Free Dead of Winter by Sam Millar

butchers were performing an opera of death, knives flowing fluently as conductors’ batons, cutting sinew and meaty parts expertly. With the animals’ hearts still capable of pumping blood, the legs were being removed from just below the shoulder by hydraulic shears.
    Karl steeled himself to watch, wondering which of these butchers wouldn’t think twice about slicing and dicing a human being?
    ‘The arteries are severed and the heart pumps most of the animal ’s blood from the body in less than two minutes,’ said Talbot’s blasé voice, in what sounded like a well-rehearsed explanation. ‘The draining blood flows through that floor grate and into a collection system for final processing into fertilizer and other uneatable items.’
    The butchers continued hacking at the warm meat, ignoring Karl and Talbot. To Karl, the butchers’ faces seemed to be filled with hypnotic madness. Women saturated in blood began packing  the hacked parts into plastic containers.
    ‘Those are the labourers,’ grinned Talbot, almost dismissively, pointing at the women. ‘Are you feeling okay, Karl? You look pale. You’re not going to be sick, are you?’
    ‘I’m fine…I think I’ve seen enough…’ His stomach suddenly felt like a springboard. A vile acid bile rose to his mouth. He forced it back down, and felt its kick in his stomach.
    ‘Actually, Karl, you lasted longer than most people do when they first come here and have a wee tour of–’
    ‘What on earth is that contraption?’ asked Karl, pointing at an enormous metal container stationed at the far side of the room. The huge device had all the appearances of a medieval torture chamber, with leather straps and numerous levers and buttons protruding outwards. It was caked in blood and rust, and to Karl, resembled something out of an Edgar Allan Poe nightmare on acid.
    ‘Oh, that’s the Slaughter Restraint,’ said Talbot.
    ‘The what?’
    ‘The Slaughter Restraint. That’s where the Jewish butchers do their kosher cleansing.
Shechita
they call it.’
    ‘Shechita?’
    ‘The ritual slaughter of animals according to Jewish dietary laws. They cut the cow’s throat with a great big bloody knife called a
hallaf
. God the night, you want to see the blood! Buckets of it. You’ve got to see it to believe it.’
    To Karl, Talbot seemed to be relishing the details a little too much. ‘Sounds absolutely horrific.’
    ‘Not at all. It’s quick and painless, but a lot of those interfering do-gooders and animal welfare organisations have disputed this.What the hell would they know? They’re not getting it done to them, are they? That’s logical.’
    Not wanting to argue with Talbot’s take on logic, Karl said, ‘Sounds awfully complicated just to eat a piece of meat.’
    ‘Well, these Jews are a complicated people. That’s how their God tells them to eat. If the hindquarters of the animal are to be eaten, they must be stripped of veins, fat, suet and sinews. Do you read the Bible?’
    ‘No…I mean not on a regular basis.’
    ‘Well, it’s all in there, if you ever feel that way inclined.’
    ‘Are any of your butchers specifically assigned to do this?’ said Karl, the gears in his brain moving nicely with suspicion.
    ‘Ha! They’re not even allowed touch the cow, never mind butchering it for them. Jews have strange customs. They think us Gentiles are unclean – though they’ll never say that to your face, of course. They’re afraid we’ll contaminate their grub. No, what they do is get one of their rabbis to do the killing. That keeps them right in the eyes of God. If you read the Bible, you’d know all that, just like me.’
    ‘What part does the Slaughter Restraint play in all this?’
    ‘The Slaughter Restraint is connected to that room above.’ Talbot pointed to a room directly above the Slaughter Restraint. ‘Once the animal – usually a cow – is forced into the Slaughter Restraint, it’s immediately clamped in tightly by two buffers , before