Bloody Snow

4 - What Happened Here?

It seemed to take an eternity for White and Yellow to find them, although Black knew it had probably only been a few minutes. He heard the door creaking behind him and whirled around, completely on edge.

Yellow and White stood in the doorway, taking in the scene with wide eyes and open mouths. Yellow gasped.

"What... happened here?" she asked in a hushed voice. Black noticed her sliding one hand into White's.

White shook her head slowly. "Whatever it was, it can't be good." Swallowing audibly, she moved forward to where Black and Purple stood. Yellow followed hesitantly.

Kneeling down beside the corpse, White removed the figure's glove and felt the skin of its grey hand and wrist. Black shuddered.

The second-in-command turned to them, frowning. "This body has been dead for quite a while. She was probably killed days ago."

"How can you be sure?" Purple asked, speaking for the first time since entering the room. White shrugged.

"Simple logic. For one thing, this body is stone cold. The blood is perfectly dry. And think about it - rigor mortis starts to set in only about an hour or two after the body has died. It takes less than a day for it to become fully established, before dissipating again. This corpse isn't rigid or even especially stiff like it would be if it were still in rigor mortis. It's pretty limp - and the greenish-grey pallor of the skin makes it clear that blood circulation stopped quite a while ago. Besides," she sniffed, making a face. "It's pretty smelly at this point."

"So..." Purple said slowly. "Whatever - or whoever - did this..."

"Happened quite a while ago," White affirmed.

Black felt the blood draining from his face. "What if... she's not the only one?"

White glanced up at him, beginning to look alarmed. "What are you saying, Black?"

He felt dizzy as he steadied himself against a blood-splattered wall, trembling. "What if there are other... bodies like this? What if that's the reason we haven't been able to get a hold of anyone?"

"If there were murders like this going on on Polus..." Purple began, "that would definitely explain why the distress signal cut off so suddenly."

White stood, brushing off her hands on her pants. "We need to find the others."