The silver blade of the knife dragged against the soft flesh, as the man carefully carved the shapes drawn in the book into the hide of the young heifer. A ritual of the flesh, they called it, to end the life of some to bring about the resurrection of another.

The man stole a glance at the cold, pale figure laying in the middle of the bloody circle, surrounded by the corpses of five cows. She looked peaceful, like she was just sleeping, and that she could wake up any moment...

She had to wake up. Otherwise, this whole ritual would be for nothing.

With one final slice, it was done. The last cow was prepared, its bloody body completing the ring. He stood over the mauled creature, staring at it strangely. Something in him screamed that this wasn't right, that he shouldn't be doing this, but he just shut the annoying voice out, and grabbed the book again.

In a slow, measured voice, he read out the red script at the bottom of the page, fighting the urge to look up, to see how she was, see if she was really coming back to life.

Even when the candles on the walls began to flicker, even when the ground appeared to shake, he did not stop the chant. He kept going. Only when he felt a presence looming over him, did he look up to see...

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" the figure wailed, nails clawing down her face, "YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL!!"

She was like she was when alive, same long hair, same beautiful blue eyes. But her face was twisted into one of permanent agony, terror and rage.

"Jessica, you're finally back!" he said with a laugh, his brain flooding with joy, as if it could not yet process the horrors which were unfolding before him. He stretched out his arms before him, as if expecting a hug. But that didn't happen.

Jessica leapt forward with one more pained wail, fingers curled like claws, grasping at the farmer's throat.

Outsides of the walls of the slaughterhouse, cows peacefully grazed in the fields. Maybe a few lifted their heads at the screams and roars coming from the old wooden building, but most of them continued grazing. Life went on.