The air within the city was unusually warm when I trudged along the outskirts.
The glow of the inner-city was accompanied by the pounding of music, cheering, and blaring horns. I heard arguments rise up and screaming follow. There was the ringing of a tram and the bellowing from a bus being cut off somewhere else.
Pausing down an alleyway, I wanted to avoid the brightness messing with my senses. Down in this disgusting darkness, I could see enough to try and figure out my next step.
At the end, it joined onto a road running through. Cars passed momentarily, indicating it was a sloping side street and not the main thoroughfare.
I had to be cautious. With the egg now at the top of my mind, I couldn't trust anyone else. One fight would crack the shell. A heated argument could result in me being pushed over onto it.
I was drained of venom from tonight. It would still hurt to strike someone, but it wouldn't kill them if I needed that desperate escape.
Every car now could contain an enemy. I couldn't trust mere strangers.
Flickering my tongue, I could taste the lingering ammonia from the piss running down the walls. The stale water between the grimy cracks of the brick walls on either side of me dribbled from pipes pierced through the buildings wafting out something that smelled rotting.
I scrunched up my nose, trying not to breathe too deeply. Looking to the one on my left that glowed beside me, I could see the body of someone flitting around the fire lingering in the same spot. Another hovered above, pacing.
A foreign voice snapped out and it instantly started charging down through the air towards the first, hovering and leaning.
The right was mostly cold. There was another three glowing figures, each sprawled out above the ground as they all watched the box pressed closet to me.
Another two were somewhere diagonal in an upper floor, wrapped around each other. One head pulled up to check on the shouting in the next building, before resuming the fondling.
Pulling my eyes away, I slowly walked down the grungy alley for the road.
I could see the glow of the egg over my shoulder. The edges were darkened, but it mostly still flowed with warmth. The portion pressed to my back was starting to fade.
Right. I had to find warmth. Even with it hanging like a veil in the air, it wasn't enough to keep either of us alive.
The building to the left looked like some sort of restaurant. Pressing a hand to the bricks, heat seared back from within.
I wasn't going to take that chance. If I didn't have this egg, I might have; but I couldn't run the risk of scaring or angering the residents into attacking me.
I slinked onwards.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDvYxhcTsFn
Breathing in a slip of fresh air at the end of the alleyway, I restricted my lungs once more to avoid the overwhelming spices and burning sauces spilling out into the street.
Were they burning garbage in there? I could smell the juices from the meat that had been sitting around for way too long. Whatever it was, the poor soul who chanced upon the place wouldn't leave without a nasty bout of food poisoning.
Waiting for another car to roll past, I darted around the corner to briskly walked past the building still loudly screeching instructions.
Keeping my head low, I avoided the burn of the streetlights overhead. The cracked concrete patched in circles beneath them, speckling a path down the hill I descended.
More people moved and hovered within their homes. Others remained empty. Pets lingered in cages or beds, ripping into something out of boredom or sleeping.
I just had to avoid the walls of fire. The more people there were, the worse it would be.
The street levelled out at the bottom. People wandered the paths aimlessly. There were no commercial businesses here to satisfy them. These were people soaking in the humidity of the night on a slow stroll.
I still had to avoid them. All it would take is for one person to recognize me and they'd all come.
Why did I have to be the most popular? It was great in Paragon, but our here, it was fucking frustrating.
There weren't a lot of snakes that looked like me. I was recognisable by sight alone; chosen for that purpose. Flashy threats out here would only give me away, not scare off anyone getting too close.
I was in a world of humans. Hybrids swirled through too on their own goals in life. They didn't face the same dilemmas i was currently forced into.
Crossing the street would leave me exposed. There were only more buildings there. Somewhere further down was a void of darkness where little lights darted erratically. A couple stood there, tossing pebbles of warmth towards them.
A pond. Those were hungry fish. It was a park.
I saw more still bodies laying on the ground. Most burned brightly in their cores, the outsides warmed by the city itself.
Curled people clustered together, separated by a few meters of space.
Homeless. It looked like majority of them were sleeping. Others huddled together, heads bent.
I could avoid everyone by taking the way around the pond then walking up the middle between both sides of burning bodies.
They wouldn't chase after me. Nobody bothered those roughing it within any patch of land they could find. Even if one recognized me from the billboards or posters, who would believe them?
I'd follow the path towards the void.
Turning right, I slipped onto the concrete walkway passing the sides of more homes. Ahead, a towering building seared through the night over the rest.
