Why did the Campbell children stop attending school in November 1952? What grows in the back forty that shouldn't be harvested? Which livestock refuse to graze near the old silo? And why do the corn rows form patterns that can only be seen from above?
Follow Cthulhu Architect on BlueSky!
There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace.
― Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac
As the owner of Campbell’s Family Farm, I’ve worked these lands for generations. But ever since that strange meteorite fell on the north field, nothing’s been right.
The crops started wilting, no matter how much we watered. Fences crumbled overnight. The chickens grew sickly and dull-eyed. Strange bugs crawled from the impacted dirt, buzzing angry hornets to swarm anyone who ventured near.
Then Mary disappeared while gathering eggs. We found only her torn smock and a trail of something dark leading into the woods. Next was little Timmy down by the creek. Now it’s like a curse has fallen on this place.
At night, I hear scrabbling and skittering from the fields, like a thousand nightmares burrowing into the earth. Lights dance through the orchard, and shapes move among the rotten fruit too tall and loping to be human.
God help us, I’ve seen what’s lurking in the impact site, gestating in that alien ichor. When it hatches, all hell will spill forth to eat this land. We’re the next course unless we torch this blighted farm to ash. By dawn, fires will spread to cleanse our soil or consume us all.
