8. Valentine: Blood harvest

After another scream passed we moved out into the wildlands near the scar where the land had been torn apart but far away enough where the grass still grew freely. Benedict secured a perimeter in the light forest while Collette and I flattened the long grass. Once satisfied with our work I dragged a husk with broken arms and legs onto the flattened grass while Collette set out her field surgery kit unpacking it from the pack she wore at the front of her waist. In turn I produced two meat hooks from my hunting equipment and left the gear with Collette so she could get to work as she prepared her bone saw.

“[Beautiful day don’t you think?]” She broke the silence as did the sharpening of her saw speaking to the husk which looked up staring it’s cold dead glassy eyes into hers while trying to raise one of it’s broken arms rasping in Ukrainian.

“(Cooolll… coooooooooll… cooooooooooooo...)” Taking hold of the husks hand she looked intently towards it her eyes wild as if about to make a groundbreaking discovery.

“(What? What is it? Cold? Are you cold? Go on you can do it, say something!)” The husk rasped a few more times before replying.

“(Coooooollllllecctiveee…)” Disapointed she dropped the husk’s hand as Benedict looked back towards her.

“[As if it wasn’t obvious it was going to moan about that cult. Just get to work before someone see’s. No one ever takes this well.]” Shooting a quick glance back at Benedict she readied organ containers.

“[You never know. Imagine if we could communicate with them. That would change everything we know about these things.]” I was the next to respond.

“[If you found out we could speak to them I doubt you’d handle what you're about to do.]”

Shaking her head she began to grind through the husk’s rib cage with the saw. The husk simply laid there rasping as if to be simply lounging in the sun enjoying a lazy day. Cutting through the first section Collette took a moment to reply.

“[We should never be afraid of discovery. Regardless of what it might bring.]”

“[Pfft. If only that were the truth…]”

Continuing on Benedict kept scanning out of the forest looking for anyone or anything stumbling onto our operation. Finally done with the saw Collette called for my assistance as she placed the meat hooks into the rib cage ready to pull it apart to access the husks chest cavity. Looking down with hesitation I took hold of the handle muttering to myself.

“[God I’m always gonna hate this part…]”

With a grunt we tore the husk open who still laid rasping idly basking in the sun. With an exclamation of disgust and pulling out a notebook I wrote down everything dictated while Collette slowly dissected the husk muttering to herself.

“[Absolutely fascinating… the organs are good but the new organs… they’re exactly like the rest. Every creature here has these same mutations. Other than that it’s your ordinary husk. No offense but you're nothing special, sorry little guy. Just a poor pioneer who got fried. Nothing to note in the bestiary this time. Though for personal notes mention the similar organs. Those are important to solving these things I know it. God I love perfect samples. As for the lungs-]”

“[Shit we have company. People company.]” Benedict interrupting her procedure with the alert she turned to look as Benedict continued. “[Get that blanket over it’s chest quick.]”

“[If I stop now we compromise the operation.]” Ignoring her for the moment Benedict waved down the pioneer who stumbled dangerously close to our operation site.

“(Hey! Wait over there for a second [for fucks sake the blanket!] Stop where you are!)” The man continued approaching in a complete daze exhausted muttering something hopeful as I closed the notebook and readied my weapon prepared for the worst.

“(Ostep… you found him didn’t you? You're helping him right now aren’t you. Back there.)” Cursing Collette threw over the operating blanket just in time as Benedict shouldered the pioneer back slightly.

“(Trust me you don’t want to see this pioneer. We’ll tell you what happened to him back at the camp.)”

“(What are you talking about? Ostap, he’s right there…)” Taking a good look at his friend he saw his cold dead eyes as well as the now bloodied operating blanket on the ground as the husk swiped it away exposing it’s torn out rib cage.

“(OH MY GOD!)” The pioneer immediately went into shock bringing his rifle up as did I while Benedict shouted him down.

“[Fuck…] (calm down he’s a husk he’s already dead!)”

“(WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?! YOU FUCKING ANIMALS!)” Hands shaking with the rifle jittering backpedaling rapidly he tripped over a root firing past Benedict's head. The bullet passing with a deafening crack.

“[Jesus!]”

Without wasting a moment I ran forward and kicked the rifle out of his hands and restrained him before he could pull out his pistol as he continued to scream.

“(HELP! THEY’RE CUTTING US OPEN! SOMEONE-)” Muffling his screams I tried to drive some sense into his head.

“(We’re not cutting people open you fucking idiot. It’s a husk. He’s. Already. Dead. If we wanted you you’d already be out cold.)” Wrestling free and crawling backwards without his weapons we let him sit in the shade as Collette properly covered the operation once more while the pioneer analyzed the situation.

“(Then why are you cutting up Ostap?...)” Collette was the next to try calm the man.

“(He was already dead. Look come over here and I’ll show you his eye’s. Benedict, Valentine, give him some room.)” Slowly the pioneer approached as Collette cradled the Husk’s head with one hand and reached for a torch with the other. Shining the light right through it’s glassy dead eyes it didn’t respond to the stimulus at all and continued to rasp unintelligibly.

“(See? There's nothing left in there. You saw the operation as well. If he were alive and conscious any man would be screaming. He’s gone and only his body is left. I’m sorry you had to see this but he’s going to continue saving lives if you let us work ok? I’m sorry.)” Stricken with grief logic finally worked it’s way through his shock. He stood shaking assisted by Benedict as I collected his rifle and handed it back to him.

“(But… oh god Ostap…)” Breaking into tears again I gently shook him to get his attention.

“(You need rest man. Head back to the camp. We’ll buy you a drink and a meal for having to see this. Take care of yourself pioneer.)” Sobbing the pioneer stumbled back in the direction of the pioneer camp shaking my head as he left.

“[Poor bastard… these fucking rookies don’t last long do they. Least the veterans understand and just tell us off for disrespecting a body.]”

“[No where near as much disrespect as the zone has shown them.]”

Pulling the blanket off the husk once more she hastily continued before the organs became contaminated. With the required organs harvested she went to packing away her disinfected tools before standing up distraught. I made a sarcastic remark as Benedict scouted ahead to try at least annoy or invoke some reaction to get her mind off the situation.

“[Thought you loved perfect samples.]” With a weak uneven laugh turning her head away with closed eyes and turning back to the now dying husk she formed a half frown half smile.

“[Not like that… he just… fuck.]” The silence continued for a moment as she rubbed her eyes shaking the shock away before looking back up with a concerning smile.

“[We saved lives today. Made something of someone who died pointlessly before we found him. We did good.]”

Her fractured smiled begged for some form of confirmation. Over the years her psyche was breaking with all the autopsies and discoveries we were making. Even the least distressing creatures had some influence on her upon opening them up. She couldn’t stop though. The knowledge we gained saved so many lives in providing information on how to combat the threats of the zone as well as how to harvest its horrors supported by even this gruesome display.

“[Yeah. We did good.]” With a relieved sigh she walked by.

“[Well c'mon! Benedict is waiting up ahead and we still need to get the day's hunting done. Don’t want to go hungry do you?]”

Regardless of the good we were doing at this rate something was going to break alongside the madness and bedlam she was diving into. The question was if it would it be her inquisitive spirit leaving her nothing left but to die or her restraint where she would see herself put the knife to anything she deemed fascinating including her fellow man. For her sake as well as our own our priorities should best shift over to focussing on escape soon. Hopefully Noah would bring to light the plan he had to leave and soon.