Thursday: 12:23pm
Lewis knocked on the door, hoping that the other side answered quickly, he only had about half his lunch break left and then he was to join Michaels to meet The Doctor. And he was not looking forward to it.
“S’open.” Came the voice on the other side.
Lewis opened the door, still having many visits up here he was taken aback by the amount of flashing lights and camera feeds watching over the massive entity that was The Farm.
And in front of him, Jackson turned round in his wheelchair and smiled.
“Figured it was you Lou, siddown, I’ll be over in a sec.”
Jackson let his assistant Debby know he was going on break and rolled over to join Lewis at a table set up in the corner. Despite their occasional shit-talking, both Lewis and Jackson were good friends with Jackson’s inner knowledge of The Farm keeping Lewis out of a lot of trouble, right now he needed that more than ever.
Jackson poured Lewis a coffee, sensing he needed it. “So? Looking forward to the Doc’s arrival?”
Lewis groaned, not enjoying the reminder of what was coming after lunch. “Look, it’s not that I don’t like the fact that Mongola is coming here, I mean I don’t but that’s not mu issue. My issue is that I don’t get why Michaels is forcing me to be there.”
“Well you said it yourself yesterday, Michaels thinks you’re going soft in him. I think he wants to shock you back to reality, make it so you desensitised to Fluffy pain, and if there’s one thing you can say about Mongola, he’s an artist when it comes to Fluffy pain.”
“You almost sound like you admire him.”
“Hey you can hate something but still see it as great in context. The Great Pyramids were built on the blood and bones of slave labour but they’re still some of the greatest architectural achievements in human history.”
Lewis scoffed. “Well sorry Jackson, but my world’s been a little more black and white lately. I’m not about to look at this guy torturing small animals and think ‘Oh at least it looks pretty’. Honestly I find Mongola to be nothing short of a creep.”
Jackson took a sip of his coffee. “Y’know, I saw his paycheck once, Management had me write up some budget reports. You wanna know how much he gets for a single visit?”
“No, but I feel you’re gonna tell me anyway.”
“Well I won’t give you an exact number, but it was a six figure sum.”
“Jesus. For one visit?”
“Yep, and I know you think I’m admiring the guy but I do think he’s earned it, say what you will about him as a person but as a worker, Mongola is always available, if he wanted to he could’ve been here within an hour of you calling him, ready to get to work and no matter what Management ask him, he’ll do it.”
“Yeah but Management ask him to hurt Fluffies and I’m pretty sure he does that in his spare time. Whereas here I am, working for minimum wage and I can barely even bring myself to put my switchblade on my belt anymore. I don’t even know why I’m struggling with this, I’ve hurt Fluffies before for the job, it just seems like this week has me questioning a lot more than usual. Maybe I should take a break, get my head sorted.”
“That probably sounds like a good idea. The last thing we need is to prove Michaels right about anything.”
Lewis chuckled, Jackson had also had run-ins with Michaels over the years but being disabled and in a specialised position, Jackson could get away with saying a lot more to Michaels’ face and not having to worry about being reprimanded.
The two friends chatted a little bit more about regular things, mostly around Jackson’s family and how they were coping, until Lewis’ lunch finished and he prepared himself for what was to come next. He headed for the main reception area, finding Michaels and surprisingly Alan there waiting for him.
“The hell you doing here?” Lewis asked a very nervous looking Alan.
“Michaels brought me here so it wouldn’t look like Management was ganging up on you, personally I think it’s so he has a witness in case you smack him in the mouth.”
“I’ll cough twice before I do so you can turn away.”
The two laughed, both noting Michaels sour expression, Alan hadn’t been with The Farm as long as Lewis, just over a year give or take, but he’d made a solid impression with his work-ethic and loyalty to the floor staff, often taking on dirtier jobs due to a damaged sense of smell.
Michaels finally had enough and hushed the two of them. “Will you two please be quiet and professional, we have to make a good impression for our guest.”
Lewis rolled his eyes. “Get bent Michaels, Mongola has been here before and he knows it’s a shithole, he probably enjoys the fact that it’s a shithole. I don’t get why you’re so uppity about him, he’s a known sociopath with a name like a Nazi, far as I care the less we have to do with Mongola, the better.”
“Unlike some people, Mongola is efficient, reliable and he does what he’s told, if that requires him to have some minor sociopathic tendencies then so be, most management types need that coldness to make tough decisions.”
“Explains a lot about you then.”
Before Michaels could respond the front door opened and Dr Josef Mongola walked in, though a doctor of what, Lewis had no idea, he just knew him as The Fluffy Butcher. Josef turned to Michaels, put out his hand to shake and smiled, though Lewis noted there was nothing in Josef’s eyes.
Not that Michaels noticed that, he took Josef’s hand and instantly fell to his usual position of kissing ass. “Dr Mongola, how are you today?”
“Please Gary, call me Josef, no need for formalities here.”
“It’s uh… It’s Gareth, actually.”
