The Herd

"Do you ever think about them?" my daughter asked. We had been quietly sitting at the water's edge watching the sun rise and waiting for the others to stir. We would have to move out this morning. It was cold. Soon the frost would come and the winter. We would all need to get going soon; to warmer climates. I never minded the snow before. But now with so many of us in the group and not all being so sure footed or strong and then there were those who were pregnant... well, we just couldn't take the chance.

"Yes, sometimes." Geese began  to honk across the water. A couple of deer brought their fawn into the near by clearing.  Peace. I would miss this place. I smiled knowing we would find peace somewhere else. No more starving, no more waiting to see if we would be fed. Peace was wherever we wanted.

"Are you sorry?"her voice was soft and warm, a little bashful almost. We didn't speak of them. Their atrocities or their self destruction. They were gone and we had endured, outlasted, and survived. Darwinism true.

"For what happened?" I thought about what I should say.

She waited patiently.

I remembered the times before she was born; the devastation and chaos. I remembered the screaming and the tears. I saw the blood. She was too young. By the time she could understand, they were all but gone. We were safe and able to begin again. I thought back how my sister and I had to hide her; in the back barn under the hay.  I remembered when we ran; for our lives; sacrificing and risking everything to save her.

"No Honey. They did it to themselves." I kissed the top of her head and relished the smell of morning in it. Sunshine. Do you know what that smells like? It makes your heart beat a little fuller.

"So they can never come back? They can't ..."

"Do it again? No. Never."

She thought of this and I felt her comfort.  We could not bring back her brother or my husband.  They died protecting us. They died for us. I miss them each day, but I go on proudly and though they are not beside me, they are in my heart and keep me strong. 

"What was it like?" she asked at last.  I knew this day would come. I sighed and looked around.  No one was truly awake so it would be all right to speak ~ honestly.

"It was a nightmare but it never stopped; not while you were awake, nor when you slept. They herded us into cars and shipped us all over the place. We lost sight of family, friends, everything. They sent us to big buildings and forced us to sleep in filth with little to eat. Oh the stench of urine and death. Your Aunt and I, even Grandma ... we were forced out in to the fields to work. At night we barely had time to sleep. We were to take care of the nursery. If we didn't do as they said, they beat us with pipes. It was why Grandma was so slow and Auntie was so...deformed. Her bones just never got the chance to heal. You've seen the markings they gave us". I glanced over my shoulder at the ugly scar. She kissed it tenderly as if hoping her love would make it dissolve. I watched ~ half hoping..." Your uncle was defiant. He wanted to rise up and stand tall... He knew it was wrong." I felt my voice quiver. Inside I warmed at the thought of his bravery and fearlessness. I was scared and cowered under their threats and shouts and beatings.

"And?"

"And one morning they culled him. They picked him out and separated him from the others."

"So we couldn't hear what he had to say?"

"Yes. At first they told us he was sick; gone mad. But we knew better. We could hear them talking to each other. The last we saw of him, he was being led down a long hallway."  I had to catch my breath and regain myself.  The memory was still painful; even now after three years.

My daughter lowered her head and sniffed. The tears warmly fell on me. I pulled her close.

"I heard him begin to scream and then there was this loud bang.  I had left the nursery and wandered part way in..." I didn't realize I was shaking. My stomach tightened and I felt the stab of sorrow. Nausea crawled under my skin. I closed my eyes and saw the horror all again; the broken shattered bones spearing through his flesh, the smell of death and fear. The stench of hate.

"Is it true? What Lia says... "

"Yes. I am sad to say it is true."

"But why? Why did they do it?"

"We can't understand because we are not... wired that way. We would never do those things... to anyone."

She sat and thought some more. We had only been without them for a few years but had flourished in their absence. We were reacquainting ourselves with happiness.

Although my memories were awful, we had an obligation to share them with our children lest it be forgotten; the horrors; the abominations committed against us. We lost our friends and family to crazed experiments. We were "culled": selected or de-selected for our looks, our stock, our ability to produce... something ANYTHING they needed. And if we didn't or were perceived as lesser creatures, then... we were terminated. Dissent was useless.  They would beat us as I said earlier or lead us out to the middle of a ring where they would gather in groups.  We would be collared and bound. Sometimes they would drop us into pits and make tiny cuts along our flesh.  Sometimes they would blow harsh chemicals like pepper in our faces; up our noses so that we would have difficulty breathing  or be blinded.  The worst was when they would use the dogs.  After being starved for days, cut and beaten, they would lift or lead us from the graves or pits and these dogs would come... They would snap and bite at our feet. They would attach themselves like leeches to our noses or necks. My God, their jaws would lock shut and no matter how we tried, we could not shake them loose. It was beyond agony.  All in the name of sport. They cheered and bet against us. We were expendable. They worked us to death in the fields. they stole our young for experiments and as we discovered later, often ate them. Our disgust for them grew.  Our hatred of them came to know no boundaries but we were powerless to stop them.  

