Assassination 2136

Chapter 15: MASH Recipe 101

"What do you think is behind it?" Dovima asked, glancing over at me. We were both lying in bed, looking up at the roof above. She had just purchased small stickers, glow in the dark stars. Dovima had spent the past couple of hours sticking them up on the roof, one by one. And now, we could enjoy them. Together.

"Behind the door?" I asked, not really paying full attention. I felt guilty when I only half heard what she said, it happened so often. But I couldn't help it. Sometimes I get stuck in a trance, marvelling at her beauty. The way her nose flicks up ever so slightly at the end. The way her hair has the faintest whisper of a curl. How her eyes are always bright, reflecting the excitement she feels inside.

How can I pay attention when she's so damn distracting?

"What else would I be talking about silly?" She laughed, smacking me gently on the arm. I laughed with her, embracing how good it felt to genuinely laugh. Always hating my laugh, I chose to hide it. But with her, I felt I could be real. I had nothing to hide with Dovima.

I looked back up at the roof, at the tiny little glowing dots on the ceiling. It was so stupid, yet so amazing all at the same time. Sometimes being childish is the only way to survive being an adult.

"Nothing exciting. Probably just equipment and stuff," I replied dully. I never did have a good imagination.

"That's boring!" Dovima almost shouted, sitting upright in the bed.

"Can you imagine, all this suspense all this mystery, just for it to be equipment? No way," she said, lying back down with a huff, as if her outburst had exhausted her. I chuckled.

"Well, what do you think is behind the door?" I retorted. She paused for a moment, gazing up at the sky we had made for ourselves. Our sky, our stars, our future.

"I have many ideas," she began, "it could be a secret training organisation, or or or maybe it's where they keep the real food!" She exclaimed. I laughed at this. Real food doesn't exist Dovima. Only MASH.

We lay in silence for a while, before she spoke again.

"What if it's a door to the outside?" She whispered, as if just suggesting it were illegal. I thought on this for a moment, before chuckling in response.

"A door to the outside? Inside the MASH factory? Terrible place to hide it," I laughed. Dovima laughed with me.

"I mean where else are they going to put it?" She chuckled light heartedly. It was starting to get late, we both had an early assignment the next day. Dovima and her hacking job, me and my assasination job. Yet we kept on talking.

"What do you think it's like out there?" She asked. I looked over at her, eyebrow raised.

"Same as always. A desolate wasteland," I replied hesitantly. Once again, my imagination failed me. However, I couldn't help but find the question odd. Every day the news showed an image of the outside. I don't know why they did it but they did. And every day it was the same.

"What do you want it to be though?" Dovima replied, rolled onto her side to face me properly. She propped her head up in her hand, her other arm resting on her hip.
God she was distracting.

"Um..... A place with a lot of money?" I offered. Dovima laughed once more. At least I had some imagination, even if it was imagining things we needed.

"I wish it was.... A land of food! Real food that we read about in the books! With real rivers and oceans!" She exclaimed excitedly. The idea of anything other than MASH entering my digestive tract was an odd thought. All my life I had eaten MASH. Sure it had taken many different textures and flavours thanks to the flavour packets, but it was always MASH.

"Rainbows too?" I suggested, earning another giggle.

"Rainbows too."

***

I don't know what I was expecting when I opened the door that had never been opened in the MASH factory. A part of me wished that Dovima was right, that it was just a secret government re-education centre. Hell, I'd even take the whole door to the outside thing.

Anything but what was actually behind the door.

A large conveyor belt spanned across the room, snaking around the exterior. Large machines were scattered along it's route, each with it's individually assigned task.

There wasn't a single person in the entire room, the process had been automated down to the finest detail. No employees were necessary, in fact I doubted even the guards outside had any idea about what went on inside here. The less that knew, the better.

There wasn't a single person in here. A single alive person.

Hunks of meat travelled along the conveyor belt. Where I was just inside the door the meat had already been cut into smaller chunks, five centimetre cubes. These cubes were being fed directly into a large meat grinder at the end of the conveyor belt. The whirring and crunching noises unpalatable and nauseatingly loud.

I didn't want to go further up the chain. I didn't want to see any more than what I already had. I knew what lay ahead, yet I needed solid answers. There was a firm lump growing in my gut, however I steeled my resolve and began to follow the trail up.

As I moved up the conveyor belt, the small cubes turned into sections. An arm here, a leg there. All different shapes, sizes, colours. Sections then gave way to whole bodies. Bodies with faces.

They had been stripped of all clothing, their naked bodies lay cold and dead on the conveyor belt as it moved them along. Moved them along towards the MASH factory.

I keeled over, retching loudly as the horror overtook my body. Only bile came up, the small droplets splattering on the cement floor. I gripped the side of the railing as hard as I could, trying to stop the world from turning. I faced away from the conveyor belt, squeezing my eyes tightly shut, willing it not to be true.

I made my way slowly over towards a basket on the other side of the room. A large bin contained all the clothing that had been removed from the people. To the side, however, was a small tray containing jewellery, watches, anything with value.

I peered into the tray, gently lifting each item. Wondering what they planned to do. Sell it? Surely not, someone would notice. But then something caught my eye. A small ring, nothing fancy but still beautiful in it's own right.

Dovima's ring.

A sob escaped my throat, a mixture of anguish and horror. I clapped my hand over my mouth trying to silence myself, my hands shaking visibly. I looked back up at the conveyor belt, scanning for her face, trying to find her amidst the sea of corpses. But all I saw was red.

It became too much to bear. My world was spinning, my legs became numb and motionless. I fell to the ground, barely able to feel my body collide with the floor. Before I blacked out, I had one thought. One single thought.

MASH was made of people.

***
When writing this section, it was a real struggle. I wanted to portray the horror, but also the desperation of it all. While maintaining some sense of reality.

Most of you guessed it in the last couple of chapters, you smart devils. See you in the next update 😉