Ashley Royce was a serious man. Six years of loneliness and regret had seen to that. He had served as a Marine medic, and had assisted the military police in investigations and had helped save the lives of his fellow marines. He had loved it, doing something he felt was doing good for something. Then one careless mistake, one step, and it had all ended. The marine he had been off duty with at the time had stepped on an IED and activated it, blowing the unfortunate soul to shreds. Royce fared better, managing to jump away from the dtonation,, however shrapnel still managed to hit his leg, studding it with metal and bone bits. Thankfully, they were both relatively close to the base, and Ashley manage to half drag/ half carry the wounded man back tho the base. The man would lose both legs, and Ashley would be crippled for life with a stiff leg.
Returning home, he couldn't think of what he wanted to do with his now ruined life. His family had been the hospice managers for a small town for generations, and his father was willing to foot the money to pay for the additional education required to become a coroner and mortician. Ashley hated it, already nearing the end of the prime of his life, he withdrew from his younger classmates and studied diligently alone. When he returned home and took over, he became listless. He did his job well, respected the bodies brought to him, but his life was an endless routine that was slowly breaking his sanity. When the two men came to him with the invitation he jumped at the chance and began packing his things to head to the curious location of Nebraska.