If there was one thing he had come to learn aboard the spaceport, it was that the Fifth never wasted time when it came to punishment. The faceless ones rushed him forwards with a haste that made him wonder if a southern thunderstorm was on their tail. They brought him to the same hangar where he had received his previous round of lashes. A small crowd had already been assembled by the time they reached the hangar. Whispers of violence to come travelled fast in these parts. Dozens stood in orderly lines, dutifully awaiting the disciplinary display. Voss got the sense that he could tell the incumbency of each member in the crowd by the looks on their faces. The more anxious or excited they looked, the fresher they were. The ones with dulled faces were the veterans. Witnesses off too many lashes to still care or feel the emotional impact.
In the front row stood his fellow recruits. They were lined up by the sergeant, who himself stood at the far end of the line. Hiyo and TIck were both missing. The recruits’ faces betrayed their anger at him. It was obvious who they held responsible for today’s events. He was alone. There’d be no sympathy for him when he returned to the other recruits. He’d have to keep an eye open at all times until the time of their grand exam. A feeling of hopelessness attempted to creep up on him. He tried to hold it back by replaying the captain’s words through his head. If he could pass the final test, he’d be put on a mission with just the lieutenant. That was exactly what he needed to commence his plans. Just a few more weeks and he’d be out of here. He’d have to keep his chin up though no matter what. ‘Show them no weakness.’ he repeated inside his head like some sort of mantra.
He was pushed up the stands by the faceless ones, who still seemed to be in a great hurry to get this over with. Two more guards were already awaiting them on the stands. The four guards made all the preparations with almost frightening coordination. One guard pulled down his overalls as two others bound his hands and feet to the chains. The fourth one pulled out a whip from a box on the platform. The three other guards then pulled the chains tight so that his arms and legs were both outstretched. All this was done in under ten seconds. This wasn’t their first time doing this.
A drumroll began. The suspense before the pain. ‘Worse than the pain itself’ he thought to himself. Then, the first lash flew through the air with an ominous cackle and broke on his back. His thought had been wrong. The pain was worse.
With each lash he let out a harrowing cry. It took him all his strength and willpower to keep his head up. He needed to show everyone his resolve. Now that his squad had turned against him, he could no longer afford any sign of weakness, lest they turn on him like Moot had done with Derk many nights ago. He wondered how many of them were willing to take lashes in exchange for a chance to plunge a cold knife in his back. Hard to find the culprit when everyone is in on it. Only through showing tenacity now could he hope to keep them at bay during the long dark nights.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Another lash. The third time the pain shot through him like burning lightning. Tears began rolling down his face. Who was he kidding? It was eight versus one. He could try to keep his chin up all he wanted, his screams didn’t lie. Every man in the audience knew what those lashes did to a man. He’d be a wounded animal after this with no claws. An easy prey. It was over.
Something was happening to the faces of some of the recruits though. A slight softening. With each lash, part of their anger seemed to dissuade. Not every recruit softened. In fact, not even the majority of recruits showed any sign of pity or forgiveness. There were just two of them. Jabs and Atis.
Another lash rained down on him. He was full on weeping now, crying out in pain. More recruits began to soften up. Cracks had appeared in their unified, angry front. Voss took a deep breath and tried to prepare for the inevitable. The final lash. When it came, he slipped out of consciousness. He soon awoke again to a worse pain than he had ever felt before. His back had been left a bloody mess.
Dane, Jabs and Wago were heading up to the platform. The faceless guards had already disappeared. He had no idea how long he had been out exactly, but it couldn’t have been long. The audience had only just begun to disperse. The recruits were the only ones who stayed behind. Expected to clean up the mess that had been made.
Dane and Wago held him up as Jabs released him from his chains. They helped him off the platform as he was too weak to walk unassisted. Dane and Wago had to practically carry him all the way back to the barracks. His legs felt so weak that they may as well have been made out of jelly. His mind was fogged with pain. Thinking clearly was almost impossible to do. He couldn’t strategize on his survival, no tactics or schemes sprung into his brain. All he wanted was to curl up into a ball and wait for this pain to be over.
The captain’s words rang through his head again. ‘Don’t see it as punishment, see it as protection.’ He understood them now. His punishment had acted like a form of atonement towards the other recruits. If he hadn’t received his lashes, they would have come for him during the night. Now, their anger towards him had subsided just enough to give him a fighting chance. This wasn’t over yet though. Just because they didn’t want to kill him anymore, didn’t mean they’d accept him back. He wasn’t in the clear yet, but that would be of later concern. Right now he needed to lie down and hope he’d make it through the next few days.