The Body
Who: Andre, Caél, and Matt
Where: By the lake
When: About 7ish
Andre really didn't remember the lake being this far. Of course, last time he'd been wearing shoes and hadn't been pushing a wheelbarrow. Still, they were getting there, that was the important thing. He wanted to get this over with quickly. They'd been walking for a while and were getting close to the lake when he finally started to smell it. Yeah, that's it all right. Phew. He put down the wheelbarrow for a moment and pulled out a couple of cigars he'd gotten out of his tent, tossing one to Caél. "You might want this, bro. That thing's gonna be rank when we get to it. The cigar'll mask the smell a bit." He got his cigar lit- never easy with just matches- then offered the box to Caél. "At least, that's what they do on CSI and shit."
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The smell of the rotting,
The smell of the rotting, bloated corpse hit him across the face like an iron glove. It was almost like a duel declaration. Could he hold in the contents of his stomach? Could he see the job through? Caél paused in mid-step when Andre set down the wheelbarrow, catching the cigar that was tossed to him not a moment later.
"I don't normally smoke," he said, running his fingers along the cigar, it had been ages since he'd been required to smoke one. "But this a damn good reason to." He held the thing with his teeth, took the box of matches, and tried to light the thing, the third time being the charm. "Caél," he said, offering the man a hand, "and thanks for this." He held up the cigar in his other hand.
..
"Andre," he said, shaking his hand. "Nice to see someone hasn't totally lost their marbles round here. He chomped on his cigar as he picked up the wheelbarrow. "Whew! Smells like it's been dead for a while, whoever it is."
They came over the last hill, and sure enough there it was. A bloated, smelly carcass of- a woman? It was too tough to tell. But someone had already beaten them there and was attempting to extiricate the body. Andre couldn't remember the man's name, but he'd seen him around. "Yo!" he shouted. "Need a hand?"
"People are losing their
"People are losing their marbles already? Over a little camping trip," he asked with a laugh, casually blowing smoke out of his nostrils, much to the chagrin of his sinuses, but it was better cigar smoke than the stench of rot.
Caél rose a brow at Andre referring to the dead woman as an it. Subconscious coping mechanism or accident? He let it go. "More than awhile, has to be at least 3 to 4 weeks." He took slow, shallow breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth. He could do this, he'd dealt with a few rotting bodies before. Of course, back then he'd had mentholated cream to put under his nose. Now he just had a cigar, and he was beginning to doubt his constitution, so the man already by the body was a welcome distraction. He had to have already been at the lake, since they, well, at least he, would've noticed someone going off before them.
"Why do you think he's here," he quietly asked the larger man. "Aren't you...suspicious?"
...
Andre's stomach was beginning to turn. He'd smelled some nasty shit in his day, but this was something else entirely. Nasty ass. The cigar was helping somewhat, but he really hoped this wouldn't take all day. He looked over at Caél at his question. "Who knows? Maybe he's just an early riser or something. At any rate, he looks like he's trying to do the same thing we wanna do," he said, pointing his cigar at the man who was knee-deep in the lake, tugging on the body. He really hoped he didn't pop something off of it. "We can always use another pair of hands, get this shit over with. If he tries something, I'm pretty sure between the two of us, we can take him." He put the cigar back in his mouth and inhaled, trying to block out the stench. "While we're working, we can work on him too, if you like. Figure this whole thing out."
Matt couldn't move her -
Matt couldn't move her - she'd become stuck in the mud by the water's edge and nothing he could do could shift her - at least not on his own. He looked around, seeing the other two walking towards him. "Hey - please - help. Please!" he called out to them. They had to get her out of the water.
..
"I'm comin', I'm comin'," Andre said as he pushed the wheelbarrow towards the lake. Now that he was close, he could see that the body was in pretty bad shape. And seemed stuck. "So, what brings you out this early?" he asked the man, trying to sound nonchalant despite the bloated carcass in front of him. He put the wheelbarrow down and started to strip down to his boxers. He knew it'd take a bit of strength to pull it out of the mud, and he'd have to get in the lake to do it. He wasn't about to ruin his one pair of pants for some dead bitch. He waded in to where the feet were stuck. "Alright, you two get the top half, I'll get this half." He winced at the smell, which at this range, even the cigar wasn't masking.
.
Matt looked at the black guy as though he was crazy for making what sounded like small talk when there was Ashley's body there. "Erm, well - the body?" he asked, pointedly. "I sleep in one of the boats, I woke up and she was here. Ashley - she used to... she was one of the housemates. We all thought she'd been removed," he said, emotion creeping into his voice at the last.
