I blinked as the boy scrambled off into the woods, disappearing from sight.
What a little bastard.
I leaned out of the hollow and scanned my surroundings. Nothing but dark, dripping forest. I listened for signs of danger and realized that I couldn’t hear anything but the splatter of rain on the leaves overhead. No bugs, no birds, nothing.
You don’t know this place, I reminded myself, you don’t know its rules; you don’t know its cycles.
It was an unnerving feeling, one I found hard to fathom. Questions about the Black Farm began to crowd my tired mind. Does it always rain here? Is there night? How big is this place? Is there a way to get out? If I killed myself here, would I wake up in those clouds, about to fall to the earth from that red drool?
As I attempted to come up with answers, I realized that one thing was very apparent. I was thirsty, deathly thirsty.
Well, my biological body still acts the same, I thought to myself, that’s something at least.
I slowly crawled out of the tree, eyes scanning for signs of life. I stayed on my belly and slithered to a large plant a few feet to my left. Water pooled in its expansive leaves and I greedily lowered my lips and sucked up the moisture.
Sighing, I wiped my face and crawled to my feet. My clothes were tattered and filthy, clinging to my skin like glue. Rain seeped through the dense canopy overhead and I raised my face to it, letting it wash away some of the muck.
“Muck,” I said out loud, “Got to find Muck.”
I knew it wasn’t much to go on, but it was all I had. In truth, I had no way of knowing if Jess was even here. Maybe she had chosen to feed The Pig like Danny said. But what if she hadn’t? What if this monster, Muck, had taken her?
But I had to do something. I realized I needed some kind of destination, something to work towards. It was my lifeline to hope and I knew if I lost that, I was as good as dead. Well…whatever dead meant here at least.
Checking my surroundings one last time, I began to trudge in the direction the boy had pointed. I tried to make as little sound as possible as I walked, each step carefully calculated. The last thing I needed was something chasing me again.
Time stretched before me, filled with agonized tension. I never slowed, the forest remaining eerily quiet except for the rain. My body begged for sleep, but I ignored it. Every second I wasn’t searching for Jess was another second she could be suffering. I focused on the image of her face, her shining blue eyes, her precious smile. My chest swelled and I suddenly missed her more than anything. As bad as things had gotten, we had always been together. Together through the end.
Her separation from me was jarring, something I hadn’t expected. I had grown so used to her always being around, always being close. Not knowing where she was, what she was doing…it dug into my chest like a mournful termite.
“Please let her be safe,” I whispered, climbing over a downed tree.
I stopped suddenly. Who was I talking to? God?
I trained my eyes to the heavens, “If you’re up there…if you can see me here…please…help me find her. She doesn’t deserve this.”
Rain slithered overhead and spat into my face. I shut my eyes against it. It was the first time I had seriously prayed since killing myself. I didn’t even believe in God, didn’t know what I expected, but I knew I needed help. My reality had been upended, all rational thought and understanding destroyed. The Black Farm was proof of that. If I was going to face this place, I needed to reassess what I truly knew.
The answer came back depressingly stark: You know nothing. You’re a newborn in some fucked up place created by bickering, omnipotent entities. No one hears you, no one can help you. This reality is as cruel and violent as the one you left.
I balled my hands into fists and opened my eyes to the sky. “Just once,” I growled, “Please, fucking help me.”
Without waiting for an answer, I plowed deeper into the forest.
I don’t know how long I walked, the sky never changing. The gloom that filtered through the green continued to exhale rain in icy gusts, my body growing cold beneath it. The woods never changed, a constant expanse of towering forest and muddy undergrowth. I soon realized I was lost, the environment melting together like repeating pictures. My limbs ached, the exhausting experience I had gone through tugging me to the earth. I wrapped my arms around myself, begging my body to stop shivering, the rain coating my clothes and skin.
