clean his mouth with handfuls of fresh snow

IT took Craig a long time to work up the courage to look again at the motionless form of Daisy. The sight of her mangled body, even viewed from a distance, had made him throw up. When there was nothing left in him to come out, he had tried to clean his mouth with handfuls of fresh snow. Then Sophie came to him and put her arms around his waist, and he hugged her, keeping his back to Daisy. They had stood like that until at last the nausea passed and he felt able to turn and see what he had done. Sophie said, "What are we going to do now?" Craig swallowed. It was not over yet. Daisy was only one of three thugs—and then there was Uncle Kit. "We'd better take her gun," he said. Her expression told him she hated that idea. She said, "Do you know how to use it?" "How hard can it be?" She looked unhappy, but just said, "Whatever." Craig hesitated a moment longer; then he took her hand and they walked toward the body. Daisy was lying face down, her arms beneath her. Although she had tried to kill Craig, he still found it horrible to look at a human being so mangled. The legs were the worst. Her leather trousers had been ripped to shreds. One leg was twisted unnaturally and the other was gashed and bloody. The leather jacket seemed to have protected her arms and body, but her shaved head was covered with blood. Her face was hidden, buried in the snow. They stopped six feet away. "I can't see the gun," Craig said. "It must be underneath her." They stepped closer. Sophie said, "I've never seen a dead person." "I saw Mamma Marta in the funeral parlor." "I want to see her face." Letting go of Craig's hand, Sophie went down on one knee and reached out to the bloodstained body. Quick as a snake, Daisy lifted her head, grabbed Sophie's wrist, and brought her right hand out from under her with the gun in it. Sophie screamed in terror. Craig felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He shouted: "Christ!" and jumped back. Daisy jammed the snout of the little gray pistol into the soft skin of Sophie's throat. "Stand still, laddie!" she yelled. Craig froze.