“Here,” Boyband stopped at the opening of a waist-high gate. He let us in first, then sped ahead after he closed the gate. A path stretched ahead, dividing two fields. The field to the left was dry and yellow with few patches of green and an abundance of floating indigo light rods. Beyond the field to the right I could see what I assumed was the Eclaine mansion. This field had no light but seemed much more cared for than the other. The lawn was green and cut to perfection. The few dead patches I could see regenerated after the cattle finished feeding.


    I rushed to the fence on our right to stare at them as one moved towards me.


    I laughed like a child and reached out to touch one.


    “Careful, kid,” Boyband said.


    I looked at Naoma as she leaned on the fence to my right. “Have you ever seen them?”


    She shook her head. “Just pictures, but I''ve had beef.” She paused and cringed. “And milk… and cheese.”


    I chuckled. “Are you worried I''ll be offended? Of course you''ve had some. You''re from the zegging Violet District. I''m just–wow–it''s surreal.” I shook my head. “What kind of sad life do I have to almost cry over real cows?”


    “And you''ll taste them soon enough,” Boyband said.


    I looked over the field. “No indigo light for them?”


    “Just like you said, we want them all natural. It requires a lot more care, but the sell value makes it all worth it.”


    “How many do you have?”


    “Thirty.”


    “So you distribute locally?”


    “We''re the second most successful cattle farmers in the Republic. We provide at least a third of it.”


    My face was grim as I turned away from them. “No, you can''t waste one on me. I''m fine without it.”


    “Zeg the Republic, Pet. It''s zegged us all up, you most of all. Who cares? Parts of my parents'' company are destined to fall when I own it anyway.”


    “So you intend to own it?” Asked Naoma. “With all the responsibility it requires?”


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    “I’ll be the figurehead, the inheritance child that I’ve always been–I don’t know. I’m just learning that I have a chance at continuing my parents'' company. Don’t expect me to know everything. I get it. I’m impulsive and a bit cocky–shut up, Petya–but I’m trying to do my best.”


    “I’m sure you’ll figure it out.” she said. “Right, Petya?”


    I mirrored her scowl. “What did I say?”


    Naoma laughed and Boyband joined in.


    “Now,” Boyband turned to the other field, “time to show you what you’ve been eating whenever you buy ‘beef.’ The milk makers are in a warehouse.”


    I squinted, trying to see what I was looking at in the dying field. The indigo light was dim, making it difficult to see the creatures as the setting sun fell beyond the horizon.


    Naoma gagged. “Sorry.” She turned away from whatever she saw in the field and shook her head. “What in the name of the light was that?”


    I gasped and jumped back as I looked at one of them squirming near the base of the fence.


    “Beef2. It’s a stupid name, but the things are barely alive. Pure meat with a thin trail of organs. If you’ve never had real meat, this’ll satisfy you.”


    A brown log moved like a worm towards us. Its sweaty skin shined under the light. It looked like one of the rotisserie meat pillars I would see back at home in shawarma restaurants. They were identical except for a thin outer skin, a mouth like that of a sucker-fish, and a single bloodshot eye.


    I crouched to look at it closer.


    “You like it, Pet?” Boyband crouched next to me. “You can touch it if you want. Those lips look awfully kissable!”


    “Piss off.” I stood. “The zeg is that, Boyband?”


    Naoma still hadn’t brought herself to face the left field.


    Boyband stood and stepped away with me. “Beef2, just like I said.”


    “And how many of those do you have?”


    “Countless. They asexually reproduce and ninety-five percent of their body can be eaten.”


    “How long has this been a thing?”


    “As long as we’ve been living. When the environment took most of the animals, we had to look for edible alternatives that are better than printed meat. I don’t know all the history or science behind it, but someone bred these things for meat. They have all that they need to survive. They did the same thing with milk. The same people replicated the necessary organs for milk, put them in a machine, and now we have milk and cheese that is pretty close to the real thing.”


    “You’re making me into a snob like you.” I shook my head and smiled. “I’d be happy to have the real stuff.”


    “Come on, then.” He waved for us to follow him back to the back road to his house.


    I smiled at Naoma, but she still hung her head. I spared the left field one more glance and struggled to breathe.


    Out in the dark, among the rolling meat logs, I saw the humanoid swine once again. It glared at me. Huge tusks poked out from its mouth as it took heavy breaths. As if ready to harvest, it held what looked like a massive garden rake in its right hand. It was dressed in dark fabric too ancient for any living person.


    It dispersed like mist after a second.


    Zeg, I needed to eat and sleep. Telling myself that these excuses were the cause of this hallucination was the only way I could maintain sanity.


    Stability was fleeting, and the swine would return.