“True enough,” Caél had
“True enough,” Caél had replied, making a mental note of Andre’s rather unflappable and perhaps even trusting nature as they made their way over. He just hoped Matt had the same intention that they, or at least Andre and Zania, had: to get rid of the body without causing a commotion. He had other plans.
As he listened to the two of them, he followed suit and took off his jeans. “Ashley,” he thought to himself. “So she has a name.” Names always made it harder for other people. If a body had a name it was more of a person, more real. And that held true as he listened to Matt speak. The emotion in his voice, not to mention the fact he’d more than likely slept in a boat just for her rotted corpse… “Shit,” Caél grumbled as he took shovels out of the wheelbarrow.
“You’re going to touch it with your bare hands,” he asked, thoroughly shocked by what he wasn’t sure was bravado or just plain stupidity. “I figured we could use the shovels, use the leverage of the handle to pry her out. But, hey, if you want to get personal with Ashley at least use the trashbags as gloves.”
...
Andre looked up. His hands were under the water, but not touching he body- Ashley- yet. "Just hand me the garbage bags. I'll dig deep into the mud and pull her up from down there.. Can't be too deep, cause she ain't been here that long or someone woulda noticed." He puffed his cigar for a moment. "I'd rather leave the body as intact as we can, under the circumstances. Give her at least that much respect. Shovel might end up screwin' that up more."
He'd seen bodies just thrown aside indiscriminately growing up, sometimes their heads having been ripped off from being up in a tree too long. Just another dead nigger, they'd say. Well, people knew this girl- at least their little buddy had- so she deserved a little care. He got out of the water, grabbed a couple of bags, tied them around his hands and forearms, then waded back in and began to dig.
.
He hadn't been thinking - Matt knew he hadn't been thinking and he took a half step back as the men spoke, trying to get a hold of himself. The rubbish bags were a good idea, and he suddenly realised that his hands were covered in... Oh god, for a moment, he was sure he was going to throw, but he controlled it. He had to - he had to see her buried, it was only right - and it would have been what Stefan would have wanted, had he been here. "Okay - bags, let's... We have a priest here, right? We should - she needs to be buried," he said, trying to keep himself under control. And Twitch would want to know. Zania as well. The other ExB people...
“Fair enough,” Caél
“Fair enough,” Caél nodded solemnly, handing a pair of trash bags to Andre and then began tying one around each of his own arms. He looked over at Matt and contemplated grabbing three of the bags for the neurotic looking guy, two for his arms and one for whatever was in his stomach. But when it seemed like he was able to keep it in Caél only grabbed two. “Slow down there,” he said, handing the bags to him as he waded into the water. “One step at a time. First we get her out of the muddy hands of the lake, next we cover her in trash bags to make sure none of us decorate her with bile, and then we bury her. Baby steps.”
...
Andre exhaled a little smoke and coughed. The longer he was near the body, the worse she smelled. The stench was just too strong, even with the cigar. "Yeah, best thing to do is get her in the ground quick," he said, finally freeing one leg, which floated up lazily. "The less people gotta smell it, the better. You wanna do a funeral for her, best to do it after we get her covered up, or people gonna be throwing up all over the place. I ain't got that many cigars." He chuckled a little at his joke.
Right now, joking and trying not to think about what he was doing was the only thing keeping him from losing the breakfast he hadn't had. "Ugh," he grunted, pulling the other foot free. The leg floated up, except for a couple of toes that had come off in his hand. He let them drop back down into the water. "All right, that oughta do it. Y'all ready?" he asked, grabbing the legs under both arms and hoping nothing else fell off.
.
"We should at least get the priest," Matt insisted, helping where he could. "She's ... she deserves that much." He wondered when she'd actually died. It had been months since he'd least seen her. God, all that time. "Even if it's just to say prayers over her grave, we can't just dump her in the ground and have done."
“I think that CSI show is
“I think that CSI show is full of shit,” Caél snarled around the cigar as he dug his arms into the mud below Ashley’s torso. The smell was beyond vile, and the only thing keeping him there, elbow deep in mud and rotting flesh, was the thought that he’d exact the most beautiful revenge on Aamir. Every time his stomach protested he just reminded himself that he’d utterly humiliate that ignorant immigrant and it settled down again. Vengeance was better than any antacid.
After a bit of work, Ashley’s torso finally floated up with her legs, and the smell intensified. “Right, we’ll get Bob to bless this mess, don’t worry,” Caél grumped, gritting his teeth against the rather useless cigar as he shoved his arms underneath the body. “I’m ready.”
