Free Slasherazzi by Daniel A. Kaine

nearby wall, had been coated in a spray of crimson, most likely from the final blow.
“Excuse us,” came a voice from behind. The coroner and her assistant shuffled past us, pushing a gurney with a black body bag on top. They set it next to the table and began processing. “Cause of death seems clear to me. Arterial spurts show he was still alive when his neck was severed. Rigor has barely set in. Estimated time of death would be around midnight. We’ll get him back to the morgue and examined as quickly as possible.”
They untied him, then lifted his body across onto the gurney, being careful not to completely detach his head. Behind where Fernando had lain were a few small lumps of what appeared to be flesh. I moved closer and inclined my head to them.
“What’re those?”
The coroner, Michelle, rose to her feet and picked them up in one latex-gloved hand. She glanced down at Fernando. “It appears to be penile tissue.”
I looked down at the body and blinked. Sure enough, most of his dick was missing…sliced in half like a cucumber. My stomach tensed like a fist had closed around it, and I struggled to inhale. Breakfast or no, it didn’t seem to matter. I turned tail and barged past an officer on my way outside. Once at a safe distance, I collapsed onto my hands and knees. Sweat coated my body, and I choked on the dry air. I retched until my throat burned and a sickly heat had enveloped me.
“You okay?” Tanya asked. She crouched down to my left and held out a bottle of water, presumably from one of the nearby patrol cars.
I balled my hands against the dry dirt and gravel, and forced myself to breathe slowly. “I will be. Thanks.” I took the cold drink and quickly unscrewed the cap before gulping a few mouthfuls. The liquid hit the bottom of my stomach like an icy piece of lead.
“Never seen you turn that shade of green before,” Tanya said.
“You look a little pale yourself,” I replied.
“Yeah, but I wasn’t the one who had to flee the crime scene. Good thing you didn’t eat that breakfast after all.”
I nodded, closing my eyes for a brief moment. The image of those slices of flesh jumped to the forefront of my mind, and my head swam. I dropped the water and planted both palms firmly on the ground.
“We’d best get you out of this heat,” Tanya suggested. She offered a hand and pulled me to my feet. We walked to one of the nearby buildings where a temporary command center had been set up. Tanya led me into a large room with a few wooden chairs, and I sat down in the shade. A group of three officers stood at the other end talking amongst themselves.
“I’ll never look at salami the same way again,” one of them said grimly, his skin a sickly shade of gray. No doubt my complexion wasn’t holding up much better.
They winced, and one clutched at his stomach.
“That could have been any of us,” I said, instantly killing any conversation in the room. The others hung their heads.
“So, what now?” Tanya asked.
“What else? We catch the sick bastard that did this before he gets anyone else.”
Chapter Eight
    We spent the next several hours canvassing the local area, searching for clues or witnesses…Anything that might give us some indication as to how Fernando had come to be the Slasherazzi’s latest victim. Nothing conclusive had turned up. We managed to trace traffic cameras back to the store where he had been taken hostage, and even then we were no closer to having a suspect.
    After leaving the station, I drove home and went straight into the bedroom, ignoring the buzzing of my cell phone. The caller gave up after a minute, plunging the room into silence. I lay sprawled out across the bed and stared up at the off-white ceiling. My recollection of earlier that day was fuzzy around the edges, though certain details remained crystal clear. It was like I’d been asleep the whole time and dreamed up the entire thing.
    Only, I knew it wasn’t. Fernando was dead. Gone. The things he’d had to