Years had passed since Boxer's death. Almost all of the original members of Animal Farm were deceased, the only survivor being Clover. She was a very old mare now, and her legs were much weaker than they had been before. Even though she was of retiring age, she still worked. Squealer had explained to them that the concept of retirement hindered the integrity of Animal Farm, and in order to show the utmost dedication to their wise leader Napoleon, every animal was to work until they died. The work was still hard under Napoleon's rule, and the workers received much smaller rations than they had before.
Clover had set up a small memorial to Boxer behind the stalls. It was made up of any grain she could spare and a single horseshoe. She visited it every day before she went to sleep. She even talked to it, as if she were talking to the actual Boxer. Sometimes other animals would see her and ask what she was doing. She always told them stories of a great, hard working stallion who was injured in the Battle of the Windmill and died because of it. Clover tried her hardest to make sure that nobody forgot about Boxer.
Clover didn't only want the others to remember Boxer, but all of the other animals as well. She told them about the Rebellion, of the exhilaration of the first few days of freedom. She told them about Old Major, who sparked it, and created Animalism. She told them about the battles that Animal Farm has faced, and she even talked about Snowball. Clover told the animals more about the history of life on the farm than Napoleon ever had. One night, when she was talking about farmer Jones, a particularly small filly named Apple raised a question.
"So… nothing's really changed?" She asked.
Clover paused to think before she answered.
"...No, I guess not," she said.
"We should do something about it," said another young horse.
"We can make Animal Farm better!" Exclaimed a hen.
"Why hasn't our leader Napoleon done what he promised?" Asked a cow.
Clover quickly shushed them all. In all her time on Animal Farm, she had seen lots of animals executed for speaking out against Napoleon.
"You could be killed for having ideas like that," she told them.
"What if we could leave?" Apple inquired.
"What do you mean?" Clover was whispering by this point.
"What if we escaped? We would truly be free to do as we pleased, without fear of displeasing Napoleon. It would be just like the original idea of Animalism." She began to trot in place at her own excitement.
The animals talked amongst themselves about the proposed idea. They took a vote, and the majority decided to go through with the escape. Some questioned how they would acquire food and other necessities, while others claimed that they would be better off anywhere but in Animal Farm.
They planned their escape at night. They figured that the easiest way to leave would be through the main gate, but there was one problem. Napoleon had four dogs stationed there at all times. They decided to do what they thought was best for the group; for one of the animals to sacrifice themselves as a diversion.
"I'll do it," said Clover.
The animals all burst into an outrage at this. Clover was who gave them all of their information. She had always been such a sweet and caring mare, they couldn't even bear to think about leaving her behind.
"I'm very old," she argued "and I'm not as fast as I used to be. I probably wouldn't even make it out in time before Napoleon heard all the barking and came to see what was going on."
The animals all knew that she was right, and looked at the ground in silence.
The night of their escape had finally arrived. The animals slowly creeped out of their stalls and made their way to the gate.
Clover went ahead of the others. The dogs growled as she approached, but this didn't stop her. She turned around and kicked one of them as hard as she could, then ran as far from the gate as possible before falling. The dogs were on her, barking loudly and ripping her body to shreds. She made no noise.
The rest of the animals broke into a run for the gate during the commotion. They all chimed in to a loud singing of "Beasts of England," which nobody had forgotten. It wasn't long before Napoleon came running out of the farmhouse with more dogs.
"Get them!"
The dogs viciously snapped at the animals and did their best to prevent them from leaving. The squeals of pain were almost as loud as the singing. Most of the animals made it out, the five smallest laid wounded on the soil of Animal Farm in agony. Amongst them was Apple, who had suggested the escape.
Napoleon could see the animals shaking with fear.
"Comrades! I'm not going to execute you," he said with a smile "I know this wasn't your fault, you were merely following that traitor, Clover." He gestured over to her corpse.
The animals' fear was replaced with anger.
"No, no, no, comrades. a public execution is not necessary. In fact, we don't have to mention this little incident at all." He glanced over to the stalls. "You will have to be punished though."
More pigs came out of the farmhouse. They were armed with whips. They gathered around the five remaining animals and herded them back onto the property of the farm. Dogs accompanied them, and nipped the heels of any animal who fell behind. The pigs stopped at the well.
Napoleon had ordered that the animals stop using the well many years ago. Squealer explained that the well was an important memorial to the rebellion, as all of farmer Jones's whips and bridles were thrown down it after he was overthrown. From that point onwards, all water was to be drawn from the water pump in the yard that Napoleon had the animals install.
"This is goodbye, comrades." Napoleon was still smiling.
He quickly pushed one of the animals down into the well. One after another, they went down. Some struggled, but were too weak from the wounds that the dogs had inflicted on them to do anything against the pigs as with the whips. Last of all came down Clover's bones, licked clean by the dogs.
As the animals were in the well, they noticed that Clover's were not the only set of bones down there. They found skeletons of all different types of animals of all sizes. The animals at the bottom of the well drowned quickly. The ones at the top cried out for days. They hoped that other animals passing by would hear them and help. They eventually gave up; cold and wet, they would have to wait for the day they die to starvation.
That day did not come. One morning, the two remaining animals, Apple, and a duck named Bo, saw that a ladder had been extended down the well.
They gathered up all their strength and climbed up it to be greeted by Squealer.
"Welcome, comrades!" He exclaimed. "You're probably wondering why you're being let go. Napoleon is gone! I am now your leader." He beamed at them. "Napoleon went to live on Pinchfield Farm with Snowball, they've been working together this whole time. He was always such a terrible leader, wouldn't you say?"
Apple and Bo only stared at him in shock.
"Ah, you two must be hungry after spending five days in the well. I'll get you some food, and then you'll get right back to work."
And so they did.
Nothing had changed since Squealer became the leader. The animals still worked just as long, and they received just as little food. The pigs continued living their way of life, the dogs remained in place, and the executions continued to occur. Despite this, they were content for the time being. After Squealer had told them how evil Napoleon truly was, they were glad that he was gone, even if everything else on Animal Farm would remain the same, forever.