“Sure it is.”
“Thank you for coming in at such short notice, I know you must be quite a busy man so if there’s anything I can do to help you please let me know.”
“Actually there is, yes, could you have a look through your records to see if you’ve had any Alicorns come through in the last few days, I’m looking for a black female with silver linings and a grey mane, calls herself ‘Sweetheart’, she should have three foals with her, maybe less depending.”
Lewis scoffed. “What, you lost your pet or something?”
Josef turned toward Lewis and walked past Michaels without a second though. “More of a project than anything, she belongs to my friend Crimson, I’m trying to help bring her and their children back to him. Oh but where are my manners, it’s good to see you again Mr Carter, forgive me but I can’t recall your first name at the moment. But I do remember you from my last visit; you weren’t too pleased with my work.”
“It’s Lewis, and no but I didn’t exactly find skinning four foals alive in front of their mother to be as exhilarating as you did.”
“Shame, I thought it was a rather elegant solution. The mother was choosing a best baby based on the colour of its fur, can’t have a favourite colour if none of the babies have colours.”
Josef turned his attention to Alan, and like a predator seeing its prey, he sized up the nervous Alan almost instantly.
“Now you I don’t know, but I feel like I should. What’s your name buddy?”
“It’s um… Alan, Alan Fairfield.”
“And tell me Alan Fairfield, will you be joining us in the doctor’s office this afternoon.”
“N…no, I’m just here fo… for moral su…support.”
“Pity, I always like seeing how the nervous ones handle the sight of Fluffy guts. Don’t forget the breathe Mr Fairfield.”
Josef turned away allowing Alan’s lungs to finally start working again, not even realising how long he was holding his breath until the oxygen hit him all at once. Josef turned to Michaels and Lewis, his fake smile still on his face.
“Shall we move onto the patient then?”
With Michaels leading the way, and Lewis following behind Josef – Alan made a quick escape to the bathrooms with no intention of leaving - , the group made their way through The Farm to Bay 18, the medical centre. From what Lewis knew it was slightly nicer than Bay 4, but it was still a bad place for a Fluffy to end up, especially when Dr Mongola was visiting.
Along the way they passed Katherine, who surprisingly approached Josef with more familiarity than Lewis was expecting.
“Hello Josef, been keeping busy are we?” Her voice just a tad smoother than normal, and a genuine smile in her eyes at the sight of Mongola.
Even more shockingly, Josef returned with a smile just as genuine. “Ah it’s always a pleasure to see you again Kat, how have you been my dear?”
“Oh you know, work’s been up and down. But it’s always more… satisfying when you’re around.”
“And the same to you as well, I’m afraid I’m here for work at the moment but we simply must have dinner again someday, I found the most delectable recipe for Fluffy a l’orange.”
“Sounds delightful, tell you what, I’ll push back my break, you come find me when you’re finished and we’ll talk it over.”
“It’s a date, I’ll find you once I’m done. Oh, and remind me to tell you the story of the mare and the rocket I had back home, I swear you’ll love it.”
Josef and Michaels continued onwards, leaving Katherine to turn to Lewis and see his mouth still agape at what he just saw.
“Oh don’t look at me like that Carter, I’ve seen the men you fuck.”
“The men I fuck aren’t Nazi psychos, the hell are you messing with types like him for?”
“Well not that it’s any of your business, but it’s because I find him funny, charming and intelligent, we share similar interest in the field of Fluffy research. And strictly between us girls he is shockingly handsome, I mean that jawline, he’s like a young Vincent Price.”
“I’d tell you I was disappointed in your taste of men, but you don’t give a shit about my opinion do you?”
“You are correct.”
“Fuck you Kat.”
Katherine giggled and Lewis went on to rejoin Michaels and Josef, still dreading what he was about to see.
The trio soon arrived at Bay 18 and Michaels took Josef through to the room where 27-50 was already tied down, her four limbs tied to corners of a small platform and her belly facing up towards them.
“Wet Fibe Oh gu, nu wan be in dockter wook, nu hab sickies.”
Josef took off his coat and hung it up on the wall. “Gold service you said right?”
Michaels’ nodded. “Yep, she’s been a real bad mother.”
“You want her alive?”
“Preferable, but not necessary.”
“I’ll do what I can, I like the challenge.”
With Lewis and Michaels standing off the sidelines, Josef went to work, he started by taking a piece of cloth out of his jacket and rolled it out onto the table, set inside were all his tools placed into their own individual pockets. He started with a syringe which he quickly stuck Five-O with before she knew what happened.
“Ah, meanie hoomin gib Fibe Oh huwties.”
“Don’t worry about it Five-O, it won’t matter in a few minutes.”
“Dummeh hoomin nu make cence”
Josef grinned. “Do you know how I am Five-O? I’m a doctor, and I’m here to stop you from being a bad mummah and hurting your foals again.”
