Part of the Pack (Daniel Sharman)

Disposable Goods

I landed on him, his arms wrapping around me. I was touching every inch of his body, and I meant every inch.

He groaned as I rolled off of him onto something squishy and soft. Something hard jabbed into my spine and I let out a squeal.

"Careful," Dylan breathed, "don't move. There's a lot of sharp stuff. That's why I'm under the opening. So that when the others fall them land on-"

Dylan was interrupted by Holland dropping from the ceiling and falling limply onto his body.

"-me." Dylan moaned, pushing Holland next to him. Tyler came next, the Crystal, and finally, Danny.

"Where are we?" Danny asked, scrambling to his feet.

"No idea," I answered, "but some of it is soft and squishy and some is hard and-" something poked my left rib cage and I winced. "-sharp."

"No one move a muscle," Danny whispered, trembling slightly as he stood in the pitch blackness. "When I call your name say 'here.'"

"What, are you taking attendance?" Dylan scoffed.

Danny ignored him. "Dyl, I know you're here so, Holland."

"Here," she squeaked, pain evident in her voice.

"Tessa"

"Here," I answered.

"Crystal"

"Yup"

"Tyler"

"Over here." His voice was distant and muffled, but still there. "I think I found a light switch.

I heard a click and I was immediately blinded by a way-to-bright white light. It flooded into the tiny room we were in, illuminating out surroundings.

When my eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, I looked around, trying to get an idea of where we were.

I looked down at what I was lying on to see multiple black bags thrown about the room, completely covering the floor.

"Uh, guys," I said, "are we-"

"Lying on garbage?" Dylan finished. "Oh, absolutely."

"Oh hell no!" Holland said, scampering to her feet. "I was NOT just lying on a garbage bag."

Dylan laughed. "Calm down. At least all of the bags are completely sealed."

And at that moment, Tyler let out a blood curling scream. He jumped into the air, flailing his arms and legs wildly. "Get it off me! Get it off me!"

I ran over to him and caught sight of a rat scurrying up and down his back. I grabbed it by the tail and chucked it across the room, hitting the opposite wall.

"There!" I yelled, silencing Tyler's screams. "It's off. It's off."

Tyler became completely still, only his fingers shaking. "Is it gone?"

I nodded, rubbing his back with my hand. "It's gone."

Danny started laughing, and soon, so was everyone else. We couldn't stop; we just laughed and laughed, until our stomach aches and our mouths twitched uncontrollably.

"That was disgusting," Danny said, catching his breath.

Crystal put her hands on her knees, still chuckling. "I can't believe we just slid down a garbage chute."

We slowly made our way across the room to a door marked "Exit." We carefully stepped over protruding objects, avoiding injury.

First to get to the door, Dylan extended his hand and juggled the door knob. His face went as pale as a vampire and turned a sickening shade of green.

"Um, it's-it's locked."

"You're kidding," Danny said anxiously.

All of a sudden, the loudest, most obnoxious grinding noise pounded in our ears. It sounded like-like one of those garbage disposal things that some people have at their sinks.

It echoes in our heads, shaking our brains this way and that.

We all immediately covered our ears with our palms, pressing them to the sides of our head. "What is that?" Dylan screamed, taking my hand tightly. He grabbed Holland's with his other hand, who took Tyler's, who grabbed Crystal's. Danny grasped mine forcefully, and when he talked, he sounded scared.

"That's the sound of the garbage being crushed," he choked, pointing over our shoulders.

We all turned, still holding hands, to see the wall closing in, crunching the garbage bags, crushing everything in its path.