I Can't Believe It's Not Yeast!

It was all happening again. Everything ranging from the premonition to the screaming animals to the frantic survivors to everyone staring at him like he was an evil wizard or some possessed bear. Cuddles, Spiky, Flaky, Jerry, all of them. They were all staring at him like he was a ghost or a zombie. Perhaps he was possessed. Perhaps the icy grip of Death had him in his clutches and had touched him overnight when he slept. …Okay so he thought that sounded like rape, but what else would explain what was happening? These visions were coming to him at random! They couldn't be. There just…there just had to be a reason for all of this. A reason for why these accidents were happening.

"Dude…"

"What the fuck just happened?!" asked Cuddles.

"Flippy just had another mental breakdown." said Spiky.

"No he didn't! You had one of those vision thingies again, right Flipster?" asked Fally.

"Hey guys." said Meth.

"Where the hell did you go!?!"

Meth looked meekly at Flippy and crunched on his churro. "I got hungry."

"So you broke away from us just to get a fried Mexican pastry?!" shouted Eli.

"Yes. I just heard the explosion and the crash and I rushed over to see what happened."

"We almost got caught up in a train crash until this war guy over here had some weird vision of the train crashing!" said Shuger.

"Do any of you guy even bother to say, 'Thank you' at least one time?!"

"Thank you." said the gray bunny.

Flippy looked over to the random bunny, shocked to see that there was actually one person out there who showed a little compassion and chivalry to someone who just helped her save her life.

"But seriously…do you have schizophrenia or something?"

Flippy had a brief vision of his evil side laughing in his face before the image went away and he shook his head.

"Not exactly…"

"So let me get this straight: you can see visions of graphic accidents that occur all over the world, like some freaky psychic?" asked Spice.

"No, no it's not like that. I had…do you guys remember that animal who saw a vision of the theater he was in collapsing and when he freaked out and got his friends outside the building, it collapsed just like he saw?"

"Yeah, I remember that conversation back at the police station."

"Let's just say we're going through the same situation as that guy."

"So you were the one who placed the bomb on the train tracks?"

"I DIDN'T SAY THAT!!" shouted Flippy.

"You didn't deny it either." said Wyger.

"Okay so, what you're saying is that my brother conspired with terrorists to plant a bomb on a set of train tracks and he himself went over to the rails and did so, went all the way back to the platform with me and Fally and somehow, while we were at the scene of Carrie's death Flippy had a vision of the train derailing and while he was freaking out he secretly detonated the bomb and killed everyone on board except for the people who got off." said Eloise, without taking a single breath.

"Anything to add?"

"Well when you put it that way…" said Wyger's partner meekly.

"Doesn't it seem odd to you guys that Flippy is available at every scene of the crime where an animal suddenly dies in a bizarre accident? Creolz, Carrie, the bridge accident, and now this." said one of the officers at the scene.

"There's one thing I know about cops and it's that many of you guys tend to find a scapegoat whenever you can. I don't know this guy Flippy but from what I can tell he doesn't sound like the guy who caused this." said the gray bunny in black.

"How did you get your tongue burned?"

"I THOUGHT IT WAS TAFFY!!!" whined Nutty.

The officer interrogating Nutty held up a freezer bag containing the metal shard of plastic that used to be on fire. The bear looked down at the item and stared at Nutty for a few seconds.

"You thought this was a piece of taffy?"

"YES!!"

The officer sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead. "What's your I.Q. level again?"

"So we was gonna go an' get on board this bloody train cause our pirate ship got eaten by a bloomin' monster an' that ursine freaked out an' said the train was gonna crash! Not that I care; I hate the fuckin' locomotives." said Bladz.

"So you caused the crash?"

"I didn't say that!!"

"But you didn't deny it."

"I didn't say it!!"

"…But you didn't deny it."

"Listen landlubber, you're not gonna stand there an' accuse me of a bloody train crash I didn't even wanna ride in da first place, you got that?"

The cop backed away from the oversized reptile. "Uh, yeah, yeah. I got it."

"After all the shite we been through why the fuck do ya think I had somethin' ta do with the train—"

"Y'know that's enough for now." said the officer as he walked away.

Bladz exhaled loudly and rubbed his head, trying to figure out what happened.

"What the 'ell was that?"

"Bladz there's a very good invention called a toothbrush…" said Jerry.

