SquidgeWorld Archive

The quiet of the building is shattered by an ear-piercing scream of pain, terror, and horror, one that starts out deep and gets higher and higher and higher.

"Somebody call an ambulance, and go get Alexx." a male voice orders. Shortly, a bleeding form is carried out of the building, covered by a sheet to cover his dignity.

Two months later, the Chief of Police is sitting in a conference room, reading the reports on the death of one Rick Stetler, IAB--Internal Affairs Bastard. The door opens and Horatio enters the room, followed by the other heads of both the police and Crime lab shifts.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this people, but Rick Stetler died yesterday of a massive infection caused by his injuries. . ." he says, his lips twitching.

"Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt, but I'm new here. Who is Rick Stetler?" the head of the overnight patrol shift asks.

"Rick Stetler was our former IAB head." Horatio says, his lips twitching suspiciously.

"Was he injured in the line of duty?"

"He was, but not quite the way you're thinking. Once or twice a year, we have alligators come up through the pipes. Unfortunately, Rick seems to have been in a hurry and didn't look before he sat down." Everybody's lips join Horatio's in twitching. "Rick Stetler was bitten. He was taken to the hospital where his . . . wounds were stitched, but he developed an infection that wouldn't respond to medications. He died of a massive infection."

They leave the conference room, smirking as the news already starts to make the rounds of the building.

"Uhm, not to make light of this?" the new guy asks, "but what happened to the gator?"

"Well, we didn't want to kill the poor thing, bad enough it probably got food poisoning from Stetler." one of the othe officers says snickering. "One of Horatio's smart boys caught him, gave him a bromo, and had the wildlife boys come and get him. Far as I know, he's swimming in the ocean, probably still trying to get the foul taste of Stetler's ass out of his mouth."