chapter 3

The next few days drifted by in a haze for the Kendal family, the normal chores around the farm suddenly seemed exhausting and their production dropped through the floor as each of them struggled to make it through each day.
Trying to fight off the apathy that seemed to have taken over the household Clare tried her best to keep things going, everything seemed to be falling apart even the normally spotless farmhouse was a mess and mud seemed to be getting everywhere there were muddy footprints all over where the family had apparently forgotten to remove their boots before walking in and even mud on the furniture and in the bedding of all places.
Dutifully she did the laundry and scrubbed the floors cursing her absentee twin who usually shared the household chores with her but no matter how much she scolded and reminded the others to take off their boots in the hall it was never long till the mess returned.
Suzie spent her time looking after the animals and trying to keep the farm running, shorthanded and exhausted all the time she staggered through her chores with the minimum of effort her back ached and her breasts seemed constantly sore. Every day just seemed to blend into the next one long slog with no end in sight.
Mary spent most of her time curled up in bed her injuries suddenly hurting more than they had since she returned home leaving her daughters sleepwalking their way through the farm work. She felt constantly hungry but everything just seemed bland and tasteless and so plates of half eaten food began to pile up while she stubbornly fought her desire for the one thing she denied herself.

It was long past midnight when Mary woke with a startled scream as she came crashing down to earth, at first she thought she had fallen out of bed a little silly at her age but looking about in the gloom she realised she was out in the upstairs hallway.
'What in the world?' she asked herself quietly as she lent on the wall and pushed herself slowly to her feet her bad leg aching from the fall.
Surprisingly the house was silent no one came running to help, the doors to the girls bedrooms were ajar but there were no sleepy complaints about the noise. Mary bent over and picked up one of the girls boots from the floor evidently she had tripped over it but she had never been one for sleepwalking before.
Looking in on the girls she found their beds empty, the house was completely silent if they were all up getting a midnight snack they were doing it very quietly Mary thought to herself. Going back into her room she grabbed her robe and went in search of her daughters.
The house was too quiet, usually the old family home was full of little noises the sounds of her daughters shifting in their sleep and the creak of old timbers settling in the cool night air but Mary found herself creeping down the stairs in dead silence.
The front door was wide open letting in a gentle wind, the girl's coats still hanging undisturbed on their pegs in the hall, stepping outside she could see that the lights of the farm were all off, no midnight emergency had called them from their beds.

Grabbing a torch Mary started looking around the farm, she called out repeatedly but no one replied, in the dark the dilapidated old buildings that looked so bright and homey in the light of day looked strangely menacing. She walked through the sheds and barns disturbing nothing more than dust and mice, one of the farms cats jumped down from the rafters almost making her drop the torch in surprise as the fat tom darted out of sight.
'Christ cat you scared the hell out of me' Mary called after the vanishing feline her heart racing in her chest.
Opening the door to head back towards the house she stopped and looked out into the fields, in the distance she could see a light out in the darkness.
'What the hell are they doing out with the herd' she muttered feeling a little relieved.
Heading out into the dark she made her way slowly over the rutted earth, the herd were clustered together towards the far end lowing sleepily to each other but there was no sign of the girls just a single lantern sat in the mud surrounded by the sleeping cattle their shadows painting the ground around them.
Mary peered into the gloom as she made her way towards the lantern the bright light was ruining her night vision but it seemed there was something going on in the centre of the herd, several of the cows were on their feet a couple of calves feeding nothing unusual and yet...
They had no calves this season.
Panning the torch back Mary was stunned by what she saw, her daughters Suzie and Clare both in mud stained nightwear and covered in old blankets on hands and knees suckling like calves as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
'What on earth, girls get up right now!' she exclaimed.
'It's no good mum they are fast asleep they can't hear you.' Kim's voice came from behind her, wheeling round she saw her other daughter illuminated by her flashlight fully clothed and standing next to the lantern.
'What the hell is going on?' Mary demanded.
'They haven't been drinking enough of the milk mum, after a few days they started sleepwalking out here to get more.' Kim replied sadly.
'That's insane we have all been cutting down.' Mary protested, the whole night suddenly seemed like some crazy nightmare she just wanted to wake from.
'No you three have been cutting down' her daughter replied looking guilty 'I noticed you all leaving the house to come up here a few nights ago I don't know how long you have all been doing this.'
'You mean I...'
'Have been out here with them mum' Kim interrupted gesturing towards her kneeling sisters 'I've been coming up and giving you blankets to keep you warm while I tried to figure this out I was beginning to wonder where you were.'
'Why didn't you stop us?' her mother asked sounding shocked.
'I tried mum' Kim replied her voice thick with frustration and worry 'go ahead try it yourself you can shout all you like they won't wake up and if you touch them they will fight you till you let go.'
Kim pulled up the sleeve on her jacket to reveal a vicious looking bite mark bruised an angry purplish red.
'You did this to me mum two nights ago I haven't had the heart to try again since.'
Mary went over and hugged her daughter feeling some of the stress leach out of her shoulders as she clung to her mother crying softly.
'You should have told us what was happening honey' she whispered comfortingly.
'I didn't think you would believe me' Kim replied hugging her mother tighter 'I was going to show you once id gathered all the information I could I've been working on it in the barn for weeks.'
'Show me' Mary replied.
Kim's room in the loft over the barn filled with books old mechanical manuals on the farms aging machinery sat side by side with vetinary textbooks and medical journals. A battered old microscope sat to one side almost hidden behind a vast collection post it notes covered in scribbled handwriting while glasswork tubing and oddly labelled sample jars seemed to occupy all the remaining space.
Kim grabbed a big pile of notes and gestured to her mother to sit down on an old sofa liberated from the farm house years back.
'Okay I've been doing a little research ever since we got the feed, I even sent a couple of samples to some old friends from university to have tested don't worry I trust them not to tell anyone.' She said hurriedly watching her mother's worried expression deepen.
'The feed seems like ordinary cattle food lots of added vitamins and minerals and a few barely legal additives to improve milk production but there must be something more to it so I had my friends run some tests looking for any bacterial or viral contamination. Once the cows eat the feed their appetite improves dramatically for a few days before returning to normal, they start to put on weight and improve production and then the milk turns its blue shade a few days after that. The change seems to be permanent the cows have been off the feed for weeks now and the milk is still blue.
I had a hunch so I sent off some tests and asked them to look for markers used in genetic research, they came back positive, that means that there's a genetically altered virus present in the feed.'
Kim paused and looked guiltily at her mother for a moment before continuing.
'They also found the same markers in a tissue sample I took from one of the herd, and in the milk... and in a tissue sample from me.'
'What does that mean?' her mother asked quietly.
'It means that they engineered something they put into the feed that changed the cows DNA, altered them a little so that they now produce a slightly different type of milk. Unfortunately it looks like a tiny amount of the virus is also present in the milk and infected us when we drank it that's probably why they came and shut down Kendal Hill if its crossed the species barrier then it's far too dangerous for them to market.'
'So we're infected with some kind of virus?'
Kim nodded in reply
I had already been drinking a lot more milk than you guys, maybe I was just more susceptible or perhaps I just enjoyed it more but when we stopped I got really ill for a few days till I stopped fighting the craving. Well after awhile I noticed some, changes... and then the addiction just seemed to fade away.
I figure the cows got a huge dose of this virus in the feed so it worked almost immediately but only a tiny amount crossed over into the milk so we needed to drink a lot before it built up enough to finish the job, if my theory is right you should stop feeling the urge pretty soon.'
'I don't understand what you're saying Kim' Mary said looking at her daughter in concern 'what is it doing to us what changes are you talking about?'