The Black Farm

by Elias Witherow

  Trent looked over at Jess and me. “Been watching that one for a while now. It’ll start heading this way again in a couple of hours. Our window of opportunity has opened. Soon as Kevin brings our shit, we’re gone.”

  “Right now?” Jess asked, her eyes glued to the receding titan along the skyline.

  “Yeah, why wait? Something you need to do first?”

  Jess shook her head and shuddered, “I’ve just never liked the ocean. And those…things…you said it’s coming back. What if it catches us?”

  Trent kicked up sand, sighing, “I’ve already asked myself that a million times. I’d rather risk it than stay here any longer. I have to know what’s out there, I have to know if there’s a way out of this damn place. Kevin feels the same way. No risk, no reward right?”

  I stayed silent. My eyes soared to the edges of the horizon, a long black line of water that met the gray sky. What was out there? Could we really escape the Black Farm? And what unknown horrors awaited us if we embarked on this insane voyage?

  We reached the raft, an impressive vessel considering the resources available. Trent waved his hands proudly, a smile splitting his lips.

  “Not bad, right?”

  It was about twelve feet long and four feet wide, a rectangle of wood strung together by tightly knotted rope. Peeking from the bottom was what looked like a brown tarp, secured to the underside. They had nailed siding along the parameter of the craft, about a foot high, a humble stack of crudely cut wood.

  It reminded me of a very shallow box.

  “Where did you get the supplies for all this?” I asked, hands on my hips.

  Trent nodded toward the huts behind us, “Man you’d be surprised what was left behind here. They didn’t build these houses with their bare hands.”

  “I don’t get this place,” I muttered.

  Trent slapped a hand over my shoulder, “Don’t try to. You’ll drive yourself crazy. And there’s already plenty out there willing to do that for you.”

  “Every time I think I’m familiar with the Farm, something else comes along and changes the formula,” I said, walking to the raft, running my hands along the sturdy sides.

  Trent snorted, “That’s cause The Pig is like a child who gets bored with its toys. After a while, it discards them and creates something new to play with. Could be Pig Born or that dead sun over there, or even the rules of the Farm. You ever notice how some places have power and others don’t?”

  “I did notice that,” I said.

  Trent shrugged. “Shit like that is all over. Inconsistencies, anomalies, bent rules. It does whatever it wants because it can. There’s nothing stopping it. The laws of our world don’t apply here.”

  Jess walked over to me as Trent was talking, nervously appraising the raft. Trent turned to the ocean and made sure the Keeper was still departing. Jess put a hand on my arm.

  “I don’t know if I want to do this,” she whispered.

  I faced her. “I think we have to. Jess, we know what’s here, what awaits us if we return to the forest. The Pig Born will never stop hunting us and tormenting us. And now that I royally fucked the Temple, we just gained a whole host of new people who want to kill us. Back there,” I jabbed a thumb over my shoulder, “back there is hell. But this,” I waved a hand at the water, “this could be something else. We have to try. I’m not spending eternity here watching you suffer, hiding in fear, just wondering how long we can last before some new horror rips us apart.”

  Jess hugged herself. “Those things scare me…”

  I looked out at the far off Keeper. “I know, they scare me, too. But it’s leaving. This could be our only chance.”

  I could see fear in Jess’s eyes, but she bit her lip and nodded. “All right, Nick. If you think this is what’s best.”

  Fuck if I know.

  “It is,” I said reassuringly, hugging her. “We can do this.”

  We saw Kevin stumbling toward us, carrying an armload of supplies, spilling half of them in the process. Jess squeezed my arm and turned to help him.

  “Looks like he could use a hand,” she said quietly.

  I watched her walk up the beach, Kevin fumbling to pick up what looked like an oar, and ended up dropping a brown sack in the process, spilling tools onto the ground.

  Trent silently walked to my side, crossing his arms. “I’m glad you got her back, man.”

  I watched Jess as she reached Kevin. “Me too.”

