65th Day of Summer, Year 9132 of the Unick Measure. Near Patarum, Alhallo

  Warm was not in the best of moods. The reason was obvious. They were close now. They could almost smell the stench of the prey they had been tracking.

  “Darling, can’t you do something about him?” Sensitive asked from beside the fire, casting a furtive glance at their commander standing at the edge of the camp.

  “And what exactly am I supposed to do?” Darling replied. “I already sucked him off. Didn’t help.”

  Sensitive nodded with understanding. A moment later, the meaning of those words sank in.

  “Disgusting,” he muttered, wrinkling his nose. “I don’t want to hear about your… affairs.”

  “But you’re happy enough to benefit from them,” Darling snapped.

  “I also like pigs being slaughtered so I can eat the meat, but that doesn’t mean I want a front-row seat.”

  Darling stared at him.

  “So I’m a pig headed for the knife now?”

  “No,” Sensitive said immediately. “Absolutely not. A pig squeals once and then it’s quiet. You squeal every night, and somehow my stomach is still empty.”

  “I’ll tell Warm to fill it for you,” Darling growled.

  Sensitive clicked his tongue.

  “You’re picking up ugly habits far too quickly. Don’t. They only make life harder.”

  “For whom? Me or you?”

  “For me, obviously.”

  Darling didn’t bother hiding his irritation anymore.

  “And why should I care about you?”

  “What’s the purpose of a pig?” Sensitive asked.

  “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “What is a pig for?”

  “To reproduce, I guess. That’s the basic function of anything alive.”

  Sensitive fell silent, considering.

  “I never thought of it that way,” he admitted. “Hard to argue with you when you put it like that, I guess.”

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  “‘Guess’?”

  “Well, until now I assumed a pig lived to be killed at the proper moment so my life could improve.”

  “So what are you, a god demanding sacrifices now?”

  Sensitive fixed Darling with a perfectly serious look.

  “It might seem that way given my natural gifts, but no. I’m merely human.”

  “Attributes, you halfwit,” Little Eye muttered wearily from nearby.

  Sensitive waved him off.

  “Same difference.”

  “For you, maybe, pig-lover.”

  “Could you idiots stop talking about pigs already?” Shitstain asked politely.

  When Shitstain asked for something politely, he usually got it. Darling had learned that early. It was one of the fundamental rules of survival in Warm’s camp, especially if one wanted to eat something that actually tasted like food.

  “Fine,” Darling said quickly. “Beautiful day today, isn’t it?”

  “A bit fucking cold, but tolerable,” Sensitive agreed at once.

  Little Eye let out a sharp, mocking snort but said nothing.

  Warm waited. Patiently, or at least he tried. Patience had never been his strength. Fortunately for him and for everyone else, Noisy finally emerged from the nearby brush.

  “Well?” Warm asked immediately.

  “We found them,” Noisy said quietly. “They tried to hide in one of the local caves, but they weren’t exactly subtle.”

  “How bad is it?”

  “For them, bad. For us, very good.”

  “Meaning?”

  Noisy shrugged.

  “There are five of them left, Warm. Five out of the whole unit. Another month and we would have found corpses.”

  “Good thing we didn’t wait another month, then. If we had found corpses, guess who would not get paid?”

  “Sometimes I forget we kill for money, not pleasure,” Noisy replied sourly.

  Warm had no idea whether that was a joke. He did not care enough to ask.

  “Did they post a watch?”

  “You’re kidding, right? I didn’t see a single familiar face. Just a handful of village idiots with drink-soaked mugs who probably cannot tie their own boots. Big bastards, though. Starved-looking.”

  “And how they managed to kill veterans?”

  “Quickly, I would guess. In a fair fight, they would not last long enough to realize how deep in shit they are.”

  “I have always said you need to be careful who you recruit.”

  “Warm,” Noisy said with mock concern. “How do I put this. We recruit at random.”

  “We know how to handle trash like that. I know how. Fast and brutal.”

  Noisy wisely kept his mouth shut.

  “When do we move?”

  “They got a way out of that cave?”

  “I did not go inside to ask.”

  “Then now,” Warm said, striding toward the center of camp. “All right, you little shits. Time to work. Sensitive, Hungry, Believer, Rope, you are with me. Noisy leads. Darling behind us.”

  “Why the hell are you taking him?” Little Eye asked flatly.

  The medic did not care what happened to Darling, but he was curious about the logic of bringing someone who had barely mastered the basics of handling a weapon.

  “Let him see what real work looks like before he starts thinking warming my bed is his only duty.”

  “If I say I never thought that, will it matter?” Darling asked uncertainly.

  “No,” Warm said. “Move your ass. Fall behind and I will lose my temper.”

  “But you just said I am supposed to…”

  “You are already testing me.”

  Darling shut up instantly. He looked at Little Eye, silently asking what to do. Little Eye shrugged. Not his problem. He was staying in camp.

  Hungry stepped in, gesturing for Darling to take the rear. Darling nodded gratefully and moved into position.

  “How many?” Rope asked.

  “Noisy says five,” Warm answered.

  “Noisy can count to five?”

  “I can,” Noisy said with a grin. “Same as the fingers on one hand. Five, Rope. Though I know numbers got tricky for you after they chopped one off.”

  “I strongly advise you both to save your wit for later,” Warm snarled. “Another word and I will remove a finger from each of you.”

  Silence fell at once.

  Little Eye smiled broadly, but he was not stupid enough to speak. Not yet. He would say whatever he pleased after the job was done.