A typical trainee day
A commission for StrangledDragons on FA.
Too bad OSHA doesn't exist in his world.
A typical trainee day
The young raptor walked down the aisles of the warehouse, his headphones blasting the best of The Rolling Stones into his ears to drown out the rumble of the machinery in the echoing room. He didn't care about the rules banning them; he needed something to make this job tolerable. He couldn't stand listening to his new workmates talking about the god awful modern crap they listened to - he knew that the only good music was from the 70's.
Of course, he kept the hood of his hoody up at all times (another infraction, but a much less serious one) to disguise the headphones. EuroTransDelivery was one of the bigger logistics firms, so there was a cushy union on his side in any disciplinary action. He could always claim they were noise reducing and that his ears were too sensitive to the background noises to be comfortable on the warehouse floor - big companies like this needed to be careful when it came to HR, even for new trainees like himself. He had tried to convince the other new starters, but he found them too childish and mainstream. He hated this job, and music was one of the few ways to get through the day.
As he walked over to the loading bays, he ducked outside for a quick smoke (the other thing that made this place tolerable - and another rule he didn't care about breaking). He knew underneath the dock was the perfect blind spot from the CCTV, so he dropped down to the tarmac and squatted down out of view of anyone in the warehouse. Pulling out a cigarette, he quickly lit it up, and took a deep drag to ease his growing tension. Then he pulled out his mp3 player and found another track to listen to. As he exhaled, he finally noticed the ground trembling slightly.
He didn't have time to shout out before the massive metal trailer shoved hard into his shoulder, causing him to fall onto the tarmac. Before he could twist off his back and scramble to safety, he felt the massive tyre begin to slowly roll over his legs. He could feel his bones crack and overwhelming pain from the weight of the big rig as it rolled up towards his hips. Screaming in agony, he futilely started pushing at the dusty black rubber of the thick tyre, unable to get away from the devastating weight and pain flooding his system. As he clawed at the tyre, yelling for attention, he could only stare at the side of the truck that was driving him into the ground beneath the docking bay. His flesh was squeezed into the deep thread of the 3-foot high tyres, the agony overwhelming his mind and almost causing him to black out beneath the weight of the trailer. The last thing he could think of was how the hot rubber seemed to smell of urine - probably from the trucker pissing on it while at the side of the road - as his blood soaked into the his jeans.
The driver slowly backed into the loading bay, keeping a close eye on the driver-side mirror as the articulated trailer swung into position - not noticing that he had just crushed a worker. Cutting the engine off, he was finally able to hear the screams coming from behind him. It was then he noticed the raptor's arms reaching and banging weakly against the side of the tyre - something that shouldn't have been there - the arms that could only belong to someone trapped under the trailer! He quickly revved the engine back to life and pushed it into gear to pulled forward, looking in the rear view as he saw the sickening sight of the injured young raptor lying on the sun-warmed tarmac, his tail no longer twitching, a deep red stain spreading through his clothing and beginning to soak into the dark ground around his ruined legs.
The driver panicked, trying to slam on the breaks and park the truck - but to his horror, the truck rolled backwards, following the slope of the ground - he was on the clutch instead of the break! He began to shout out, pushing down on the brake pedal as hard as he could.
The young raptor tried to roll himself onto his belly and drag himself away as the weight of the truck eased off his mangled lower half. He kept trying to push himself over onto his stomach, to get on his knees and look at the damage, but his legs wouldn't respond. He could hear the sound of blood rushing in his head, his eyes wide and darting, barely able to focus on what was going on around him. The truck had pulled forward, causing a fresh wave of pain to lance through him. He lay there - face up - unable to really think. He could hear someone shouting but couldn't make out any words.
With great effort, he managed to pull his head off the ground and look down at himself. His legs were destroyed, the fabric of his jeans still showing the tyre marks from where he had been run over. His tail was limp, and a thinner pool of liquid had spread across the ground - he must have pissed himself from the pain. Turning to the right, he looked up in horror to see the truck slowly inching back towards him, rolling down the slope. He tried to push himself out of the way, tried to roll, tried to MOVE, but his body wouldn't respond through the fear.
He finally managed to scream - seconds before the heavy rubber rolled back over his injured body. Several nearby workers looking over to the truck as it moved backwards, wondering what all the shouting was about.
The scream was cut short as the rear twin-tyre of the truck rolled onto the raptor's shoulder, quickly pinning him down under the thick black rubber and pushing the air out of his chest. The tyre ran further over the raptor, sharp fragments of rib bone pushing into his already collapsed lung. The deadly wheel of rubber rolled over his sternum and left hand side, obliterating the raptor's heart and stomach beneath the weight of the metallic monster. As the air rushed out of his ruined lungs for the last time, the driver finally managed to regain control and put the truck in gear, moving it off the poor raptor. The last thing the raptor saw was the bright light of the sun as the ETD logo moved out of view above him. The dusty dirt on the tyre mixing with his blood as it left a damp trail away from where he lay, bone and skin pieces being torn off his crushed body.
A few of his co-workers jumped behind the truck and dragged the limp body of the raptor to "safety", leaving a trail of guts and scales behind him. The nearest person trained in first-aid, woefully under skilled for this situation, took the time to put pressure on the raptor's neck to get a pulse, staring into his wide open eyes as they went still and unfocused.
By the time the medical staff arrived to help him, the wide open eyes of the raptor had been closed, the first-aider unable to look at the final expression of agony the raptor's face settled on. The medics quickly declared that the trauma had been too much for him to endure as they looked over his ruined body and the staining on the concrete. The medics gathered up the raptor's body, taking care not to disfigure him further as his spine was clearly broken in several places and his head wanted to fall into his flattened chest, and placed it in a body bag. Then they took the time to gather the few viscera that had come detached, and the scraps of head-feathers and clothing that lay nearby. The blood stain would remain until the company called a professional clean-up group.
The driver, who had been sitting nearby, rocking back and forth as he hugged his knees, was unable to take it when he heard the medic's report. He broke down completely and had to be lead away from the scene in hysterics, unable to cope with what he had done.
The gruesome scents of death, blood and urine began to drift into the warehouse, but the workers inside wouldn't get time off. ETD had deadlines to reach, and the loss of a new hire wouldn't stop them.