The Shift Part 1

Central California, 2015

Laura Bennett, a high school senior, returns home after a long day of planning the upcoming spirit week. After a full day of school and dealing with the planning committee, she wanted nothing more than to go home and rest. Especially since it was Friday and she had told her friends that she would join them for a bonfire on the beach this weekend. But her hopes of a quiet, relaxing evening were dashed as soon as she stepped into the foyer. Martin, her father and owner of a large vineyard, was yelling and cursing upon the news of feral hogs destroying a third of his newly planted grapes. When she heard all the commotion her father was making, she went to him and was informed of what happened. Now feral hogs were not a new problem for Martin and the vineyard. In fact this was something he had been dealing with ever since he bought the vineyard 9 years ago. But this time he had 2 new problems that he had never faced before.

Since acquiring the vineyard, Martin had only grew Chardonnay, which is what he was known for. However, this year he invested a lot of money in growing Albariño grapes, which require different conditions to grow properly. Losing the Albariño's would come as a huge financial loss since he had converted a large portion of his vineyard just to grow them. The other issue came from the workers he employed. Most of his workforce are made up of day laborers that come in during the planting and harvesting time. These laborers, usually migrants of Mexican and Guatemalan descent, were only seasonal but he also had resident workers who lived and worked at the vineyard throughout the year. One of the residents, a man by the name of Torres, would always go out and drive away the hogs when they came into the vineyard to feed. But this time one of the hogs attacked him, resulting in him being badly injured. Fearing for their safety, the rest of the resident workers refused to continue their work until the hogs had been dealt with.

Overcome by his own frustration, Martin sat down unsure of what to do next. Not long after, his wife Ronda walked in and suggested that he call his friend Bradley and have one of his sons come and hunt the hogs. Bradley runs a chicken farm about 20 miles south of the vineyard. Martin would always buy chicken manure from Bradley when it was time to plant, which is how they initially met. Martin found out that he knew how to hunt when Bradley told him that he and his sons would go out and kill the coyotes that would sneak onto his farm and eat his chickens. Upon hearing the word "hunt", Laura immediately went into her room and closed the door. Laura loved animals and had been a vegan since middle school. So anything that would bring harm to an animal was something she was intensely opposed to. A few minutes after going to her room, Martin walked in and told her that he needed her to open the gate to the vineyard at 12 noon tomorrow. Immediately Laura sat up,

"12 noon? That's when I'm supposed to meet up with my friends."

"You still can, I just need you to open the gate to let Chase in."

"But why can't you or mom do it?"

"Because I'm going to the credit union to handle some financial matters, and you know your mother has to work." Laura groaned. "Look, all you have to do is open the gate and then you can meet up with your friends. They'll be ok without you for a little bit." Laura just sulked into her mattress and went to sleep.

Just as her father instructed, Laura made her way to the gate just before noon, hoping that Chase would arrive early. Around 12:15, Laura could see a blue, Chevy truck pulling up to the gate.

"This must be him." She said with a hint of disdain. As she opened the gate, and the truck rolled past, she looked in the driver's seat and saw a woman.

"I'm sorry, this is private property. I thought you were someone else."

"Y'all found another hunter?" Confused, Laura looked at the woman before realizing,

"Wait, you're Chase?!?"

"Yes. Didn't your father tell you I was coming?"

"He did but I wasn't expecting you to be...."

"A woman. Yeah I I've heard that one before."

"It's just, I thought Mr. Bradley only had sons."

"That's because my brother's helped him run his business while I was away at college. Out of sight out of mind, or so they say." Chase continued past the gate and came to a stop as she made her way out of the truck. Once out of the truck, Laura was able to get a good look at her. She was tall and wore an old, faded t-shirt with jeans and work boots. A dark blonde ponytail came out the back of her baseball hat. She had a sleeve of tattoos on her left arm. In every imaginable way, Chase was nothing like what she had been expecting.

Now at this time Laura's obligation had been completed and she was free to join her friends at the beach. But after seeing who Chase was, so many questions began flooding her mind. It was as if everything about her just didn't make sense to Laura. As she lowered the tailgate and prepared her gear, Laura walked up to her and asked,

"So you're actually a hunter?"

"Uh yes, why do you sound so surprised? What, a woman can't be a hunter?"

