Life Of The Dead

The Graveyard

Kevin sat in the back of the van wondering if the money was going to be worth it.  They had been driving around for an hour now according to his watch.  An hour of being totally cut off from the rest of the world.
The back of the van had no windows for Kevin to see where it was they were going, as well as being completely closed off from the front of the van, where his new boss Jeff was driving. His only company in the back were the supplies that Jeff had picked up when he came to get Kevin to take him to the job site.
Kevin once again asked himself,  'Was the money going to be worth it? '
He nodded to himself, it would be worth it. Kevin had been out of work for a long time now.  It just seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't find work.  He had already sold everything he could just to eat and try to pay what bills he could, but it just wasn't enough.
He had now been evicted from his apartment.  He had till tomorrow to be moved out.  Which wasn't to big of a problem given the fact that he had already sold everything he owned. To top things off the doughnuts and coffee that Jeff had thoughtfully brought along was the first meal that Kevin had eaten in two days.  The job he was hired for was landscaping work.
Kevin did not know the first thing about landscaping.  'Was the money going to be worth it? '  It had to be.
At this point Kevin started to feel like he was getting a buzz from the gas fumes coming off the four cans of gas Jeff had sitting in the back with Kevin and the rest of the supplies.
But then the van stopped and Jeff turned the engine off.  'Thank God we're here.'  Kevin thought to himself, as Jeff opened the side door to the van.
"Everybody out!"  Jeff called.
Kevin jumped out of the van and took a few deep breaths, trying to clear the gas fumes from his brain. "You know I'm the only one back here, right?"
"I know."  Jeff replied. "I just like giving orders. Now grab some of this stuff and help me unload."
As they unloaded the van and took the supplies over to where Jeff had a camp site set up with a few tents, Kevin took an opportunity to look around. He was a little confused by what he was seeing. There was no house or garden to be seen anywhere. Just an old cemetery.  Kevin also thought it seemed a bit weird that he and Jeff were the only ones here.  There were no other workers anywhere to be seen.
After the van was unloaded Kevin had to ask.  "Ok, so what exactly are we doing here?"
"I'll show you."  Jeff waved his hand for Kevin to follow him.
As they walked Jeff started to talk.  "Now I weed eated the whole area yesterday to clear out all the weeds so that we can see what we are doing.  We shouldn't have to worry about that again till next week.  I've been out here for two months now working, so trust me, by this time next week, the damn weeds will have taken back over. "
As they walked, Kevin kept looking at the headstones.  They were all old.  The newest one he could read said that the person buried there had died at least eighty years ago.
"How old is this place?"  Kevin had to ask.
Jeff looked at him and smiled.  "Really old.  This place has been abandoned for a long time now.  Nobody comes here anymore, because nobody even knows that this place even exists anymore.  The cops don't even come to this place to make sure anybody is tearing the place up anymore. "  He now stopped by a grave that had been half way dug up already.  "Here we are."
Kevin looked at the three foot deep hole in the ground for a minute. Then turned his attention to Jeff.  "Ok.  What's going on here?  I thought we were going to be landscaping."
Jeff scratched his chin as he answered. "Yeah, about that.  We're not so much landscaping as much as we are grave robbing. "
"To Hell with that!"  Kevin yelled.  "I want nothing to do with this."  He then turned and started to walk away.
He stopped short when he heard a clicking sound behind him.  "If you want me to shoot you, " Jeff informed him, "by all means, keep walking. But I promise you, if you help me, you will be payed a lot.  This place is miles from anywhere, no one will ever know what we do here.  It is a gold mine here."
"But this is wrong. "
"No it's not.  The people buried in these graves are long forgotten by anyone. We are just opening them up, taking what is worth anything, then covering them back up.  No one will know, and no one will care.  The choice is yours to make. You can help me and make some money for yourself, or I can shoot you and find someone else that wants to make some money. "
Kevin thought about it for a moment, and decided that he really didn't have a choice in the matter.  "Ok.  I'll help. 
But it's still wrong. "
Jeff smiled and lowered the gun.  "Whatever. Now start digging. "
Kevin picked up the shovel and climbed into the hole.  "Are you going to help? "
"What do you mean?  I am helping. "  Jeff said as he pointed the gun at Kevin again. "I'm supervising. "
Kevin just sighed and started digging. It only took a few hours to uncover the coffin below.  At which point Jeff said, "Open it."
