He braces himself, crouching beside the deer, and slides the metal arm under it. There's a creak and growl of gears, and he shifts his weight to compensate, letting the machine do the worst of the lifting until the carcass slides down his bicep and onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

It pulls like hell at the anchors all along his left side, under the skin, but he's had worse. The burning will die down eventually. It always does.

Then he pushes slowly and carefully to his feet, once he has it balanced. Ow. Yeah, that burns all right. His face doesn't show much of it, though, just the effort. He isn't very expressive at the best of times.