‘And the Harmony hound barks at last,’ he sneered from the other end of a pain-mottled universe. ‘He wants to be a dog, we treat him like one. Boys, you know what to do.’
Animal fear and dread eclipsed all rational thought. Clammy hands seized me. Slapping me and stamping on my toes. The light stabbing me in the eyes as they shoved my arms and legs into the prisoner’s suit. I tried to bite one, and got backhanded across the face, my head thunking against concrete. Once I was suited up, they activated the suit’s neck seal, the fabric leeching tight to my skin. I was hauled to my feet, helpless as they strapped me into a harness with meticulous ease, as if they’d done this countless times to countless prisoners of multiple species. The thick, broad straps crisscrossed my back in an X, clamping tight over my shoulders, across my chest, securing firmly around my waist like a belt, around my thighs and between my legs before locking to a wide buckle in the centre of my back. They sealed my hands in magnetic cuffs and locked them to my chest. A metallic tinkle as they wrapped a steel mesh muzzle around my face, tightening it until it sliced into my cheeks and drew blood. A sturdy chain was tethered from my belt to my muzzle, forcing me to hunch in perpetual supplication. Behind me, the straps were tightened until they were biting into my flesh, a thick cable attached from the back of my harness to a track running along the ceiling. I figured they dragged prisoners through their laboratory like this, to whatever torture awaited them. As a final humiliation, the Jackal produced a spiked dog’s collar and lashed it tight around my neck until I could barely breathe.
He made sure I was hunched over and watching as he clapped Artyom on the shoulder. ‘You’ve done well, Artyom. You’ve truly proven yourself.’
Artyom’s face was a dead, blank mask. ‘I did what I had to.’
‘Oh, no. No, no, no. You didn’t. You could easily have let your big brother go. Pretended not to see him. Given him a head start. Maybe even departed alongside him. You didn’t. You stood by us. Your loyalty to the cause, to us, made you hand him in.’ He leaned in close to me, so only the two of us could hear. ‘You see, Vakov? We’ve been a better family than you ever were.’
I lunged forward, startling the audience, a savage growl tearing out of my throat as I tried to smash my head into his. The cable snapped taut, jerking me backwards with spine-snapping force. I seethed in my restraints, my snarling face inches from his. The Jackal smiled as the onlookers of cultists cackled. My body shivered with hatred, the words coming out garbled and furious. ‘I’m going to tear your face off and bury you alive.’
The Jackal ignored me and turned back to his audience as he gripped the back of my harness. ‘What shall we do with him? Your call, boys. Get creative.’
Half the audience were inching towards me, giving furtive sniffs, hands clenching and unclenching, stormtech-induced mania writhing behind their eyes. I swallowed as a gaunt-faced girl spoke up. ‘Dump him in the cell with that Rhivik, the one we’ve been starving. Let them fight for dinner. That’ll be fun.’
‘Let’s keep him tied up and string him upside-down,’ a man with dirty blonde hair down to his elbows and dimpled cheeks suggested. He thrust a slingshiv towards my groin. ‘See what parts the stormtech does and doesn’t grow back.’
‘Why not both?’ the Jackal suggested and clapped me on the back. Icy horror grew inside me as they advanced on me from all directions. I jerked back instinctively. They grabbed me and dragged me forward like a bag of trash, my feet scraping concrete, my chains and buckles rattling. ‘Hoist him up to this wall,’ the Jackal continued.
‘You’ll do no such thing.’ Sokolav stood in the entrance, hands held behind his back as every eye turned towards him. ‘I want a word with our prisoner.’
‘You can talk all you like,’ the Jackal said. ‘But not until I’m done with him.’
‘Perhaps you didn’t understand me. I’m speaking with him now.’ I’ve never heard my former Commander raise his voice in anger. Because when he adopted that steely, authoritative tone, you knew you were going up against more than you could chew. The Jackal’s features smoothed over into that smiling, charismatic expression of his. But I knew he’d use our history together somehow, either with me or Sokolav. He departed and his group went out with him.
Sokolav reached out to unclasp the dog collar from around my neck. He dragged out a metal chair for me, before retrieving one of his own. I remained standing. Whatever shreds were left of the man I’d once looked up to, I wanted no sympathy from him.
‘You always did get yourself into trouble, my boy,’ Sokolav said with a slow shake of his head. ‘I didn’t believe it when they first said it was you. Didn’t think you’d ever work for Harmony again.’
‘I guess everyone changes, given enough time.’ He’d been a beacon of light, guiding us through the nightmare storm that was churning through our bodies. His cool hand on my shoulder when I was thrashing in my restraints, fighting against the introduction of stormtech to my body. His breath on my neck as he told me I didn’t deserve to give up. Someone like me had to pull through. ‘And now you’re working for these psychotic pricks.’
‘You don’t understand—’ Sokolav started.
‘Don’t you dare,’ I hissed. ‘You don’t know me. You don’t know my brother.’
‘I doubt that, Vakov. You see, I’m the one who recruited Artyom.’
‘What?’ I croaked out.
‘Vakov, I think you’re the one who