“Fibe Oh nu am bad mummah, Fibe Oh onwy gib foweba sweepies tu poopie babbaaaaa…”
Five-O’s mouth seized up, her whole body stopped moving, even her eyes froze in place, if not for her laboured breathing Lewis would assume she was dead.
Josef looked over her. “That was a muscle relaxer, meant to ease tensions in problem areas on the human body. Unfortunately for Fluffies, it tends to have the opposite effect and seems to act as a muscle freezer, you won’t be able to move anything for the next hour or two.”
Lewis could hear faint sobbing coming from Five O’s open mouth, unable to cry properly in her current state. Josef continued on, picking up a scalpel from his pouch.
“The benefit of this, is to slow down your heart to a bare minimum and ensuring you don’t bleed to death. The downside, is that it doesn’t do jackshit to stop your pain receptors, so you’re gonna feel all of this.”
Josef placed the edge of the scalpel into Five O’s chest and slowly sliced into her, making the smallest incision and carrying it all the way from just below her neck to just above her teats. Naturally the pain caused Five O to let out scardie-pee-pees over the table, had she actually eaten anything recently she might have shit herself as well.
Josef paid no attention to the puddle of piss forming in front of him, with one hand he gripped Five-O’s fluff on the left side of her body, and pulled it upwards so he could use the scalpel to carve the flesh off her muscles, there was blood but thanks to the syringe there wasn’t as much as Lewis was expecting. Of course Five-O did care about her blood, she was trying to scream for help as her skin was flayed from her body but she could only make horrible gargled coughs which no-one was paying attention to.
It took Josef a few minutes to slice open both sides of Five-O’s chest, though Lewis expected it to be a lot longer so he guess Josef had done this sort of thing before. He looked over Josef’s shoulders and felt his spine shiver, he saw Five-O’s organs open to the air, her lungs still barely breathing her heart very slowly pumping, she was alive and in absolute agony.
Lewis had enough. “Ok Michaels, your point’s been made, can we end this now?”
Josef stood up and turned to Lewis. “But Lewis, we haven’t even begun to have our fun yet. I want you to come over here for a moment and look at Five-O.”
“I’m not playing your fucked-up game Mongola.”
“Just look over here would you please?”
Reluctantly, Lewis looked down at Five-O, her eyes streaming with tears from the pain and from not being able to blink. Josef pointed to a small oval organ near Five-O’s intestines with three tubes around it connected to other parts of her body.
“Do you know what that is?”
Lewis shrugged his shoulders. “Her liver?”
“That is her uterus, now you and I know what that does, but Five-O here doesn’t, it’s not part of her Fluffy vocabulary. So when I cut it out of her she won’t know what she’s missing until it hurts her to learn what she can’t do anymore. The slow knife is always the most painful, wouldn’t you agree Mr Carter.”
Ok fuck this, and fuck you, you fucking psycho fuck. Michaels whatever ‘lesson’ you’re trying to get out of me with this can burn and die cause I’m not spending another second in here with this Nazi prick.”
Michaels shook his head, disappointed at Lewis’ outburst. “What I’m trying to teach you Carter, is that Fluffies are not animals, you should not think of them as such or you’re going to struggle here, you ARE struggling here.”
“SO what, you think that showing me a fucking Fluffy autopsy is going to change my mind.”
“You’re not focussing on the bigger picture Carter, think about everything you’ve seen Dr Mongola arrived here, do you think it was by chance that him and Katherine saw each other so far away from Bay 30? No, they already planned their date beforehand; that was a show for your benefit, to show you that not everyone views Fluffy Abusers with the same disdain you do. Most of them can live happy, fulfilling lives without having to worry about being labelled, as you’ve called Dr Mongola several times now, a sociopath.”
“Well that little show might have meant something if Katherine hadn’t butchered a foal in front of me yesterday. Look, I get that I need to have a strong stomach to work here, but all you’re doing is making me think that I’m right for thinking that way, so I’m gonna leave and go do some actual work that doesn’t involve hurting Fluffies.”
“Carter you walk out that door and I’ll assign you to Bay 4 for a month.”
Lewis froze, Bay 4 was literal hell for Fluffies and almost as bad for humans, it was a place that only the depraved wanted to go to and the punished were sent to. In his questionable mental state, Lewis knew that Bay 4 was the last place he needed to be at.
But just then there was wet squelching sound, Lewis and Michaels turned to Josef, seeing him holding the several remains of Five-O’s uterus and a demonic smile on his face. Lewis looked Michaels dead in the eye.
“I’ll take my chance with the Bay.”
Without waiting for a reply, Lewis threw the door open and left, praying there was some easy work to round out his shift with.
Bit more of a Josef heavy chapter than I was planning but he is the star of the show so I wanted to make the most of him.
For anyone that’s read ‘Josef & The Awful Technicolor Smartie Herd, I left a little teaser in here that hints at what the next series is going to be about. I’ve got maybe 2 or 3 chapters left of this arc and then we’ll move onto that story.