..
Andre chuckled a little, trying not to breathe in too much. This was already taking longer and getting nastier than he could've ever imagined. "I think you're right there, C." He'd seen dead bodies before, even touched them, but never one this fucked up. "All righty then, let's get her to dry land. On three." He readied himself, his own feet starting to sink into the mud. "One. Two." He closed his eyes, steeling himself for what would happen when she was completely out of the water. "THREE!" he grunted, lifting his half of Ashley up and out and starting to move her to shore.
"C," Caél thought, brows
"C," Caél thought, brows furrowing for a moment. What was with black people reducing all names to single syllables? His name wasn't even that difficult to pronounce! C, Z...he felt like he was a component of a box of Alphabits. The thought of food made his stomach lurch and he bit down on the cigar a little harder. "Right, on three," he agreed, taking a slow, deep breath as Andre counted. The smell was horrendous, but he knew it would be twice as bad once she was lifted out of the water and on three he held his breath, heaved the body up, and began crab-walking to the wheelbarrow.
...
"Sweet Jesus," Andre said under his breath, trying not to breathe in the smell, while not dropping the waterlogged corpse as they lugged her over to the wheelbarrow. With difficulty, he managed to maneuver his end over it and dropped her in a little more unceremoniously than he'd wanted. He managed to fight back throwing up completely, although some still came up in his mouth. He let out a small burp. "'Scuse me."
Having the whole torso of
Having the whole torso of the dead body pressed against his chest left very little room for fresh air to get in. Sure he was holding his breath, but somehow the stench still managed to affect him, harshly. The color was quickly draining from his face as the stagnant smell coaxed bile up his throat and, if Andre had been unceremonious in dropping Ashley, then Caél simply let gravity rape her, removing himself from the bloated corpse the very second it was over the wheelbarrow.
He backpedaled a bit, staggering just slightly and then crouching, hands braced on his knees. He'd been sure he was going to lose everything in stomach and then some, but a few seconds with a few feet of distance between him and the body saw the return of his complexion. Once everything settled Caél made his way back over like nothing had happened. Nope, nothing to see here. "Let's get her covered up," he grunted as he stuck his arms underneath the body to yank out the last of the garbage bags.
.
matt was appalled with the way she was being treated, yanked around like that. This was a person and the lack of respect she was being shown was disgusting. He snatched the bags off Caél. "Here, I'll do that," he insisted, his tone tight. He covered her over, but it was with care and attention. the smell was almost overpowering and there were moments Matt thought that he was going to throw up, but she deserved whatever little dignoty they could give her. And a swift burial.
...
Andre was still fighting back vomit as Matt covered the body. "Calm down, boy." He watched the care being given to the deceased with a little bit of suprise. "You know this girl? She someone special?" He asked, gesturing with his cigar. Not that he was complaining about Matt taking over. He wasn't in a hurry to touch that body again. Skin breaking open, eyeball missing, head all split open... Andre found himself fighting the urge to purge again as he thought about it.
.
Matt didn't particularly like being called 'boy' - but then again, he wasn't in the best of moods today. "No - I hardly even met her. but she lived here. She was part of the experiment, just like we are - this.." He grestured to the covered corpse. "This could have been me. Or you - it could ahve been any of us. And her family is never going to know what happened to her, or where their daughter's, or sister's body lies. The least we can do is treat her with some respect."
...
Andre nodded as he puffed his cigar and pulled his pants back on. He really didn't think too many people would miss him if he was gone- he didn't talk to his sisters much, and his folks were long gone anyways. "It's all good, man," he said, giving Matt a hearty pat on the back. "Wish we had some tape or something to seal it up a little better," Andre contemplated, looking at the bagged corpse on the wheelbarrow. He coughed again. Whether it was the cigar or the body getting to him, he wasn't sure, but he knew he wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. And find somewhere to scrub himself off.
Caél held his hands up
Caél held his hands up defensively as the bags were snatched but said nothing. If the man wanted to play dress up with a corpse he was perfectly fine with that. It allowed some distance between the smell and him and that made his life was just dandy.
He had assumed that Matt had been a relative or lover of whoever this person was, so when he heard that they were barely strangers Caél practically choked on his cigar. “Right,” he said between coughs, making it not as sardonic as he felt. He hated philanthropists. And he hated people who used “could have”s and “what if”s. Yeah it could have been him, but he could have also been hit by a bus, or he could have gotten drugged in a bar and had his kidneys stolen. Now was it likely? Definitely not. “Anything is possible,” he remarked bitterly, “it’s the plausibility that matters.” Following suit, he donned his pants and jerked his thumb in the direction of the pit. “There’s already a man-sized pit in the forest, we can bury her there.” After a moment Caél chuckled and shook his head. “Eerie how these things all work out huh?”
