Frank finished giving his statement to Tom his old friend and town sheriff. They stood back and watched as the paramedics placed the young man’s corpse into a body bag. The paramedics loaded the body onto a stretcher, then loaded the stretcher into the back of the ambulance. Frank wondered what would be next, as he saw the ambulance drive off.

Tom put down his clipboard and pen, crossing his arms. “Now Frank what are you really doing out here?” asked Tom the town sheriff. “We both know you were not just taking a drive. What were you doing out here before this guy jumped?” Frank’s body stiffened, he slowly turned until he faced Tom.

Frank starred at Tom for a long moment before his shoulders slumped forward and he gave a heavy sigh. “I am being extorted by the Don. It’s going to end today.” A look of grave concern appeared upon the sheriff’s face as it went pale.

“That’s suicidal! Think of Hannah and Hailey, your wife and daughter!” Frank furrowed his brow, “I am thinking of them, that’s why I have to do this.” Tom placed his hands upon Frank’s shoulder’s, “You are just one man. I’m sorry this has happened, but I don’t want you to die.”

Tom was about to put his friend on the ground and arrest him, then he spoke. “I won’t be alone. I am going to be making a few phone calls. Also…” Frank drew Tom’s attention by pointing towards his car. There in the car was Wolfy, sitting in the driver’s seat, staring at them.

Tom’s eyes was confused for a moment, ‘Where did he get a…that’s not a dog!’ “Frank that’s the wolf I told you about! The one that killed a sheep on old man Miller’s farm! I took a shot at him. I had him dead to rights, and I missed!” Frank was taken aback, by this new revelation. “Tom, you never miss!” The look on Frank’s face was one of utter and complete shock.

“That is the wolf you couldn’t hit. Didn’t you empty your clip trying to kill it?” Frank questioned. “I did.” Frank and Tom both stared at Wolfy, who tilted his head in confusion. ‘Maybe that guy who talked to me really was a god. Did he plan this?’ Frank thought. Suddenly a warm breeze rose. A dirt devil formed, encircling Frank. For the briefest moment Frank heard that voice again, “Yes, I did.”

No sooner had he heard it then the dirt devil dispersed. “Did you hear that?” “Hear what?” Tom asked as he dusted himself off. ‘That settles it.’ Frank thought. “Will you and some of your cop buddies come back us up, off the books of course.” Tom looked at Frank for a long moment. “Your right, this will end today. When and where do you need us?”

Frank and Tom began their discussion, then they started making their calls. One by one, more and more people joined in on the bandwagon.

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Henry the mortician received a call that a new body was on its way in. He quickly informed Billy his apprentice to go wash up so he could start his first day as an apprentice mortician.

Billy was the tall, lanky some would say son of his friend Arthur. His long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail. The boy’s father had given him the ultimatum. Either he had to get a job, or he had to move out. To which his 24-year-old son had responded, “There aren’t even any jobs available!” Little did he know his father already had one lined up working as an apprentice mortician with a friend of the family.

Billy was far too busy watching the news and listening to music on the radio playing nearby to notice the corpse of the jumper was brought in. On the news were pictures of an apparent gun battle that had taken place less than an hour ago.

Henry unzipped the body bag on the metal autopsy table, to find the body of a young man. Henry furrowed his brow. He always hated when people who were little more than kids found their way onto his autopsy tables. “So sad a life, so fresh and full of life, cut so short.” Henry looked up to Billy his apprentice watching the news in the next room over.

Billy had the tv’s volume up just enough that Henry could hear the female news anchor speaking. “Several individuals were shot during a shootout between notorious crime lord, Tony DeVito, and more than two dozen individuals whom he had apparently been extorting. While several of the individuals involved were hit the rounds being fired, only one person suffered serious injuries…” The news women stopped for a moment holding her fingers to her earpiece.

“This just in. Notorious mafia boss, Tony DeVito, better known as the Don, has succumbed to his injuries after being hit by more than a dozen rounds in the shootout previously mention.” Billy was enamored by the story. “I hate violence, but I’m glad someone finally gave that guy what he deserved.”

Henry simply shook his head and said, “Another one for the slab.” Henry picked up the police report for the body in front of him and after only a few seconds found something troubling. “It says here that you jumped off Feller’s cliff. That you somehow survived the fall, only to die a short time later from your injuries. So…” Henry turned from the report in his hand to the corpse on the slab. “Why does it say here that you cracked your head open? It appears your skull is fine.”