A hotel? Some sort of restaurant?
The clattering of plates and laughter from the buzzing and droning conversation told me it was the latter. Music pumped in the background, breathing life into the chatter.
I couldn't pass that. The hot railing may have been above the pathway, but it was too risky to assume someone wouldn't try to reach out for me or throw something at my back when I passed.
Phones were everywhere too. All it would take is for one video to be posted, and my location would be leaked for anyone to hunt me down again.
Urgh. Why settle a restaurant down this street? Wasn't it mostly residential?
I didn't care enough to look further into it. I had to find a way around this obstacle.
The pond was still so far away. Crossing the road would only leave me in clear eyesight of everyone packed into the tables outside.
Checking the way behind me, the path there dragged upwards to the burn of the main road. More people hovered on the way down. There were other groups wandering along that side. People milled into another side street that was teaming with lights darting within confined spaces.
An eatery street? I couldn't face that.
Turning back, I huffed at the choice I was given.
I couldn't slip into any other alleys since these buildings were too closely packed. There was a gap down the side of the restaurant for people to enter. Nothing laid beyond the area set aside for dumpsters. Someone was smoking out the back with a friend.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJTG7w3OdCr
I checked the road and crossed it to the other side to continue to follow the dotted path.
Urgh. People were so fucking loud out here. They were obnoxious too in Paragon when drinks fuelled them. We didn't need to turn away too many since majority knew how to control their volume and hands when in the company of others.
Our here, they wanted to be on show. The louder ones didn't care about the attention. They drank it in with their colourful cocktails or frothy beers, dancing and cheering when their favourite songs made an appearance.
My eyes were already hurting from keeping the overwhelming restaurant in my sights. I dropped them to the simmering ground and kept up my quick pace.
As long as I didn't rush through, I shouldn't attract too much attention. Sudden movement made these people snap onto it like ravenous sharks.
So far it was good. I stepped into the zone opposite the bright building, briskly powering on.
I heard a scream and instantly knew that I had been spotted. Cringing at it, I kept up the pace.
I couldn't face them anyway. I had already been blinded once by flashing lights, I couldn't be stumbling out here if I subjected myself to another round.
"SHNAYKE GIUYEH!" someone slurred in their shout over to me "YOOO HOOOH!"
Jesus. What a fucking mess.
"HYEIY!" they cried out, trying to get my attention "DWONT YOOUH...."
They couldn't get the rest out. Their drunken slurring had already caught the attention of others who gasped and tried to shout for my attention.
Fuck me. Why did they have to be so loud? The whole bloody street would hear this lot carrying on.
"Hey! Tawn!" someone called for my attention.
"That's the Paragon guy!"
"Holy fuck, Tawn!" someone shrieked, ringing my ears.
Urgh. I wish they didn't have to call out that name like they knew me. It was really starting to get hard at distinguishing between fellow workers and strangers when they called it out with such confidence.
I heard the thumping of feet running after me. It was one pair, from someone not influenced by alcohol.
Turning to see a woman excitedly beaming back with her phone, I saw there was only an arms length between us.
She didn't seem to have any malicious intentions when I tasted the air. She bounced on the spot, holding her phone towards me.
"Can I take a selfie?" she gushed.
Narrowing my eyes at her and seeing others now gaining the confidence to leave the restaurant for the street, I quickly turned to walk off.
"Hey!" the woman called, following "what about a hug then? I love your sh...."
Whipping around when I saw her warm fingertips burn along the shell of the egg to try and grab the skin on my arm, I puffed up and hissed down at her with fangs fully displayed. She stumbled back, whimpering at the second set of eyes glaring down at her from my hood.
Elgress had the same look on her face when I threatened her like this too. Wide eyes on the verge of tears, shaky breath, hammering heart...
"Don't touch me" I growled, quickly checking on the marks seared into the egg "don't follow me."
Snarling and turning again, I picked up the pace into a brisk walk. The absence of footsteps told me the woman was far too rattled to go against my words. The others would be wise to stay back.
"Y-you're an ar-arsehole!" she shouted back, her voice trembling as she swallowed mid-threat.
Glancing over my shoulder to make sure I didn't have any more stupid people trying their chances, I stuck close to the sides of the buildings sliding past on my left. As soon as there was an opening, I'd lose this dangerous fascination in me.
