He finished his work with a flourish, snapping the spine in two with his hands before lifting the head up to face him. It gurgled and its eyes rolled all around, unable to breathe and unable to feel its heartbeat -

"All right, now I'm getting spooked." He stood and, without thinking, drop-kicked the head away, listening to the gurgling thunks as it bounced into the dark. "Yeah, let's go see - this is eerie. I have a high tolerance, you know that, but - that's a little too gruesome, even for me."