s:
wherein identification is emblazoned

then

Axel counted out his beating heart. Numbered the thread that fluttered, meek and tired, in a hard-pressed pulse.

One.

One; "two" didn't number. There was too much pause.

He touched on a patch of pink skin right above his tummybutton. Face averted as he tasted, somewhat, at modesty for the "dead": though somewhat clean of soot and grass, dressing the ward was not an option—Axel didn't dare—the empty space alone broiled with his emanating heat; a wet washrag was quick to spit steam.

One.

Wan-pale eyes roved beneath their lids; rolled around in a sea-color underneath the paper-rice skin.

Axel worried a cheek, checked on his fever; caught a steady glint between his breasts where the sores were bright and tender.

He drew close. The medical tag was welded in flesh:

Riku Tanishiro (13 Nov. 1981)
Hemo($#
Emergency
801-7&/58-

Whatever else was engraved had warped and lost cohesion.

Axel pulled a steady length along the man's cheek, through his hair—through what slick iron had not been burnt away—caressed the hard jaw's charring.

While petty criminals had use of taking tags, those killers careful enough not to drop trace had little use of tearing off IDs.

He refreshed the vessel, twirled in several more dumps of ice, let it sit; melt.

Riku wasn't supposed to be alive.

:t(o) b(e) c(ontinue'd):

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ha. review. tanishiro means something that i thought was clever. something like white valley or white river or white forest. but i forgot. i easter egg'd a lot for later chapters. look for them if it so pleases you.