Trying to move, Ben realized his wrists and ankles were shackled to the legs of a steel chair, bolted to the floor. A steel desk stood in front of him, pieces of meat that were once limbs filled a series of containers.
A yellow glow surrounded the edge of a door beyond the hanging bodies.
“No-no,” Igor said, standing in front of him, blocking his view. “There’s no way out unless I say there is. Now, let’s get this party started, shall we? I’m on a schedule.”
Before Ben could say anything, Igor placed his left over Ben’s mouth and with his right bought out a small blade from a front pocket. The blade glinted beneath the strip light as Igor brought it close to Ben’s face. His eyes hurt as they tried to focus close up, but the image just blurred as he screamed and thrashed against the chair.
Aggravating the wound on his face caused by a twig, Igor’s blade dug deeper into the flesh, widening the wound. The blade scraped across his cheekbone, making him yell out, but Igor’s hand was too tightly clasped over his mouth for it to escape the slaughterhouse and raise an alarm.
Ben sobbed with the agony as Igor cut him three times more on the cheek and once across his forehead. The blood dripped down into his eyes making him blink as the world became dark and blurred.
“Now we’ve got the introduction out of the way,” Igor said, “I trust you’ll do as I suggest. Nod if you understand me.”
Of course Ben nodded, unable to do anything else as his face felt alive with pain, burning and unyielding.
Through his darkened vision, he saw Igor’s face come closer. He wore a sick smile. Ben realized then that he’d done this kind of work many times before. Just what the hell had Denver and Charlie got him into?
“First of all, tell me everything. If you lie, I will know, and I will continue to cut you. No one knows you’re here. I have the only key to this facility. We could be here for days if need be. I’m sure you understand that the truth is the only way out of this for you now?”
“Anything,” Ben said, spitting the blood from his lips. “I’ll tell you anything.”
“That’s good, Ben, you’re learning. I like that. Okay, let’s start from the beginning. If you miss anything out, or if you lie, I will start with your eyes and work my way down to your testicles. Trust me, there’s no easy to way to do this. It will hurt. A great deal. And what really gets people is that they sometimes think I’m bluffing. They don’t think that for very long.
With the threat of the blade just inches from his face, Ben answered every question Igor gave him. On it went, for what seemed like hours, until finally, his voice hoarse and his will truly shattered, Igor left for a smoke.
He returned two minutes later with a small silver tray containing a needle and thread and a clear bottle of orange liquid.
“You did well Ben,” Igor said, setting the tray on the table. “Let’s get you fixed up and then we’ll introduce you to Gregor. You will remember what to say when he questions you, won’t you? I won’t have to visit you in the night and continue where I left off, will I?”
“No,” Ben said firmly. The pain had started to dissipate. The first injection of root compound acting quickly. Any desire to sob and beg had long gone. His will had been broken, his fear had run out. All he felt now was a savage desire to end Igor’s life. And that of anyone else who would use him.
Throughout the hours of pain and threats, Ben came to realize the futility of it all. Life to these people meant nothing. It was bad enough what the croatoans were doing to the people, but so far, he’d learned that humans were far worse to their own kind.
He eyeballed Igor as the torturer wiped Ben’s face clean and stitched the wounds. Just a few hours ago those skilled fingers brought pain, but now they sutured his wounds with delicate skill.
That Igor wanted Ben to lie to Gregor told him more than he had told Igor. Despite the pain, he hadn’t given up his friends. For all Igor would ever know is that Maria and Ethan were dead and Charlie and Denver had disappeared into the forest, leaving him behind. Ben would continue with the plan, give Gregor the bead and the location of the decoy shelter and make sure he dealt with Igor before the bastard had a chance to act on his threat.
There was a clear division here in the farm between Igor and Gregor. Ben thought about it as Igor continued treating his wounds. It seemed that Igor wasn’t happy with his status and planned some kind of coup against Gregor.
This gave Ben something to work with. An angle he could exploit. Although Igor was highly skilled in pain, he wasn’t very smart when it came to language and intent. His motivations became obvious during the interrogation. He hadn’t even realized he had shown his hand early.
Even on the ship, Ben was the best poker player, figuring out the other crew member’s plays before they did themselves.
“There,” Igor said, “that’s the last of them. You’ll tell Gregor that Charlie did these. You will tell him about a decoy shelter to get him out of the way and play along, and tomorrow, I’ll go visit the real one. Have Gregor take you at dawn. And if the weapons you promised aren’t there… well,” Igor turned and indicated with a sweeping gesture his future fate among the meat hooks.
“Don’t worry,” Ben said. “I understand clearly. You will get everything you deserve. Now, shall we go see Gregor? I’m eager to get this over with.”
“Good little pig,” Igor said, smiling, showing his yellow decaying teeth.
Yes, Ben thought, you will get everything you deserve.
Chapter 21
CHARLIE PULLED BACK the camouflaged tarp, revealing a rusted Ford F-150. The once-red paintwork had given way to a colonization of orange rust. Among the conquering march of time and decay, small islands of defiant paint remained.
Leaves and twigs covered the hood, clinging to the surface.
Charlie swept them off and cleared the debris from the cracked windshield.
The noon sun streaked through the surrounding trees and gleamed off the glass, the cracks refracting a rainbow of light in thin slivers.
A solid metal lockbox took up a quarter of the rear bed. It contained a few days’ supplies, water, ammo, a pair of shotguns and an old army tent.
Pip jumped up into the extended cab as soon as Denver opened the passenger door, curling up in an old grey blanket between the two front seats.
Ethan stood by the river’s edge with his mouth open as he stared on. They’d hidden the truck in a tight copse of trees and shrubs the week before as they scouted the harvester’s route.
Charlie waved him and Maria forward from their temporary camp.
“Does it run?” Ethan said, running his hand along the fender as though it were an ancient relic. To Ethan, it probably was, Charlie thought. He’d have only seen them on whatever brainwashing videos the aliens had given to them to watch.
“Yeah,” Charlie said. “Of course it runs.”
“How did you keep it working all through the invasion and the ice age?” Maria asked as she joined them.
“My old army friend was a mechanical genius,” Charlie said. “Between him and a colleague of mine, we sourced spare parts and kept it running. With so many people dead and so many vehicles abandoned, it’s not difficult to source fuel and parts. Back in New York there’s a number of Ford dealers and warehouses that we got replacement parts from.”
“So where are we going?” Maria said as Denver loaded up more supplies and the weapons taken from the croatoans.
“Going to take a trip to the East Coast. The Big Apple. Come on, get in; we need to set off if we’re to get there in good time. It’s going to be a long journey. The roads aren’t exactly easy these days,” Charlie said. He held the rear passenger door open and waited for Ethan and Maria to settle in.