(tw: corpse mutilation, implied murder, strangulation, death, branding)
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“So. How many more after this one?” Nate set the plate on the coffee table in front of Ethan, hopping onto the cushion himself. His own plate sat in his lap. Cross-legged. Hot, but whatever. He started carving away a bite. The cheese stuck to the blade even as it sliced neatly through meat. Strange how resilient something can be just by being soft rather than rigid. Pliable rather than strong.
Ethan rolled his eyes, taking his own plate up. “I’m still not telling you.”
Nate whined around the tomato, chicken, and cheese. “Why nooooootttttt?”
“Because you don’t need to know, dumbass.”
Nate pouted. “You’re hiding things from me.”
Ethan just shrugged. “Guess so. All you need to know is the next one.”
Nate dropped the pout with a shrug. Not working. “Alright - Crawford. Funky name. Sounds like a bastard already.”
“Mhm - Owen Crawford. Selfish brat.”
Nate kept cutting, eating quickly. “So what’s his story?”
Ethan shrugged. “Doesn’t really matter, does it? We just take him anyway.”
Nate rolled his eyes. So fucking cryptic. “Touchy.”
Ethan ignored him, just eating. Glancing up at the tv.
Nate wondered for a moment if he’d always be like this. But no - no, Ethan had changed so much even just in the last few days. He had already opened up so much and had become so much more comfortable around Nate. Strange having so much of another person so much of the time - Nate wasn’t used to people being upstairs with him.
So much of so much.
But it was fine. It was going to be fine. They’d get the names crossed off Ethan’s little mind list, then it would be back to basics.
It was fine.
In a few minutes, he was done, setting his plate down. “I’m gonna take him down before he ruins that section of rope.”
Ethan hummed, not deigning Nate with a glance.
Nate almost twitched. Fuck, this guy was entitled.
Whatever.
He didn’t want Ethan to come anyway - no need to draw attention to it.
He just rolled his eyes, standing and weaving back through the house, down the stairs, down the hall, and into the workshop again.
Nate looked over the hanging corpse. Kneeling. Lopsided. Neck swollen around the rope. Nate assumed Ethan wasn’t going to bother changing them - he didn’t seem like the trophy type - so the jeans would stay on.
Good.
Nate stepped up to the barrel on the east wall, pulling his branding iron from it.
Such pretty lettering. NWVIs.
He assumed Ethan wouldn’t have been exactly cool with his brand being on Elias’ body.
Or Redd’s.
But hey - who’s gonna tell him?
Nate took a blowtorch to the end, manually holding the heat across the lettering, tracing it and brushing the flame over the edges. The weight pressed cool against his fingers in one hand - then hot in the other. It spread and spread and spread until it glowed.
When it was finally hot enough, he set down the torch, stepped up to Elias, tugged down the edge of his jeans, and pressed it hard into the man’s hip.
The skin seared and spit at the contact - just meat cooking at this point.
Ew.
It was strange doing this with Redd’s body, too. He was so used to thrashing and fighting during this process, the eerily calm, bulky corpses were just downright strange. But. He needed bodies - and these ones were completely unclaimed. Might as well squeeze all the use he can from the unfortunate bastards.
Nate held it long enough to know the skin would bear the mark even when decayed, then pulled back, setting the iron into a bucket of cold water.
Tada. Body branded.
He laid out a tarp and cut Elias down, letting him crumple onto the plastic.
In a few pulls, he had the bastard pulled to the center of it and wrapped the edges loosely over.
Nate stood there, hands on his hips, contemplating.
Then turned on his heel, heading back upstairs.
He rounded into the living room in a few seconds, beckoning Ethan with a nod. “Hey you. Help me move the body - that fucker’s heavy.”
Ethan raised a brow, glancing back over to Nate. He was done eating now.
Nate crossed his arms. “C’mon - you don’t get to just do the fun parts. Help out.”
Ethan sighed, pushing up off the couch. “..guess that’s fair.”
“Thank you.” Nate turned back toward the basement as Ethan followed. “I mean, I did the last one - you should have to do this one yourself.”
“You going to hide all your body-burying secrets from me?”
“Aww honey, I’d never hide anything from you!”
Nate could practically hear Ethan’s eyes rolling. “We can rock paper scissors for it, how about that?”
Nate sputtered a laugh. “Tell you what. I’ll show you how to do this one - then we’ll play for the next, mkay?”
“What if the next one’s you?”
“Aww, you flirt.” Nate smirked, glancing back.
And Ethan was smiling.
It was gone in an instant. But for a moment. Just a moment.