Henry often talked to the bodies that came in here. It was his way of giving them last rights. Henry could see that there was clearly blood in the man’s hair. He parted the man’s hair with gloved hands finding something most peculiar.

There along the left side of the man’s skull, from front to back, was a large scar. As if the man had cracked open his skull long ago, and the wound had long since healed. All that remained of the injury being the scar.

This raised ever more questions in his mind, but he silenced them as he began his work. He walked over and grabbed his hand-held voice recorder, pressing the button to begin his third autopsy of the day. “This is Dr. Henry Thomason. I am performing the autopsy of one John doe.” Henry began his spiel as he moved to closely examine the body.

Henry slowly examined the body before he began his autopsy. “The deceased is five foot ten inches tall. No visible tattoos on the body. There appear to be more than a dozen scar or varying sizes across the subject’s body.” Henry lifted the right arm of the corpse.

“These scars are consistent with having one’s bones broken and driven through the skin. After which they appear to have been set back into place. These scars too appear to be quite fresh.” Henry moved on from the right arm, moving clockwise to the head.

“There is a large scar from the front to the back of his cranium along the left side. The scar appears to part the deceased’s hair. This is not a sign of an old scar. Instead it indicates the scar to be fresh. Most curious.”

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“From head to toe the deceased has more than 100 scars. I have had to stop counting due to time constraints. All visible scars appear to be from the bones of the deceased piercing the skin before somehow being put back in place. Now Let us cut you open and see what we can find.”

The coroner began to cut open the chest of the corpse. No sooner had the scalpel touched the chest of the corpse did the mystery deepen. The fingers on the right hand lifted in unison and came back down to tap on the metal slab. This did not go unnoticed by Dr. Henry.

“That’s most strange. For the recording, the tapping a moment ago was the involuntary motion of the deceased’s right hand tapping upon the metal slab. Such muscle spasms have been recorded up to 12 hours after death.” Henry’s eyes were drawn to the dead man’s face by a few twitches. He was shocked by what he found. The head of the dead man had moved, with eyes resting upon him.

“AHAAH!” The doctor took a moment to collect himself. He had a small pain in his chest, but he choked it up to being winded from yelling. Billy, the mortician in training, rushed into the room. “Sir? Are you alright, is it your heart?”

“I am fine Billy just a little winded. What are you doing in there anyway you are supposed to be out here learning the trade, not watching tv and listening to music! I am doing your father a favor least you forget.” Billy sighed and grumbled to himself as he walked over to the slab, looking at the body on it.

“Is it supposed to blink?” Billy asked in a voice of confusion. Henry was about to answer when the weight of the question dawned on him. No sooner had that realization entered his mind did he feel a weak hand upon his wrist. Henry looked to see the corpse had grabbed him. His heart began to thud in his chest as eyes veered towards the face of the supposed to be corpse.

He saw the mans eyes staring back at him. In those eyes that had been cold and dead but a moment earlier, he saw what practically every other thing ever to be placed on this slab had lacked, life.

The Doctors panic was only furthered when the man’s lips began to move. The not so dead man took one shaky breath, and then another, and another. The intensity of the moment finally caught up with the old man as he began to clutch his chest. “Billy… Heart…”

Billy’s eyes that had been filled with boredom until but a moment ago, filled with life as the weight of what was happening hit him. Billy rushed to Henry’s side and eased him to the ground, for he could no longer stand. “Ill go call 911!” Billy said as he raced back to the office to phone for help.

The doctor thought as he sat on his ass there on the floor of his mortuary, ‘This is my third heart attack. I don’t think I can beat the reaper a third time.’ A weak voice, course as sandpaper, croaked out of the not so dead man’s mouth, “Be... strong.” The coroner felt strength flow through him. He felt as if he were 30 years younger, but his sight was still beginning to go dark, so he closed his eyes to pray.

“Please god…” He whispered, but before he could finish his prayer, the right arm of the man on the slab slide off the side and landed on Henry’s head. The not so dead man spoke again, “All will be well.” The coroners heart began to beat normally again, if only a bit weakly. The coroner’s assistant races in, “I called for help they will be here soon!”

Unbeknownst to Henry and Billy the man on the slab managed a smile as tears of blood flowed down his face onto the metal slab. ‘I managed to save another life.’ This thought gave him much joy as he closed his eyes and the darkness took him.