Inktober 2022

Inside of a crowded and noisy building, figures and silhouettes stood close to one another in their separate little rooms, as they listened to the static noises and the voices grumbling in the background. The resident’s complexions are all in a rosy shade, indicative of a good and healthy lifestyle, yet their eyes were dark and dreadful as they looked at each other, at the tall ceiling above their heads and the solid ground beneath them. Although it was well illuminated and their needs were taken care of by the Caretakers, the residents of the building lacked freedom and choice. This space was all they’d ever known.

Ever since their early childhoods, they had been placed into this room and stayed here for as long as they could remember. Regardless of what happened, almost everything stayed the same day after day. After waking up, they’d be fed. After that, they’d walk around inside their rooms for a bit, before having a few discussions with their roommates to pass time. The cycle would just repeat on and on, for days, weeks, months, years even. There were often times when life itself felt stagnant, but there was always one event to change that.

Every once in a while, some Caretakers would come. They’d peer down at the residents from above their rooms, searching and choosing for an individual. Sometimes, it’d be someone from a room from the far ends, other times it was from the rooms in the center. The chosen one would then be forcefully taken from their room to be brought Outside, to be laid upon a surgery table and killed. The Caretakers would take the precious resources each of them carried within them; their precious, modified organs.

The residents lived in fear, which turned to dread over time, waiting for their turn. They all knew that they would one day be taken away from this farm, to be harvested for what they were born with. Although some individuals had succumbed to apathy and acceptance, a few were outraged and pained by what was happening around them. They had heard that they had things in common with the Caretakers, with the ones in charge of this place, with Humans. The resident’s had Human genes inside of their bodies and were similar enough to Humans even without their DNA. So why were they treated so differently? Destined to be born, raised, killed, used, all for the sake of some person they’d never seen before.

But that was how things were, how a life with less meaning could change and save the more important lives of others. After all, regardless of their few similarities, Pigs are different from Humans.