The slaughterhouse

Others Stories | Nov 11, 2011 | 4 min read
32 Votes, average: 4 out of 5
Others Stories

The slaughterhouse

Another one fell on the ground, and the unmistakable sound of chains and pulleys reported another body being hoisted. The sharp blade opened the leather and the great vessels, and the gutter stained red received the warm blood. In the corners of the walls paws and heads were piled up. Men tired, sweaty and hungry, in the middle of so much meat, saw the carcass of the old man came down with the guts of the suspended dead animal. Everybody went down to the ground hoping to recover a single breath of that poor soul, but down there was just something dead, that remained mixed with the intestines and stomachs of the fat ox.

- Stop the butchery! Shouted somebody. The old man Sinval is dead!

During the rest of the day the men had to work hard, the animals were already dead and couldn't rot, meat is money. The slaughter should be quick because there were less workers, the dead man, and two others who had to get rid of the corpse and delivered it to his family, and helping with the funeral honors. Sinval had worked at this property for 6 months, before that, he was accused of a murder and has been unemployed for two years.

Two years and six months before


It was almost 8 pm when the truck arrived to unload the animals that would be slaughtered on the next day. And the smell of blood was still there, denouncing that something macabre had happened inside the slaughterhouse, after the last piece of meat was taken to the cold chamber. It was a different smell of blood. Two more slaughters. Two more carcasses being boned. The boiler was still burning with the lifeless organs. All waste and inedible parts were incinerated. Involuntarily the men worked on the standards, and strategically eliminated all the evidence.

..............................................................................


I am Sinval, I have been working in a State slaughterhouse for 25 years, at Jucenópolis, in Jucenal da Serra, in the middle of Brazil. I started very young in this life, I'm 62 now. Before that I worked in local butcheries and small slaughterhouses. I spent my whole life killing animals and covered with blood. During that time I witnessed workers lose their hands cutting calf's foot, men seriously hurted by using the saw, burned in the boiler, and trampled by animals.


Slaughterhouses are weird places, fetid, much death, blood, the whole structure and equipment scare those who don't know a place like that, knives, hooks, chain saw. Captures the imagination and curiosity. But for those who are already accustomed to the massacre, there is nothing new, only a life of suffering.

But I'm not going to extend this conversation, let me tell you something that happened to me.

This past year was really difficult, I am old and powerless, but it is rare to find a abattoir worker healthy, I think that it is impossible. There are many risks every day, physical and mental diseases. Animal's diseases catching us. Occupational diseases. Disease of low income. Disease of disrespect. As I was saying, we had a very bad year, we had many colleagues leaving due to health problems, many of them were fired, our boss got rid of them without payment or any compensation. What made ‌‌us more angry was when Leoncio, the owner of the slaughterhouse, and his son, Leandro, fired Juventino, the oldest worker, he was very sick, he should have been retired. We spent a few days wondering what to do to help him, but our anger was so big that we only could even think about a plan of revenge. Our plan was quite perfect and couldn't go wrong, a slaughterhouse was the ideal place, away from the city.

On the appointed day, we went to work as usual, that starts at 5 am to 7 pm. We left everything ready for the end of the day. At 6 pm we began to close the rooms, cleaning the equipament and materials, which were not cleaned, turned off the machines that were not turned off, because there were stuff to be prepared, yet. We waited for the people who wouldn't join us for the party, to leave, and we started the plan. We were six. Four of us went to Leoncio's office to ask for a few minutes of his attention, but we had already prepared the ambush. Gently with the help of our knives we requested Leoncio to dispense the security guards, then we closed the gates and asked him and his son Leandro to play on the slaughter room. And there we began the service.

We nicely explained them what we were about to do, and why that was happening. We were already fed up with so much exploitation and injustice. We have been working in a disassembly animal's industry, with super production to the meet market demands, for what? Just for the owners of the industry become richer. We tied both, and we took a sledge hammer and whacked that two fuckin' asshole just above their eyes and they got stunned. We started the killing as if it were our daily work. It was not difficult for us to butcher them, because we are accustomed to large and heavy animals. I sharpened my bleeding knife and began to open the skin of their neck, one after the other, severed the jugular and carotid vessels, allowing blood drain from their carcass. Each part had its destination. The final product was exactly what we were expected and worth it for our breakfast. We spent the night working, everything had to be ready until 4 am, we went out through the back door, and we returned at our usual time, waiting the guards to arrive and open the door for us. And we ate a delicious bread with a new ham.

But there is no perfect crime, the next day was just a tumult, Leoncio and Leandro were gone, the policemen came to investigate, their car was there, but they weren't. The workers were the first suspects. The case remained open, and nobody knew what really happened. No bodies, no crime. No evidence of murder, because we ate them.

Two years later I was working on another slaughterhouse, I had no new job opportunities, an old man like me who spent the whole life killing animals, and after prepare a special ham, really had to end in the middle of rotten and stinking guts. And that was the end, six months later.

I would like to tell you just one last thing, dear readers, watch what you eat hihihihi.

Gabriela Marra

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Reviews

Amit Nov 14, 2011

awesome story.

Amit Nov 14, 2011

really nice story. i like it. i have added this story in my favorite stories list.

Richard Schnelzer Nov 11, 2011

awesome and gruesome!!! Hey ya know the McRib is back! good story, keep it up.

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