Threnody (Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

pervaded the scene.  There was not a single living soul anywhere to be found.  Perhaps stranger still was that despite the apparent complete annihilation of an entire tribe, there was little evidence of a major struggle.  It was as if the majority were massacred without putting up much resistance.  Very few of the huts and buildings in the small village showed any notable damage, and the bodies were nearly evenly distributed throughout the village rather than at one or two ‘fronts’ as would be expected had they been defending against an attack from the outside.  Many of the bodies strewn about with limbs akimbo were so badly injured that they seemed to have been mauled by a pack of wild dogs or other animals.  Had this been the case, Dr. Cardosa thought, the carcasses would have been picked clean, and there would surely be at least some casualties from the attacking animals.  Also, animals generally attack to defend themselves or for food; either way they would not wipe out an entire village.
    Some of the bodies bore more traditional injuries—gaping slashes, bludgeoning injuries, as well as the spear wounds he had grown accustomed to when dealing with injuries sustained during encounters with some of the isolated guerilla factions active in the area.  The global picture, however, did not fit with an attack from such a group either as they were unlikely to slaughter an uncontacted tribe for no apparent political gain.  Even the narcoguerillas and the drug traffickers, despite their notoriously brutal and ferocious tactics, seemed incapable of this level of destruction and complete disregard for human life.  While they often engaged their enemies with edged and blunt weapons, it seemed highly improbable that there would not have been at least some use of firearms.  There were no obvious bullet wounds or shell casings to indicate that any firearms were used in the attack at all.  To Dr. Cardosa, it appeared most likely that an indigenous group, or at least a crazed and deranged faction of such a group, perhaps operating with one or more animals trained to fight, was responsible for the genocide scattered all around him.
    Dr. Cardosa and his team took notice of two particular findings that stood apart from all the blood and death that was now the sole inhabitant of the village.  The first was that one of the bodies, though badly disfigured, possessed distinctly different skeletal features and clothing compared to all of the others.  It – for its gender was unclear due to the extent of injury – was taller by about 8-10 inches, with a smaller frame and more European facial skeletal structure.  What little hair remained on its head was blonde – certainly not typical for a person indigenous to the area.  The body was barefoot like all of the other corpses and, while its clothes were largely nonexistent or in tatters, it wore the remnants of a long coat that resembled a lab coat albeit soiled, torn, and caked in blood.  The second, and perhaps most disturbing finding, was the presence of blood and tissue in the mouths and teeth of several of the bodies that appeared to have died as a result of severe intracranial injury caused by bludgeoning. It was as if they had been eating raw meat when they were killed.

 
    Chapter 3
    September 10, 2015
     
    Natal, Rio Grande do Norte
    Brazil
     
    The meetings were the worst part of her job thought Dr. Lin San as she sat manipulating her pen, momentarily distracted from the boredom all around her. Being employed by a government-sponsored agency certainly meant plenty of meetings.  Thankfully those at the National Health Service in Brazil were not nearly as frequent as those her colleagues employed by comparable U.S. government agencies were forced to endure.  In Brazil, the bureaucracy and red tape was simply not as thick, and for that, she was thankful. 
    The man addressing the group, whom Lin had not previously met, was Dr. Juan Periera, a senior military research