by Chris Hechtl
Richard grabbed it with them. He came up with the pregnancy test. “What the hell? What the hell is this?” he demanded, holding it up. He opened it as Shirley opened her mouth to protest about the invasion in her privacy. She reached for it. He turned away out of her reach and looked it over and then looked up. “Pregnant?” he asked. “You're … you're pregnant?”
She nodded. Bobby looked at her stunned.
“Damn it, girl, when we're you going to tell me?” the sheriff demanded.
She shrugged. “I found out a couple hours before Matt was killed,” she said roughly. He grimaced in pain. She pulled at the necklace around her neck, then pulled it out for them to see. On it was a ring. “He gave me this. I can't wear it on duty but ….”
Her eyes welled with tears. She dashed them with the back of her hand. Grimly Richard nodded as Bobby awkwardly patted her then hugged her. “I've got a piece of him with me now,” Shirley sobbed.
Richards own eyes were wet. He wiped them with his hands. “That boy,” he sighed roughly, voice like gravel. “Damn. You can't. You can't go.”
“Just watch me,” Shirley said firmly, eyes glittering. “I've got combat training. I'm the best you've got. Deal with it.”
“I can stop you.”
“You can try,” she replied defiantly jutting her chin out as she rested her hand on the gun she has on the table in front of her.
He eyed her for a long moment. Then he shook his head. “Damn. You stubborn little bitch,” Richard said with just a hint of exasperation and admiration in his voice
She smiled at him. “Too right,” she said.
“I would have been honored to have you as a daughter-in-law,” he said, turning away.
“Thanks,” she murmured.
He shook his head. “Well, what're we waiting for? Come on then. Let's kill them before that rainstorm coming in hits us.”
“If only we could be so lucky,” she murmured.
Chapter 5
Jerry used his SUV’s loudspeakers as well as the storm warning loudspeakers seeded strategically throughout the area to get people inside and away from danger. “Folks, go to your basement, arm yourselves. Call and warn your neighbors to do the same. Stay in groups …,” he said over and over until he was hoarse.
They put a plan together to put everyone together in the local high school. The walls of the building were concrete, the roof was metal. It had a lot of windows in the classrooms but an outer perimeter fence. Jessie pointed out that the gym was more secure. The windows were under the eaves, and it only had three entrances to guard.
Richard was not happy. The governor was dragging his heels on sending the National Guard in to support them. State troopers had been dispatched to their area, but they had been redirected to a major freeway crash as morning fog rolled in just before the storm.
The storm broke near midmorning as people hurriedly get to the shelter. The high school gym was the area's designated emergency shelter, so they rolled out cots and put people to work setting up a food line and porta-potties. “People are armed and trigger happy,” Shirley said, looking at the crowd. They hadn't bothered to try to disarm them. “This is so not good.”
Jessie agreed. His twin Jerry was out still rounding up people.
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Nash Lincoln wasn't happy about being out in the wet, but he was a farmer. He'd just finished getting his sons to get the fence repaired and was watching them get the stock under shelter. He'd heard about the damned birds; he wasn't sure what the hell the other people had been drinking. Some funky shine, that was for sure. He cuffed TJ on the ear and pointed at the boy and then to the barn to get the feed set up. The boy nodded and rubbed at his head as he trotted to the barn to obey.
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Using the rain as the perfect cover, the raptors broke cover and attacked a farmhouse ten miles from the Preserve, near the northeast state and county border with West Virginia. The alpha directed his flock to kill the largest male tailless one right away. It was obviously the alpha of that group. Killing him would disrupt the others and throw them into chaos and confusion allowing the flock to move in and pick them off.
Without their protector it was as the alpha had predicted. The family fled in terror. The alpha clucked at the brood, and they moved out in pairs or singly. One by one the tailless ones were hunted down by the pack. There were so many bodies, there were no fights over the new flesh. A few of their hungry number started to rip off chunks and bolt them down before the prey was properly dead.
The farmer's cattle had stampeded at the screams, commotion, and scent of death and blood. One of the raptors turned on a calf and pounced on it when it stumbled. The show of weakness was irresistible to the predator. The calf bawled a few times until the predator ripped its throat out. Then it raised its head to give off a stuttering cry of victory. It bent its head again to rip off gobs of flesh then raised its head almost vertical to bolt them down.
The raptors quickly realized the flesh of other animals was better than that of the soft skin tailless two legs. There was more meat on a cow than on a child, more tasty bits to consume. They would need the energy and fuel for the run ahead. But the tailless ones were a threat as well as competition. They had to be dealt with for the safety of the pack. The alpha ordered the pack to hunt the remaining tailless ones first before they turned to feed.
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TJ, the farmer's eight-year-old, hid when he saw his Ma and Pa get kilt. He was good at hiding; he loved doing it for hide and seek as well as when Pa had been drinking and in a foul mood. He shook though, breathing hard as he watched his brothers and sisters, then his aunt and uncle get chased down by the bird things. One of the bird things even got in the house and went after the baby. He sucked in a breath in horror.
