Marney's head jerked to the side, the bone of her cheek, and temple cracking loudly. The spanner had connected solidly. The thing that had once been Marney gurgled and rasped loudly as it staggered under the weight of the blow, but dead muscles pulled her back upright, her eyeball hanging out of its ruined socket.
*****
Ao had a moment to savor his sudden ability to breath again. He heard a shuffling step behind him. It was the sort of thing that happened in the old horror holovids, and some of the stories he had once read, the smell of death...
The dead man, Raynor, stood close behind him, staring at him with eyes that weeped gelatinous viscera, his face a ruin of frostbite and dryness. The skin was split, and showed bloody underneath, but had a disturbingly dry texture. Jimmy put his hand out, touching Ao's shoulder with extended fingers.