Chapter 23
Liz left Marcus for the encampment. Marcus was surprised by her quick return. She silently jumped to Marcus’s back and Marcus asked, “How did they take it?”
“They were silently staring at me, and Colson yelled out, ‘who wants to be the new leader? Don’t everyone jump up at once.’ No one seemed to care that you executed her.”
“Little one, that may be something you will have to learn about me. Who knows, you may learn of it by the end of today.”
Marcus took flight for the gods’ playground, San Francisco. Marcus landed in the center of the Home Depot where his father was shot a few days earlier. Small parts of it were still burning; fine trails of smoke stood a testament for that. Marcus said, “Jump off my back. This lesson requires my instruction, but I cannot help you with your actions.”
“Why? What am I going to be doing this time?”
“You are going to search this rubble for any unburned bodies and I am going to teach you anatomy. It will prove useful for another situation like yesterday.”
Liz walked around black field for several hours before she found an intact corpse. There were at least twenty in the building, but only one was un-charred. The man was lucky enough to be killed by a falling support instead of the hellish inferno. And then a shelf fell on top of him and preserved the body, Marcus guessed.
When she brought the body before Marcus, he said, “Strip him of his clothing.”
“All of it?”
“Yes. Remember that I have no thoughts about what you are thinking right now. To me, he is simply an unclothed corpse. Besides, he is dead, so what would he care?”
Liz did as he instructed and removed all of his clothing. Marcus said, “We will start with the major blood vessels first and work our way to the vital organs and bone structure.”
Liz knew about the veins and arteries by the heart, lungs, and neck. She had no idea about the thick vessels in the legs that, if severed, render the limb useless. Marcus taught her of the different pathways, different methods of severing and fixing said pathways, and the most efficient way to kill and fix a human. When she was past the heart, he had her move to the other organs. Liz would have vomited at the smell of three-day-old human meat, but she had no food in her stomach. The dead man’s stomach had all sorts of strange colors and aromas. Liz’s will to continue was dwindling, and Marcus told her to take a break.
She sat on his claw and he asked her, “You are not yourself today. What troubles you, little one?”
“I’m worried about what you did. What if the humans stop trusting us as they once did? Did you think of such things before you did it?”
“Little one, I always think of what could happen, and I am worried as you are. But time does not permit the trial they would have given her. The world is a better place now that she is gone. I will never provoke you to kill someone, but I will not stop you if the cause and the effects are worth the effort. Now, are you ready to continue?”
Liz did not answer. She walked back to the corpse and Marcus continued to teach her of the different organ structures. Liz handled all of the organs herself of course, as Marcus could not touch the person without destroying the rest of it. For the first time in her life, she handled human lungs, liver, kidneys, bladders, intestines, and various other organs. Each one, she made a mental note of the location, position, importance, and connection to other organs. When the entire chest and stomach area was fully examined and an empty carcass was laid before them Marcus said, “And now for the best part. The brain.”
A second before they started, and Liz would need to rip a section of the skull off, a figure appeared in the smoke. Isaac came out of the figure and a larger one appeared behind him. Isaac approached with Demetrius at his back. Isaac said, “We were wondering where you ran off to.”
Dem walked over to the corpse, smelled the wide cavity in the heart, and said, “Liz, I always saw you as a vegetarian. What the hell happened?”
Liz jokingly said, “Firstly, I will always be a meatatarian. Secondly, this asshole said he wanted to have sex with a goddess. I granted his wish.”
Isaac’s expression changed from the usual neutrality to an awkward stare. His stare was returned by Dem. Isaac said, “Well, now that our heads are filled with those images, I do believe that you, Marcus, need a break.”
Marcus responded, “Come now, we were just getting to the best part.”
“You can save your fun for later. Liz, get your blade and I will give you a lesson Marcus could never give.”
“I don’t think there’s much that Marcus couldn’t teach me.”
Marcus said, “Do not be too sure of that. Demmy, lets take a walk.”
Marcus started to drool and Liz’s blade fell out. He and Dem walked off to the south. After several minutes of simply standing and staring at each other, Isaac drew his twin black cutlasses and threw his grey-violet overcoat to the side. He yelled “Unguard!”
He and Liz charged at each other. Liz swung her blade downward, but Isaac was already past it. He shouldered Liz and she flew into a distant building. She only had time to right herself before he was upon her yet again.