.
Matt set his jaw against the attitude of the guy and nodded. "Fine, that'll be fine - we'll need the priest though. I won't just dump her in some hole and cover her over," he said, reining in the comments that rose about plausability. He wouldn't argue over her body, he wouldn't. It wasn't right.
...
Andre sighed. "Look, if you two can handle this, I'll go wake up Bob and tell him we need last rights or whatever." Anything to get away from the stench. Let those two have a swordfight if they wanted. He'd done the heavy lifting work already.
Why the hell was he being so
Why the hell was he being so impatient? It was unnerving. Caél didn't want this whole ordeal to take up the rest of his day. Not when he had his own, infinitely more important plans. The girl was dead, not like she'd be going anywhere soon. And, even if there was some immortal soul waiting to be freed, a day or so wouldn't hurt; she'd been dead for what had to be weeks.
"How about the three of us bury her in the pit, it'll go faster that way," Caél paused for a moment and dug deep in his memory, what would a selfless person say? "Not to mention I don't think anyone else needs to see what became of her, let their last memories be something pleasant. No one should be remembered as bloating, rotting, foul corpse. Then we go back to the camp and inform Mr. Moran about the situation as well as anyone else who wants to pay their respects. Unless," he rose a skeptical brow at Matt, "you're the only one who knew her?"
.
"How about we give the girl a proper burial?" Matt said, directly answering the other man's suggestion, his tone making it very clear that this wasn't up for debate - or that if Caél wanted to push it, Matt would push right back. He turned to Andre. "If you could go and get Bob, that would be great," he told him in a much politer tone, before he turned back to Caél. "I'm not the only one who knew her - there are other people who'll want to know we found her. Twitch, Zania, maybe other people. If you're worried about the speed - if we're keeping you, you don't have to stay - I can organise this, if you have better things to do..." He trailed off, an eyebrow raised. In all honesty, he'd prefer it if this bastard just fucked off. Since he very obviously didn't give a shit.
It was like dealing with a
It was like dealing with a woman, Matt was illogical, run over by his emotions. And because of a girl he hardly knew? How the hell was he still alive?! No matter, he could deal with this. Lose the battle to win the war. He needed that body to be there.
"Really, is there any difference in a burial followed by a ceremony than the two being performed simultaneously? And where exactly are you going to bury her? You don't know where to go, but if you want to wander around the wilderness with a dead girl in a wheelbarrow," Caél shrugged, "then you're some nature boy."
"The way you put it," Caél shook his head and rubbed a temple, it hurt just thinking about it. He could list a million reasons wrong with his line of thinking. He wanted to go off on a tirade about what a complete idiot he was. But he really needed that corpse to be in that pit, so he buried all that and simply sighed. If things went well, the ends would make up for it.
"Look," Caél said, exasperated, throwing his hands up in defeat. Lose the battle, win the war, he kept telling himself. "The only reason I'm here is because I know where the pit is. I don't want to fight with you for role of mortician, I don't want it. If you want to be head honcho and do it your way, then go 1700 meters southwest, probably west 45 degrees south, so exactly southwest," he pointed in the correct direction just for further clarification but if he didn't get it then Caél would make it a priority to throttle him in retribution for messing up his plans. He hated relying on anyone other than himself for these things, but with this he had no choice. "It's around the storage shed, if you get near trees with pieces of tarp on them you're close."
...
Andre just wanted to hurry up and get this done. The sun was just making the body ripe. "Look, I understand you wanting to give her a proper burial," he said to Matt. "Trust me, I do. But let's be sensible about this. She's already been floating around for God knows how long- she's long past caring. Let's just get her in the ground right now." He stopped Matt before he could protest. "I'll say a few words. I been goin' to church my whole damn life, I think I can think of a few words that'll do her good. You wanna respect your friend, then let's get her taken care of quickly. Her body's been through enough. Caél's right, enough people seen her like this. I didn't know her, but I guarantee if it was me? I'd rather you bury me quick as possible, then go tell everyone. I wouldn't want people remembering me lookin' like that, and I doubt she would either."
He had turned to walk away
He had turned to walk away from this whole stinking (literally) mess when Andre spoke up. Perhaps he could actually win both. Caél held in the smile that was threatening to spread across his lips as the other man took his side. Logic truly did conquer all. Turned around to face Matt, he crossed his arms in a "well, so what is it" gesture.