That Which Feeds Us

As the mor­tu­ary’s new­est ini­ti­ate, Lehua had been tasked with dis­in­fect­ing the man’s body with a soapy sponge, work­ing each stiff limb out of rigor mor­tis, ready­ing him for Av­ery’s scalpel and drain tube. Lehua re­mem­bered those am­ber eyes now as she looked down at the body bag on the gur­ney. Lehua placed a sin­gle foot on the stair­case and felt a low creak clamor through her, echoed by the fear hum­ming be­neath her skin. Bones charred when they were cooked in the body’s fat, which meant who­ever was in that field had been killed an­other way.