Eventually I collapsed, unable to take another step. I thudded against a tree and sat there gasping, rubbing my muscles back to life. My eyes drooped and my mind whispered for sleep. I rested my head against the trunk of the tree and fought against it as best I could, but I could feel myself losing the battle.
Don’t you dare sleep while Jess is out there, I thought, don’t you dare.
Despite my best efforts, I closed my eyes and fell into a light sleep.
Something cold slithered across my mouth, jolting me awake in an instant. My eyes snapped open and I immediately reached to slap away whatever was on my face but froze. A woman’s face was inches from mine, one hand over my mouth, a finger to her lips urging my silence. Once she saw I wasn’t going to scream, she slid her hand off my mouth and pointed behind me.
I craned my neck to look behind the tree I had been resting against, confusion crashing like waves into my already tired psyche. In the distance, my eyes found the source of my hurried silence.
A cluster of people was slowly walking through the woods, clothed in red hooded robes that obscured their faces. I counted twelve of them, their procession slow and almost reverent. They were in a single file formation and the head of the group swung something from a chain in front of him like a pendulum. I squinted and realized it was a skull. The top of the head had been caved in and filled with burning coals.
The air sizzled and filled with reeking smoke as I continued to observe the strange congregation. They didn’t look towards me or my silent companion as they marched, the leader gently swinging the hollowed out head before him, causing thick trails of smoke to curl around them.
Jesus, I thought, it’s like some kind of twisted incense. As if to prove my point, the twelve began to slowly sing, a deep murmur, their voices somber. Whatever I was witnessing was some kind of religious ceremony, a chilling procession I wanted no part of.
The woman suddenly tapped my arm. I turned to her and really saw her for the first time. She was about my age, her raven black hair short and curling to her chin. Her eyes looked like lifeless holes in her skull, marbles of dull brown appraising me above a worried frown.
“Come with me,” she whispered, motioning away from the eerie scene before us. I took one last look at the twelve hooded figures and then followed the woman away from them.
She was quick and careful, her feet carrying her through the underbrush with practiced skill. I tried my best to mimic her silence, but I soon felt like a bull in a china shop, seemingly snapping and tripping over every branch and rock. She shot me an irritated look once or twice at my blundering volume but said nothing.
She took us down a long slope and after a little more walking, I noticed the trees were thinning. The overcast sky slowly began to unfurl over the receding canopy and the ever present rain drenched my skin with increased vigor. I shivered but stayed close to the woman, wondering where we were going. She obviously wasn’t…what had the kid called them? Pig Born?
As we pressed on, a new noise began to cut through the rain. It sounded like the crash of waves against a beach. Curious, I picked up the pace, urging the woman to press on.
Finally, through the trees, I spotted a stretch of white running the length of my vision, left to right. The crash of waves was apparent now and I bolted past the woman, heart racing. Was this the way out of the Black Farm? Was this person leading me to some secret exit?
“Stop!” the woman cried as I overtook her, but I paid her no attention.
I burst through the trees onto a sandy beach but immediately skid to a halt
, eyes growing wide, a shiver running through me as I gazed out on the scene before me.
A vast ocean stretched to the horizon, black waves curling and foaming along the shore like rotting tongues lapping at the sand.
But that wasn’t what chilled me to the core.
It was the three towering monsters in the ocean, their figures soaring to meet the clouds. They looked as if they were made of stone, and each one had strange glyphs and patterns lining their human-shaped torsos, arms, and legs. The glyphs glowed neon blue and pulsed as if illuminated by the beating of a colossal heart. The human similarities ended once my wide-eyed gaze reached their heads.
Driven deep between each of their stone shoulders was an immense cross, the metal crossbeams shining in the rain. Hanging from the arms of the crosses were thousands and thousands of wriggling people, their screams echoing across the dark waves towards me.
The stone titans waded through the ocean, the water rising to their waist. Their long cracked fingers skimmed the surface as if feeling for movement or currents.
