by David Bishop
Klaus nodded hurriedly, anything to get Constanta's rancid breath away, to escape the curving, crimson-tipped fangs that hovered within biting distance.
The Hauptmann straightened up and smiled, apparently satisfied. "Very well, then. Let's us say nothing more about it."
He clapped his hands and Doctor Sheybal scurried into the room like an obedient dog.
"Ah, my dear Vladek. I want you to ensure young Vollmer receives the finest possible care. The sooner he is back in the air with a new Stuka, fighting the good fight for Germany and Rumania, the better for all of us. Don't you agree, Oberleutnant?"
"Yes," Klaus whispered.
The Hauptmann wrapped an arm round Sheybal's shoulders and led the physician out of the room. "Now, doctor, I need to talk with you about medical supplies for the prisoner of war camp on the other side of Sighisoara. I was visiting there earlier today and saw a severe shortage of vital equipment. We don't wish the Russian prisoners to die needlessly, do we?"
Once they were gone, Klaus let his head sink back into the pillow. He became aware that his bedclothes were soaked with sweat. He began shivering uncontrollably, his hands shaking like those of an old man. Why hadn't the vampyr leader killed him when given the chance? It would look suspicious if he had died while recovering at a rehabilitation centre, but these things happened. Eventually, he abandoned trying to understand the Hauptmann's actions. Klaus decided he could not think his way into the Hauptmann's head, nor did he want to. Besides, something else was bothering him. Why would Constanta care about the welfare of Russian POWs if the Rumanians hated the Soviets as much as they claimed? Again, he could find no obvious answer to that question. But the pilot did come to a decision: he would pay a visit to that camp and see those prisoners with his own eyes.
EPILOGUE
Chief Judge Hershey presided over the memorial service on the site where Joe Chill Block had stood. Four months had passed since the crisis engineered by Bludd, and for most of Mega-City One, the incident was already passing into memory. Soon it would become just another disaster in the long line of tragedies that seemed to plague the Big Meg. Give it another four months and the night half the city went blind would be more legend than reality. Everyone affected had their sight back within a week. All received regular check-ups from optometrist droids to monitor on-going side effects but the results remained positive. The crisis had passed and order was restored.
Dredd was among those attending the ceremony in Southside Sector 41. Thirty-three thousand people had died as a demonstration of power by Jesus Bludd, not to mention the thousands more who perished after the light storm. In place of Joe Chill a small park had been erected, with real trees and grass. Normally such luxuries were unfeasibly expensive and beyond contemplation, but the Justice Department's Accounts Division had seized all of the Bludd Group's assets as compensation for the crimes of its leader. Some good had emerged from the failed power play.
Hershey stepped forward to begin her speech. "This city has suffered through many traumas, many tragedies. The death of Joe Chill Block and all who were inside it at the time is one such tragedy. No doubt there will be others. Life is never simple or straightforward, the future never easy to foresee, the present always a headlong rush towards tomorrow. But hopefully we can learn from our past and honour those who have fallen so that others might live."
"How's she doing?" a female voice asked from beside Dredd. He turned sideways to see Janus, restored to her full Psi-Judge uniform, helmet in hand.
"Good," he replied quietly. "And you?"
Janus shrugged. "Still in therapy. They let me out for the morning to come here, so that's a positive sign."
Hershey's voice drifted across the crowd towards the two Judges. "Southside Sector 41 has had a long history of problems and extreme violence. Joe Chill Block was the scene of more murders than any other residential building in the entire city. Perhaps its destruction, however wrong, however traumatic, could still have some positive effects. Perhaps the people of this sector can draw a line under the past and start afresh."
"How much do you remember?" Dredd asked.
"All of it," Janus said, bitterness in her voice. "The undercover Judges I had to kill. The murders I witnessed. The sex acts Bludd made me commit with him and with others. How I used my psi powers to persuade Dr Swanson she was in love with me and then used that to twist her inside out, ruining her life. The moment when Ryan died, pleading for his life, all of it. I remember all of it."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too," the Psi-Judge agreed.
"Finally," Hershey concluded, "I want to dedicate this garden to the lost souls who died here and elsewhere on that fateful night. May they find a way to happiness and may this oasis of green flourish in their place." Polite applause rippled through the crowd as the Chief Judge cut a ribbon, her action recorded by dozens of news channel hover-cams.
