Post by The Evil Biscuit on Dec 19, 2011 2:37:01 GMT -5
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ALLEN COUNTY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
CCTV 105-A
FILM 04142010-1600-2400-AD222
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*The tape is blurry, but we can see the morgue technician preparing his instruments for use. Two bodies lie covered on the gurneys - one tall, one short. A medium-sized flatscreen TV, the technician's own, is hooked up to a laptop on a counter. The audio of a nature documentary is loud enough to be heard on the tape*
"The hog-nosed snake, genus Heterodon, is known for its characteristic threat displays. While not venomous, the saliva of the hognose is known to be mildly toxic, and swelling or numbness may be felt from a hognose bite."
*The technician turns back the sheet on the smaller of the two bodies. It is a young boy, the victim of a recent school shooting earlier in the day. The technician turns his head to the television, then remembers an instrument he forgot and hurries back to the sanitation sink to fetch it from the blue-tinged water*
"When threatened, the hognose snake will flatten its neck and raise its head off the ground, similar to a cobra, and hiss. It may sometimes feign strikes, but is extremely reluctant to bite. This behavior has earned the hognose several nicknames, such as "blowing adder," "flathead," "spreading adder," or "hissing adder.""
*The technician turns the sheet back on the second body, revealing a grown man, early thirties - the second victim of the shooting. The resolution is low-quality, but the dark red line of a fatal head wound can be seen against the man's light-colored hair. The technician stops for a moment, enthralled by the man's tattoos. The documentary continues to bleat*
"If this threat display does not work to deter a would-be predator, the hognose snake will often roll onto its back and play dead with its mouth open and tongue lolling, going as far as to emit a foul musk from the cloaca. Emission of cloacal musk is considerably less likely than in many other species. If the snake is rolled upright while in this state, it will often roll over again as if to insist that it is really dead."
*The technician turns back to the body of the boy, having decided to perform this autopsy first. He pulls an extension cord down from a hanging cord-trolley and plugs in a small handsaw. Leaving it dangling, he produces what is assumed to be a scalpel to make the first incision*
"While this behavior is first and foremost a defensive mechanism, many hognose snakes will use it as a means of catching prey - in this case, the otherwise toxic toads of their natural territory."
*The quality is low, but we see the second body shudder; the hand slowly rises and falls back to the gurney.*
"The snake will lie on its back and wait until a wayward toad comes to investigate - at this point, the musk emitted from the cloaca has attracted the attention of flies, an easy meal for the unsuspecting toad."
*The technician, having completed the initial incision on the boy, reaches for the saw and turns it on. All audio from the television is lost behind the whine of the saw. The second victim rises to a sitting position. The technician is unaware of this resurrection for another ten seconds, the approximate moment the hanging extension cord tightens around his neck*
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