Bad Fence

In 2015, I was enrolled for summer quarter in the organic farm. I had already spent a little over a year of my time at evergreen there and despite the adversities I enjoyed my time, I felt safe. It was a slim summer, only five out of the ten students remained (myself included) by week two. Not everyone is ready to do the work that the farm demands and that summers batch just was not up to snuff. They didn’t take long to drop off, and left without a word, but that was to be expected. They were clearly weak of body and mind, unfit for true labor.

It was not unusual for me to stay late on the farm and the trust I garnered from my prior time meant I was often left alone and unsupervised, not that it was a problem for me. I have always been a self-starter. The work I did varied but starting in week three I was always confronting the same menace. I called it J Doe on account of how it moved like a clumsy corpse and because I was never able to identify its sex. J Doe was the bane of my existence.

The deer was strange to put it lightly. I had never seen one quite like it, sporting a thick black coat and had strange white markings. Its eyes were a vibrant green that shined like a beacon in darkness. It was always excreting some vile foam or other from its orifices. The thing was nasty and needed to be put down.

I would spot it damaging the sealed openings in the fence line and then vanish as soon as we made eye contact. You would blink and there he would be, trotting on cabbages and eating dirt. I half expected the thing to die, it was clearly unwell, and I never saw it eat actual food. Despite his odd appetites he would always find such joy in breaking and scattering the crops. Few others ever saw him, he liked to visit in the late hours, heck some started whispering I was the one sabotaging the farm. I bet Olivia started the rumor, that bitch has always been so two faced. She was on my case ever since I accidentally threw her precious book over the fence.

Unwilling to get too close to the vile deer lest it might inflict me with some horrid sickness, and frustrated at the unfounded rumor I decided to take what one might call drastic measures. One day I packed my pellet gun hoping to spook the thing off for good, so it could go die in the god damn woods as it aught to.

After I was the last one left, I went to go get my pellet gun and just waited. The thing usually showed up pretty quickly once the others had cleared but hours began to elapse, and I had yet to catch sight of it. The sky began to darken, and I decided to get to work, it would be hard to explain why I had not met my commitments after insisting on staying if I didn’t. I kept the gun close, I should not have lost sight of it but as I finished weeding the tomato bed I noticed it was gone. I looked for a good half hour, but nothing turned up. I would be lying if I said I was not a little scared but that did not change, I had work to do. Should the others find it tomorrow during class I could always feign ignorance.

As I did my rounds, the darkness continued to creep in. Wind swept leaves and the steady thump of my heart was the only sound I could hear. Shadows had blended into the night and I knew I needed to go. Tired from the days work I was slow to realize the situation that was about to be set before me. I jiggled the gate expecting it to give way and allow for my exit but it was stuck. I loosely continued to shake it not stopping to see what was causing the issue to begin with. As I pulled away my hand a thick greenish puss clung to my hand. It was only then that I saw that the strange sludge had bound the exit shut. I ran to the other exits, not yet noticing the bodies. They too were jammed by this alien matter. I turned to climb the fence but as I peaked over the edge I finally noticed them. I think there were about twelve of them, fully grown deer lying lifeless on the ground, small puncture marks flush with now thickening blood. I stumbled back smacking the ground back first where I came to face with J Doe. Frozen in shock is mouth dripped viscus spittle in my face. I stared in awe as its mouth distended to an unnatural degree. I thought I was going to be swallowed, that is till I saw the barrel of my pellet gun slide out of its throat. My eyes traced the gun now locked square on my face, obscured by strange flesh and murky shadow I could have sworn I saw a human finger grip the trigger tightly. J Doe coughed out a strange laugh, at least I thought it a laugh at the time but with the barrel affixed to its throat that muffled noise could have been anything.

Finding some semblance of composure, I rolled away, and got up on my feet. Turning my back to flee the bastard shot my ass. I felt the pellets dig past my loose fabrics and into my plump flesh. It made its strange coughing laugh again, its belly bulging and dancing. I lunged pulling at the barrel while skewing it away from me. It held the gun taught and began to swallow it down its tightening throat along with my arms. Ruled by adrenaline and exhaustion I held tight, slowly being drawn deeper into its slick maw, forced to breath in its feverish breaths. I’m not sure what happened next, I ither fell unconscious or blocked out the memory.

I was found the next morning cradling my pellet gun, the crops all but decimated. They thought I had gone mad, killing deer, jamming the doors and destroying the farm. They had me arrested without a second thought.  I have spent the years since then in and out of hospitals, growing weaker by the day. The doctors can’t explain it but I’m certain that deer did something to me. Although expelled I still went back to the farm sometimes. Walking the fence line and looking for weak points to get in. I stopped once they put up the new fence, but ill get in eventually, I just need to find the strength, and when I do get in, it will be waiting, I am certain.