That day was the first time in his life, T.B. had been terrified. He had never encountered anything so terrible like that. As soon as the life jacket inflated, the head of the dead man popped out of his body due to the force of the carbon dioxide gas in the small tank attached to the life jacket.
Compressed carbon dioxide was released between the polyethylene layers of the life jacket and applied force to the man's neck. Pressure insife the life jacket cut decay neck of the man's body and the head sank to the bottom of the lake.
T.B. was shocked. All his senses seemed to stop. His chest seemed to burst with fear. His entire body stiffened for a few seconds when he saw the white and bald skull because the water had stripped off all its hair. One of its eyes had fallen out. Its lips, nose, and ears were jagged from being eaten by fish in the lake. The head separated from the man's bloated body like a strange and hideous white basketball, falling from a dirty, smelly, and light blue basketball basket and rolling down into the water.
Then, suddenly, there was a slight hissing sound. A terrible smell like hundreds of rotten eggs breaking in half at the same time rushed straight into T.B.'s throat. From the floating corpse, a high-pitched hissing sound became increasingly faster and stronger, like the screeching sound of a deflating car tire. A rotten breath blew straight into his nose, just like compressed air blowing through a hole in the car tire, shutting down all of T.B.'s senses and causing his heart to stop beating.
The headless corpse was just deflating and rushing towards T.B. The headless body was as round as a rubber balloon floating on the water. The ball was punctured by someone with a needle, creating a reaction force, and pushing it toward him. However, this balloon did not follow the usual spiral trajectory of a deflated balloon. The headless corpse went directly towards T.B.
T.B. was scared. His hands struggled wildly. He punched the headless body to push it away from him. He slammed both hands into the water so hard to keep him not to sinking. His two feet kicked the headless body as he tried to escape from the terrible fear that was approaching. He also had to kick around in all directions, trying to keep his body afloat on the cold water surface.
But it was so weird. His fierce punches passed through the corpse's chest with ease, like he was punching a disgusting cotton pillow that had none of the elasticity of normal human flesh. His powerful pierced straight through the corpse's navy blue clothes. His hands and feet were stuck in the crevices of the corpse's ribs, spine, and pelvis. The skin of his hand touched something slimy in the intestines of a bloated headless corpse in the advanced stage of decomposition.
T.B. struggled for a while until he was exhausted. He had only been in the cold water for a few seconds but it felt like he had been fighting in the ring for hours. For the first time in his life, he felt afraid of death. The real presence of death was opening its terrifying arms and dragging him down to the bottom of the lake.
He let out a cry for help. A cry for help driven by the strong survival instinct of a normal human being. He could be no longer pride himself as a brave bodyguard whose job is to protect others.
Water flooded into his mouth as soon as he opened his lips. That water tasted a bit salty and had a strong smell of dead people, making him nauseous. The more he panicked, the more he tried to keep the headless corpse away from him, and the closer the terrible corpse seemed to come to him. The upper part of the corpse seemed to hug his upper body. The lower part of the corpse seemed to keep his lower body. Then the corpse slowly dragged him to the bottom of the lake.
A strong hand reached out and grabbed T.B.'s neck. That hand pulled his head out of the water. Another strong hand gave him a strong slap. T.B. felt dizzy and burned on his cheeks. Then, an inflated life jacket was inserted over his head and around his neck. The inflated life jacket kept T.B.'s head and entire upper body above the water.
At this time, T.B. could breathe easily. He spit water out of his throat and looked down at his chest. On the orange polyethylene life jacket shell, there was still a layer of slimy human skin. This life jacket had just been taken from the headless corpse.
The body now looked like a deflated balloon. It was half floating and half submerged in the water but it did not completely sink. T.B. did not know why it was that. The headless corpse seemed attached to him in some strange way.
Anderson Jr. Seely was indeed a courageous and healthy young man. He swam and pulled both T.B. and the rotting corpse attached to T.B.'s body to shore. When T.B.'s feet touched the ground, he crawled to the shore, then lay upside down on the ground and began to vomit. Next to him, Anderson Jr. Seely was also lying panting.