  Trent glanced sideways at me. “I know she didn’t want to talk about it but…getting her out of there must have been hell, judging by the look of you both. You ok?”

  A breeze rose from the ocean and ruffled my hair.

  “No,” I whispered.

  We watched Jess help Kevin pick up the scattered items on the ground, waves lapping the shore at our backs.

  Trent suddenly reached down into his boot and pulled out a knife. He passed it to me with a grim look on his face. “Look, man, if shit goes south out there…kill me.”

  I took the knife, eying Trent. “Your lack of confidence worries me.”

  Trent rolled his shoulders. “Shit, chief, you know how this place is. Just…hold on to the knife. Think of it as worst case scenario. I don’t want to be swinging from a Keeper’s cross for all of eternity. You know that, right? That that’s what they do if they catch you. They chain you to themselves, destined to swing by the neck but never die, suffering in constant agony for as long as forever lasts.”

  I slid the knife into my boot, my voice grim. “Yeah…I know.”

  Jess and Kevin approached and dropped the items into the raft beside us. I looked over what they had brought. Two makeshift oars, a bag of tools, water gathered in glass jugs, a sack stuffed with something I guessed was food, the familiar brown bars poking out of the top.

  “Just have to get the blankets,” Kevin said, out of breath, “and then we’re all set.”

  “Good,” Trent said. “Let’s get a move on before any more Keepers show up.”

  “Give me a hand, Jess?” Kevin asked. Jess nodded and the two of them returned up the beach toward the houses.

  A heaviness settled in my chest as we watched them go. “Trent, there’s one more thing I need to know before we go.”

  He looked at me cautiously. “What’s that, chief?”

  I pointed toward the mountain towering in the distance, “What’s up there? I’ve seen…lights on the summit.”

  Trent shifted in the sand. “Yeah, I’ve seen them, too.”

  “Do you know what they are? Someone at the Temple called them the Eyes of the World. What does that mean?”

  Trent looked at the mountain, his voice dropping, “They’ve been there for as long as I can remember. Sometimes the light is blue, other times it’s red.”

  “But do you know what they are?” I pressed.

  Trent looked hard at me, “Heaven and Hell sit at the top of that mountain.”

  I blinked, taken back, “W-what do you mean?”

  Trent held up two fingers. “The Eyes are beings sent here by their masters. One from Heaven, one from Hell. They watch over the Farm, watch The Pig, and make sure it doesn’t do anything too radical to upset the balance of their fucked up versions of the afterlife. This trinity of possibilities, these resting places for our existence after death, Heaven, Hell, the Black Farm…I think the balance is more fragile than we known. The Eyes make sure the scales don’t tip one way or another. Remember, this place was created as a mutual agreement between the two extremes. It’s a wild card.”

  I stared at the mountain, the peak poking into the sky.

  Trent continued, “They don’t come down here, don’t mess with the system The Pig has established. Just so long it doesn’t try anything crazy, like overthrow the balance or break through the planes of reality, then they’ll remain on the mountain. Watching. Waiting.”

  “What about the lights then?” I asked.

  Trent shrugged, “Not entirely sure. But I think that’s how they talk to
their masters. I think when we see the lights, they’re sending their observations back to their realities.”

  “What the hell…” I muttered. “Has anyone tried going up there?”

  “I don’t know,” Trent said, “But I wouldn’t dare. Who knows what they’re like? Hell, just interacting with them might break some cosmic rule and then…good luck. God only knows what they’d decide to do with you, what terrible fate they’d dish out because you dared confront them.”

  “Is that why no one wants to talk about them? I was warned at the Temple not to bring it up. Danny seems sensitive about the subject, too.”

  Trent nodded. “They’re afraid of the Eyes. They represent a power higher than themselves, a threat to overthrow what they’ve built. If they decided they didn’t like what the Temple was doing, or how Danny and The Pig conducted themselves, then they’d send word back to their masters.”

  “And then what?”

  Trent’s voice dropped low, “I don’t even want to think about that. Nothing good, chief.”