"It just always seemed like a man's job" Chase chuckled.

"Just like cooking and cleaning is a woman's job."

"I never said that! I just never seen a woman do something like this. It just seems so...un-ladylike."

"So you're concerned about something being un-ladylike but you get offended if I say women should cook and clean." Laura fell silent. "You seem like one of those girls who preach female empowerment and women can do anything but have no problem calling a man to do all of the hard, dirty work that you don't want to do." Laura's silence continued. Feeling as she had made her point, Chase proceeded to prepare her gear. As she did, Laura finally spoke again.

"So who taught you how to hunt?"

"My father taught all of us to hunt."

"Did he force you to learn?"

"No, I asked him to teach me." Laura looked confused.

"Why would you want to learn how to hunt if you didn't have to?"

"Because I grew up with 2 older brothers and whatever they did, I wanted to do. When my brothers started going on hunting trips with my dad, I asked to go along to. Over time I grew to enjoy it." Laura cringed.

"So you're telling me you enjoy killing animals?!?" Chase stopped prepping her gear and turned towards Laura.

"The killing of an animal might be the end goal, but hunting involves a lot more than just that. It takes intelligence, physical fitness, courage and whole lot of luck. I'd love to go into greater detail but I don't have the luxury of time right now."

"That's fine, I need to catch up with my friends anyway."

Laura left the vineyard and sped to the beach to meet her friends. They all asked where she had been since she was over a hour late, which is unlike her. After explaining the reason for her tardiness, the party began. Throughout the day leading into the twilight hours, Laura had a great time hanging out with her friends. But her conversation with Chase left her with more questions than answers. She found herself thinking about everything Chase had said to her. And eventhough she disagreed with almost everything, she had developed a strange curiosity towards her.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Laura and the rest of her friends gathered around the bonfire. While they sat and talked, she asked her friends if they had ever knew a female hunter. They all were confused by her questions so she explained what had happened earlier in the day. One of her friends asked,

"Why would a girl want to hunt in the first place? She should leave that stuff to the boys."

"I don't even know any boys who do that?" Laura replied. "The only person I know of who does is one of my father's workers but he got injured."

"Exactly my point. She should probably stop before she's too beat up. No man wants a girl who's all battered and bruised."

"Maybe she's a lesbian." Another girl claimed. "I mean if she is there's nothing wrong with that. But it would make more sense why she does it." The idea of Chase being a lesbian made perfect sense to Laura. Feeling as if she had figured her out. Laura went back to enjoying the fire with her friends.

The next morning, Laura woke up early to go for a run around the property. Eventhough she was exhausted from staying out late with her friends, she forced herself up so she could enjoy the rest of her day off before the upcoming school week. She walked out the door, turned on her music and started running down the dirt road that bordered the vineyard. About halfway through her run, she saw Chase's truck parked next to the workers bunkhouse. Chase was sitting in the driver's seat with her head down. Laura got concerned, thinking that something was wrong. She hopped over the wooden fence and approached the truck.

Chase did not notice Laura as she walked over to her. Laura called out to her but got no response. She tapped on the window and it startled Chase. She rolled down the window.

"Hey Laura, what's up?"

"Nothing much, just out for a run. I saw you just sitting here and wanted to make sure you were ok." Chase chuckled.

"I'm fine, just reading my Bible. I'd normally be in church right now but obviously I have a job to do." Laura was then caught of guard by a strange odor.

"Do you smell that?"

"It's probably the hogs."

"The hogs?"

Chase hopped out the truck and walked towards the back. She let down the tailgate to reveal 2 dead hogs that had already been gutted.

"Whoa, what the fuck?!?" Laura yelled.

"I got these 2 just before sunset. I saw a bunch of other ones but I didn't see La Torta."

"Wait who is La Torta?" Laura asked,

"La Torta is a hog and if what that guy Torres says is true, it's bigger than all the others. It's also the same one that injured him."

"So I guess this, La Torta pig is the one you want to kill the most?"

"It's definitely my main target but there's a lot more hogs that need to be taken care of." Laura turned as if she was going leave but instead she stopped and asked,

"What does it feel like to kill an animal?" Chase paused for a moment.

"To be honest, it's always a bittersweet moment. On one hand you're a bit sad after you kill an animal but you are also joyful and feel a great deal of satisfaction."

