The Iron Devils by Ari Marmell

Author:Ari Marmell [Marmell, Ari]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Omnium Gatherum
Published: 2018-09-23T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Eighteen

In an evening crammed with sounds and images that would torment her, crouching in the dusty corners of memory until the day she died, it was the mention of prisoners that kept Magdalena tossing late into the night. Not just because Lacusta and his “army” had captured humans unwilling to turn against the machines; they’d clearly busied themselves in the days she’d been gone. No, it was the implications, and the memories of what he’d told them when they first arrived at the sanctum he’d prepared for them.

She’d lain for hours, wrapped in multiple ratty blankets, chilled and shivering. Until finally, having realized her hope of getting to sleep was a sick joke, lying there ceased to be an option.

The main hall was empty, so far as the inky blackness would reveal to her. She kept her torch mostly covered with one hand, producing only the faintest glow. Enough to avoid walking into a wall, hopefully not enough to attract attention.

Especially since, at this time of night, there was only about a fifty-fifty chance any such attention would be human.

Each step was careful, soft as drifting snow. And after what felt like surprisingly few of those steps, there it was, gradually hauled from the shadows by the light she carried.

A heavy wooden door with a heavy wooden bar.

She’d known what it was for. From the first moment, she’d harbored no doubt.

So why, she wondered, did her breath catch, her heart jump, her fingers grow sweaty and slack on the torch at the moans, the cries, the pleas that, though muffled, still escaped the cell?

“God…” The light bobbed and wavered as Mags crossed herself, then leaned closer, spurring reluctant muscles and nerves to obey.

Faint smears of blood, some showing the faded whorls and swirls of fingerprints, had long since dried into the wood of bar and door both. Clearly the bar had been slid back in place, at least once, by a… messy eater.

“Unpleasant, isn’t it?”

“Suni!” Mags threw her arms around the tiny woman, only just visible in the jumping light.

“Hey, Mags. Welcome home.”

Magdalena released her and stepped back, gazing sadly at what little of Suni she could make out. “This isn’t the homecoming I wanted. Suni, who… Who are…?” She gestured with a frustrated wave at the door.

“Lacusta liberated an entire camp. You don’t think everyone welcomed it, do you? Overseers, some of the more cowardly or broken workers, they had no interest in joining us.”

“So you, what? Locked them up to be eaten?! Just let them go, or—”

“Or what? Mags, they know about us. Our numbers, where we are, Lacusta’s intentions. You think they won’t go running back to the machines, trying to trade that information for their own skins?”

“But…”

“We’re at war, now, and we’re the insurgents. The other option’s just to kill them outright.”

“Are you sure that wouldn’t be kinder?” Mags knew she had to keep her voice down but found it harder with every word.

“Lacusta and his children need to feed, Mags. Would you rather it be on his allies?”

“I… He said he could feed without killing!”

“Sure, most of the time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.