"This is the second time this has happened now. I guess I should be grateful but for some reason there's this twitch in the back of my neck telling me to be pissed off at someone. Then again it could just be more gas in my colon; I'm not sure."

"Gas?"

"My-my father is a…a big fan of toilet humor…"

"So why are you cowering behind his buttocks?"

"She gets scared easily. Remember the time someone splashed steaming hot coffee in your face?"

Flaky yelped and jumped on top of Spiky's head, still shaking with her teeth chattering.

"This is what I'm talking about."

"So if a situation should arise where I erratically fire my gun into the air…"

"How come you guys think I'm the source behind all these accidents and mishaps going on in this city?" asked Flippy.

"A homicidal bear who just came back from war who's been treated for anxiety and schizophrenia on multiple occasions? Not to mention that your sister is a freelancing mercenary." said Wyger.

"I'm just saying there are other animals out there. Y'know, perhaps terrorists? Animals who have been trying to strike a blow back at this city?"

"We're not saying you planted the bombs—"

"Yes you are!"

"Okay we are, but since we have no proof of it and can't waterboard you in public, we don't have anymore leads."

"What about that Russian snake, Klatinavoka?" asked Wyger's partner.

"The guy's in Bolivia right now. What would he be doing in HTF central?"

"Blowing up a train."

"…That's just a rumor."

"It could be a very valid rumor boss."

"Well until we find out more, Flippy, you're the primary suspect on both accidents."

"Which means we're gonna be watching your ass like—"

Someone fired off three shots and Flaky shrieked at the top of her lungs, hopping all over her father's head like a wild bunny.

"…Watching your ass like a hawk."

"Maybe you should focus more on that snake guy, dont'cha think?" suggested Fally.

"We'll do what we feel is necessary."

After the interrogation at the crash site, Handy was busy driving a bus down the street to take the survivors home. Eloise had broken away from the group to go do her own errands while Cuddles, Nutty, the pirates, and a few other survivors wound up splitting away from the group as well. The animals inside the bus right now were Spiky, his daughter, Flippy, Meth, K-Zar, and Rhyme and Mime. Like always, Rhyme and Mime needed a ride to their house. Flippy figured he needed to keep an eye on a couple of the survivors. Meth needed a ride over to his band's house. Spiky saw his buddy on board the bus and wanted to have a nice chat with him so he quickly got aboard along with his daughter and began to talk.

"Exactly how are you driving again?" asked Meth.

Handy looked down at his little stubs and grumbled to himself.

"It's complicated."

"All right guys have any one of you seen anything suspicious or out of the ordinary?"

"Other than Spiky's foot odor?"

"HEY!!"

"Actually that's normal. I mean, y'know, anything freaky or weird? Like a disembodied figure of a skull, an eerie shadow brushing across the ground, an icy chill going down your spine?" asked Meth.

"Not that I recall." said Rhyme.

"Eli told me she felt something cold on her hand the day that my partner died."

"You mean Eiden?"

"Yeah. Not to mention the way he died wasn't exactly…natural."

"What do you mean?" asked K-Zar.

"Since when do you hear about a deer who got shredded by a fallen A/C unit?"

Mime mimed out a weird set of movements that ultimately ended with him pulling off a dramatic reaction of someone getting shot in the chest and dying. Mime stuck out his tongue with his eyes replaced with Xs and he silently fell to the floor, pretending to be dead.

"Oh yeah, that guy got impaled in the chest with a dislodged pole; I remember that!" said Rhyme.

"What guy?" asked Spiky.

"One of the survivors of that theater collapse a couple of months back."

"What's the bottom line Flippy?" asked Flaky meekly.

"We're all in danger, just like the animals who got out that theater. And now with that bombing we survived—"

"I wasn't even on that train that crashed today!" shouted K-Zar.

"Neither was I." said Meth.

"Same here." said Handy.

"But you were all on that bridge that I saw collapsing!"

"…Oh…"

"Yeah, 'oh' Spiky."

"So we were all supposed to die on that bridge when it collapsed but since you intervened and said the whole damn place was gonna collapse—"

"We basically cheated our way out of Death, or something?" asked Rhyme.

"Yeah, we did, and he's pissed."

"Pissed at you or pissed at all of us Meth?"

"Guys, my entire band almost died in bizarre accidents! Hell, one of them did die; remember my drummer Creolz? The guy with a spiked mail-box?"

"Yeah."

