He spun around and about, his eyes wide, taking in the dense forest. Tree after tree after tree; there were trees for miles, those of tall and thick trunks with dark green canopies, but no one in sight. A light drizzle trickled through the canopy of leaves, landing on his cheeks and splotching onto his shoulders.
"Who's there?" he called out as alarm began to rise.
Then, another scream.
This time it was closer, louder, less frightened than before.
"Who's there?" he called out again, spinning furiously around again.
Loud footsteps crunched over dead grass and tripped over twigs. Soon, a girl in a blue dress came into view, her eyes distraught in her pale face. His arms opened automatically as she clawed her way to him.
"A body," she gasped, her feet swaying as she slowed. "A dead body."
"What?"
He caught her in his arms before her knees buckled. Slowly, he lowered them onto the damp forest floor, his brow crinkled into a severe frown. Her frame shivered, her eyes were unfocused, her fingers clutched wildly at him.
"You need to take a deep breath, Miss," he ordered her, pulling her hands from his coat before she could tear the fabric apart. "Take a deep breath, then tell me what happened."
"Dead," she murmured, her lips shaking as she stared down at her hands. Her fingers were stained red. "A dead body."
He went cold.
"You saw a dead body?" he asked carefully, his brows shooting up at the incredulousness of her words.
"Yes!" She grasped onto his shoulders with a measure of ferocity. Her eyes were wide and blue. "We have to get someone. We have to – the body. Police."
"Can you show me where the body is?"
"Oh, please," she begged as tears squeezed out from her eyes and slid down her cheeks. "I couldn't – "
"Show me the direction, at least."
"There," she whispered, pointing wildly behind her. "I saw it there. By a tree. I thought – I thought he was sleeping. And in this rain, I thought he would catch a chill. So I wanted to wake him up."
She swallowed heavily, her gentle throat bobbing.
"But – but blood." Her voice trembled. "There was blood."
It couldn't be. That wasn't in the plan. He had to make sure. Damn those fools, he thought. Those underlings could no longer be trusted to take care of simple clean ups.