Kevin looked up at him.  "I'd rather not."
"Too bad.  Now open it."
Kevin sighed and went to open the coffin. As he did he thought he saw Jeff shift the aim of the gun so that it would be pointing into the coffin once it was opened.
When the coffin was opened, there lay a lady who was now little more than bones wrapped in dried out decayed skin and rotten clothes.
"Well now."  Jeff said. "She's pretty. Now take your shovel and chop off her head."
Kevin looked up at him. "What?  Are you crazy?"
"No." He replied, as he threw two plastic  bags down to Kevin.  "There are some sick people out there that will pay top dollar for a human skull that had been interred.  Put the head in one bag, and any jewelry in the other."
Kevin just starred at him.
Jeff cocked the gun.  "Do it or she will not be alone when I fill the grave back in."
Kevin did as he was told, then handed the bags back up to Jeff before climbing out of the hole.
Filling in the grave did not seem to take as much time as digging it up.  After that, they went back to the tents to eat and call it a day.
That night, Kevin thought about running off into the night once Jeff was asleep, but decided not to.  He was now a part of this, he would surely go to jail if he tried to go to the cops, so he was just going to have to try and stick it out.  "Is the money worth it? "  was his last thought before sleep took him.
After a quick breakfast in the morning they started on the next grave.   Kevin digging while Jeff 'supervised'.
By the end of the day they had dug it up, robbed it, and covered it back up.  This time however, Kevin was sure that Jeff was pointing the gun into the coffin as he opened it up.
After that they ate, and went to bed again. 'Was the money worth it? '
Breakfast, and on to the next grave.
Everything was going as normal until Kevin opened the third coffin. He stopped and starred at the boney corpse within. Something was wrong here.
At first Kevin thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him.  The dead thing within the coffin seemed to be moving its head back and forth. Then it set up and made a grab for Kevin.
Jeff shot it in the head, and it fell back down.  Dead once again.
Jeff only threw one bag down this time.  "What a waist.  Get his jewelry at least. "
Kevin looked up at him. "I'm not touching it!"
"Don't be a baby. It's dead now."  He pointed the gun at Kevin for motivation.
Kevin did as he was told, and quickly climbed out.
That night as they ate, Jeff told Kevin about  the two other people he had had out here to help him before he had recruited Kevin. They were not as lucky as Kevin had been today.
"I don't think I can do this." Kevin said.
"Don't worry. "  Jeff assured him.  "As long as I keep you covered with the gun while you are down there, you will be fine."
'Is the money worth it? ' He thought as he went to sleep that night.
Breakfast never came however. Kevin woke up half way through the night to the sounds of gun shots. He put his shoes on and ran out of his tent as fast as he could to see what was going on.
He looked around, but it was hard to make anything out in the dieing light of the camp fire.  Then he heard the sound of the van's engine starting up, and ran blindly to it.
He got there just in time to see its tell lights dissapearing down the road.
He heard movement behind him, and turned to look.  At first he saw nothing, and as he looked, he could just make out several figures moving towards him in the dark.
It now occurred to him, that while he was helping Jeff frantically dig up these graves to rob them, some of their occupants had been frantically digging there way up to get to them.
That thought was all it took to get Kevin running.  The night was cloudy, so Kevin could hardly see where he was going.  So he decided that it was best to try and keep his eyes on the dark road.
The road was flat, so there was less of a chance of tripping over anything, and the road would eventually lead to somewhere. Which was better than wondering around off road in the dark where he would be tripping over everything and remain lost in the middle of nowhere.
So intent he was in watching the road, that he didn't see the figure standing in front of him until he ran into it and knocked it down. Not only did he knock it down, but he was knocked backwards and fell on his butt.
The figure that he knocked down was now getting up. Kevin tried to follow suit, but two boney hands grabbed his shoulders and held him down.
Kevin couldn't think of what to do, so he started to beg.  "It's not my fault!  He made me do it!  You gotta believe me!  Please!  Please!"
That was as far as he got as the points of boney fingers dug into his throat and tore a chunk away.
Kevin's mouth filled with blood as he began to choke and make gurgling noises.  He could feel other boney hands tearing chunks of meat away from his body.
Kevin's last thought as everything went black for him was, 'No.  No, the money was not worth it.'