Friends and relatives of Death--most notably Famine, War, Pestilence, and Charles Krauthammer--gathered at Mercy Hospital in Atlanta, as Death underwent an emergency procedure to remove Elizabeth Dole, who was clogging a major artery and weakening one of Death's vessels--the boat of Charon--by her encumbering presence.
All were praying for Death's speedy recovery, as people will hang in horrible limbo and agonizing pain until Death can recover and resume his duties. If Death is unable to continue, the balance of power would shift dramatically, necessitating a Death substitute. Possible substitutions under discussion have included Sister Mary "Ironhand" Dupuis of Our Lady of Perpetual Torment and Frothing, located in beautiful downtown Slag Pile, Pennsylvania, or even potentially the long-abandoned FruFhulhu, brother of the ineffable Cthulhu, and the ancient, tentacled God of Casual Sex and Recreational Drug Use amongst an older species than Man--possibly a fore-runner to the Unitarians, but without the dull Sunday talks on liver disease and global warming.
War spoke briefly and off-handedly with an anxious press corps, worried that the demise of Death would cut into their business, and make ascension to senior editor positions nigh impossible. "Death," War stated, "has been a really good friend to all of us over the years. We throw a party somewhere, and Death is always there to clean up afterwards. Personally, I like to bring people together to shoot at each other, but listening to young men lying in fields crying for water, or their mothers, is kind of a down-trip, you know? Death is always there for those kids." War grew silent after one reporter asked if it were true that much of his business had been outsourced to Conflict, and that there was even some talk that Audit might take on some of War's responsibilities for creating general, wide-ranging mayhem in the world.