“They were silently staring at me, and Colson yelled out, ‘who wants to be the new leader? Don’t everyone jump up at once.’ No one seemed to care that you executed her.”
“Little one, that may be something you will have to learn about me. Who knows, you may learn of it by the end of today.”
Marcus took flight for the gods’ playground, San Francisco. Marcus landed in the center of the Home Depot where his father was shot a few days earlier. Small parts of it were still burning; fine trails of smoke stood a testament for that. Marcus said, “Jump off my back. This lesson requires my instruction, but I cannot help you with your actions.”
“Why? What am I going to be doing this time?”
“You are going to search this rubble for any unburned bodies and I am going to teach you anatomy. It will prove useful for another situation like yesterday.”
Liz walked around black field for several hours before she found an intact corpse. There were at least twenty in the building, but only one was un-charred. The man was lucky enough to be killed by a falling support instead of the hellish inferno. And then a shelf fell on top of him and preserved the body, Marcus guessed.
When she brought the body before Marcus, he said, “Strip him of his clothing.”
“All of it?”
“Yes. Remember that I have no thoughts about what you are thinking right now. To me, he is simply an unclothed corpse. Besides, he is dead, so what would he care?”
Liz did as he instructed and removed all of his clothing. Marcus said, “We will start with the major blood vessels first and work our way to the vital organs and bone structure.”
Liz knew about the veins and arteries by the heart, lungs, and neck. She had no idea about the thick vessels in the legs that, if severed, render the limb useless. Marcus taught her of the different pathways, different methods of severing and fixing said pathways, and the most efficient way to kill and fix a human. When she was past the heart, he had her move to the other organs. Liz would have vomited at the smell of three-day-old human meat, but she had no food in her stomach. The dead man’s stomach had all sorts of strange colors and aromas. Liz’s will to continue was dwindling, and Marcus told her to take a break.
She sat on his claw and he asked her, “You are not yourself today. What troubles you, little one?”
“I’m worried about what you did. What if the humans stop trusting us as they once did? Did you think of such things before you did it?”
“Little one, I always think of what could happen, and I am worried as you are. But time does not permit the trial they would have given her. The world is a better place now that she is gone. I will never provoke you to kill someone, but I will not stop you if the cause and the effects are worth the effort. Now, are you ready to continue?”
Liz did not answer. She walked back to the corpse and Marcus continued to teach her of the different organ structures. Liz handled all of the organs herself of course, as Marcus could not touch the person without destroying the rest of it. For the first time in her life, she handled human lungs, liver, kidneys, bladders, intestines, and various other organs. Each one, she made a mental note of the location, position, importance, and connection to other organs. When the entire chest and stomach area was fully examined and an empty carcass was laid before them Marcus said, “And now for the best part. The brain.”
A second before they started, and Liz would need to rip a section of the skull off, a figure appeared in the smoke. Isaac came out of the figure and a larger one appeared behind him. Isaac approached with Demetrius at his back. Isaac said, “We were wondering where you ran off to.”
Dem walked over to the corpse, smelled the wide cavity in the heart, and said, “Liz, I always saw you as a vegetarian. What the hell happened?”
Liz jokingly said, “Firstly, I will always be a meatatarian. Secondly, this asshole said he wanted to have sex with a goddess. I granted his wish.”
Isaac’s expression changed from the usual neutrality to an awkward stare. His stare was returned by Dem. Isaac said, “Well, now that our heads are filled with those images, I do believe that you, Marcus, need a break.”
Marcus responded, “Come now, we were just getting to the best part.”
“You can save your fun for later. Liz, get your blade and I will give you a lesson Marcus could never give.”
“I don’t think there’s much that Marcus couldn’t teach me.”
Marcus said, “Do not be too sure of that. Demmy, lets take a walk.”
Marcus started to drool and Liz’s blade fell out. He and Dem walked off to the south. After several minutes of simply standing and staring at each other, Isaac drew his twin black cutlasses and threw his grey-violet overcoat to the side. He yelled “Unguard!”
He and Liz charged at each other. Liz swung her blade downward, but Isaac was already past it. He shouldered Liz and she flew into a distant building. She only had time to right herself before he was upon her yet again.