John Thompson woke to the sounds of the chickens bwoking in hysteria. He sighed as he sat up out of bed, carefully moving not to wake his wife. He got dressed and headed down stairs, grabbing the rifle as he stepped out the front door. He headed towards the chicken coup and saw what he feared he'd find, feathers and blood. "Damn foxes!" He kicked the side of the coup, sending the chickens into another frenzy. "Alright you can all calm down now," he yelled into the coup, causing the chickens to be silent. "Maggie should be by shortly, so make sure you're in your usual positions so she knows who we lost. I'll be out by the fence to see if I can find how they got in this time." He didn't dare actually look in the coup, but he knew the chickens were judging him with their little avian eyes.

'You're suppose to protect us' he could imagine some of them thinking. 'Why don't you house us some place safer?'

'You're lucky we even took you in,' he'd reply to these imaginary accusations. 'You're lucky you're not someone's dinner.' John kicked the ground as he walked. The more he thought the angrier he got. He was angry at the chickens and their thoughts, he knew that's what they were thinking. He protected them the best he could but that wasn't good enough for them or his wife. But what else was he suppose to do, put them in the house? They were birds, they'd shit all over the place. Besides a chicken wasn't a hard animal to take care of, their friends and family members could've kept them, at least those who didn't live in apartment buildings. Still he felt bad for them and honestly didn't know what he'd prefer if he was in their position.

"Dammit!" John yelled in frustration as he saw the fence line. A large section was completely gone. Someone had purposely sabotaged the farm. At least the animals here weren't dumb enough to leave. But it did allow for intruders like the fox last night. He didn't even bother to go down and check it out further and instead returned to the farm.

Maggie was of course standing in front of the chicken coup when he got back, her arms crossed. "Three dead John, three. Jenny, Timothy and Yvonne," she shook her head. "I mean what am I supposed to tell their loved ones? We promised to take care of them, we promised John!"

"You promised!" John snapped back as he walked past her. "Besides we've got bigger problems. The fence is gone."

"What do you mean the fence is gone?" Maggie followed after him. "How can the fence be gone?"

"It just is, it's like it was never there in the first place," John explained as he went back inside, placing his rifle back down. "Someone's come along and taken it down, for what purpose I can't say." He walked over to the phone and began to dial. "Hi, it's John Thompson, the sheriff around...? Someone's stolen a large chunk of our fence, don't know when... Well a fox killed three of the chickens, I went to see how it got on the property when I discovered it was completely gone... alright, see you soon."

"What are we going to do John?" Maggie asked putting her hand on his shoulder. "We can't afford to replace the fence and we're behind on all our payments. The bank manager that was helping us out, well they found out what he was doing and he got fired. Besides I don't think he'd help us out anymore anyhow, seeing as Yvonne was his sister."

John sat down at the dinning room table and placed his hands on his head as he began to think. "What about the agency, you know..." John didn't know what to call them, just that they were a secretive government agency, one you don't find out about until something strange happens.

"I tried, their liaison, told me it's not in the budget. I think they care more about keeping things a secret than helping out those poor folks," Maggie pulled up a chair besides John and grabbed his hand.

"Well then we've got no choice, we're going to have to start charging people keeping fees. If they want their friends and family taken care of, they're going to pay." It wasn't the first time John had suggested this but back then they could manage, some of the animals even paid for themselves, like the cows and chickens. It was a little harder on the pigs as they only made money off what little piglets they bred and sheep were non existent on the farm. The donkeys were a complete waste of money.

"What if they don't pay?" Maggie asked, like she had before. Though back then John didn't have an answer to that question.

"Then we sell them. If people can't help us maintain the farm, well then why should we help protect their former loved ones." Maggie shot him a look. "Well that's what they are, I mean when was the last time anyone came to visit them?" John turned to face Maggie. "People want to forget, they can live their lives knowing they gave them to a good home, one where they wouldn't be bred against their will or slaughtered for meet but then they move on not wanting to face the reality that their brother is a donkey, their girlfriend is a pig..."

"Or there sister is a cow?" Maggie interrupted causing John to go silent. "Remember why we bought this farm in the first place, it was for my sister, your girlfriend. She's had to live the past 20 years of her life as a cow, with no one but us knowing the truth and look how we've betrayed her. You and I fell in love while she was forced to watch. Would you see her go to another farm to be slaughtered for meat. Because that's what's going to happen!"

"Elizabeth is different, we did it for her and it was for her that we didn't have any kids. We've given up so much for her sake and I'm okay with that but why does that mean we need to protect the others. If we take care of them all we can't continue to look after Betty. That's all I'm saying, give people a chance to prove they still care, if they don't... well..." John didn't like the thought of it but he had to be realistic here, they had already wasted a lot of money on this place.

"Don't you understand, this entire farm is Betty's legacy, we started it to show that the animals on this farm are still cared for and will be looked after as best as we can. Sure we've lost people along the way but at least here we give them some dignity and comforts. If we sell them off we can't even tell people their origin, they'd be treated like any other animal. So fine, as people for donations but I will not sell a single living being on this farm." Maggie hit the table with the palm of her hand as she walked away from the table. "Now if you'll excuse me, our guests are still waiting on their breakfast." Maggie left John in the house alone.