Dredd and Janus strolled back to their Lawmasters. All the motorcycles of Judges attending the event were parked in the space where the Nothing Could Be Finer Diner once stood. Janus rubbed a hand across her forehead. "It's all locked inside here, going round and round. Psi-Division offered just to wipe everything away but I couldn't cope with losing more than a year of my life, even one as bad as that. It would be denying it had ever happened. I want to remember those people I murdered, just as I'd want to be remembered if I had been one of the victims. I owe them that much." Janus looked at Dredd. "Does that make sense?"
"Your own personal memorial."
The Psi-Judge smiled. "Something like that." She found her motorcycle from among the many and began pulling on her helmet. "Were you there when Tek-Division dismantled the command and control system? The head-shrinkers had spirited me away before that happened."
Dredd shook his head. "It wasn't dismantled."
"Why not?" Janus paused. "Grud on a greenie, they didn't take it back to the Dustbuster, did they?"
"No, it's still up there. The department claimed all those old weapons satellites for itself. The other mega-cities know we have them now and they'll think twice before taking us on."
"After everything that happened? After everything I did to help stop Bludd? What motherless drokker thought up that bright idea?" Janus asked in disgust.
"I did." Dredd mounted his Lawmaster and gunned the engine into life. "See you on the streets, Janus."
GLOSSARY
Russian words or phrases, unless otherwise stated. German nouns are usually capitalised. Russian words are written as phonetic spellings.
Aufstieg - Growth (German)
bliad' - whore
bliatz - bitch
Blitzkrieg - Lightning War (German)
Bojemoi! - My God!
burzhuiki - free-standing stove
Chort tzdbya beeree! - The devil with you!
da - yes
dacha - holiday home
Dämmerung - Twilight (German)
Djavoli - Devil, Devils
Doroga Zhizni - Road of Life
dubiina - idiot
Feuerzauber - Fire Magic (German)
gaduka - snake, serpent
gefreiter - Lance-Corporal (German)
gymnastiorka - shirt or blouse
Halt! Wer geht dort? - Halt! Who goes there? (German)
Hände hoch! - Hands high! (German)
hauptmann - Captain (German)
kasha - grain porridge
kommisar - political officer
Leningradskaia Pravda - Leningrad Truth
Leningradskoi armii narodnogo opolchaniia (LANO) - Leningrad People's Militia Army
Leutnant - 2nd Lieutenant (German)
Mestnaia protivo-vozdushnaia oborona (MPVO) - local air defence
Moisin - rifle
Narodnyi Komissariat Vnutrennikh Dei (NKVD) - People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs
Obergefeiter - Corporal (German)
oblast - region
Ostfront - The Eastern Front (German)
pilotka - cap
podonok - A person that is the lowest of the low
portyanki - Narrow cloth strips wrapped round feet as socks
Pravda - Truth, a Russian newspaper
samovar - a metal urn for making tea
shapka-ushanka - synthetic fur-lined hat
sharovari - trousers similar to jodhpurs
shtrafroty - penal company
Smert Krofpeet - death to blood-drinkers
statsionar - convalescent hospital
svolotch - bastard
telogreika - quilted jacket
tselka - virgin
Tod - Dead (German)
tovarisch - friend
Univermag - A co-operative store
Upravlenie po delam iskusstv (UPDI) - Council for the Arts
ushanka - fur-lined hat
valenki - boots made of pressed felt
Vampyr - Vampire (German)
vospitanie - moral upbringing
Wehrmacht - The German Armed Forces (German)
zasranec - asshole
About the Author
David Bishop was born and raised in New Zealand, becoming a daily newspaper journalist at eighteen years old. He emigrated to Britain in 1990 and was editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine and then 2000 AD, before becoming a freelance writer. His previous contributions to Black Flame include Judge Dredd: Bad Moon Rising, Nikolai Dante: The Strangelove Gambit and A Nightmare on Elm Street: Suffer the Children, as well as the previous two titles in the Fiends of the Eastern Front series. He also writes non-fiction books and articles, audio dramas, comics and has been a creative consultant on three forthcoming video games.
If you see David in public, do not approach him - alert the nearest editor and stand well back.