"How is killing an animal satisfying? It's just cruel and unnecessary. That's why I'm a vegan." Chase just rolled her eyes.

"I can almost guarantee that's not why you're a vegan."

"What are you talking about? You don't know me!"

"No, but I do know people. And people have a bad habit of believing whatever they're told. You say killing animals is cruel but killing plants is perfectly fine?"

"Plants aren't animals. It's not the same."

"But they are living organisms. You should have learned this in grade school. Every time you eat a fruit or vegetable, you're responsible for the death of that plant." Laura shook her head.

"Well at least plants don't suffer like animals."

"Really, plants don't suffer? You should really do some research on that and get back to me."

" I will!"

When Laura returned to the house, she grabbed a protein bar and her laptop. She began to research whether plants can feel pain or not. While she couldn't find a definitive answer on the matter she did learn many plants react to being damaged. Like when grass and trees emit certain compounds to let others know they're being damaged. All of the sudden that fresh cut grass smell took on a whole new meaning for her. She also learned that plants have a way with communicating with one another even when they're not being harmed. They can produce sounds that humans cannot hear, send and receive vibrations and even share water through there roots. As she went further down the rabbit hole, she also discovered something that she never knew about, antinutrients. These are compounds within plants that make them difficult to fully digest and disrupt the absorption of nutrients and minerals found within them. She then realized why all her blood test results came back with deficiencies in k2 and b12 vitamins, both of which are found primarily in meat. She just thought she wasn't eating a wide enough variety of fruits and vegetables. Never once thinking that it may be her strict vegan diet to blame. But the worst realization was the fact that many animals are killed in the production and maintenance of farms. Whether it's by poison, traps and of course, hunting. And that buy purchasing produce from the store, she was passively contributing to the deaths of many animals. She closed her laptop and sat there, meditating on all the new information she had received. Her mother walked by and saw she seemed in deep thought.

"You ok sweetie?"

"Yeah I'm fine mom."

"I'm about to start prepping for dinner, you want me to make you a salad?"

"Actually I'm not all that hungry. I'll just make something later."

Conflicted by everything she just found out, Laura was left with 2 options. Either continue as if she never learned anything or admit that her long held beliefs weren't what she thought they were. All this time she thought being a vegan would mean saving animals. But it really made no difference at all. "Animals are just going to die regardless of whether I eat them or not", she said to herself. After learning all this new information, Laura started to feel sick to her stomach. She decided to turn it in early and sleep it off.

Meanwhile, Chase prepared to go after La Torta. She sat on the tailgate of her truck just outside the workers quarters. The smell of grilled pork filled the air as Torres and his wife cooked the meat from the hogs she had killed yesterday. She sat cleaning her rifle, waiting for the meat to get done. "I hope I have enough firepower to bring her down", she thought to herself. She had brought her .270 Winchester with her for the hunt, which is more than enough to take down deer and average sized hogs. But at almost 400lbs, La Torta was no average hog. At that size, her skin, bones and muscle would be much thicker than the hogs Chase had previously killed. She knew her shot placement would have to be perfect in order to take her down. Especially considering that she has proven to be dangerous when approached.

Once the food was ready, Torres called Chase inside for dinner. The food was placed on the table in the middle of the room. Along with the pork was black beans, rice and tortillas made from blue corn. Chase, Torres and his wife, Esme, gathered at the table, said a short prayer and began to eat. Torres asked Chase how she planned on killing La Torta. She said that she found a spot where the irrigation lines had a leak, causing water to stream into a gully and forming a wallow. The wallow had multiple sets of tracks and one particular set that was far larger the rest. She knew the area was active and that La Torta had visited the wallow multiple times. Her plan was to sneak her way to the wallow early in the morning before sunrise while the hogs were still in the feeding grounds. Knowing that tomorrow would be a hot day, she knew the hogs would go to the wallow before it got too hot. And La Torta wouldn't be far behind them. She would take up a position behind an old, rotten log and wait for La Torta to show up. Torres reminded her how dangerous La Torta could be as he lifted his leg, showing his bloodstained bandages. Chase assured him that she knew the risks and wasn't underestimating her.

