"I'll talk to you at home," Amy said quickly before instantly ending her call.

"Did they bring the John Doe already?" Dr. Waldt asked. She threw her car keys into an overpriced handbag and looked expectantly at Amy.

"Yeah, he's in number 13. Just got here about an hour ago."

"Perfect, I'll start right away," Dr. Waldt made for the steel door around the corner, but stopped suddenly and turned to Amy, "bored at all?"

Amy looked up from her page of doodles and nodded emphatically which made Dr. Waldt chuckle.

"Come keep me company if you can stomach it."

"Can't be as bad as my roommate's encounter at the hospital, or the fact that all I've had to accomplish today was different ways to draw daisies," Amy said as she walked around her desk and over to Dr. Waldt.

They stood in momentary silence at the door to the cooler while Dr. Waldt fished through her bag for her key. Tic tacs rattled around, along with her car keys until she pulled out a lanyard and moved towards the lock on the door.

     "What have you been up to all day?"

     "Routine hospital visit for one of the elderly, but I received that call about John Doe and went to the scene," the door buzzed open.

     "Where did they find him exactly?"

     "A couple miles from the old abandoned farm, but that's not really the strange part."

     Felton was a primarily small town in upstate New York, surrounded by nothing but stretches of trees and the occasional home that seemed out of place. The only thing that strayed from the seemingly monotonous landscape was the few acres of abandoned farmland, topped with dilapidated buildings that no one had occupied in years.

     "What was the strange part?"

     "Cause of death--there's no indication that I could see or gather from his current state. That mixed with the location of the body is a bit odd."

"Yea, no kidding," Amy went for a short round stool and wheeled it over behind an unoccupied slab in the middle of the room.

     "Can you do me a favor and wheel that other slab over here?" Dr. Waldt carefully placed blue latex gloves over her manicure and opened the number 13 container. The slight smell of fresh decay found its way to Amy's nostrils.

"Sure," she said, covering her nose.

The tip of the metal slab Amy brought over rested against the cooler the doc had opened. At first glance  all that could be seen was the top of the black body bag sheltering Mr. Doe.

     Once again the metal mechanism whined at being pulled out from its normal resting place. Dr. Waldt grabbed onto the zipper and looked behind her at Amy standing there  with a look of anxiety and intrigue spread across her face.

     "You sure you can stomach it?"

     Amy nodded, "if I can't then at least there's a sink handy."

     "Very true," Dr. Waldt chuckled. She wheeled the slab back to the center of the room. Sitting beside John was a large array of tools, some sharp and some just looking like ancient torture devices.

     "What do you need all those for?" Amy picked up an instrument resembling a "t", "what's this one for?" She asked while flipping it around with her hands.

"It's a skull key."

A small groan rose from Amy and she grabbed onto her stomach, "do I wanna know?"

"I'm guessing not, but it's really quite interesting," Dr. Waldt placed a surgical mask on and reached for what looked like a small marker. She brought it up to  John Doe and proceeded to places small incision marks near his sternum.

     Amy was no stranger to dead bodies, but having the opportunity to see what happened behind the uninviting closed door she sat beside everyday was a new experience. While Dr. Waldt took her time inspecting what she could and tracing dotted lines across cold flesh Amy eyed the man. Dirty brown hair laid tousled, almost purposely, and those blue eyes kept a hard watch on the ceiling above. He appeared to be in great shape, judging from the faint outlines of a six pack and large---she attempted to show respect and avert her eyes.

     "What a waste, right?" Dr Waldt asked, still fully immersed in drawing lines that were almost to his belly button. Amy's face reddened, but no words came out. She simply giggled at the thoughts running through her head.

     "Time for the good stuff," the doc said. She clapped then rubbed her hands together. The scalpel sat sanitized and begging to be lifted. Dr. Waldt was more than happy to oblige until the beeping ring tone sounded loudly from her beige purse.

     "Oh, what do they want now?" She stomped away, pushing her surgical mask below her chin and dug for her phone. Amy walked around the table, still captivated by the man who had been taken too soon. The conversation in the background consisted of nothing more than a bunch of "uh huhs" and "oks", and finished with a "be right there".

"Not good."

"What's wrong?" Amy snapped out of her near trance.

"Would you be upset about some overtime?"

Amy raised an eyebrow, "I'm all for it, but what happened now?"

"Seems this isn't the only John Doe. I have to head back out to the farm."

"Dr. Waldt...it's already almost 5," Amy watched the doctor strip away her unused gloves and pull off the mask.

"Duty never waits," Waldt replied.

"But the dead will always sleep."

"Valid point, but I have to get to them before the critters do."

Disgust took up all of Amy's face while she waved a hand frantically at Dr. Waldt, signaling her to leave . The doctor laughed, and walked out the steel door with her heels clicking against the concrete. Amy brought her attention back to the man lying dead and fully naked in the middle of the room. She allowed herself one more glance before walking out and closing the door behind her.