, a lingering smell of ash it’s only remnant.

Barker hadn’t even looked up. His window was stained and darkened from the constant smoke and he had seen it hundreds of time before. The loudspeaker buzzed and announced closing time. With great care, Barker placed the final lading bills into his filing cabinet and adjusted his tie.

He pulled down the blackout blinds on his window and locked the heavy doors to his office.

A few minutes later the yard was noticeably quieter. The men didn’t hang around after their shift was finished and the reddening sun showed only a huddle of figures around a tin hut.

Barker pushed a small button on the side of the hut and the primary floodlights winked out. The orb of the sun sank below the line of mountains to the west and darkness overtook the facility.

‘Uh, Boss, I don’t think Marks is leaving.’ Barker peered over at the tall, thin man standing next to the guard post, his metal lunchbox in hand. Absently he looked at his phone and sighed.

‘Fuck, what’s he waiting for?’ Barker was nervous. They only had so much time to do this and they couldn’t afford another witness.

To his immense relief, a sedan pulled up at the checkpoint and Marks hurried into the front seat. His wife backed up and drove off, leaving the empty factory in black silence. Barker let out his breath.

‘Lucky we wrapped this up properly eh?’ said Isaac anxiously. Barker shot him a dark look. The body was starting to…well seep wasn’t the right word but it was the one that kept flashing across his mind.

‘Shut the fucking boot.’ He grunted, swallowing the bile at the back of his throat.

Barker composed himself and said ‘Here, drive it up to the service entrance over on the other side and I’ll see about the furnace.’

‘Whuh-what’ll I do?’ questioned Isaac, ‘sir.’ He added.

‘Just uh…keep and eye out for um…well for anyone.’

Barker hopped into the passenger seat next to Derrick, who hadn’t said a word in hours. He regarded Derrick as they rolled across the facility. He’s just pulled into himself, he thought, locked all the doors and hung up a do not disturb sign.

There was an unopened pack of smokes gathering dust on the dashboard. Worrying.

‘You mind if I take one?’ said Barker, eyeing the cigarettes. Derrick turned his head slowly, and he could see the blankness, the shock in his eyes. He shock his head absently. Barker lit up and took a long pull.

‘God damn.’ He mumbled, after a few seconds.

The car radio was on so low it was only audible because of the pervading silence between the two men. An old rock song played on a classics station.

‘….go and say goodbye.’ The singers words were whispery and the guitars no where to be found. Barker turned it up so there would be something to fill the quiet.

‘That was one I haven’t played in a long time. You’re listening to one-oh-three point five, the songs your dad can’t even remember.’ Derrick stopped the car just before the ladder leading up to the second furnace.

‘Derrick, you’re going to have to carry…uh…carry it on your back, there’s no stairs.’ He expected him to complain but he just pulled the stiff corpse onto his shoulders and started climbing the ladder.

By the time Barker reached the top, Derrick was already unscrewing the panel on the side of the huge furnace tower. The hole was small but they managed to force the body into the vent. Barker tried to ignore the crunch as it hit the surface, stories below.

‘Uh…Derrick…you go to the control room and fire up the furnace, we can say it was a cleaning exercise or something.’ A blank stare. He finally nodded and started his descent down the ladder.

Barker lit up another cigarette and leaned back against the concrete. He was going to see this done tonight and maybe tomorrow, he thought, he could check out flights to Australia, or Thailand or somewhere.

He was lost in this thought when he spied a car pull up next to his sedan and an elderly looking man get out. The man flicked on a torch and waved it over the open car door. Then he shone the beam up at the gantry, passing a few feet from where Barker shrunk back against the tower.

Barker’s mind raced. The night watchman might not bother climbing all those rungs to reach him. Damn, damn, damn. There was another ladder, heading further up the furnace. Nothing for it.

***

Derrick sat in the worn swivel chair of the furnace operator. He had activated the burner, it was injecting the fuel and would vent in a minute or two. He cupped his face in his hands and started to silently shake. After only seconds Derrick stopped. His face had reacquired a blank look as he pushed open the outside door. The wind was picking up and this high up it was downright dangerous.

***

.The top of the catwalk was blackened and unstable. The yawning pit of the furnace gave off an uneasy feeling. Barker pulled out his mobile and found Derrick’s number.

‘Hi this is Derrick, I can’t take your call at the moment but please leave a message and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.’

***

‘’This is 999 emergency, what assistance do you require?’

‘I need…I need an ambulance quickly. My name is Harold Sloop, I’m at 32 Docklands Avenue in East London. There’s a man here who…’

Had the watchman been looking behind him he might have noticed a faint shape moving at speed away from the facility. Had he exceptional eyesight he might also have noticed that the figure was limping slightly, and had he truly superhuman sight, he might also have noticed that he looked, if not burned, then at least slightly singed.