SATe [✔]

[9] druxy

"What did you mean by the rest?" I asked when the team had settled into their tasks; causing each of them to turn to look at me, the same expression on each of their faces, 'Oh, right, he's here too.'

"There were four missing staff members; three nurses and a janitor. At least that was all we had been given intel on; my tracking ability could only go so far, and this case didn't seem to be within that threshold. Besides the four named staff members, there are no signs of Banks here either. That leaves at least two bodies unaccounted for if the skin graft on the alien's legs accounts for the other nurse or janitor." Smith had explained, replacing the camera in her bag and stepping back from the alien's body to let Darwin take the reins.

"I want them moved into my lab." He had announced after inspecting the body. I hadn't heard it as a command; but the rest of the team did, packing up any equipment they'd brought in with them. The masked men gathered around the bodies, looking amongst each other to coordinate movement.

And all I could think as I watched them do so, was how badly I wanted to go home. I'd never seen such an organised choreography of movement; each person taking a job and performing it perfectly. Whether that be moving the bodies, cleaning up tools or finishing analysing the scene.

I felt a little sad when I realised it just meant they'd had plenty of practice in scenes just like this. They'd spent lots of time around bodies; both human and alien.

At least that's what I was left to presume.

━━━━━━━━┛ ✠ ┗━━━━━━━━

I felt like a loose cog as I sat on a metal stool, cramped in the corner of the morgue and doing my best not to succumb to the cold.

I had barely expected a word from the team; more in particular Franklin, when they had arrived on the scene at the hospital. I was more than prepared to hand Cavendish over and prepare to go home to Hannah and Timothy, allow the dejection I had felt the past few months to return and soon forget this particular incident had happened at all. However, that was not the case.

The bodies that had been found and, thanks to me, created, in the hospital, were discreetly moved from the basement and into a truck. I had imagined this process would look more... dramatic; and if not that, at least had a stereotypical white van and a team of men in tailored black suits. The reality had been a blood-red truck with a very slap-and-dash housing company advert on either side of it; the only notably off part of the advert being the absence of a phone number for hiring.

Even more disappointingly, the two men at the forefront of this truck looked perfectly harmless, and to an extent, oblivious to the nature of their truck's contents. I must believe that this is not the case, that they were just playing the part very well; a headphone in a single ear each, bopping their heads along to the music and the driver tapping his fingers against the wheel.

And while I had been distracted by the images in front of me, I had been quickly taken by the arm and ushered into the backseat of a car, driven by a figure who refused to turn and look at us. I wasn't sure if Darwin's lingering hand on my wrist was to avoid an escape or simply due to distracted thoughts that blanked out his actions - his eyes had glazed over and his teeth were currently digging into the flesh of his cheek. There was a part of me that wanted to ask why I was being forced to come along on this journey, but the stronger half of me realised that Darwin wasn't likely to answer while in this state.

He had pulled me into the morgue as we entered the base; with the rest of the team disappearing into different unknown rooms. Franklin was holding onto Cavendish tightly as she grumbled up a staircase, clenching onto her arm. Instinctively I wanted to make sure that she would recover from the injury, she seemed the type to continue working whilst in pain, and with this new revelation from the hospital, I could imagine it would become busier for the team. This instinct was crushed by Darwin, who had seen the desire in my eyes and only pulled harder.