After they finished their meal, Torres invited Chase to spend the night in the workers quarters. It had plenty of bunk beds and would be much more comfortable than sleeping in the truck, like she planned. She accepted the offer and settled in for the night, while Torres and Esme walked back to their house on the edge of the vineyard. Sleep didn't come easy as the anticipation of facing La Torta kept her up longer than she had hoped. When she finally did get to sleep, it wasn't long before the alarm on her IPhone went off. Groggy and still tired, she forced herself out of bed. She quickly threw on her camo, made a cup of coffee and left out the door just as the sun was coming up. She drove for 30 minutes before parking the truck on the side of the dirt road and continuing on foot. Slowly making her way to the wallow, she did everything she could to remain silent and undetectable. By the time she reached the wallow, it was only 6:30 am and already over 70°f. "They should be heading this way soon", she told herself.

By 8 am, the hogs had started to make their way to the wallow. They came in from all directions, some coming within 20 yards of Chase. After seeing the hogs come in from multiple angles, she realized something, "I forgot to spray my scent killer on me." With the hogs coming so close to Chase and without her scent killer spray, she knew the possibility of the hogs catching her scent was high. Fortunately, there wasn't much wind and the hogs never seemed to notice her. However she was only 40 yards away from the wallow. And with a hogs strong sense of smell, it would only take a random breeze in the wrong direction to ruin her hunt.

The hogs all gathered around the wallow and competed for the best spots, trying to get as much mud onto themselves before it got too hot. Chase watched then all closely. The temptation to shoot one of them was high but Chase stayed focused. She knew La Torta would show up, she just had to be patient. About 30 minutes after they arrived, the hogs slowly started to move away from the wallow. Chase could sense that La Torta must be nearby. She looked around hoping to get a glimpse of her so she could know where to position her rifle. Chase was tense and a bit anxious but she did all she could to remain calm and focused.

Eventually, La Torta revealed herself. She was big, bulky and covered in dark, black hair. Behind her were 6 little piglets. Chase then realized why she was so aggressive, La Torta was a mother. At that moment she felt a bit hesitant about killing the large sow. But regardless of how she felt, she was being paid to do a job. La Torta had to die. Chase readied her rifle and tried get her crosshairs just behind La Torta's shoulder, looking to score a fatal lung shot. But just as she got ready to pull the trigger, the rotten log she had been laying against gave way, creating a loud crack. La Torta turned and locked her sights on Chase. She knew La Torta was about to charge and would be on her in no time. Chase just took a deep breath and prepared herself for the worst.

On the other side of the property, Laura was walking out the door on her way to school. She was already running late and didn't have any time to spare. As she got into her car, she could hear 3 banging sounds off in the distance. She paused for a moment trying figure out what made that sound. But with her already being late, she didn't spend much time thinking about it.

When she got to school, her friends couldn't help but talk about how much fun they had at the bonfire on Saturday. They talked about it all the way to their first class. But they couldn't help but notice Laura was a bit different than how she normally is. She had always been the one to bring the group together and get the conversation going. But that day she didn't say much at all. Her friends asked her if she was ok and she told them she was fine. Her friends knew her better than that and could tell she was lying. They continued to prod her with questions, trying to figure out what was wrong. Laura quickly got irritated and finally told them what was wrong. She felt as if her whole reasoning for becoming a vegan had been turned upside down and no longer mattered. "No matter whether I'm vegan or not, there's nothing I can do prevent animals from being killed." Her friends, who never were the smartest of people, failed to see the problem. Seeing as how she was essentially talking to herself, Laura broke away from the group at the first opportunity she got.

She spent the rest of the day by herself. Choosing not to engage in conversation or any activity that was going on around her. She was more concerned with trying to come to terms with everything she had learned in the past 24 hours. And after a long day of trying to avoid everyone, she couldn't wait to get home. When she walked through the door, she called out to her parents letting them know she was home. But she didn't get a response. She went up to her bedroom to put her backpack away. As she set her bag down she caught a glimpse of a large group of people gathered around the workers quarters. Unsure of what was going on, she ran downstairs and walked over to see what was happening.