The raptor nearest him tracked his scent towards the barn, but a neighbor Mister McRee arrived on scene in his beat up 72 GMC. TJ opened his mouth to shout a warning, but it was already too late.
“What the devil's going on here?” McRee demanded just as he saw the body of Old Nash. His eyes widened, and he reached in his glove compartment to get his gun.
“Look out!” TJ called when he saw a raptor duck down and stalk the man's truck, creeping up on it.
The old man didn't see the danger, but he did hear the boy. He was killed as he exited the vehicle, but he managed to fire a couple of shots off from his trusty revolver during his ambush. He didn't hit anything, but it did something else. It made the flock more wary of going after the boy. TJ saw the man go down and scrambled deeper into the barn's hay loft to hide from the giant monster chickens.
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The shots alerted the other people in the area that something bad was going on in their neighborhood. They reported the news to the sheriff's office, quickly swamping the phones.
The sheriff went out with every able-bodied volunteer he could scrounge up. They were all heavily armed. Even Bobby reluctantly volunteered to go, despite her minimum combat training. Earl stayed behind with two other volunteers to guard the people at the school.
Shirley tried to talk Bobby out of going. She vehemently shook her head no. “What and stay here alone? With those things loose? I'd rather be with you.” She picked up a gun and strapped another around her waist. Then she grabbed boxes of ammo and stuck the rounds in her pockets. Shirley watched her friend, watched her shake a bit, and bite her lip, but she kept loading up. Finally the deputy shook her head.
“Don't jam it in, you'll get in trouble that way,” Shirley murmured. “You so don't want a jam, trust me.”
“Right.”
“You realize you're going along as cannon fodder, right? You're basically a meat shield for the rest of us who can really shoot.”
“I was thinking pack mule myself. Thanks for the big heaping of love and support though,” Bobby said almost casually.
“Thanks,” Shirley murmured. She grabbed a first aid kit. Something told her they'd need it. Then they piled out to t
he trucks.
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They arrived on the scene but saw nothing initially despite the sheriff's night vision goggles. Shirley warily climbed out of the truck with the others but left the door open as she looked around. She clutched at her shotgun, very much aware it wouldn't do much unless the animals were thirty yards away or so.
She pointed to the fields where lumps of flesh laid in the rain. Richard turned and grimaced. There were cattle there; livestock that had been slaughtered. His face worked when he saw a child's dress.
“They've been here,” he said, turning away from the sight just in time to see something come out of the drainage culvert behind them. He opened his mouth to shout a warning, but the creatures were upon them like silent death.
Bobby saw Richard's startled look and didn't hesitate. She dropped to her knees and then rolled under the car, then rolled into the same drainage channel the animals had come out of and crawled to the nearby barn while the others fought off the animals the best they could. From the sounds coming from behind her, they weren't doing well.
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The alpha knew they were in trouble. The flock was grumpy and refused to flee. They were full of food and had been sleepy until the new tailless ones had arrived. They ambushed them right away to take them out, but their thunder sticks made him call off the attack. He wanted to melt into the forest, but the beta led some of the females onto a new attack, using the rain to circle around to try again. When the alpha female hesitated and then joined in the hunt, the male alpha hastily followed suit. He would not lose his hard earned position to the beta.
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Bobby watched the bird thing as it cocked its head this way and that, studying the door and the building. Its great eyes studied the door. It reached out with a clawed hand and touched the door handle. It pushed, then scraped its claws over the handle slowly.
Bobby winced at the sound; it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. “Oh crap, oh crap,” Bobby muttered, shaken by the sight. The thing was learning, studying, thinking and adapting. It wasn't afraid; it wasn't a trapped animal, far from it. This thing was on the attack. She felt a warm wet feeling running down her thighs. She grimaced. Well, tagging along wasn’t such a good idea she thought. Most likely her last.
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TJ saw the girl and saw the creatures hunting the others. A few had gotten to the house; a couple others had been cut down in the field. Most were still clustered around the vehicles, looking about them. When he saw the bird things circling around to where the other people weren't looking, he fought tears. “They're going to die,” he murmured. He bit his lip and then took out a watering pan and a piece of wood. He rapped on it, hard. He did it again, then went to the open hayloft door. The echoing sound drew everyone's attention like a magnet. The boy pointed to where the predators were.
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Shirley saw the boy in the barn. He was deliberately exposing himself, getting their attention for a reason. She turned to look where he was pointing. She knew instinctively Richard was dead, so were a few of the others. “Watch each other's back! They are trying to circle around to hit us from behind!” She called out. She reached down with a hand to check a guy's pulse. When she didn't find one, she moved on.
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Bobby heard the sound and looked up to the boy. She saw him point and turned back to see the others. A powerful wave of guilt swept over her then. She'd left Shirl behind. Shirl and her friends she thought, getting into the barn. She looked around warily.
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Doctor Rowland had been mauled in the initial attack, but the distraction of a mirror on the side of a truck had allowed her to momentarily escape death. The glitter and motion was an eye magnet to the bird-like thing she realized. Seeing one of its own kind also confused it momentarily. She used the distraction to tuck an arm into her ripped open side and then climb into the truck. When the animal lunged for her it hit the door, and it slammed the door for her. She lifted her feet up and out of the way in time. When she grabbed a racked rifle behind the seat, the animal saw it, recognized her intent, and fled.
