The Farm

The Farm-


The first hundred years after the asteroid struck were spent with mankinds struggle to pull itself from the brink of extinction. There had been surprisingly few people prepared for such an event, and even fewer with a practical plan. One such group had been the government of one of the most powerful nations on the planet.
Having spent decades constructing secret bunkers deep underground, the higher ups and their extended families had what amounted to a secret subterranean city in which they could seek refuge. And when the giant rock from outer space broke through the atmosphere, plunging through the bedrock at the bottom of the Sea of Japan, they did just that.
Though they lived in a stale and hungry squalor, the bottom line is that they lived.
By the second hundred years, despite the fact that the powers that be had engineered and done their best to enforce a breeding program, the population had run rampant. So much so that there was no way it could continue to be supported on the food produced in the underground ecosystems. They had to consider returning outside.
When the scientists had conducted their tests and determined that the environment would have no ill effects on the food produced outdoors, the decision was made and a vast farm complex was erected. Since there were still some residual health hazards posed to humans topside, the people selected to work the farm were the handicapped, petty criminals and general outcasts from the underground complex. Eventually a new class emerged whose sole purpose was to work the farm and ensure that the powers were fed.

*    *    *

" What the hell are you doing now?"

Inside of his partition, Jon is on his hands and knees scrubbing furiously at some unseen dirt.

"Huh...?" lifting his head far too quickly, he slams it into the bedside shelf, knocking over some cleaning supplies and encouraging a giggle from Jen.

"Dammit!" he exclaims rubbing the back of his head, " Geez, Jen, how long have you been looking at my backside? And shouldn't you be doing something else? Something productive?"

" I only looked long enough to put me off my lunch, and I don't feel much like doing anything. I was just hoping you were up for some company, I guess."

" I could use some help moving this bed so I can clean under it, but really, you could get in a lot of trouble for being here, and not doing what you're supposed to. And then I'll probably get in trouble too. We're too close to the end, Jen, can't you behave for just one more day?"

"Oh, I could, but I don't see why I should, I mean what's the worst they're gonna do?"

"See, I don't understand why you want to push their buttons and find out. If we just do our chores and keep our mouths shut we can coast through the rest of our time here.But you seem to think you can buck the system. You can't Jen, and you have to accept that. Now, are you gonna help me with this bed or not?"

She smiles and rolls her eyes at him. " Yessir, Officer Jon !" she says as she gives him a mock salute. Moving to the foot end of the bed she lifts in tandem with Jon, moving the bed and exposing a few rogue dustbunnies on the otherwise immaculate floor.

" Wow, you're such a slob." Jen titters as she slumps down on the mattress.

"Shall we go into your room and see whats hiding under your bed? Honestly, have you ever cleaned without them having to turn on the hoses?"

" A couple times I think," she says dreamily gazing at the ceiling. After a few moments of this quiet reflection, she sits up and aks, " How can you stay so calm, when we both know what's coming?"

"It's all in how you look at it I guess..."

"Don't you feel like you're wasting your time?"

"Not really."

"You're not scared?"

"A little, but I've heard it's not so bad."

"Aren't you gonna miss your friends?"

"I won't even notice, I'm sure."

"Are you going to miss me?"

With that, Jon stops his mindless busywork and turns to Jen. He can see that despite her strong, unwavering, almost smart ass tone of voice, her eyes are brimmed with tears. " Oh geez, Jen..." he stands up and moves to where she's sitting on the bed. Taking a place beside her, he wraps his arm gently around her shoulder. Sometimes even the tough ones need comfort.

"Look, Jen, this is how things are. We've known our place in the world since we could talk. And it's not just us. Everyone on the farm is filling the same purpose. We were born, we learned to farm, we farmed and now we're moving on to make way for the next ones. I like to think because of us, humanity will survive."

" It has survived is the problem. I think our foothold on survival is firm enough to let us shut down farms like this. Just let everyone go free and go back to the way things used to be."

" The way things used to be when? Nobody remembers what things were like before the asteroid. And those fancy books and glitzy movies probably don't tell the true story. I imagine there were hundreds of farms like this to support the population back then, maybe thousands.All I'm saying is, don't let some old time fairy tales give you hope. This is our role to play, it's what we were bred for."

" Hey now! What's this ?!?" comes a booming voice from the doorway. The two turn and see Gus, one of the lead farmhands standing there, hand on his stun gun. He looks at Jen and shakes his head. " You again,huh? Always makin trouble,is it? And I'm willin' to bet that yer partition isn't even clean yet." He strikes her fully against the cheek, sending her sprawling to the floor. In an instant, Jon is on his feet.

" No,no," says Gus brandishing the stunner at him, " You just mind yer biz and I'll overlook this whole...whatever it was you were up to. As for her, she's got to learn, even if it is her last day here."

With that he rears back and gives her a few solid kicks to the ribs, before grabbing her by the hair and hauling her to her feet.

"Now then, we're going back to your pen, and you're gonna clean it like a good little girl, or there'll be one empty seat on the bus tomorrow."

" Is that even a threat?" gasps out Jen as she struggles to catch her breath. " Holy shit, you're an idiot,Gus!"

With a scowl on his already pinched face, Gus drives the stun gun into her neck. She drops instantly, twitching helplessly on the floor. Then he turns to Jon.

"Very disappointed, Jon. Very disappointed." Showing his level of disappointment, Gus unleashes an unrestrained blow squarely between Jon's eyes.

*    *    *

He awakes to the sound of klaxons blaring across the buildings speakers and realizes it's morning. It only takes him moments to reconstruct the events that led him here and he is snapped wide awake. His sits upright in his bed and and winces as the rush of blood sends a searing shockwave through his head. Jen, what happened to Jen? Before he can delve into the question, a voice comes across the speakers.

Wakey wakey gang, today is the big day. You are all expected to be in the western staging area for head count in ten minutes.

He gets out of bed and looks around his room. There's nothing to bring but himself, so he makes his way down the corridor and to the western staging area.

As he gets outside, he is awestruck at the sheer number of inhabitants this complex could hold. Never had they been congregated in one place all at once, so he never realized the vastness of the operation. A fleet of buses in front of the complex has already begun unloading the new group of fresh faces.They look so young, Jon thinks to himself. But then he realizes that they are only eight years old. The same age as he was when he started here a couple of years back. He feels much older for some reason. But then his reverie is broken when he hears a familiar voice behind him.

"You'd think they would have at least gotten us a cake."

He turns and sees Jen standing there. His relief at seeing her still alive is overshadowed by anger at her broken and battered appearance. Gus had obviously gone to work on her and left her face a bruised and disfigured mess. And why not? They didn't have a use for the face anyway. At least it appeared to have no effect on her personality.

" Aww Jen, what did they do to you?"

" What this? I was just a little clumsy last night and kept falling into Gus' fists and feet, but I feel much better this morning. You wanna ride the same bus?"

He eagerly nods his head just as the announcement is made to begin boarding. Jon looks around and sees the multitudes of boys and girls, all the same age as he, begin to disperse and filter onto the buses. For the first time he feels the flutter of nervousness imbue his being and his knees begin to tremble.

" I guess this is it, eh Jen?"

" What we're bred for." she replies almost convincingly.

With his head beginning to spin slightly, he looks at Jen and tries his best to sound strong.

"If you're still scared, I can hold your hand."

She regards him with an astonished understanding and agrees. And so, hand in hand, Jon and Jen board the bus together, take their seats and begin the final leg of their journey to the slaughterhouse.