Horror was etched along every detail of her moonlit face as she watched the man move between car and corpse as if this was routine for him. Hazel eyes widened as she moved to approach the body of the boy who only seemed a few years older than Steven. A sparkle of tears formed in the line of her eyes as she gazed over disfigurement and innocence that had been claimed and was now being disrespected.<br/><br/><br/>“What are you doing?! We have to call this -” she paused as she wanted to reach out and stop the man as he hefted over the bottles of kerosine. Her pulse was thundering in her ears and in that moment she wanted to faint, that grasping fear demanding her to give up now as she was not strong enough for this. As the man talked, she was silent, dumbfounded and heartbroken as she was encapsulated and frozen like a deer in headlights. This had to be the ex-sheriff, the man who had quit and she had replaced. As he spoke, his words sounded like nothing and her eyes glazed over as she watched the accelerant placed on the boy’s body with little care and a touch of spite. Brows knit and her head tilted as she took several steps back and before she could process and stop him, the lighter was thrown.<br/><br/><br/>Orange flames engulfed the crumpled form and the ghastly sound that was released was completely inhuman. Cedar’s head shook as if attempting to wake herself up as she continued to make backwards steps, panic coursing through every inch of her. Eyes darted back to the man who was ever so nonchalant about what he had done and the thing on the ground that was now burning and hissing - the smell acrid like burnt plastic and dead fish. The rate that the body began decomposing and turning into blackened ash was surreal. There was something very wrong here.<br/><br/><br/>Turning, her gun was still gripped tight in both hands, knuckles white and worry on her features as she looked the man over. Chest exposed and wounds glittering in orange firelight.<br/><br/>“Are you…” the question was irrelevant as she could clearly see he was hurt. Glancing back at the pile of ashes, slow did she holster her gun and approached the man now simply watching the flames raise into the night.<br/><br/>“We should get you to medical, shouldn’t we call this in?” As soon as the question slipped from her lips, she mentally chided herself. *She* was the sheriff, it was her call and this man was simply a civilian and had no say in what she could do further, but this wasn’t a normal call, that much was obvious. “What was that?” Curiosity seemed to overpower her mental self flagellation as her gaze moved along the man, fear keeping her several feet from him.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>