Coldbrook (Hammer) (57 page)
Read Coldbrook (Hammer) Online
Authors: Tim Lebbon
Jonah realised that these were
people
. The knowledge struck him hard, and for the first time since entering the old breach on Gaia the heat of tears threatened. The zombies gave the tragedy a monstrous face and even the Inquisitor projected the sense of a monstrous automaton, a victim indoctrinated and brainwashed, dehumanised. Here, on this Earth dedicated to killing every other, he saw at last that this was a very human tragedy.
Jonah drew closer, and closer. The old man blessing his line was short and thin, delicate spectacles perched on the end of his long nose, flowing red robes sprawled around him like a blood slick. The robes were grubby where people had walked on them, and white sweat stains marked uneven patterns beneath his arms and around his neck. Halfway through a blessing he yawned and glanced at a watch on his wrist.
His shift is ending
,
Jonah thought, and fury rose through the sadness, fresh and empowering.
‘Nice,’ Jonah muttered.
As the naked woman ahead of him was guided in front of the old man by her Inquisitor, Jonah manoeuvred the small sphere between his teeth and crunched it.
Set against his heart, the seed planted by Drake burst.
Jonah closed his eyes, but there was no pain. Whatever Drake had given him had been designed to mask reaction, and even then he wondered at the science of this thing. He felt warmth spreading through his chest, followed by an icy coolness, a numbness, and a distancing from his body.
His Inquisitor held his arm and steered him towards the Holy Father.
‘The Word has found your world, and spoken its end.’ The old man’s voice was flat and monotonous. ‘Welcome, heathen, to the true Church.’
Jonah looked down at the little man, and smiled.
‘I hereby cast out your sins of errant belief and bless you into God’s only world, and entrust you to perform God’s holy work.’
No more sin
, Jonah thought, and his grin grew wider. He was moving away. His vision blurred, and when he blinked he saw his wife. She held out her hand and he almost laughed, because she was as he had always remembered her.
‘That way,’ the man said, nodding to his left. He drew a cross in the air in front of Jonah’s face, then glanced down at his chest.
‘God doesn’t know you,’ Jonah rasped. His senses faded to darkness, and all awareness of his body withered. His mind clung on for a moment longer, and his final thought was of Wendy walking away from him, and himself holding her hand as he accompanied her, two lost memories.
‘What’s that?’ the bishop said. ‘Blood, there, on his chest!’
Jonah’s mouth flooded with foul heat. He flitted away to blissful nothingness, fell forward, and bit.
With big thanks to my agents Howard and Caspian, and to my splendid editor Anna.
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Epub ISBN: 9781448107575
Version 1.0
This edition published by Arrow Books in association with Hammer 2012
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Copyright © Tim Lebbon, 2012
Tim Lebbon has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction. Names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Published in Great Britain in 2011 by Arrow Books in association with Hammer
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 9780099571568
