The Flesh Market by Richard Wright

Author:Richard Wright
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-02-03T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

William Fergusson

Thursday, April 10th, 1828

Knox examined the woman on the table, who Fergusson knew was called Mary, and was delighted. "Perfect," he said, as he bent over her strapped down form, holding a lantern high so he could take her in. He began with close inspection of a leg, and his head drifted up over her naked body like a sniffing animal. She stared at him, so hungry, but the restraints were tight. There was an appalling desperation in her eyes, that had been so grateful but a few weeks before. "You gave a good price?"

"We did, sir. Tom thought to add an extra pound in lieu of her youth and robust condition." It had galled him when his friend made the offer, but Tom had not known her. She was no different from any of the others. He couldn't see a person in there at all.

The doctor straightened, squinting at him in the dark. There was a moment's pause, enough to make Tom and Alex shuffle with discomfort. The doctor knew. Somehow, he had divined that this woman was recognised. How was that possible. "What did you call it, Mr Fergusson?"

His lips moved, and nothing came out. The Doctor's good eye crawled over his face, reading him in impossible detail. He replayed his words. Dear god, had he used her name? No. It clicked. "Her. I called it 'her'."

"For shame, Mr Fergusson. Our subjects do not breed sexually. How they reproduce remains a mystery, but they are changed from what they might once have been. There are no hims or hers. Whatever change it is that we hunt has fused the genders into one, creating an asexual thing. There are species of shark and snake that this subject has more in common with than a woman." He paused. "Remember your lessons, Mr Fergusson."

That was all the warning he would be offered, and he gave a too frantic nod. The doctor held his gaze a moment more, then turned back to Mary with a clap of his hands. "Something different for this beauty, I think. We have made our baseline observations of what happens to these bodies under ordinary conditions, have we not?" They each nodded, eager to humour his high spirits, but did not understand where he was going. The same thing happened to the revenants as to any other corpse. Decomposition commenced. How they remained animated had yet eluded them. "Now we shall change the conditions around it and observe over a longer period. We shall not cut, at least not yet. We shall watch, and note. Perhaps an abnormality will present itself that will take our inquiries in a new direction."

He led them to the store room where a large barrel was waiting for them, and bade them roll it to the dissection room. It was heavy, full of fluid. There was a tang of whisky on the air around it, stronger than the lingering haze their two suppliers had wafted through the place. They manoeuvred it into one corner of the room, straining at the weight as Knox barked instructions.

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