I got a call about some kids who found a decayed carcass under a bridge and that it might be a baby. Instantly my stomach turned into tightly knotted ropes. I've done and seen a lot of nasty things, but this I did not want to do. I get to the location, squat down into a narrow culvert tunnel and the stink hits with the force of a truck. I literally felt like I needed to lean into it to keep from falling backwards. With latex-gloved hands I slowly approached the source of the smell which appeared to be wrapped in several black plastic bags. The beam of my partner's flashlight only served to expand our dread as it created long shadows extending through the dark tunnel. Fighting back the urge to puke, I began ripping the plastic away from the small opening in the side of the bag left by the kids who originally found it.
The contents were gooey, decaying, and unrecognizable. A bone here. A small tuft of hair there. My partner and I shared expletives and the understanding that both were engaged in an unspoken prayer that this was not a child. The carcass would have to be flipped over to make the final determination. So with both gloved hands I grabbed the back of the plastic and yanked causing the wet rotting mass to flip, and there they were....maggots! It doesn't matter how tough you are, how many people you've fought, dead things you've seen or bugs you've killed, maggots are disgusting! There were hundreds of the nasty vulture bugs inside and out of the carcass, which (praise the Lord) was hairy all over and had a tail...it was a dog (or really big cat)!
We would have breathed a big sigh of relief, but due to the stench our lungs were on survival mode only breathing once every two minutes it seemed. We immediately turned and got the heck out of there, taking the most direct route to a hand sanitizer bath. I immediately started checking my boots and pants to make sure no maggots had hitched a ride out of the tunnel with me. After that was settled, I had a couple of cookies.
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