Then T.B. was slapped again by Anderson as he howled in horror. He discovered that the thumb of the corpse's right hand was hooked into the belt of his pants. When he calmed down, he understood why the headless body could not sink completely.
It was an endless day of rain and cold. T.B. didn't think Anderson Jr. Seely was such a courageous person for his age. Anderson took out a poncho from his survival bag and covered the top of the corpse. He even took a large umbrella from the Toyota Hilux to cover most of the unfortunate person's body. He also took out small packets of shower gel and shampoo and gave them to T.B. He told T.B. to find clean water to wash himself and change into The North Face climbing clothes that were in the back of the Toyota Hilux. The clothes were still damp from T.B.'s sweat, but they were still drier than the clothes on his body.
When T.B. came back, he saw Anderson Jr. Seely was holding a scarf over his nose and standing pensively next to the corpse. T.B. shivered when he saw the body was still lying there.
Anderson Jr. Seely suddenly said when he saw T.B.
"Mr. T.B. In my college, I had a subject that studied decomposition. Decomposition research is a science that is applied in many fields such as agriculture, waste management, water treatment, forensics, and natural resource management, one of my fields of study."
T.B. said nothing. He felt Anderson Jr. Seely's calmness began to spread to him.
"Decomposition is the process of breaking down complex organic substances into simpler organic and inorganic substances such as methane, carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars, and mineral salts. Decomposition takes place in all different environments, in water, in soil, on the ground, and even in space.
The decomposition of the human body is the foundation of a vast and complex ecosystem. This ecosystem will appear almost immediately after the victim's death. This ecosystem includes bacteria and microorganisms that appear inside and also species that enter the human body from the outside. They are constantly growing, even evolving continuously during the decomposition process of the human body.
Therefore, it can be said that the body of any animal, not just humans, when it dies, does not really "die". On the contrary, the inside and surface of that "dead" body will be full of life. It is a "living" body! Studying that "living" body will tell us about the time, place, and condition of this body when it died.
For humans, when the heart stops beating or there is no longer an energy source for cells to function, the temperature of the dead person's body begins to decrease linearly over time. This temperature will eventually equilibrate with the temperature of the environment in which the corpse lies. At that point, the cell runs out of energy and begins to lose water.
Fibrous proteins will be "frozen". This phenomenon is characterized by muscle bundles starting to contract. As a result, the body will become stiff. The corpse's legs and arms cannot be straightened.
In a freshwater environment, if the lungs do not have water. It means the victim did not drown. The corpse will be half submerged and half floating because the lungs have alveoli filled with air, like a buoy that keeps the corpse from sinking completely. At that time, the decomposition process will take place almost the same as on land.
It will happen inside and outside the corpse if outside physical impacts, mainly scavengers, birds, and fish, are not taken into account. If the lungs are full of water, it means the victim has drowned. The corpse will sink. Decomposition will mainly take place inside the body due to external physical influences, predation by fish, if not taken into account.
Different types of bacteria in the victim's digestive system play an important role in changing the corpse. They will eat digestive organs that have a loose structure and are close to liquid such as the blood, brain, stomach, small and large intestine. The product of this bacteria's decomposition process will be foul-smelling and rotten gases, mostly hydrogen sulfide and methane.
Underwater, the skin, muscle, and fat covering the corpse will decompose more slowly if the river does not have predatory fish. As a result, the corpse will turn into an "airbag". This "airbag" will float if it accumulates enough air to create an Archimedes thrust.
When floating, the corpse is also affected by the external decomposition process, causing the external "airbag" to be damaged. Inside the "airbag", the air will become less and less, causing the corpse to sink again. This "down-and-up" process will be repeated many times until the corpse is completely decomposed.
When the life jacket inflates too quickly, it will create a force that knocks the victim's head off the body. This "airbag" immediately showed a hole. The gases inside will escape to the outside environment.
You don't need to be afraid! There is nothing mystical and there are no ghosts here!"
T.B. sighed tiredly. He did not want to say anything after long lesson of Anderson. Today had been an endless day. He just wanted to lie on a soft bed and fall into a deep sleep. But he still had so much work to do.