Charlie's Web

Rick

*Graphic descriptions of gore in this chapter kind of lol*

Getting rid of a body was incredibly difficult. It was Rick's first time, but he had a feeling it wouldn't be his last. The plastic sheets had mostly spared the walls of blood, but there was still the task of transporting the body. There were tools he'd already bought; a handsaw, a cleaver, a boning knife, and a large rubber apron. All were brought down to the cellar. Within a few days, the room had begun to stink, it was a smell of rot and decay, with notes of something cloyingly sweet. The air was thick, and he made sure to wear a mask. He knew that the longer the corpse was left to deteriorate, the worse it would get. Something needed to be done immediately.

The limbs of the corpse were stiff, a purge of brownish-red foamy liquid had recently started to gush from the nose and mouth. The stench of fresh shit was a close second to the smell of Putrefaction. The decomposition of the human body fascinated Rick. Just a few days ago Jesse had been alive, able to breathe and talk and eat. Now, he was nothing more than an object, a naked, bloated carcass that had shat itself. His eyes had turned from a vivid emerald to a dull, milky green. The skin had a slick appearance, with pieces of the hands and feet peeling away in layers. Rick had been surprised by how quickly insects had started to burrow into and consume the decaying flesh.

He first prepared the body with a bleach bath, making sure to scrub at the wounds and get rid of any excretions that remained. By the time he'd finished, the scrub brush and bleach bucket had been covered in feces and small wriggling maggots, along with dead pieces of skin that had loosened during the cleaning. The sight caused bile to rise in his throat, he quickly swallowed it down though, knowing the sooner he finished up, the sooner he could go back to preparing for his love. Rick spent the next few painstaking hours removing all of the teeth. For some reason, he hadn't been prepared for the sheer skill and patience the job required. Some teeth ended up completely crushed to bits, the tops came off easily, leaving behind small pieces embedded deep within the gum still attached at the root.

The boning knife had been put to good use as he used it to cut through the gums, unfortunately, the only way he could access the root of each tooth. At the end of the ordeal, he was left with a horrific zombie-like creature. The lips had been split and torn through as he'd forced the jaw open, the mandible was at the very least fractured, but it had fallen slack, leaving the thick dry tongue of the corpse to lay to the side of its face. He had never been a fan of going to the dentist's office, but he had gained a newfound respect for the profession. Some parts were easier to remove than others, the dismemberment process wasn't nearly as messy as he'd expected. He seemed to take the most anger out on the corpse's head, though, leaving the neck wound appearing similar to minced meat. Still, things had been kept in a very orderly fashion. Three trash bags, and a small plastic container. That was all it took to store the now severed limbs and the thirty-two teeth that he'd successfully managed to extract. He felt immense pride at the sight before him, if only Charlie could see all that he'd done for her, then she would know how much she truly meant to him.

A large hole had been prepared about a mile deep into the woods. Lugging all three bags to the burial site was a challenging endeavor, but every time he felt himself grow weary he would picture Charlie, and somehow, the image of her lovely face seemed to lighten the heavy burden.

Darkness had wholly engulfed the golden rays of afternoon sunlight, leaving Rick cloaked in inky blackness as he finished the burial. The temperature had dropped significantly, and even as sweat built up against his hairline, the frigid air sent a hypothermic chill down his spine. As soon as he was done packing the dirt down, he made sure to cover the area with a blanket of dead leaves and sticks. The spot looked almost identical to the way he'd first found it, and as soon as he was satisfied he began his trip through the dimly-lit woods.