  I watched as Jess and Kevin emerged from the cluster of houses again, carrying armfuls of blankets. “Don’t you think that might be something worth pursuing? Maybe they could…shit, I don’t know…don’t you think they could help us?”

  Trent barked a laugh. “Are you insane? Why the hell would they help us? We’re trying to escape! If we actually manage to get out of here then it would upset their entire system, throw the whole triangle of power out of whack.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  Trent poked a finger at me. “They don’t give a fuck about us. Get that through your head now. In all the eons of suffering we’ve gone through here, not once have they offered a helping hand. They simply watch and report.”

  I fell into silence. I turned the new information over in my head, trying to find some angle or crack, but just ended up hopelessly frustrated. How could any of this be? Wasn’t there a single person out that that gave a damn about us? How could the gods of our fate be so cruel? If there actually was someone in Heaven, looking down on us, that knew what we were suffering so endlessly…how could they not intervene? How could we be judged so harshly for a single action? It didn’t seem fair, didn’t seem just. What kind of malicious fuck was running the show up there…?

  “I’ve seen that look before,” Trent said quietly. “Don’t kill yourself trying to make sense of all this. All that bullshit in Sunday School was just that…total bullshit. There ain’t no all-loving God up there. Just an indecisive prick who didn’t know how to settle an argument with his nemesis. And so here we are, tossed aside like yesterday’s trash. Those two bastards up on the mountain? They’re not here to watch us. They’re here to make sure The Pig doesn’t meddle in affairs it has no business meddling in. We’re a forgotten people, Nick. We are totally and completely…alone.”

  I unclenched my jaw. “Wonderful.”

  Jess and Kevin drew closer. They dumped the blankets into the raft and turned to us.

  “I think we’re finally ready,” Kevin said, breaking the grim mood. He looked out over the ocean. The Keeper was still stalking away from us, its form growing smaller and smaller on the horizon.

  “Where did you get all this stuff?” Jess asked.

  Trent walked to the raft and ran his hands over the rough wood, “We’ve had a long time to gather it all. Piece by piece, through death and rebirth we continued to gather it all. It wasn’t easy, but I think we’re as ready as we’ll ever be.”

  Kevin shifted in the sand. “Now that the moment is upon is, I can’t help but feel kind of nervous.”

  Trent gripped his shoulder. “I’d be worried if you weren’t, kid.” He looked up at Jess and me. “You ready?”

  “One last question,” I said, “What about the water? That dead sun has been dripping its black poison into it, tainting the entire ocean…”

  Kevin nodded understandingly. “That was one of the first things we tested before we even started work on the raft.”

  “And?”

  Kevin rubbed his arm. “Just don’t get it in your mouth and I think we’ll be ok. I tested some of it on my skin and I didn’t notice any immediate effect.”

  “You tested it on your skin?” Jess asked incredulously.

  Kevin grinned sheepishly. “Yeah, dude, first just a couple drops and then I submerged my whole arm. After a dozen or so seconds, your arm starts to tingle and go numb, like it has fallen asleep, but there’s no pain.”

  “Couldn’t that shut down your entire body though?” I asked.

  “Since none of us plan on going for a swim during our voyage, I think we’ll be ok,” Kevin said.

  “What if something destroys the raft and we fall in?” Jess asked.

  Kevin sighed, “Well, then we have bigger problems.”

  “Are we good?” Trent asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “I wouldn’t go that far,” Jess said, “but let’s hurry up and get this over with before that stone giant comes back.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Trent said, smiling. “Why don’t you hop in the raft with Kevin? Nick and I will shove us off.”

  I helped Jess over the meager railing, my foot crunching on the piece of tarp sticking out from the bottom.

  What a shit show this is, I thought, if there’s anything out there that gives damn about us…please let this work.

  Jess huddled in the corner of the boat, wrapping herself in a blanket, the ocean wind kicking sand into our faces. I squinted as Kevin hopped into the craft and grabbed an oar. I realized then just how fast my heart was beating.

  “Give me a hand here, Nick,” Trent said, starting to push.

