[Elspode]

I had her held down to the ground with a knee to her chest, but she didn't put up much fight. Instead, she just stared up with a mixture of fear and venom in her eyes.

"Bastards!", she hissed. "Rapists! Animals!"

I was starting to feel bad about pinning her so hard. There wasn't any fight in her, and her words spewed forth seemingly out of fear. Still, I didn't want to appear weak.

"Why were you stealing from us? You could have picked up this kind of stuff all over," I growled.

Instead of answering, she closed her eyes, struggled for a breath...and died.

"Good going, nerd," Nelson said, "you've suffocated her."

No, I hadn't...she had been breathing easily enough when she was pouring out invectives. Something else was wrong.

"Shut up, Nelson," I said. "Grab her stuff and see if there's anything in there to identify her."

"What does it matter? She's just another stiff," he replied, but he went to look anyway.