Children of the Cull Read Online Free PDF Page B

together at times like this.
    I crouched beside the corpse, still recording. “The subject has been found lying beside his bed, in a state of advanced rigor mortis. His eyes...” A glance at the boy’s face caused my detached facade to slip for a moment. I coughed, clearing my throat, all too aware of the quiver in my voice as I proceeded. “His eyes are open, staring up at the ceiling. There is... evidence of subconjunctival haemorrhage.”
    Behind me Allison reached the end of her tether. “ Evidence? His eyes are bright red, Jas. Look at them.”
    I rose, my cheeks burning. “Allison, please.”
    “Sorry, am I interrupting your report? Worried you might miss something. Okay, let me fill you in.” She grabbed my hand, pulling it towards her face. “Samuel’s—that the subject , by the way—is dead. Did you get that? An eleven-year-old boy in our care, dead at our feet.”
    “Perhaps I should go,” Ed muttered, turning towards the door.
    “Oh, no, you don’t,” Allison called after him. “Someone else needs to be here. That’s regulation, isn’t it, Jasmine? Three people present at a report. That’s the way we do things? Moore will be proud.”
    I shut the voice recorder off. “What is wrong with you?”
    “What is wrong with me? I’m not the one pretending to be Mister-Bloody-Spock.”
    “I’m being a doctor,” I snapped back, louder and with more force than I intended, but it did the trick. Allison clamped her mouth shut, crossing her arms in frustration. She glanced away from me, her eyes wet, biting her bottom lip.
    We stood in silence, Ed shuffling uncomfortably.
    “I know,” Allison finally admitted, wiping a solitary tear from her cheek. “I’m sorry. It’s just the shock. I... I was with him last night. He... laughed. Or at least, he tried to. To please me.” A sad smile broke across her face. “It was such a ridiculous noise, so false, but I could tell he was doing it for me, to make me feel better about... well, how I was feeling. It was the most empathy I’ve received from any of these kids. And now...”
    She looked down at Samuel and the tears welled again. “Go on,” she said. “Please.”
    I knew that I should reach out, to touch her arm, even pull her into a hug, but also knew she wouldn’t thank me. I restarted the recorder.
    “The subject’s features show signs of risus sardonicus, the lips drawn back into a rictus grimace.”
    “Tetanus,” Ed cut in.
    This time I didn’t bother to stop the recorder. “I’m sorry?”
    “I’ve seen it before, in cases of tetanus.” He looked embarrassed, realising that he was telling me things I already knew. He was only trying to help.
    “It would explain his back,” Allison pointed out, quietly. She coughed, raising her voice for the benefit of the recorder. “Samuel’s body has pulled into a bridge position, his spine arching.”
    “Opisthotonus,” I agreed. “Caused by severe, and usually erratic, muscular contractions.” I could see where they were going—both phenomena were classic symptoms of tetanus—but I had my doubts. Still, it was better to cover all bases. “Had Samuel cut or scratched himself recently?”
    Ed shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
    I turned to Allison. “And you said he seemed in good spirits last night?”
    “As far as he ever did; as any of them do.”
    “No signs of a fever? Stiffness of the jaw?”
    “He didn’t complain of anything.”
    I turned back to the body. “If it was tetanus, you’d expect a four-day incubation period at least, and we’d have seen the signs. And that’s with a normal patient. With Samuel? It’s impossible. And to accelerate so quickly...”
    I touched the boy’s throat, feeling the bunched muscles beneath the skin. They were like rock.
    “Death appears to have been caused by asphyxia, the muscles in his neck effectively crushing the trachea. Time of death is difficult to place, although I would estimate that it has been no more than two or three