And so in quiet times like this, we share our experiences with our babies in hushed tones, constantly looking over our shoulders as if they would come at us; shouting and wielding their pipes, haul us to the dogs or worse to pull us down the hallways...long dark hallways that only ended in screams and blood; death.

"How did it start?" ah that was always the question followed by ... "Why?"

"We don't really know how long it had been going on. We all grew up in that ugliness; your daddy, his daddy, even our grandparents. I remember hearing once that we were all almost exterminated once because there was a disease we contracted and they didn't want to get it from us."

"So there was no medicine to make us better?" She shook her head sadly and with disbelief. I understood. Had I not lived it I might not believe it either. I was grateful for the chance to see something different, something better for my daughter and generations to follow. 

"There were medications but they weren't sure they would work."

"Didn't they try?"

"Only on a few that they pulled away."

"How did they survive for so long?" She laughed a little now, remembering The Beginning. Well I suppose that for them it was the end.

"They just gouged the land they took be it from others; like them or different. They ate those weaker to frighten the weakest. Anything or anyone who was strong, they culled in order to keep the rest in their skewed sick clutches. They did what it took to keep themselves at the top. They were in fact too weak and frightened to attempt to live amongst us. Eventually, they used it all up; their specialized foods, their fuels. They had nothing left and had never actually adapted to their environment but tried to control it. They fought constantly between themselves for MORE land, MORE food, More....and then there was none.  They invented sicknesses to share with each other; to harm and kill. They were so concerned with this, that they developed germ free places and  all too late realized they were unable to fight off even the most simple bacteria. Eventually, between the warring, the new sicknesses and their unwillingness to change, work WITHIN, they ... well you know." I shrugged.

"I saw one of them die once." she said it in a rush half hoping I wouldn't hear her.

"Oh?" It was my turn to wait.

"I was in the field down by the old town." she paused again knowing she should never have been there, not near the slaughterhouse.

I did not admonish her but wanted to hear her own tale.

"Were you afraid?"

"No. It was small. I think it may have been one of their offspring."

I smiled remembering the children. They were always fun; noisy and smelly but loud and laughing. Their eyes just filled with the wonder of ... everything. It was the only thing humans did well. But just like kittens who grow to be cats; they become adults. I sighed.

"It snuck up slowly with it's leg out."
"Arm Honey. They had arms."

"Oh. yes. I'm sorry. And it wanted to touch me."

"They called it petting." I recalled for her. "It reached out to your nose, didn't it?"

"YES!" she snickered and bobbed her head.  I laughed and our tails flicked the long grass happily.  "Why did they do that? It is SO annoying!" 

"They didn't know better and never asked." I said softly. "So what happened."

"Well, it just kept ... petting? me? But it coughed so fiercely. and it was all... gooey and wet with ...

"The sickness." I finished. "they were so sick in the end."

"But it made soft noises and seemed so gentle. It was tired I think because is just sat down next to me. Petting me and then it went to sleep. Well, I thought it was asleep. It seemed so kind and innocent..." 

"Some were. But then there were the farmers." I shuddered in the cool morning breeze. "The dairy farmers that pinched and pulled at us making us give milk. Heaven help us if we couldn't. My word! Their hands so cold and rough... Then of course there were the others."

"Oh mama." she pleaded softly. "I don't understand. There was so much to eat... why..."

"Us? I don't know. We worked with them. We worked alongside horses and could pull more, work longer. We are more sure-footed because our hooves are better."

She raised her foot and studied it. Her tail flipped. "Did they eat horses?"

"No. Horses were the only ones safe. Sheep, Pig, Chicken, Rabbit, Duck, Goose,... they were voracious. Even frogs."

My daughter absently chewed cud. "Disgusting." and shook
.
"But no more."

"No."

The sun shone on our faces and made monster shadows of the world humans had once called kingdom. Their cars sat empty on the roadways now crumbling beneath the grass and trees that were breaking through; growing again. Behind me I heard the soft lowing as the my friends began to stir. We would begin to travel south to the new grazing lands.

"Come on Honey." I said and stood slowly. The bell around my neck clinked softly.  

"Why do you still wear it?" she asked nudging it with her nose.

"So no one forgets."


So did you figure it out? Kinda crazy but fun and different for me. Okay, I got a writing prompt for a competition. :) "Write the end of the world from an animal's point of view"  I love cows simply because they stare... just ... stare.... 

Anyway, I hope you liked it if for nothing more than a change of scenery. 

I hope you have a good rest of the day. Thanks for coming over to visit. It's always nice to spend time with you.