RE:volt! Chapter 17: Disposing of The Evidence
Reaching down, Ark tied his bloody tunic around the head of the dead apothecary, double, triple checking it before he grabbed the keys used for the cells that he left on his bed. Ark poked his head out into the darkened hallway, looking left and right making sure the hallway was clear of any apothecaries.
"You know…" Irelix said, watching as Ark carefully lifted Marible's body, folding her in his arms so her head was elevated and would leak less blood through the fabric. "You've got to appreciate the irony of how you nearly just died."
"Shut up." Ark whispered, readjusting his grip on the corpse and moving silently through the empty halls of the decrepit building void of any living person until he came to his destination.
The crematorium.
Immediately the sweet yet sour stench of death hit his nose as he neared the small black brick room nestled at the far end of the hospital. A room where a pile of corpses lay in pools of browning blood awaiting to be incinerated.
He adjusted Marible in his hands before unlocking the iron gate, walking past a stack of collars waiting to be re-smelted.
"Poisoned by someone that should care for you, then nearly skewered once more. Betrayal seems to live in the heart of all monkeys."
Ark ignored the dragon and lifted Marible up, placing her on a tray that connected to a large furnace.
In Ark's former life, slaves were normally discarded like chattel, left to rot wherever they died or dragged off to be thrown into rivers or ditches when the smell got too bad. However as times changed, so too did the understanding of diseases and their relation to dead bodies, prompting slave owners such as the Constantine Estate to set up crematoriums where ashes were collected, diluted, and then redistributed across gardens for soil growth.
A system of recycling.
Fortunately this morbid machine would now be put to work for Ark, to cover his traces. But first he had to make sure Marible was prepared properly.
Double checking the hallway for any signs of zealous apothecaries working late, Ark turned and unwrapped Marible who still held the butcher's blade embedded in her neck. He turned her over, gripping the edge of the knife before he pulled, releasing squirts of red liquid from the wound.
Ark took a breath, inhaling the stench of death he was all too familiar with as he eyed the elderly apothecary and the collar she wore around her neck.
"I don't forgive you. But I understand you." Ark whispered. There was no telling how many others had been unfortunate to end up under Marible's care, how many corpses in the pile beside him that were victims of the woman's deluded sense of giving freedom. Everyone else within the hospital were dead, all except Ark who she had saved for last.
At best, she was being merciful, hoping to free those suffering from the torment of servitude. At worst, she was a deranged psycho who abused her position to commit murder. In either case, she was broken, a product of slavery.
Still, it didn't matter as he lifted the butcher's blade up and then down, striking at the woman's neck and splattering blood everywhere. He clenched his jaw, staring with blank eyes as he repeated the process. Once, twice… five times until his blade cut through her spinal cord and finally severed her gray haired head, allowing Ark to grab the bloody iron collar from the remains of her neck that he tossed into the nearby pile.
With his biggest obstacle out of the way to making the woman disappear, Ark did a thorough search of her body, making sure nothing that could be used to identify her was present.
Satisfied, Ark turned to eye the contraption. A mechanical contraption comprised of iron and steel. Peeking inside, Ark could see etchings, spell glyphs, parts of which he recognized for conjuring fire.
After pushing the tray loaded with Marible's body into the furnace, Ark closed the iron door, spinning the door locking wheel before he walked to the side and eyed the switch that sat between two letters that read On. Off. Simple enough.
Ark grabbed a nearby step stool, using it to reach the handle where he pulled down on the switch, activating the furnace. With a low whine and a small hum, the machine soon came to life, the temperature in the cramped space immediately rising as a plate lifted and revealed a glass screen, allowing Ark to see Marible's burning remains.
A chill descended in Ark's body as he stood there in the darkness with flames reflecting in his eyes. He looked down, his trembling hands covered with blood.
"You should clean yourself." Irelix coaxed, manifesting nearby to lean on the furnace with her arms crossed. "You don't want to be caught by a monkey while covered in blood."
"I suppose I should." Ark muttered, no strength to argue with the dragon.
Tiptoeing his way bay to his cell, Ark quickly cleaned himself using the pail of water Marible had left behind along with the rags that were already coated in his blood.
Ark sighed as he rubbed the blood off, his hands moving back and forth between the water and his skin. Each stroke removing blood, each dip into the water staining the cold liquid red.
Back and forth.
Back and forth.
Ark repeated the process until his hand seemed to pick up speed, moving at a pace that was no longer rubbing but scratching, scrapping at his skin until it began to peel and blood oozed from his wound.
"Damn it…" Ark said, the sting of his injury waking him from his stupor. He dropped the bloodied rag, his hands covering his eyes and face as his body shook and he took a long breath, clenching his jaw to prevent the scream of frustration demanding to be let out.
When Ark's hands fell away, he resumed washing before his eyes settled on a floating icon at the far corner of his vision.
And then there's this… Ark inwardly sighed.
He focused on the icon, an image of a magic staff that expanded, displaying a transparent list in front of Ark that would shrink away when he focused elsewhere.
[SPELLBOOK ONLINE]
[Would you like to run this program?]
[Y/N?]
That's all the blue words said, a mystery to both him and Irelix, neither understanding what it was they were looking at or what a program was.
"God damn it." Ark sighed. Unsure of what to do. He minimized the screen, this was a task that would have to wait, for now, he still needed to cover up his involvement and put an end to this segment of his life.