A Bundle

Detective Ramoos pulled up to the scene where the emergency call had come from. There was a patrol car and an ambulance on the scene. In the background he could see some of the crew were on their knees, retching their guts out. He walked up to the one standing officer and asked "What the hell is it"? Not speaking, eyes wide open in terror and disgust. The officer took him over to the black bag. Ramoos asked, "Aren't you going to open it?". The officer just slowly shook his head back and forth several times. Then he turned away and retched. "Christ," muttered Ramoos. He then bent over the thing and pulled the zipper. The stench made him choke. He put his left hand to his mouth and nose. It was a bundle of dried out hearts. They appeared to be human, or human like. They looked dried out and covered with brown earth. They had all been severed at the major arteries. Some looked like they had been torn. They had been loosely tied together with a thin vine that he did not recognize. The vine appeared to be old, brown and somewhat dried and tough. He briefly felt a wave of nausea and coughed into his hand.

One of the EMT's had stopped retching. Ramoos approached him and asked if he was doing any better. The EMT said he felt a little better. But he wasn't going to forget this. "We'll get you therapy if you need it". "Thanks, but I think I'll be all right", responded the EMT.

"Pretty shitty find, isn't it?", asked Ramoos. "I have seen worse...but not lately", said the EMT. "Do you think that these are human remains?, asked Ramoos. "Definitely", responded the EMT. "How long do you think they've been here?", asked Ramoos. "I don't know...it could be weeks, months even, they look like they might have been, well preserved..."