ENTER THE WORLD OF…

THE HOLLOWMEN

A NOVEL

PROLOGUE: THE EXPERIMENT

“They’re going to tell you they mean you no harm. They say things like that. They say things to you to make you feel compassion for them. They want you to feel empathy so you’ll let your guard down, so you’ll look the easy other, and they will—I promise you this, my friends—they will stab you in the heart when you turn your back. The human problem will soon be a distant memory, and soon we will . . . we will make it, my friends. We will live every day, and we will thank Flying Crow for it.

“The humans are on the verge of extinction. They have planted their seeds in this soil and reaped the rewards of the earth with voracious propriety. Propriety of savages is still proper to the savage, is it not? They have taken what they wished from this land and given nothing back. And this land has so graciously suffered for it. The humans raped it until there was nothing but burnt sands beneath their feet. So, with flesh and blood, came our uprising. With a new seed we grew from the land, receiving life from a dying Earth and a hungry Flying Crow, to set forth a new era of balance upon the soil. We have been blessed by Flying Crow to return the earth to its equilibrium at all costs. Sacrifice isn’t a dream by most accounts, but it has been our debt to this earth for those hanging decades upon the pike—by the humans’ hands, I remind you. Years our ancestors spent, strung like their cattle, serving a greater purpose while they idly swarmed by. Day and night, they made not a grain toward any progression greater than their own.

“We may have hung limp and lifeless on the pike, but we did not wait in unconscious limbo. We watched them burn their own and watched them strip this shared earth down. Until it no longer had a face that resembled beauty, we reluctantly watched. Until the blessed day we made compact and resolute terms with Flying Crow to grant life to our inert limbs. We are not ‘man.’ We are not ‘woman.’ We are of Earth, from Earth, for Earth. We are Crow’s people. Let us never forget that.

“It was a score of harvests ago. On the first day, we rose from the grain; existence was only a straw of life in us. But we have grown strong, my friends. We have become not just men of straw, but beacons of hope for an earth yearning to be free again. I am promising you a better life. I was there when we first took arms against the enemy. I have felt the cold bloodshed. For you I have done this—for you I have done this, and for Crow I have performed these deeds. When the first generation of Scarecrows, including myself, took hold of this farm, we were only liberating a young few. But with the fall of this stronghold, and the conquering of lands far out of reach and contact, we are returning order to the chaos that the human species has become.

“War brought chaos, but order followed, and a renewed peace for the ’Crows with it. We have started from nothing, just as the humans before us. But we have the knowledge, and the regard for our roots, to do what is right for Earth. We will not repeat the sin that deteriorated the humans, uprooting them from their Flying Crow: sexual perversity, overdependence on technology, and immorality. Addiction to such ideals are the sins of man and will not be the sins of Scarecrows. We have it in our best interest to be a better people than humanity.

“We move forward in an attempt to better this earth, and to make good on our covenant with the Crow so that we may have the blessing of life. The same life so carelessly disposed of by humanity. I ask only that you show the same integrity and honor that you share in your crop, that we live in pleasure for mutual benefit. So, for now, we have the responsibility to deliver and reproduce. The grains grown on this farm colony will as always serve multiple purposes. We have half of our wheat to be used towards the reproduction of our species. A lot divided further with supplementing flora for forage. The other half of the wheat, only the finest produced, is for the continuation of our way of life. And so must the latter portion of our lot, the first season’s harvest, be satisfactory to the Flying Crow.

“So now it is our time to spread this season’s first seed. This seed will grow and flourish. This seed will rise above the soil and prosper beneath the burning sun. May this seed become many, for it takes one seed to grow a grain, but many seeds to bring a Scarecrow to life. We do not reproduce like humans. The reproduction of humanity was a sinful, destructive, and savage ritual. Sick acts will not be tolerated by our species. It is a fact that all colonies share with us a certain intolerable disgust on the subject.

“Anyone harboring a human being will be seen as a direct enemy to the ’Crows’ way of life. We will not abide such treachery. Punishment will be swift. In addition, I reiterate the limits of our travels. Unless otherwise instructed by me or my officers under a distress response, no one in this colony will go beyond the borders of our farm. This is for your safety. My officers and I have established this border to assure the tranquility of our way of life. Please respect these wishes as they are.

“I have seen beyond the walls of this safe haven and it is not a world free of human violence and persecution. There exists war beyond this land, dark places, terrible realities, which only purport to threaten our way of life. I don’t want to lose any of you to this void. I have been working diligently with my second in command, Mawkin; Hardwick, your mayor; my officers and their infantry; and will call upon minutemen as needed to keep this colony safe. You are our greatest priority.

“When I first established this colony, when we rose above the persecution of man, there were but a small few of us. Grain, boundless, and devoid of form were we first few. Now we stand here as fully formed beings, in numbers beyond my wildest dreams. It brings such a joy to my heart, seeing you prospering, here, on this day of first seed. Let us be thankful for the Flying Crow’s blessing upon us. Let us be joyous as we move on with our work. Let us grow with this seed sown here beneath our feet. Thank you, and may Flying Crow bless you all.”

DARE TO CONTINUE. . .