"Did you hear he got beheaded from the mouth up?"

"Shit, your drummer's dead?"

"And then my partner Eiden is shredded by a fallen A/C unit, Fally's ex is run over by a truck, and then this entire train crash happens in a vision Flippy saw? That is a big fuckin' coincidence." said Handy.

"But that was a terrorist attack." Flaky pointed out.

"Nevertheless, I'm sure that was a ploy that Death concocted. It is eerie that a bunch of the animals who were supposed to die in that bridge collapsing were also gonna go on that train." said Flippy.

"So what do we do?"

"Avoid anything that looks dangerous. Look both ways four times when you cross the street. Don't leave the house unless it's absolutely necessary, don't go to work, don't go to your friend's house, don't go anywhere that looks potentially dangerous. No random warehouses, no swimming pools, no factories, nothing!" said Flippy.

"So you want us to put our social lives on hold and sit at home like an egg waiting to crack?"

"If it'll keep you guys outta danger, yes. Like Meth said, his whole band almost died, and they were inside their own garage when it happened."

Flaky started shifting back and forth, whimpering and trying to keep herself calm. It obviously wasn't working.

"What about my job?"

"Yeah, and my band?"

"Handy call in sick, Meth…well, technically I already saved you so…I think you're okay."

"Sweet! I am SO getting laid tonight then!"

"I got a job too Flipster."

"Call in sick then. I'm sure everyone at your job would be happy not to smell your grimy soles for a few days."

"Stop ripping on my stinky feet already!"

"Well who else are we gonna rip on?"

"Flippy and his mentality."

"Until one of you guys gets tangled with Death and have your life saved by Flippy, frankly you shouldn't be saying anything about the guy. Bottom line: we need to be safe."

"Whatever you say Meth."

Everything abruptly went silent for a while and no one said anything. They all either looked out the window and got lost on the dark red sky gradually getting darker or stared at the asphalt quickly going by as the bus drove forward. No one bothered to look at each other; they all just shifted around uncomfortably in their seats or tried to get some sleep on the way back home. They didn't know what to do. If what Flippy was saying was true and Death was picking off the survivors one-by-one, then that meant the world was indeed going to end, and soon enough all of them would be dead. Over 350 animals had died in the last couple of days, including Ryley and Moss, not to mention Fally's girlfriend Sherry. And of course, Meth's drummer Creolz, Handy's partner Eiden, and Fally's ex-girlfriend Carrie. Maybe Flippy was right. Maybe all of them were on Death's list. But if Meth and his guitar players managed to elude Death, perhaps all of them could too. All they had to do was be careful…unless they had a seizure in their sleep and bit off their tongue and bled to death. Or maybe…well, they could think about it later. Right now, all of them needed to relax.

But as always, Spiky couldn't relax. As he was sitting next to his primate friend, his stomach began to burble and chug. The porcupine could feel his lower intestines tightening as the gas was going through his rectum and he decided to play a little game with his friend. He smiled slyly before leaning over to the side and ripping a very loud fart in K-Zar's direction. The orangutan got a good whiff of the gas expulsion and started laughing hysterically, almost falling on the floor of the bus.

"DAD!!" exclaimed Flaky, plugging her nose.

Everyone in the bus groaned loudly or plugged their nose while Spiky stood on the bus, bent over with his butt in his friend's face, and gave him another foul supplement of gas. K-Zar ignored the smell and merely took this as a challenge.

"Oh, so it's like that quill-face?"

"Yes it is. Wanna see who's got stronger gas?"

"YOU'RE ON!!"

"Son of a bitch—everyone hold your snouts!!" warned Handy.

"You don't have hands."

"SHUT UP!!"

Everyone, excluding Handy held their noses shut as Spiky and K-Zar began to pass wind and quickly stink up the bus with their foul flatulence. And with each fart that penetrated the air, a roar of laughter would be coming out of the porcupine or orangutan's mouth. Spiky pulled his own finger and ripped a huge fart from his rear before K-Zar struck back at him by turning around and blasting strong wind in his face, one strong enough to knock him backwards and fall to the floor. And there wasn't anything anyone could do, short of sitting in their seats with their shirts over their nose or their noses clamped shut with their hands.

"This is so gross." mumbled Meth.