I realized my mouth was hanging open as I observed these mountainous entities, their gigantic forms impossibly imposing despite being miles from shore.
Suddenly the woman was at my side, yanking me back into the woods and off the beach. I tripped and stumbled, unable to tear my eyes away from the chilling giants in the ocean.
Once we were a couple trees deep, the woman let go of me and slumped against a tree, breathing hard and shaking her head.
“Are you an idiot?” she asked, her voice harsh. “What is wrong with you?”
I pulled my eyes from the partially obscured beach and looked down at her. “What the hell are those things?”
She cocked and eyebrow at me and then snorted after a moment, “Oh I see…you’re new here aren’t you?”
I sat down against a tree across from her, still recovering. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I am. I seem to be getting asked that a lot.”
The woman sighed, “I’m just not used to seeing new people. Muck gets most of you right out of the gate. Puts you in his Needle Fields.”
I winced, “Do I even want to know?”
The woman smiled sadly. “Hopefully you’ll never have to. I’m Megan, by the way.”
I looked at her, taking in those empty brown eyes, the nest of black hair. I returned the smile. “I’m Nick.”
Megan dug into the pocket of her torn jeans. “Shoulda fed The Pig, Nick.”
I turned my gaze back to the tree line. “I can’t. I need to find someone. My girlfriend, Jess. She…she came here with me.” I felt Megan’s eyes on me and I exhaled heavily. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this. There wasn’t supposed to be an afterlife. We just wanted…we just wanted to sleep in darkness together, forever.”
“How romantic,” Megan said, pulling something from her pocket.
I shot her a sharp look, “You don’t know what we were going through.”
Megan tossed me something and I caught it, turning it over in my hand. It was a brown, slightly squishy rectangle that looked like packed dirt.
I cocked an eyebrow, holding it up.
Megan nodded with her chin. “Eat up.”
I snorted, “This is food?”
“That it is. Best I can do. And you’re welcome by the way.”
As I inspected the strange substance I realized I was starving. I sniffed the brown bar and then took a hesitant bite. It was surprisingly tasteless, the consistency like taffy. I devoured it in seconds and felt slightly better.
“Thanks,” I said, wiping my mouth.
Megan inspected me curiously. “What makes you think Jess didn’t feed The Pig? If she were smart, she would have.”
“She’s here,” I answered, “I just know she is. I can feel it in my gut. I have to find her. She needs me. This place…”
“It’s awful, isn’t it? Trust me, you haven’t seen the half of it. There are things here that you can’t even imagine.”
“You mentioned Muck. I’ve heard that name before. Some kid in a devil mask told me that he probably had Jess. I’m looking for him.”
Megan shook her head. “Stay away from that monster. I was caught by him…a long time ago. Thankfully he ended up killing me. But the time I spent in captivity…” She trailed off, wrapping her arms around herself, face growing pale.
“So you understand why I need to find her. That woman has suffered enough in life, I can’t leave her alone in this nightmare.”
Megan sighed, “If she has indeed chosen to stay here, then she could be anywhere. But Muck…he’d be a good place to start searching. I’m warning you though…”
I held up a hand, “I know, I know. I can’t do nothing, though. There has to be some way for us to get out of here.”
Megan pointed to the ocean, “Yeah, they thought so, too.”
I turned to look at the lumbering titans in the black water. “Who? Those monsters?”
“No. The people hanging from the crosses,” she said sadly. “They tried to swim out of the Black Farm. Thought that maybe the horizon held some kind of escape. Idiots. You can’t get away; we’re all trapped here. The Black Farm is an island separated down the middle by the forest. You can’t escape; you can only hide.”
“What are those giants?” I asked.
Megan wiped a strand of wet hair off her face, the rain continuous. “They’re called Keepers. There’s thirteen of them in total, all roaming the waters surrounding the Black Farm. Anyone who tries to brave the ocean gets taken by them and hung on their crosses, doomed to swing by the neck for eternity, never dying.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, remembering the screams.
