Blood Relative by James Swallow

Author:James Swallow
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781849970754
Publisher: 2000 AD Books

The floor of the steri-shower was cold under Ferris's bare feet and he hugged himself to keep warm. The Norts stripped them all at gun point, bundling their chem-suits into a pile and feeding their fatigue undergarments through a vat of de-chem solution; from there they were shoved into an ultraviolet chamber that blasted them with a flash of radiation. Ferris covered his face with his hands, but the blurry after-light still dazzled his vision. Everyone stood shivering and red raw, as if they'd been frost-bitten.

Ferris choked out a cough and glanced at Purcell. She saw him looking and turned to face him full on. "Take a good look, flyboy. This is the last piece of ass any of you dinks is going to see."

He ignored the comment. "Ruiz is hurt."

Purcell took the soldier's arm, examining the laser wound. The shot had cauterised the injury, but the flesh was still swollen and livid with colour. "You need a medi-pack on this, pal," she said.

"Yeah," Ruiz bit out the words though chattering teeth. "I'll ask Norty for one along with the wine list and a silk cushion for your fat ass."

"Quiet!" snapped a guard through a grille on the wall. "No talking!"

Purcell was going to add something sarcastic, but a jet of acrid water blasted them from the nozzles set in the walls of the decontamination shower. Ferris stumbled and almost fell over under the punishing deluge.

After several seconds, the chamber door opened. "Out!" ordered the Nort. "Get dressed!"

They did as they were told, each of them silent and sullen, the dehumanising effect of the cleansing regimen beating down their spirits. More guards were waiting for them, bored looking men with the tattoos and top-knots of the Nordland infantry cadres. The largest of them, a Nort with a face like a clenched fist, gave Purcell an appraising look. "Plenty of meat on this one."

"Skev you, needle dick," she replied with a snort.

The Nort laughed off the insult. "Always the same with you Suds, all full of yourselves when you come through the gate." He smiled, and it was an ugly sight. "Just wait a while and you'll change your mind. Once you see what the ice queen's got planned for you, you'll beg to be my little doggie." The soldiers marched them down into the dome, through ranks of cage-like cells. "She likes to have live ones, dak?" said the guard in a languid voice. "Tries out her new toxins on you." He shook his head in mock concern. "It's a very poor way to die."

"I'm a civilian!" Ferris blurted out, his nerve breaking. "You can't do this to me, it's against the War Compact!"

Zeke gave him a hard look. "You ain't got no rights here, kid," he said grimly. "None of us have."

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