Everyone was so busy trying to avoid the smell, even going as far as opening all the windows on the bus that no one even noticed that Rhyme was softly chuckling to himself. The green deer wasn't a big fan of toilet humor, but hey, when else are you gonna find a porcupine and a monkey farting at each other back and forth and laughing like hyenas? He had to admit, seeing the two rip farts in each others' faces was very humorous, especially because both of them were grown men who were acting like fifteen-year-old boys at a sleepover who ate too many beans. It wasn't until he looked over at his silent cousin that he saw how green his face was and that he looked a little car sick.

"You okay Mime?"

The deer in the striped shirt responded by holding his mouth with bulging cheeks, pretending like he was about to throw up. Only, he really was about to throw up.

"Damn—he could you guys quit farting for a couple of seconds?! My cousin's getting car-sick!"

"But he's a mime. If he gets sick he'll only let out pretend vomit."

"No, it's real vomit; it just doesn't make any sound, at least not until it splashes on the ground."

"Then just tell him to vomit out the window!" shouted Spiky.

"So stop farting!"

"Mime don't you dare throw up on this bus! You know how long it took me to clean it out this bus when someone thought it'd be funny to pee in the aisle?"

Spiky giggled softly. "Hey K-Zar, watch this."

Spiky creeped behind Mime silently while he was swaying back and forth and turned around. He pointed his ass in the cervine's direction and blasted a horrid amount of gas in his direction. Even though Mime wasn't facing Spiky's butt and didn't have his nose around his perimeter, he could still feel the heat blasting him from behind and it didn't take long before the gas got into his nostrils. Spiky quickly moved away from Mime as his cheeks grew big like cantaloupes and, with nothing to stop him, he vomited all over the aisle. It was silent at first, but when everyone heard water and acid splattering on the floor, they all turned towards Mime and saw him vomiting inaudibly, compelling all of them to scoot away from him and groan loudly.

"Goddamnit Mime!"

Handy stopped the bus and screeched it to a halt, opening the door so he could let Mime outside to vomit on the ground. Rhyme quickly followed him out to ensure he was okay, along with everyone else in the bus, since they couldn't tolerate the rotten odor of Spiky and K-Zar's farts. Handy looked over at the stinky bus with a grimy floor and shouted loudly.

"I have to clean that whole damn bus, again."

"Dude that has gotta be the funniest thing I've seen in my life!"

"You made a deer vomit from your farts!!"

Rhyme growled gutturally and the other side of his persona began to come out into existence. His eyes turned into a different color and his teeth suddenly became sharp and pointy like razors or a nice set of claws. The green deer ran over to Spiky and, without batting an eye or hesitating, kicked him in the baby-maker. Spiky grunted with dilated pupils before the deer raised his leg and kicked him in the groin again. The porcupine dropped to the ground coughing violently before he whined once the deer kicked him in the balls again. And again. And…again. …And again, until Rhyme heard something crack and he suddenly snapped out of his little angry trance. Rhyme looked down at the gravely wounded porcupine who was coughing violently and whining with his hands covering his scrotum before he started talking to him.

"If you ever do anything like this to my cousin again, I'm gonna chop you up into so many pieces the goddamn morgue won't be able to recognize your body." he vowed.

Spiky only replied by whining loudly again and painfully shaking his head up and down. However, Flippy took the comment as a literal sign from Death. What if Rhyme wasn't the one who chopped Spiky to pieces? What if some other entity chopped up the prickly animal in some freak accident? He could fall into machinery or get sucked underneath a lawnmower or get shredded by a plane or a wood chipper even. Flippy couldn't take that chance of losing another animal after all that's happened. He needed to protect Spiky no matter what.

"Hey Flaky…you don't mind if I spend time at your house right?"

"That depends. Are you gonna go on a massive killing—"

"I told you, the other side of me has been done with forever. He is not coming out ever again…hopefully."

"Then sure, you can spend some time."

In the midst of the conversation Rhyme's cellphone began to ring. The deer naturally picked it up and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Rhyme, when can you and your cousin and Handy get over here?" asked Nappy.

"Why?"

"Cause the dough mixer in the pastry factory broke down again and I need someone here to fix it."

"Then why don't you repair it with some special chewable gum like last time?"

"…Funny you should mention that; I think that's how it broke in the first place."

"Awesome. And no, we can't."

"I'll give you guys free Danishes!"

"My cousin just puked all over his shirt. I don't think he wants to eat now."

"I'll give him free Ginger Ale!"

