CHAPTER 2
A bare bulb flashed to life, casting shadows across the walls of the damp basement. Mike unfurled a map from his backpack, courtesy of a reluctant Mindy. A week had passed since he and Kate had run out of hormone, and they were growing desperate. Dim lighting exaggerated the bags under both teenager's eyes and bleached their already pale faces. The past week had been hell; Kate and Mike were crippled by addiction, and weren't going to last much longer.
Mike took a deep breath and spoke. "Here's the plan," he began.
"Get on with it, asshole," Kate interrupted. "This better be fucking good!"
Mike was pissed, but continued. "Now, as we know, the Bolstein farm is fully automated. This makes it really fucking hard to get in undetected. You need an ID to get anywhere, and those are only issued to the fat fuck and his family. The motion sensors spot any intruders.
Tomorrow morning, at 4:00 AM, the Bolstein farm will get a shipment of two hundred new calves. They'll arrive in a convoy of trucks, and each one will get stopped by the gate individually. If I park and hide my truck nearby, we can sneak aboard one of the trailers and get into the compound. The truck will take us to a barn, where we jump off and run to a nearby hormone vat. There, we'll each fill a gallon jug and make our way back onto an empty trailer and out the farm's gates. We will be back in my truck and driving home after only an hour. So, you in?"
"I don't know, sounds pretty fucking risky,"
"Nah, There are no real guards, just shitty motion trackers. Once we get past the gates, we should be fine."
"How the hell do you know all this, anyway?"
"Mindy told me- she's done this before, remember?"
"I guess, why can't she just do it again?"
"Because she's a fucking cunt? I don't know! Listen, the worst case scenario is that we get caught. We spend the night in jail and get bailed out by our parents. They'll solve the case quietly and ground us for a week. We will tell them we were cow tipping or some shit, and it will be over."
Kate still had her doubts, but her craving for the drug penetrated her last shred of resistance.
"Fine." she decided. "When do we leave?"
Mike smiled. "It's half an hour away, I say we leave at 2 to be safe."
~~
At the day's earliest hours, only a solitary truck drove along the twisting country road. Slowly, the truck pulled over to the side of the road, and into a wide irrigation ditch. It was late November; the trenches were dry and the fields barren. Two figures dressed in black slowly exited the truck, and began a brief hike to the steel gates of the walled Bolstein complex. They sat in the dyke and waited.
"Hey Mike, wake up!" whispered Kate after an eternity. "I think this is them!"
Sure enough, a convoy of semis appeared on the horizon. Sweat precipitated on Mikes brow, and Kate's arms trembled. The first truck stopped, and after a minute's inspection, was allowed in. The two trembling teens climbed into the back of the third truck, much to the annoyance of the occupying cattle. They lay flat on the dirty steel floor and counted the minutes until the truck slowly moved past the gate.
"Next stop is the cattle rearing barn," whispered Mike. "Ready to jump?"Kate nodded.
Mike peeked his head above the walls of the flatbed and quickly receded.