Jerry used flash bangs to distract the creatures while the others ran for the barn and shelter. Jessie got a shot off with the shotgun, mortally wounding one of the females. It staggered into another female, throwing her off her stride. The female nudged it, then turned on her killer. Jerry and Jessie turned to run but the beta cut them off from behind them. They were both killed in a quick flash of tooth and claw.
Doctor Waltz used her body to shield the others from the attacking raptors. She put herself in the path of the raptors, spreading her arms and shouting no to try to stall them. The momentary distraction was in vain. The teen and Sadnir she had been trying to protect slipped in the mud and muck, and the raptors were on them before they could get back up. Sadnir fired once into the air, but the animals slapped the weapon out of his hands and then tore into him as he screamed. Each of the humans were quickly dispatched, and then the animals were off again for more prey.
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The omega female cocked her head at the strange but familiar tailless one and then tore her apart. Another female had circled around to cut off the two males that had retreated and fallen in the mud. Once they were dead, she looked up to cry to the sky her victory while the rest of the flock rushed past her to hunt the other tailless ones.
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Bobby was almost to the barn when a raptor turned on her. She yelped and turned to run but the thing was blindingly fast. She tripped and turned with her arm up. The thing dropped its head and stalked her as she scrambled back in the mud, trying to get up or find shelter. It lunged in to bite her but something hit it from behind.
The animal turned and then cawed as another object came at it. It danced away, then made a stuttering sound at the boy in the loft. “Leave her alone!” the boy yelled. “Yeah, you heard me, you overgrown chicken!” he yelled as he tossed another handful of oats at it. The raptor danced out of the way of the heavier rain then lowered its head to hiss at the boy. It was the boy's turn to yelp and duck back into the barn.
The momentary distraction was enough for Bobby to crawl under a fence into the pig sty. She got to her feet and then pushed past a terrified sow and then out the other side of the fence and then headed for the dubious shelter of the house.
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The alpha female saw the female tailless one get away and snarled. It made a stuttering clucking sound that called the others to its side. They then went to the building. When they saw another of the female tailless ones enter it, the anticipation of victory was sweet.
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Shirley saw where Bobby was going. She turned to the kid. “Hide kid!” she ordered, then lunged after her. She fired shots at the raptors to make them fall back or at least dodge. She got to the front entrance first. “Bobby, I'm here!” she called out, not wanting to get shot by her own friend.
“Here!” Bobby called, clutching her arm as she came out of the coat closet.
“What the hell were you doing in there?” Shirley demanded.
“Looking for a weapon!” Bobby said as she saw one of the animals get to the porch. Only the screen door was in between it and them. Shirley didn't look she just slammed the heavy door and then locked it.
“Go!” She said, pointing to the stairs.
“We'll be trapped!”
“It's better than getting eaten!” Shirley said pushing the wounded woman up the stairs. They heard glass breaking.
“It's coming in,” Bobby murmured. “We are so screwed.”
“The picture window. The glass will slow them down,” Shirley said. She moved down and then saw the thing picking at glass in its feet in the living room. She fired once as it looked up, and the raptor went down. Another paused as it came to the window. She saw it and another behind it, so she fired a shot and then began to climb the stairs. She caught sight of the first one as it nudged its flock ma
te. It made a soft sound then looked up with an angry hiss. It then leapt over it to the humans.
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The alpha saw its mate go down and stopped to nudge it. The future was over; its life … its love was dead. The only thing left was revenge.
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They smashed out a window and climbed out onto the wet slippery porch and then dropped to the ground. Bobby led them back in the house much to Shirley's surprise. “We're going back in?” Shirley demanded, hesitating.
“We'll never survive in the open,” Bobby said. “You know that.”
“Yeah,” Shirley agreed. She looked back to the barn but it was just too far away. There was no telling where one of those things were, and they'd easily run the humans down out in the open. Bobby clutched at her mauled arm with her free hand in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Shirley looked at the wound and then took her jacket off and wrapped it around it as a pressure bandage.
They went into the kitchen and Bobby reached out to grab a kitchen knife from a magnetic strip over the stove. “Where's your gun?” Shirley whispered.
“Dropped it.”
“Your backup?”
“Backup? What backup?” Bobby asked, turning to the other woman just in time to see the raptor coming up behind her. She pushed Shirley away and screamed as she slapped a dirty pot off the counter at the thing. The clatter of the pot momentarily startled the beast and threw it off its attack. It dodged to the side as Shirley fired wildly.
“Get out of the damned way!” Shirley snarled just as the thing lunged at Bobby.
Bobby saw its haunches drop for the lunge and twisted out of the way. Its body flew past her, tail high in the air. When it landed the animal's claws sunk into the floor, momentarily sticking. She screamed again and lunged in with berserk fury. She stabbed the animal in the eye, twisted the knife out as it tried to turn and bite and claw at her, and then twisted her wrist to cut at its exposed throat.