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Monika held the clutch down as the car rolled to a complete halt. It was unclear to her how Sayori was able to see ahead and demand to stop so quickly. Her wife had eyes far beyond what any member of the animal kingdom possessed.
Sayori said, “I’ll check it.” She was out of the door immediately afterwards.
The key clicked twice and caused the car to become silent. Cold air was already passing through the open door. Thankfully there was enough space from the road that it was safe to get out. This was probably understating it. In this rural area, there was much more wilderness than road.
Monika’s boots crunched against the rough gravel as she approached Sayori. Her wife was looking over the cause of all this.
Before them was a crumpled mass of fur and hair. Fresh blood and mulched organs were sprayed in an arc from where the animal had fallen after impact. Flies buzzed around the corpse, and the stench of death was obvious.
Sayori said, “Whoever hit the kangaroo didn’t even bother to stop.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe people can be this cruel.”
“I’ll get a shovel from the car.” Monika took a step back. The smell was already getting to her.
“Yeah… Scavengers will come and eat this. I don’t want them to get hit by cars as well.” Sayori knelt down and continued to stare into the unmoving corpse. Her breath was visible in the winter air.
At least this was a good opportunity to show off her strength. That the animal would be at the end of a long handle was probably for the best. She was able to find a shovel in the rented car’s tray, probably intended more for opal digging than carrion removal.
Another car zoomed past on the other side of the road. It didn’t slow down, and a cloud of dust drifted over in its wake. Monika looked into the window, in that brief second, but they were tinted.
She pulled up her scarf to act as a questionable air filter. Approaching the corpse made the smell much worse, so it was unclear if that really helped. The smell was one she hadn’t experienced for a while. The bins at their shared house back in Japan were always empty of meat. Sayori would have some when eating out, but never at home.
It was ultimately a simple operation, even if the animal was heavier than she expected. She could accomplish the task, so long as she didn’t look at the spilled organs. After she gained some leverage, Sayori called out. “Wait! Monnie, it’s moving.”
Monika stepped back, with the shovel still held up at an angle by the corpse’s weight. Indeed, there was a shift in the corpse’s centre.
A thin piece of flesh quivered. Her wife whispered, “A joey…”
Sayori stepped towards the corpse, and put on thick gloves intended for handling precious stones. She knelt down, and reached into the rotting corpse. Monika’s wife had almost infinite tolerance for any grotesque task - so long as someone needed help.
The flies gathered on the animal retreated into the air, and began to circle. From the corpse Sayori retrieved a shivering, gangly creature with limbs ill-proportioned for its body size. The blood of its mother covered the left side.
Sayori said, “We need to get this one to a vet, right away.” She looked at the joey’s tiny, blinking eyes. “Don’t worry, little guy. You’ll be safe and fed soon.”
For its part, the joey simply glanced around and shook in the chilling air. There wasn’t any resistance. Monika could assign some of that to a lack of energy, but she had to credit some of it to Sayori’s gentle hands.
Monika still had a task to complete. She scooped up the mother’s corpse, and carried it away from the road. The mother’s final resting place was between two small bushes, on short grass. Within a few hours the scavengers would find her, and she would return to the cycle of life. Monika still couldn’t find any belief of afterlives within her, but she at least hoped the mother would approve.
Unfortunately, the smell of death had fully saturated her child’s fur. Sayori had wrapped the joey in a towel, leaving only its head to poke out. Monika returned to the driver’s seat, and Sayori joined her after a moment.
Sayori said, “I think you can drop wild animals off at any vet here. They’ll call the wildlife care people.”
Monika started the car. Lowering the windows just a slice was a compromise between warmth and stench. “I’m amazed that you were able to see the poor thing…” Some part of her wondered if she would have stopped, driving alone.
“Ah… It’s sucking on my fingers… ehehe…” Sayori frowned. “Must be thirsty. I don’t know if we can give a wild animal water. It might, um, dilute them. At least when they’re still drinking milk.”
Scrub and bush passed by the window. Most of it was fully green, even in winter. The strangeness of another country. Monika said, “There’s half an hour between us and the nearest town with a vet. I guess then we’ll have to call it a night there.”
Sayori smiled. “I don’t mind having a little adventure with you. And this little one.” The joey was glancing around the car’s interior. Its nose wrinkled as it nudged the blue fabric of Sayori’s jumper.
Monika said, “Adventure…” Every trip with her wife turned into an adventure of some description. At least this one was now vaguely heroic.