Rhyme sighed and rubbed his forehead. "As long as I get as many doughnuts as I want."

"Done!"

Rhyme clamped his phone shut. "Hey Mime! We're gonna go fix a break maker and eats doughnuts!!"

Mime miraculously recovered from his motion sickness and sprang to life with a wide smile on his face, as though he was never sick at all.

A few hours later, Handy, Rhyme and Mime were inside of a massive abandoned pastry factory. Everything about it looked like a normal warehouse or factory that had recently been shut down. It was amazing that only a few hours ago, the whole place was abundant with HTF workers of all shapes and sizes, catering meals and making pastries to ship out to town and squirting cream and jelly on everything. Now the whole place seemed barren and deathly quiet, like a ghost town or graveyard. There wasn't any noise minus the air conditioning blowing and a couple of generators or engines running. It was just two deer and a handless beaver…and that cat who thought food was the solution to everything. If Nappy could, he'd disarm a nuclear bomb with apple seeds…and it'd work. The three animals walked over to a giant dough mixer with some flour splashed on the side of it and saw a ladder leading up to the top.

"That's a big-ass dough mixer." said Rhyme.

"No kidding. You could chop up an elephant in that."

"It's not that…well, maybe you could."

Mime shook his head and put two fingers on the palm of his other hand, twirling them around and demonstrating how the dough mixer would twirl around and chop or mix something up.

"Hey guys, what's up?"

"OK Nappy, what is it you wanted us to do again?" asked Handy.

"We gotta go in the dough mixer and clean it out."

Handy's eyes grew wide. "You want us to go IN the dough mixer?!!"

"I thought you said it broke?" asked Rhyme.

"Yeah, cause it hasn't been cleaned lately."

"Again, you want us to go IN the dough mixer?"

"It's not that hard. All we gotta do is spray it down and wash it out very thoroughly."

"You can't just go inside and spray it down with bug spray?"

"That'll poison the mixer genius. So who wants to go first?"

Everyone looked at the other with anticipation, hoping the other animal would raise his hand first to go inside. It wasn't oblivious to the cat that none of the animals wanted to volunteer to go inside, especially since the mixer was malfunctioning like crazy.

"I'll give the first guy free donuts."

"ME!!" shouted Rhyme, quickly scurrying up the ladder into the dough mixer.

"Just be careful; the mixer's been acting funny."

"How funny?"

As Rhyme began to take a step inside the mixer, it abruptly turned on at random and began to spin and twirl, nearly taking off Rhyme's leg if he hadn't been jerked it up at the last second. He stood on the ladder waiting for the mixer to stop twirling and looked over at Nappy, panting heavily and shaking.

"That's not funny! I almost lost my goddamn leg!!"

"I don't know what the problem is. The mixer just keeps turning on at random. I was in there when it turned on once!"

"So how come you're not cat food?"

"It shut off the second it got near my head. Look, I'll watch over while you clean it out, but if you hear any form of clanging or humming get your ass outta there, cause you're gonna get shredded if you don't."

"Gotcha."

Rhyme turned around and put one foot into the mixer before grunting and hopping down to the floor of the mixer. Rhyme quickly turned around and quivered once he saw the giant blades nearly pointing in his face and looked up to see Nappy handing the deer a bucket full of cleaning fluids and a mop to wash the mixer out with. Rhyme didn't want to even hear the details of how to clean the mixer; he just slapped his mop inside the bucket and started washing the inside of it as quickly as possible.

"You seem very fidgety tonight Rhyme."

"Because of what Flippy said about Death and all the stuff that's been happening in the past few days! He's been talking about a design and animals dying because we've cheated Death and now he's pissed at the survivors and ready to claim the victims who were originally supposed to die."

"Sounds creepy."

"And now you're saying the mixer is malfunctioning and almost chopped you up?"

"Pretty much yeah."

Rhyme sighed and rubbed his head. "Alright this thing isn't that dirty anyway and I already wiped up most of it, so let's just clean it up after someone inspects it and fixes it alright?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised at how fast you cleaned this out."

As Rhyme began to climb out of the mixer, he slipped on some of the cleaning fluids and shouted when he fell flat on his back, losing the bandanna that was wrapped around his head. The green deer looked up and saw Mime waving his arms with his mouth open, as though he were shouting as Rhyme for help.