When Laura reached the crowd, she saw her parents standing amongst the people.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"Chase killed the hog that attacked Torres." Said her father. She worked her way through the rest of the people to find La Torta hanging over the tailgate of Chase's truck. Although the hog was clearly dead, the sheer size of the sow made Laura hesitant to get close to it. Looking past the truck, she spotted Chase covered in blood. Thinking she had been hurt, Laura ran over to her.

"Are you ok?!? What happened?" Laura had surprised Chase as she did not see her coming.

"Whoa Laura, I'm fine. Where did you come from?"

"I saw all these people standing out here, so I came over to see what was going on. And when I saw all that blood on you, I thought you were injured."

"Believe me, I almost was. The blood you see on me is from La Torta."

"How did that happen?"

"I had been waiting on her to show up early this morning. When she finally did, I placed my rifle on a log I had been laying on to steady my shot. But the wood was rotten and the whole thing just collapsed. She spotted me and I knew I only had a few seconds before she charged me. So I grabbed my pistol and let off 3 rounds as she came towards me."

"So that's what those banging sounds were."

"You heard them?"

"Yeah, I heard them as I was leaving for school."

"Anyway, after I hit her 3 times, she fell over but clearly wasn't dead. So I took out my knife and stabbed her until she was dead. That's how I got all this blood on me."

"Wow that's....a lot." Chase chuckled

"Hey when your life is on the line, you what do what you got to do." Laura looked back towards the truck.

"So how did you get that giant thing on the truck?"

"Well I called Torres and he called some of his guys to come and help me. She was way too big to move on my own. It took 6 of us just to get her in the truck. As a matter of fact we just got back here about an hour ago."

After talking with Chase, Laura stood and observed what was going on around her. Everyone was so happy and excited that La Torta was dead. This sight would have infuriated her just a few days ago. But now it was tolerable. It still wasn't something she was completely okay with but she was able to be present in that moment without getting angry. She couldn't tell whether she was coming to terms with this new reality or if she had allowed Chase to brainwash her into thinking that hunting and killing was acceptable. She just retreated back into her own thoughts and went back inside.

With La Torta now dead, Chase was able to focus solely on taking down as many hogs as she could. Over the next few days she managed to kill an additional 7 hogs to go along with the 3 she killed previously, La Torta included. As the weekend approached, she had killed enough hogs to cause the rest of them to flee the area. On Friday afternoon she went to Martin to update him on the situation. She told him that hogs had left the area but it was only a matter of time until they returned. He said he'll definitely be giving her a call when they do. She collected her payment and made her way down the stairs. As she was leaving she ran into Laura who had just returned from school. They greeted each other and Laura noticed she had her bags in her hands.

"You're leaving?" Laura asked.

"Yep my work here is done. For now at least."

"So all of the pigs ate dead?"

"Not all of them. Some got away but I'm sure they'll be back eventually." Chase loaded her bags in the back of the truck.

"So what are you going to do with the pigs that you killed?"

"Well I took some of the meat for myself but the rest was divided amongst the resident workers. Which helped me out a lot since I don't have enough room in my freezer for all of them." Chase finished loading her bags into the truck. "You know, you seem a little different from the first time we met. You okay?"

"I'm fine I guess. It's just since I had been talking to you and doing some research on my own, I'm not quite sure who I am or what I should do."

"You talking about our conversation about hunting and being a vegan?"

"Yeah I feel like I'm struggling with my identity." Chase just laughed and shook her head. "What's so funny?" Laura said.

"You are so over dramatic. You're taking all of this way too seriously. First of all you're only 18. You don't even have an identity yet. You're still figuring things out. And trust me you won't have it all figured out for a while. As far as being a vegan and stuff, do whatever works for you. Don't let me and my lifestyle stop you from living yours. But if you really want help animals and the environment, start a home garden. That way you can produce your own food without having to worry about where it comes from or how many animals were killed by the farm."

Laura listened to what Chase had to say and considered following her advice. She now felt a bit better now that she had some idea of what to do next. As Chase drove away, Laura walked into the house with a new sense of purpose. She was determined to produce her own food as organically and humanely as possible. But what she didn't know is that the whole course of her life would forever changed by that encounter.

Thank you for reading my short story. If you enjoy this and stories like it, check out my novel: Tales Of The Gamekeepers Book 1, available on Amazon Kindle. Also follow my Instagram @stonecreekthehunter for more hunting and fishing content and updates on future novels and short stories.