The moment stretched and the silence grew between us. I rolled my head back and stared into the sky. I spotted a red split in the clouds, a growing abyss that gaped like a bloody mouth. I watched in horrified fascination as strands of red drool stretched from the corners and extended towards the earth.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, eyes growing wide. Megan turned to stare up with me. Motionless bodies began to fill the tubes of swaying ooze, and then one by one fell from the jelly onto the beach. The bodies slammed into the sand, ten, twenty people, spraying grit into the air. They lay there, motionless, eyes shut like they were dead.
“That’s how we are reborn into the Black Farm,” Megan said somberly, “Come on, we need to move. Reapers will be here soon to bring them to Danny.”
But I was paralyzed, disgust and fear rooting me in place. One of the bodies rolled on the beach, down the gentle incline towards the water. The waves rose and covered the person, pulling him into the ocean with dark intent.
Immediately, one of the cross-headed giants turned to face the shore. It began to walk, long strides pulling immense gouts of water along with it. As it got closer, I began to hear the screams of the people chained to the cross upon its shoulders.
Megan was on her feet, looking worried. “Come on, Nick, let’s go. Now.”
“Where the fuck am I?” I whispered before Megan grabbed me and dragged me back into the woods.
4
I wiped moisture from my face as we slunk through the woods, keeping a vigilant eye out for any signs of movement. I still had so many questions, but Megan silenced me with a look anytime I opened my mouth. She seemed to have a destination in mind so I crammed the inquiries down my throat and pressed on.
For a while, we didn’t see anyone, the two of us focusing on remaining as quiet as possible as the constant rain bled through the expansive canopy overhead. I could feel myself growing tired, but felt like stopping would be too risky until we found shelter.
At one point, we saw a group of people slinking through the undergrowth, distant smudges of pale color blinking between the trees. Megan pulled me down and we hid until they were long out of sight. They looked like Suicidals, but the risk wasn’t worth exposing our position.
The sky never changed its gloomy hue as the hours ticked on. It felt like we were stuck in time. Or maybe time didn’t exi
st here. I wiped wet strands of hair out of my face and pulled my eyes to Megan who had noticed me staring up into the green canvas.
“What are you doing? Come on!” she hissed.
I walked close to her and whispered, “Where exactly are we going?”
She stepped over a log, eyes forward. “You want to know where Muck is, right?”
I pushed a scraggly bush aside. “Well, yeah, but I thought you said to stay away from him.”
“I did. But if you want to find your girlfriend, it’s the most logical place to start.”
I suddenly stopped, “Why are you helping me?”
She turned to face me, an exasperated look on her face, “I’m just showing you how to get out of this forest. Once we’re out, I’ll point you in the right direction, ok?”
“But why?”
She took a step towards me, her guard dropping slightly, “Because I hate this place. I hate what it does to us, to Suicidals. If I can make this nightmare somewhat more tolerable for you…well…that seems like a good way to fight back. If finding Jess brings you some kind of happiness, despite the misery that surrounds us…” She trailed off, looking at the ground.
I put my hand on her shoulder, “Thank you.”
She shrugged it away and started to walk again, “Come on. We’re almost out.”
After another couple minutes, I began to see gray light through the trees ahead of us. Megan put a finger to her lips as the trees thinned, begging caution. I nodded and crouched low, the tree line growing before us.
Megan took my hand and pushed me to the ground, then did the same. We slid on our stomachs in the dirt and brush until we reached the edge of the forest. She wriggled close to me and began to whisper in my ear, but I didn’t hear her.
My mouth was wide open, my eyes bulging from their sockets, the vision before me a twisting nest of chaos and impossibility.
Hanging in the sky, amidst the red gashes in the clouds, was what looked like a dead sun. It flickered and blinked like a sputtering black light. Thick trails of venomous darkness dripped from its mass and fell like rain across the horizon.
The Black Farm Page 4
