**Chapter 9: The Butcher's Bloody Deed**

The darkness of the night seemed to swallow Marco whole as he dragged Lexi's lifeless body to his car, the weight of his actions bearing down on him like a physical force. He couldn't shake off the feeling of revulsion and guilt that threatened to overwhelm him, but he steeled himself, knowing that he had to complete the task at hand. As he drove to his butcher shop, the silence was oppressive, punctuated only by the sound of Lexi's body bouncing against the trunk of the car. Marco's mind kept wandering back to the look in her eyes as she fell, to the sound of her voice whispering "why". He couldn't shake off the feeling that he had just committed a heinous crime, and the weight of his actions threatened to crush him. When he arrived at the shop, Marco quickly got to work, his hands moving with a detached precision as he used his butcher knife to cut Lexi's body into manageable pieces. The smell of blood and flesh filled the air, and Marco's stomach churned with nausea, but he pushed on, driven by a sense of duty and necessity. As he worked, Marco's thoughts were a jumbled mix of emotions, his mind reeling with the horror of what he was doing. He couldn't believe that he had been driven to this, that he had lost sight of the line that separated him from the monsters he had always condemned. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Marco finished his gruesome task, arranging the pieces of Lexi's body on the window display of his shop. He stepped back, surveying the scene, and felt a chill run down his spine. The display was... ordinary, a selection of fresh meat on display for the customers to see. But Marco knew that this was no ordinary meat, and the thought sent a shiver down his spine. He took a piece of paper and wrote on it in bold letters: "Chicken and Pork". The words seemed to mock him, a cruel joke that highlighted the absurdity of what he had done. But Marco knew that he had to play the part, to pretend that everything was normal, that he was just another butcher, selling meat to the good people of the town. With a deep breath, Marco put on a cheerful smile and unlocked the door to his shop, ready to face the customers who would soon be arriving, unaware of the horror that lay before them. "The shop is ready for business," Marco said to himself, the words tasting bitter on his lips.