| Subject: Rampage North- Ch. 4 |
Author:
Conder, AA
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Date Posted: 18:37:39 06/22/07 Fri
"How did this happen so quickly?"
"His liver was completely impaled. The bleeding was simply out of control. I'm surprised he even had enough stamina to run all that distance and be able to intelligently talk to you afterwards."
Statigo's corpse lay on the triage bed, being stared at by both Puroc and Chief Medic Klaxon. The skillfully but hastily erected canvas tent around them let through a somber yellow light, illuminating Statigo's bare, muscular torso and the disconcerting crimson gash in the middle.
"Commander, we're going to have to start embalming soon. You might want to leave."
Puroc was obviously mentally elsewhere. Klaxon's strong, slow voice jolted him out of his reverie. "What was that, Klaxon?"
The Chief Medic hesitated. "I... Said, sir, we need to start embalming the body soon. For the burial."
"Oh! The burial... OK, I'll go. I was just thinking about how young Statigo is, pity he died before he could see anything much of the world. And he was doing so well."
Puroc quickly walked out of the tent, caught by surprise by the intense rays of sun beating down on the earth outside. He raised a paw to shield from some of the glare as an officer approached.
"Commander? Do you have a moment?" It was Captain Torque, the stoat in charge of the scouting parties. Commander Puroc glanced at the officer, realized who it was and responded.
"Captain Torque. How are the scouting parties going?"
The Captain shook his head. "Terrible, sir. We've come across a whole cache of forage patches, hunting parties have scored at least two dozen large kills, we have infinite fresh water from the Mossflower River, and one of my beasts is dead."
"I just had a conversation about that with Klaxon. If you want to see the body, you'd better get in there fast. They're about to start embalming and there isn't a beast in my army who doesn't know that the sight of a corpse in the middle of getting embalmed is worse than anything our best weapons can deliver."
Torque frowned. "I'll.. Get in there. I need to see the body. He's one of my hundred... Well, now it's 99..."
The Captain knocked three times on the front-center tent pole and then walked in. It was possible to practice manners even in times of stress and portable structures.
"Hello? Oh, Captain, it's you. We're just about to start embalming, actually, so if you wanted to see the body, we haven't shrouded it yet." Klaxon gestured past the discarded, blood-flecked brigandine armor and red-stained white cotton short-sleeve shirt on the ground to the corpse of Private Statigo on the triage bed.
"You haven't even been able to take my soldier off the triage bed?"
"It's a triage bed, we don't really have a separate one for mortuary purposes until the actual funeral. I'd like to, but we do have to stay mobile. The lighter, the better."
Captain Torque gazed at the body of his former soldier, clad in only short white cotton slacks, his boots having been removed when he was put on the bed and all armor being removed for examination. The gaping red wound was just as disturbing as it was when Puroc witnessed it, and it still left an unnerving aura over the rat's well-developed abdominal muscles, easily visible through his rather thin coat of fur.
"You know, Klaxon, if it weren't for that spear wound, at first glance I'd guess he was just asleep. He would really look a lot more... Peaceful if it weren't for that big red gash there... I'd like to meet whoever did that to him..." The Captain involuntarily curled his paws into fists.
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