"Don't you understand... we can't keep going like this. If we do there's not going to be any food, for anyone." John whispered to himself as he got up off the table and headed towards the front door. He had his own chores to do.

"Mornin' John, you called about a stolen fence?" An officer greeted him she stepped out of the police car. He had forgotten that he even called the police.

"Uh.. yeah, a large section is completely gone," John began to lead her in the general direction of the property line.

"Were their any tracks or anything nearby to give a clue as to who may have stolen your fence?" The young officer asked.

"I didn't go down to have a closer look, a fox had killed some of our chickens, so I went to see how they got in, when I got to the property line I didn't see a fence. I went straight back to my wife to tell her what had happened," John recalled.

"Sorry to hear that," the officer turned away slightly. "Their families been informed yet?"

"Excuse me?" John hadn't met this officer before so he didn't know she had known about what they did on the farm.

"Oh yeah, I know the work you folks do here, keeping the animals safe, providing creature comforts and such. Sorry to hear you lost some of them. I'm sure they were good people before they ended up here." The officer paused for a moment. "Say with the pigs you've got here, how many former officers do you think you have? I've always been curious but too afraid to ask people down at the station."

John relaxed, if this officer knew the farms secrets he was able to let his guard down. "About a whole department, not all from the same place though, maybe from four maybe five counties."

"My dad's partner got turned into a pig, he wasn't so lucky, ending up in a place like this. All for pulling over the person for speeding. Worst part is, the witch made the entire department eat him and if they didn't they shared his fate. I've been vegetarian ever since," the officer gave John a bitter smile.

"So what does you dad think of you being a cop. I mean pigs are pretty common among officers, I think witches find it ironic. I know it's very unlikely to encounter a witch, I haven't since High school. It's why my wife and I started the farm, her sister angered the wrong woman, now she lives in our barn."

"Oh he doesn't know. Told him I moved out here to be a teacher. Sorry to hear about your sister-in-law."

John talked with the officer as they approached the fence line. He now wished he had bothered going up to where the fence was sooner. If he had he would've noticed the dust on the ground.

"Fuck!" John exclaimed as he saw the dust lining the path where his fence once stood. The fence hadn't been stolen it had been disintegrated and there was only one force on this planet that could've done that.

"Witches?" the officer was crouched down examining the dust. She turned to look up at John, only to see that he was already running back to the barn. She reached for her radio to call it in but squealed when she saw her hand was now a hoof.

"That's not a clever idea little pig, you wouldn't want to be responsible for having other officers transformed now would you?" The witch taunted as the officer's body continued to contort. She then knelt down, placing her hand on the pig's back as she vaporized the scraps of uniform and gear. "Now run along now, I have business with the Thompsons."

John failed to see what had happened to the officer as he was too focused getting back to the farm and Maggie. He found her in the barn milking one of the cows. He stopped to catch his breath and wasn't able to speak just yet.

"All the cows milk has gone sour," Maggie looked up at John. "I don't get it, they were fine yesterday."

"Witches..." John said in between breaths. "Maggie... we need... to leave."

Maggie looked at John in shock as a pig came running into the barn squealing. "That's not one of ours..." Maggie commented as she looked over at the panicked pig.

"Here you two are," the witch followed the pig into the barn. All the animals looked at her and began to panic. Everyone in the barn knew they were in trouble. "You know... when a witch turns someone into an animal, she expects them to live their lives as said animal." She looked around at the barn where the cows had their own TVs. "I mean you're milking these cows as you should however barn animals don't get TVs." The witch snapped her fingers as each TV exploded. "Cows also get branded or tagged, I don't see any such thing on these cows, they could belong to anyone." She walked past the terrified John and looked down at the bucket Maggie was trying to milk. "When a cow goes sour they get sent to the slaughter house." She directed her gaze at Elizabeth. "You two have been treating these animals too much like people for way too long. If I were to turn someone into a mouse," she looked over towards Maggie and clicked her fingers. After a few moments of agony Maggie was no more and instead there was a small mouse on the stall she was just sitting on. The witch picked up Maggie by the tail holding her near her face. "I expect them to be treated like a mouse."

John tried to move, tried to run but couldn't. He couldn't even cry out as he watched his wife get turned into a mouse before his very eyes. But his horror hadn't ended there as he heard the slithering of a python entering the barn behind him. It slithered over to the witch and opened its jaw eagerly. John mentally screamed as the witch lowered Maggie towards the snake and watched as she was swallowed whole.

"There's a food chain to be respected." The witch walked over to John as he feared for his fate. The witch reached down and picked him up by his stick legs. John had already been transformed, he was now a scarecrow. "You and your former wife have not respected this chain." She walked John out of the barn. "You've continued to treat these animals as if they were people and I have come to correct that. Everyone here is now destined for the slaughter house and you're going to watch as they are all carted off one by one to the lives they should've had before." The witch planted John into the dirt, near his drive way. She then hung a sign over his head and walked off.

John couldn't read what the sign had said but those who knew of this farm's purpose would understand the warning. That farms like the Thompsons would no longer be accepted, that there would be 'no more refuge farms'.