"What—"

Rhyme screamed once the blades turned on and nearly chopped his body to pieces. However, just as it was about to hit his face, the blades hummed deeply and a loud clank was heard, as though something had jammed the mechanisms. Rhyme looked forward and panicked before he hopped on the top of the blades and jumped on the top of the mixer, panting and hyperventilating quickly as he threw himself out of the dough mixer and onto the floor.

"SEE!?! That's what I'm talking about; Death is coming after us!"

"…Shit dude."

"This is why from now on we have to be more careful and watch ourselves before the Grim Reaper bites us in the ass!"

"That's gross. A skeleton biting me in the ass?"

"Handy I was—"

Rhyme huffed and rubbed his head. "Everyone just be careful alright?"

"Gotcha. So who wants a doughnut?"

"After everything that happened you wanna eat a doughnut? We almost died Nappy!"

"Yeah…and to celebrate we can eat doughnuts."

"I am pretty hungry right now…"

Mime raised his nose into the air and rubbed his belly as the scent of pastries and doughnuts went inside his nostrils and satisfied his olfaction sense. Rhyme caught the doughnut Nappy tossed to him before the cat handed one over to Rhyme's cousin and the orange amputee beaver. Nappy opened his mouth wide and took a bite of the doughnut filled with butter cream, slamming some of the hot creamy goo onto the floor. Rhyme was about to take a bite out of his own pastry when he noticed his head felt colder than usual. While he was in the mixer, he forgot that he lost his bandanna trying to run out for cover. And it just so happened that the bandanna that Rhyme wore was one of his lucky ones.

"Hey Handy, could you get back in the mixer and grab my bandanna?"

"After what just happened to you and Nappy?"

"If Death can't take out me or Nappy on the same day, I seriously doubt he'll catch you off guard either. Just get in, get out, and snack on some doughnuts."

"Whatever you say."

And so, Handy slowly climbed up the ladder (he had no railing to hold onto so he had less balance) and when he reached in the top, he hesitated and looked into the mixer to make sure the blades weren't ready to start spinning. After he was confident he was safe, he hopped inside and grabbed the bandanna with his teeth, groaning as he got the taste of Rhyme's sweat on his tongue. The beaver jerked his head up and spat the bandanna over the side of the mixer, where Rhyme picked up the head accessory from the ground.

"When was the last time you washed that thing?!" asked Handy.

"I forgot. Just be lucky that—"

As Rhyme was walking over to the ladder to help Handy get out, he slipped on the butter cream that splattered from Nappy's doughnut and he fell forward, landing on the control panel that operated the dough mixer. Perhaps if Nappy yanked out the plug and wires that operated the mixer, then Rhyme wouldn't have turned it on when he fell on the panel. The blades began to activate erratically and Handy screamed as the metal mixers began to twirl and came in his direction. The beaver only managed to scream for three seconds before it stopped abruptly and nothing was heard but loud rumbling, whirling, and squishing. Rhyme quickly got off the panel and looked down to see he just landed on the green "ON" switch.

"OH SHIT!!"

The deer turned off the mixer and waited for the machine to shut off before he warily walked over to the ladder and began to step on the rungs.

"Hey Handy?"

Handy didn't respond.

"Handy?"

Still no response. Rhyme frowned and began to assume the worse.

"Nappy go call 911!"

The cat ran off to an area with a better reception and dialed for an ambulance to come over to the bakery. Rhyme looked inside the mixer and recoiled almost instantly, retching and trying to prevent himself from emptying his stomach contents on the dead body. Handy...well, what was left of him, was spread all over the mixer. There was absolutely nothing that could be identified inside the mixer. The heart was nowhere to be found, no kidneys, no pancreas, no diaphragm, no liver, nothing. Just a shitload of torn up flesh and blood, all of which was mixed with orange fur. All Rhyme could make out was the beaver's hard-hat, which looked like it had been put inside a blender and was currently lying under a colossal amount of blood and the fecal matter that had been resting in Handy's colon. Rhyme looked down when he felt his cousin nudge him on the side and before he knew it, Mime was on the top rung, looking at Handy's remains as well.

"Uh, Mime—"

He didn't even have time to push him off the ladder or pull his antlers back before Mime inaudibly vomited all over Handy's corpse, coating the red and pink innards with dark yellow and green chunks of bile. Rhyme sighed heavily and shook his head.

"Mime, I think we hit a new low…you just barfed on the remains of a corpse."