Read Online Land of Dust and Bones: The Secret Apocalypse Book 7 by James Harden - Free Book Online

don’t even notice the smell anymore.”
    “That’s got to be a hard job,” I say.
“Killing cattle and cows and animals every day. Doesn’t that get kind of
depressing after a while?”
    “Nah. Well, you see, we didn’t actually
kill the animals. We actually never even see the animals.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “People, the workers, we go in one end of
the slaughterhouse, the animals go in the other end. Us workers, the carvers, the butchers, we never even see them.”
    “So how are the animals killed?”
    “It varies from place to place. But in our
house, there’s just one man. They call him, ‘The Hammer’. We don’t see him
either. Not during work hours.”
    “You don’t see him? So like, he’s isolated?
Or hidden away?”
    “Yeah, I guess you could say that. I think it’s
a tradition, you know. It goes back. A long way. Back when people were more
superstitious. Back when people were scared of every little thing.”
    “Scared?”
    “Yeah. They used to believe that the man,
the one doing all the killing, that he was cursed. That he was polluted or
tainted by the killing, by death. That’s why he would be locked away. That’s
why he was hidden. All the traditions are passed on. Usually from father to
son. And if you’re not part of the family, you gotta be invited into the circle. You gotta be trusted. But
that’s a rare case. It’s usually passed on down through the family.”
    I raise my eyebrows. “Wow. I had no idea it
was so…” I want to say weird, but I don’t want to offend Billy. So instead I
say, “That’s so interesting. I didn’t realize it was such a sacred and strict
tradition.”
    “Yeah, well, at least that’s how things
were in our house. I was being trained up,” he says with pride in his voice. “I
was being groomed. But I never got the chance.”
    “Why not?”
    “The world ended.”
    “Oh, right.”
    “I reckon I’d be a good Hammer,” he
continues. “The trick is to not hesitate. You gotta hit through the head. Hit through the brain. And as big as those beasts are,
they go down. If you do it right. My brother, they say he’s the best there ever
was, or ever will be. He can put a bull down with one knock, one hit. Every
time. Sometimes, for most people, it takes a few tries. But my brother, he gets
the work done easy. One hit. He’s the best. He’s the reason I was invited into
the circle. But yeah, the Hammers, they’re the only ones who deal with the
animals. The rest of us, we deal with meat.”
    “So your whole family worked there?” Kenji
says.
    “Yes, sir. Family tradition. Plus they gotta hire you if you’re family. It was a rule, a law the
union fought for, way back during the industrial revolution or something. It
was good pay. Plus my other brother, my eldest brother worked there, until he
left to become a police officer. He basically got me the job. He’s always
looking out for me.”
    “How many brothers do you have?” Sarah
asks.
    “Two older brothers. I’m the baby.”
    “Wait,” I say. “Why do they call them
Hammers?”
    “Because that’s what they use to kill the
animals with,” Billy answers. “A big ol ’
sledgehammer.”
    “You’re kidding? I thought they would use a
machine, or a gun, or something.”
    “Nope. Not out here. Most places the world
over use an air gun with a retractable metal bullet. Some places have these
huge automated killing floors. They force the cattle in. They trick them, you
see. They have this trough. And the cattle are used to feeding from a trough.
So… so they walk up to the trough…”
    Billy is now getting excited. He is
smiling. Talking with his hands. “But it’s not a feeding trough. It’s just a
catchment thing, for their heads. They lock their heads into place and then
they drop this massive guillotine. Severs the neck. Kills them instantly. You
can kill about a hundred head of cattle in one go.”
    I couldn’t help but admire how efficient
that was. Terrifying. But