Chapter 71: Taran

"The smell!" I exclaim, covering my nose and mouth.
Diogo chuckles and places his broad hand on my back, guiding me out of the barn and back into the fresh air. I'd known livestock would have a smell, but I wasn't expecting it to be so horrendous. I suck in mouthfuls of fresh air and wave a hand in front of my face.
"This is why we keep the stables to this side of the city where there are fewer residents. But honestly baby, it's really not that bad. They're much worse in the summer."
"How long have you had these barns?" I wave toward the four rows of buildings housing Sanctuary's livestock.
"I organized the farm and food supplies when I became Warlord. We've been expanding slowly over the past two decades."
I frown toward the barns my mind racing at the possibilities. "If you've been doing this for so long, I don't understand why you haven't expanded faster. Created a more plentiful food source for all the sectors."
"It doesn't work that way." Diogo takes my hand and leads me toward another barn. I cringe in his grip, not wanting to be treated to more of the awful manure smell. "Livestock can't be our main food source. We can't keep up with supply and demand on the scale it would require to feed this entire city. These barns can only take up a small portion of Sanctuary or they become a health hazard. The animals themselves have to eat too and grass and feed are scarce in this part of the world."
"Can you feed them something else?" I reluctantly follow him into the next barn. This one stinks but not nearly as bad as the cow barn. But the noise in this barn is something I wasn't expecting. I stare open-mouthed at the sea of chickens clucking their way around, pecking at bits of seed on the floor.
Diogo leads me down the rows, past the chickens who are studiously ignoring our arrival. Row after row of hen houses line the side walls where the chickens can lay their eggs. Two people are going down the rows, pulling eggs from the houses and putting them into baskets. The chickens go about their business, completely ignoring the humans. I'd had no idea chickens would allow us to get so close.
"We tried feeding the cows ground up corn to supplement their grass diet but many of them got sick. We don't have enough antibiotics in this city to cover the civilian population. I can't spare any for the animals. As a result, we've had to keep about half the population and half of those again are strictly used for milk, which is a far more renewable resource."
I'd never really thought of the mass production of meat before. This experience has been eye-opening, as I'm sure Diogo is aware. He's showing me these barns for a reason. In fact, I'm beginning to think our entire meal was planned for a reason, to get me thinking about food resources for our city. Especially since food shortages is the biggest issue facing the slums.
"Why are we here?" I ask him.
"To see this." He guides me through the next door and a blast of heat hits me.
Tiny little cheeps sound all around us, though they're mostly drowned out by the overwhelming clucks from next door. I drop to my knees next to a big wooden box with a heat lamp placed over top. Tiny fluffy little chicks lurch around the box and huddle together in groups.
"Can I touch them?" I ask eagerly, reaching into the box without waiting for an answer. I stroke my finger down the silky fluff and sigh happily. "They're so beautiful."
He chuckles and drops to his knees beside me. His big hand brushes mine as he reaches into the box and scoops up a chick. "Here," he says, dropping it into my outstretched hands. I laugh as it pecks at my fingers and tries to leap out of my hand. I bring it up to my face and rub it against my cheek.
"He's so soft," I whisper.
Diogo watches indulgently as I spend the next twenty minutes petting baby chickens and going around to each box, scooping them up and cuddling them. Finally, he announces his need to get back to work. I sigh my disappointment and gently drop my baby chick back in its box. As I stand Diogo brushes bits of straw from my clothes and hair.
"You enjoyed yourself?"
"I did." I smile, feeling utterly content as we walk away from the barns. "I don't think I'm going to be able to eat chicken again though."
"You'll get over it. You need a variety of food to keep healthy, and meat is your main source of protein here. There's a period of adjustment once you get a closer acquaintance with your food. But I think it's important to know where our meals are coming from."
He has a point. Beyond accepting my food rations, I hadn't thought of where the food was coming from or why we couldn't produce more. This experience has been eye-opening. "I'd like to see the greenhouses too."
His eyes sparkle with pleasure when he glances down at me. He holds the door to his car open for me. As I slide in, he says, "I'll have Grayson take you tomorrow."
"Thank you," I tell him, meaning it.
He climbs into the other side of the car and turns the engine over, revving it, before leaving the farm community. I glance around as we drive taking in the tidy little community surrounding the farm. There are several houses within walking distance, each one with a private garden. They don't look like the same type of housing in the rest of the city, they look newer, as though they were created specifically for the farm.
"Who lives there?"
"The farm workers and their families. This is an industrial sector, there were no living spaces when we installed the farm. It's much easier for them to live in close proximity than to try to commute in every day from residential sectors."
I think about this concept as we drive. Though the work looks hard, the idea of this type of living is very appealing. They get up in the morning and go to work creating food for themselves and the rest of us. The ability to produce must be very satisfying.
"Why isn't this part of the city, the animals and food production widely known?" I look around as we pass through the sector gates. Security is definitely heavier here than at most of the other gates.
"I can't take the risk that our food production resources become a target. It took years to set this up and it's delicate at best, too easy to destroy through carelessness. Disease could wipe out the animals. If anything were to happen to the pipes bringing in water from the dam, our food supply would take a serious hit."
"Why are you showing me, then?" I turn in my seat to watch him as he drives. He's concentrating on the road, avoiding the roots and debris littering our path. "I'm part of the rebellion. I could easily tell my compatriots about this hidden sector."
"You aren't stupid, Taran, so let's not pretend you would do something that stupid." His voice is harsh with scorn, not the same as he'd used when he was showing me the area. "You aren't a rebel anymore. You're my wife and your loyalty is with me."
His answer stings, even if he's right. I wouldn't do something so stupid as set the farm up as a target. He's wrong about one thing, my loyalty is torn. Not so long ago I wouldn't have hesitated in telling my fellow rebels all about what I'd seen and trusted them to make the appropriate decision on what to do with that information. I would've trusted Xavier. But he's gone now, and I don't have access to the rebellion. Without knowing who, if anyone, is making the big decisions, I can't trust this information to get out.