Nathan White liked every aspect of his job except this one.

His mother thought being a courier was the same as being a pizza delivery boy. She couldn’t have been more wrong. They both involved driving, and dropping things off, but the similarity ended there.

Even though he worked for a company, Nathan was technically an independent contractor—his own boss. But more than that, he was actually part of something. Many people, companies, and institutions depended on him.

Fed Ex offered next day service, but in many cases that wasn’t quick enough. Sometimes it had to be the same day, or even within an hour.

Nathan had delivered contracts that saved companies from bankruptcy, organs for emergency transplants, evidence that helped convict murderers, water to disaster victims—things that helped make the world better.

He was paid well, treated with respect, and people were always happy to see him when he arrived just in the nick of time.

Kind of like Superman, Nathan thought. Except Nathan was fat with acne and no super powers.

The job had only one downside; the DruTech run. Or, as he called it, the cadavalivery.

He picked up his two-way radio and spoke to headquarters.

“Dispatch, I’m at the morgue, over.”

“Roger, Nathan. Make it quick—you wouldn’t want the corpsicle to thaw.”

Nathan winced at the joke. He got out of the car and rang the buzzer at the rear entrance. Like always, his mind began to wander while he waited.

Once a week, for almost two years, Nathan had been coming to the morgue to pick up packages. The procedure was always the same. He’d give Sully a sealed envelope, Sully would give him an insulated box.

The boxes varied in size, some small enough to hold shoes, some large enough for a TV. They were always cold to the touch. Sometimes they steamed slightly, and the odor made Nathan gag. A year back, a package had even leaked, and the stain was so rancid Nathan had to cut it out of the upholstery, resulting in a hole in the back seat.

Nathan knew that even the big boxes were too small to hold an entire cadaver, but he had no doubt the boxes had something dead in them. After all, this was a morgue.

So his mind played tricks every time he made the DruTech run. He’d imagine the box was full of illegal third trimester abortions. Or severed limbs, which were going to be cooked and served to a secret club of corporate cannibals. Or that he was picking up different body parts each time, and a mad doctor was building a monster out of them.

One thing was certain; the weekly deal was shady. It always took place at the back entrance, which was never in use. It always involved an exchange for an envelope full of cash (Nathan never opened it, but it felt like cash). And Nathan was paid for the run off the books, in cash as well.

Nathan patted his pocket to make sure he had the envelope. He did, naturally. If there was one run he didn’t want to screw up, it was this one. Nathan harbored many fears of what would happen if he’d accidentally lost the envelope. He figured he’d wind up in one of those insulated boxes, and his replacement would deliver his parts to DruTech for nefarious purposes.

The door swung open, and Nathan jumped. Sully snorted at him. Pale, hairy, a drawn out face—Sully looked exactly what a morgue attendant should look like. As usual, he wore his bloody apron. Little things were stuck to it on this occasion, and Nathan had no desire to know what they were.

“Got the envelope?”

Nathan handed it to Sully. The dour man stuck it in his back pocket, then bent down and handed Nathan a medium sized Styrofoam box, the lid sealed with tape.

It was steaming.

Nathan held it away from his body, trying not to sniff the rising fumes. Sully laughed.

“Get a move on. You don’t want to have it with you when it thaws and wakes up.”

The color drained from Nathan’s face, and Sully slammed the door. Sully always messed around with him like that. There couldn’t be something actually alive in there.

Right?

Nathan didn’t want to find out. He hurried to his car, placed the box on the roof as he opened the door, and when he went to grab the package it slid out of his hands and hit the ground.

Nathan yelled in surprise. This was the worst thing that had ever happened in his twenty-three years of life.

The package landed on its corner. The impact caused the top to pop off, flapping open like a hinge, the tape still stuck to one edge.

The steam slowly dissipated, revealing the thing inside the box.

Nathan stared down in horror. It was worse than anything he could have imagined. His mind screamed at him to run away, but his legs remained locked and his eyes couldn’t tear away from the nightmare before him.

It was a human head.

The head was severed under the jaw line, packed in smoking dry ice. Two curly wires were stuck in the tear ducts of its open eyes, the other ends attached to a large lantern battery.

And it was opening and closing its mouth.

The scream was in his lungs, filling them, but he couldn’t get it out of his throat. He was so terrified he couldn’t exhale.

There was a soft, rhythmic click click click as the head’s upper and lower teeth met, as if it was chewing.

Or trying to speak.

“Whoops.”

Nathan turned and saw Sully standing next to him. The scream finally came out, but it was more like an asthmatic wheeze, so high-pitched only dogs could hear it.

Sully bent down and picked up the box, holding it under Nathan’s face.

“See? You woke him up. Now it must feed on the blood of the living.”

Nathan’s bladder let loose and the blood drained from his head. He was about to pass out.

Sully snapped the lid on and put the box in the back seat.

“You okay, kid?”

“… it’s… it’s… still alive…”

Sully laughed and clapped Nathan on the shoulder. “It’s not alive. Some doctor’s going to use it for experimental research. The battery keeps a small electric charge in the brain so the tissue doesn’t decay, and the jaw moving is just a reflex.”

Nathan began to sob. Sully frowned, clearly embarrassed.

“Look, kid, it’s no big deal. No harm done. You want to come in, get cleaned up?”

Nathan shook his head, his hand reaching into his wet jeans for his car keys. Sully took out the envelope Nathan had given him and removed a fifty dollar bill. He shoved it in Nathan’s vest pocket.

“Here, have a nice dinner on me.”

Nathan mumbled a thanks. It was automatic. He didn’t feel thankful at all.

“If there’s anything left, pick up something for our friend here. Maybe he’d like a pack of gum.”

Sully opened his jaw and clicked his teeth together, doing an eerie imitation of the head.

Nathan climbed into the car, oblivious to Sulley’s laughter. He drove in a daze, way over the speed limit, paying no attention to traffic signals. When he got back to headquarters Nathan quit on the spot, and demanded they remove the box from his back seat and take it to DruTech themselves.

The next day he got a job delivering pizzas.