  Together, grunting with exertion, we started to push the raft toward the waves. I gritted my teeth as we approached the impossibly black water, the reality of what we were about to do hitting hard as my boots crossed damp sand.

  “Just a little bit more!” Kevin announced enthusiastically.

  A wave curled and crashed, the water lapping at the front of the raft. I lowered myself further and dug my heels in, feeling the water begin to take the craft.

  “Go, go, go!” Trent yelled as we splashed into the ocean, the raft now rolling in the waves. Kevin dug his oar into the black water and Jess snatched the second one, joining in the effort.

  The water was up to my waist, my legs buzzing and growing sluggish, when Trent tapped me on the back.

  “We’re away! Get in, let’s do this!”

  Hauling myself over the side, I splashed into the raft, Trent following. I took Jess’s oar and shoved it in the water, pulling us further from the sandy beach. The waves rocked us, the raft rising and falling dramatically, but soon we had passed through the worst of it and we leveled out. The black plane of the sea stretched out before us like a glass carpet.

  “Hell yeah, chief! No stopping us now!” Trent cried, pumping a fist into the air. Kevin was laughing, the wind whipping his dark hair across his face. Jess had retreated to the comfort of her blanket, her face blank.

  I shared her expression.

  Now that we were inside it, the raft felt like a coffin.

  13

  The beach was a thin brown line behind us as our oars relentlessly churned the water. My shoulder felt like hell, but I paid it no attention. I could feel a warmth spreading underneath the bandage. Kevin kept his head on a swivel as Trent and I took the brunt of the work. Jess remained in the corner beneath her blanket, her face pale. Kevin offered her one of the brown clusters to eat and she took it thankfully, nibbling at a corner.

  “What is that?” I asked, continuing to stroke.

  “Just a little concoction we made,” Kevin said, “it’s mostly vegetation and tree sap. Doesn’t taste like much, but it keeps the hunger away.”

  He reached into a sack and pulled out a glass jug full of water. “You want some?” I took it gratefully, passing my oar to him. I tipped the jug to my lips and swallowed a mouthful, wiping my mouth and staring out across the water.

  The Keeper we h
ad been watching was a dot in the distance now, off the right side of the raft. I looked to my left and saw two more dots, tiny smudges miles away. I pointed to them.

  “You see those?”

  Kevin nodded. “Yeah, I’ve been keeping my eye on ’em. They don’t seem to be getting any closer though. I think we’re ok for now.”

  Even so, the sight made me uneasy.

  Out of breath and looking tired, Trent offered his oar to Jess, “You mind?”

  Jess shimmied out of her blanket and took it wordlessly, changing places with Trent. The rain had started again and I shivered.

  Trent tossed me a blanket. “Here, stay warm; keep your muscles loose.” I wrapped myself in the rough cloth and used a corner to wipe the rain from my eyes.

  “How’s your shoulder doing?” Kevin asked.

  “I’m afraid to look,” I said, recapping the water and stashing it back in the bag. “I’ll be fine. If you get tired, either of you, let me know. I’m ok.”

  Jess dipped her oar into the water, eyes roaming to the two smudges rising from the far-off ocean, “I think they’re getting closer.”

  Kevin shook his head. “No, trust me, I’ve been watching the Keepers for a long time now in preparation for this journey. They’re just weaving back and forth; we’re ok.”

  “Why would they leave such a big opening for us?” I asked.

  Trent rested his head against the side of the boat. “I’ve learned not to question any good fortune that comes our way. I think we’ve earned it.”

  “It’s almost like they want us to try and escape,” Jess said quietly.

  “We’re off to a good start,” Trent said with his eyes closed. “Let’s just be grateful for that.”

  The sound of the ocean swelled around us and I found my mind wandering. Was there an end to this ocean? What would we find, if anything? I realized I had no clue how much water we’d have to cross as well. Could we really do this with just four people, two oars, and a meager supply of food and water? I shook the thoughts away. Thoughts like that could be dangerous. I had to stay focused and hopeful.