Once they reached the mortuary, Charlie led them around towards the back entrance. And in the back was an old door which Charlie casually knocked on.
"Hey," Charlie turned to Vivi as they waited. "You're going to see some pretty fucked up shit in here. So, if it gets too much for you, let me know immediately. Alright?"
Vivi nodded in his direction before turning towards the door, closing her eyes, and taking a deep breath. In the second it took her to open her eyes again, the door opened, and the pair were met with an older man in a lab coat. He said nothing as he looked at Charlie, then Vivi, and then back at Charlie.
"This the new one?" The man asked dryly beneath his hospital mask.
"Yeah, her name's Vivi." Charlie answered, crossing his arms.
"Hi," Vivi chimed in politely, and anxiously. "Nice to meet you."
"Hmm." The man regarded her again, staring with his bright amber eyes.
Vivi furrowed her brow and narrowed her eyes uncomfortably. She even noticeably started to shrink back a little. But before Charlie could say anything, the man step back and waved them inside.
"Come in." The man said.
"Thanks Cassius," Charlie walked in immediately to glare at him. "You really know how treat a guest."
"For whom the bell tolls." Cassius replied ominously. Charlie opened his mouth as if he was ready to retort, but then shut it again. He then just sighed and said,
"Just show us the damn bodies."
"As you wish, captain." Cassius said before turning towards Vivi, who just noticed she had been standing there staring at them.
She furrowed brows at the man again before looking to Charlie who cocked his head for her to follow. With that Vivi managed to ease her way into the doorway, making sure to move to the other side of Charlie and away from the strange mortician. Cassius closed the door behind her and then wasted no time leading from the office area down the steps towards the actual morgue. As they followed, Charlie gave Vivi an apologetic look as if to say, "Sorry about that." To which Vivi shook her head as if to say herself, "Don't worry about it." Charlie nodded, rather somberly Vivi noticed, before looking ahead and moving in front of her as they made their way down the steps. The temperature drop was immediately felt as Vivi found herself rubbing her arms for warmth.
"Shit, sorry," Charlie lightly smacked his forehead. "Forgot to grab you a jacket while we were on the way here."
"It's okay, I'll get used to it." Vivi said with a weak smile.
"Not for too long I hope." Cassius interrupted.
"You really doing this now?" Charlie retorted, obviously losing his patience. Cassius glanced at him and said nothing, just turned his head around and kept walking.
Vivi was seriously starting to wonder about the guy. At first, she thought he was some weirdo but actually listening to him and Charlie talk, it was as if he was saying something direct that only Charlie would catch. And he was not having it. She had no idea what had happened between the two, but it started making her nervous all over again. Not just about what she was getting herself into, but about what kind of person Charlie, and the Breeders all together, were. So, she allowed numbness to set in, to calm her nerves and take away the cold as well. Vivi still felt a weight on her chest but for now it would have to do because she refused to be a liability (Loose end) to them now. Besides, they had just made it to the area where the bodies are stored.
Vivi braced herself again as Cassius put on gloves and then pulled out one of the large, rectangular, trays, labeled 'Ronny', out of its container. And as he pulled back the sheet that covered the cadaver, Vivi instinctively closed her eyes. Next thing she knows, she could feel Charlie's warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and opened her eyes to his soft face.
"Remember what I said. We'll be here for a while so if you want you can wait upstairs if you need to. You don't have to see this stuff yet if you don't want to."
Vivi closed her eyes again as she nodded her head back forward. She took a deep breath and when she opened her eyes again, she instantly covered her mouth and gasped. Laying before her was a red headed woman who appeared no more than twenty. Her eyes were completely carved out, leaving two crimson craters on her face. And as Vivi's gaze traced down the woman's body, she could see the red rings around her wrists and ankles, indicating where the woman was bound. Vivi could not even begin to imagine having been bound to a chair, let alone anything, as some psychopath carved her eyes out with who knows what.
"A screwdriver." Cassius said.
"What?" Vivi whispered in confusion, looking up at him.
"It's hard to tell with much of the skin being torn off and both the eyes and the eyelids missing but looking at the damage in the eye socket I was able to narrow it down to a screwdriver." Cassius explained.
"Question is why," Charlie said, resting his elbow in his palm and holding his lip with his propped hand. "Was it all he had on him? Was it an intentional device for the victim? or did he have a thing for tools?"
"You'll see with another two that it was the same weapon, so it seems that the killer has an affinity for tools." Cassius replied.
"But still, could it be that it was all he had on him too?" Charlie asked thoughtfully.
"I thought the same until I saw the fourth victim." Cassius replied, covering the corpse again and pushing the tray back into its container. He then pulled out another tray, this one labeled Silvia," and uncovered a mature brunette. Her injuries looked about the same as Ronny's save for some differences in the eyes that Vivi could not pinpoint.
"Shit… what did he use this time," Charlie shook his head. "The back of a hammer?"
"No," Cassius shook his head as well, looking up at Charlie. "A wrench."
"Fuck." Charlie sighed.
"You can tell by the jagged streaks in the torn skin and the indentions left inside the eye socket on both the flesh and the bone. Seems like our man was trying something new but ended up botching it. Badly."
"And we're sure it's a man?"
"DNA tests from the lab indicated as much. I've left you a copy of that and copies of the police reports Beatrice and Caitlyn secured from Sarah upstairs. You can comb over them when you're done here, though…" Cassius looked over to Vivi. "I'd advised you ask your little 'protégé' to do it because the next corpse is a bit… rough."
"Wait, you mean this one was not the outlier? The police made it sound like only one of them was different." Charlie questioned.
"Compared to this," Cassius warned, looking back at Charlie. "It's far different, which is why I advise you to send her away."
"Well, it's not my call to make." Charlie said, turning to Vivi. Cassius turned to her again as well which only doubled Vivi's anxiety.
Whatever the strange man was worried about Vivi seeing scared the living hell out of her. That was until, the numbness returned her. She looked towards Charlie's now hard, and confident, face and the answer became clear to her.
"Show me." Vivi said coolly.
"As you wish." Cassius sighed grimly.
And as Cassius pulled out the tray labeled 'Lucille', Vivi already began to regret her decision. Fear alone at the odd shapes that sprawled underneath the white sheet, rooted Vivi exactly where she was with her eyes peeled wide open. Though, that would not lost long. Because when Cassius pulled back the cover to reveal the corpse underneath, Vivi passed out.