Sookie helped him to push the lid up, propping it against the mound.
A beautiful mahogany casket lay inside the yawning earth. The polished hardware gleamed under the anemic light. Sookie let out a whistle. She could see the great craftsmanship of the casket. Jesse was right. This was the Rolls Royce of caskets. What a freaking waste. Throwing twenty-five grand away on something that was going to be buried in the ground. It wasn't like the resident of the casket was going to know it anyway. Twenty-five grand was her total earnings last year. It had put her and Jesse under a roof. Paid their utility bills. Put food on the table. Sometimes the way rich people spent their money disgusted her.
"I'm going to open it," Jesse announced.
"Do you know how?"
Her brother cast her a dark look. "Hello? Who’s the handsome devil working in a funeral home?”
Sookie sniffed. She snatched the lantern and climbed out of the hole. Digging it was her limit. Ogling a corpse was out of the question. She took another breather, watching the sky.
From the pit, Jesse grunted again before he said something that sounded like, "Eureka!"
It seemed he was able to open the casket.
Sookie averted her gaze from the hole, bracing for any smell of decomposition. How did Dean and Sam Winchester manage to do this kind of stuff in the show? All she was missing right now was rock salt and lighter fluid to assist the malevolent spirit passing into the next life. Sookie bit the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't grin. Despite how bone-tired she was, doing this kind of stuff was kind of cool.
"Umm, sis?" Jesse called from the hole.
"Did you find the package?" Sookie half-expected to smell something awful by now.
"Ah, yeah, but, sis..." Jesse faltered. "Take a look."
"No thanks. I’m not fancy to see Mr. Corpsey. Just get your stuff and fill this hole."
"I think you really should take a look.”
“Why?”
“Just do it. Please?”
Sookie rolled her eyes. She lifted the lantern and peered down. A waft of formaldehyde and something sweetly rotten assaulted her nostril.
Then, she saw it.
For long minute, she couldn't make heads or tails of it. Slumbering inside the final resting place was a body of misshapen man. Grotesque was an understatement. Every inch of his skin covered in black matted fur. He was unclothed and face down. From where she was kneeling, she could see the back of his head bore a hole. His brain matter glistened in the light. Pink and grayish in color. There were also multiple bullet holes visible on his back torso and...hind legs.
Oh, God, what the hell is this?
Sookie tore her eyes from the sight. She fought a nasty urge to barf. That's not a man. That's...a monster. It's not possible. I'm hallucinating...
"Jesse..." she finally mustered an effort to speak. Her voice came out like a wheeze. Her stomach twisted.
She didn't hear a reply.
"Jesse!"
"Yeah." Her brother's voice was as weak as hers was.
"Grab the damn package and let's get the hell out of here. I have a bad feeling about this."
"Aren't you, at least, a bit curious? I mean, this man was a total freak, dude."
Sookie temporarily had forgotten that Jesse was a teenager. A boy of sixteen. Kids his age would find something this abhorrent fascinating. Especially for a kid like Jesse.
"We should, like, take pictures or something, or maybe collect some samples. I really should make a video out of it and post it on YouTube," Jesse drawled on. "This is an internet sensation waiting to happen. It's going to be bigger than alien autopsy or even—"
"Jesse! Are you fucking stupid? I thought you were smarter than your airheaded friends," Sookie barked. "Forget filling in this hole. Let's just leave..."