Blood Spelunking Chapters 0 - 2 (Excerpt and Link)
This is an excerpt from my Second 40k short story, BLOOD SPELUNKING. Below is a link to my Bolter and Chainsword page, which has the first three chapters, as well as my other work.
**im still actively editing some stuff This post wont change anymore, but the B&C page and google doc will
“Come here! Where are you!”
The door to the field house was kicked in by the foreman's strong mechanical leg. He was an extremely grizzled man, his right side mostly mechanized after various farming incidents. He paused in the doorway to look; the boys in the house all scattering from his sight.
“You! You little fucker! Think you deserve more water an tha rest of us?”
He pointed at a young boy that had been caught stealing water rations earlier in the day. He stomped over to him with his pounding, lopsided gait.
“Come here!” He bellowed as he grabbed the boy by his scruffy hair.
The smell of amasec permeated the cabin as the old farmhand came for him. He turned and dragged the boy behind him, screaming now for help. The others in the cabin watched, dumbfounded. The old man dragged him out of the door muttering
“I know what'll do it... I know the stories...”
The old man dragged the boy far out into the dry mounds of tilled earth that should have sprouted long ago. The screaming brought other workers out of their field houses with lanterns and torches. They saw what was happening and stood stock still, confused. The Foreman brought him out far enough that his cries could barely be heard, and the darkness began to swallow them. The watching workers edged forward and angled their lights attempting to see.
They saw the flickering outline of the Foreman hold the boy up at eye level with his strong mechanized hand. The boy kicked and squirmed and flailed his arms to no avail. They could see the foreman pull something off of his belt, and in a brutal motion that allowed no resistance, ripped it across the boy's throat. The watching workers' desire to witness the event left them. One dropped his lantern. They saw the flickering man hold the now still body above the ground with both hands.
After a few moments the watching workers became nervous. They needed to get to their bunks now or they would be next. They began to snuff their torches and shutter their lanterns in a rush. They turned and started to run to their cabins. As they ran, they felt something in the air. They touched the backs of their necks, and their hands came away wet with water. They looked up to the sky, and out of the smog filled sky of a near hive plantation, droplets were falling. It was raining.
The drizzle became a shower, and the boys opened their mouths instinctively, their lips cracked, and their mouths filled with sores. They braced themselves for the pain that it would bring, that all water has brought them for the last half a cycle. But it did not come. The cool water soothed their wounds, cleaned their bodies, and nourished their souls. They became lost in an incomparable joy, and thoughts of the boy that got caught stealing water rations left their minds.
The shower became a storm, and as the boy drank their fill from their own cupped hands, they saw the Foreman walking past them. His head was down. He walked straight to his cabin, and shut the door. The boys watched him pass. Their jubilation faded. They had better just get to their bunks. There would be work in the morning.
https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/387977-blood-spelunking-chapter-0-2/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ES2Q6T0ugDHdMfw3h4QSdX2hXgx2fb1V2E3eLk7cCCA/edit?tab=t.0