It didn't matter now if anyone had caught that interaction on their phone. The woman had crossed my boundaries and laid her skin on my family. Her disgusting mark and fake floral scent burned back brightly on both me and the egg.
It would fade, but my anger wouldn't. I couldn't let another get that close. I should have run when I heard the feet following me.
Others didn't head the message and were now stalking me at a distance, shouting at me for attacking the woman and making her cry.
It was a group of about four. Three were men of different ages. Maybe one was her partner? Or did strangers rally this strongly together when they all had a common interest to hate?
All were intent on hurting me. I didn't need to sample the air to taste their radiating anger quickening their pulses and paces.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBwNJ2en1xd
As soon as I felt the buildings turn into the smooth stone of the fenced park entrance, I hurried inside and raced along the stone path swerving through.
It hit a fountain in the middle and branched off into another two directions to the left and right. Both those sides had the heat signatures of segmented people laying amongst what I assumed was trees. Continuing straight, I saw the void of the pond that was now only teaming with fish. I even saw the splayed legs of a turtle swimming about too.
Two long-necked birds were nestled nearby on the other side. The figure of a human was curled up with them. I saw the shape of wings resting against its body.
Swans. I knew enough about birds to not go near them. They took anything as some sort of provocation and we're ready to attack.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDwhdRZ1pP
Following the lights burning like many moons above me, I thudded onto the wooden boardwalk edging the pond. Rushing around to the stone path that clicked under my shoes, I kept going straight.
It would be smart to divert from such an obvious direction, but I wasn't brave enough to risk tangling myself amongst the people sleeping under the trees.
Panic settled in my heart when I kept running. I hadn't felt this horrible flopping and tightness in my chest since being up in Bruce's office. I had never experienced this due to other people.
They didn't threaten me easily. Now that I was more vulnerable and my actions had to be carefully calculated, the fear crept in to choke the breath from me.
I could hide around here. The park still had enough trees and bushes to slip behind without being seen. With the added camouflage of my natural scales, they shouldn't be able to detect me.
Scanning the darkness, I saw the park light illuminating the side of another tree and it's accompanying ring of bushes beneath.
All displayed neatly, they were throughout the park. The next one was a few meters to the right.
Darting for the clump, I quickly crouched around to the back, untying the egg from my back.
I would do that my Mama did when she was threatened. She would guard the nest while my Papa acted as the force that drove away the threats. With no-one else to count on, I would have to conceal the egg while guarding it. If it came to it and I was discovered, the egg should be safe while I drove them off.
Pushing through the looping branches, I wedged myself amongst the leaves. Using my back as the shield, I wriggled amongst the leaves I pulled back across. The egg was pressed to the base of the tree roots while I sat hunched beside it.
I didn't want to face the path and give away my location if light hit my eyes. With my back blocking the leaves in, I was ready to act if I heard shoes crush over the grass surrounding me.
Snatching up the dirt around me, I scrubbed it against the shell to try and conceal the brightness. The dirt withheld warmth from the sunlight and glowed back like glitter.
I only stopped rubbing when I heard thumping shows on the rocky path. They stopped where I had diverted along the boardwalk, scraping slowly.
"He's gone."
"No, he's got to be around here" another grumbled "he can't just get away with shit like that because he's popular!"
"Look, let's just leave it" the first begged, the only woman in the group "it's dangerous to go chasing someone like that in a dark place like this. That's how people die in horror movies."
"The black guy always dies first, so we will be fine" the third joked, laughing.
I didn't dare to move my hand from the egg when the feet stepped closer. I didn't even move my head. Any slight change would create noise.
I was ready. As soon as there was movement in front of me, I would strike.
There were four of them I remembered. The other one was remaining silent. Maybe they were also against trying to hunt for me?
"I'm going to head back" the first decided "we shouldn't be out here. We aren't going to find him out here in the middle of the night."
"Fuck me!" the second growled, kicking his foot.
They kept walking. The scuffing of the shoes moved to the portion of path behind me.
I saw the leaves around me illuminate softly. It wasn't directed at me but to the ground nearby. I slowly moved my hand to grip the netting.
"He's long gone" the first stated "he was already way ahead of us."
"Come on, Leo" the third called "lets go get some fucking drinks. We drove him off."
"Suits the mother fucker right" the second laughed "he'll think twice before coming back this way."
"HEAR THAT ARSEHOLE?" the third yelled down the pathway "WE OWN THIS TOWN, NOT YOU!"
They started laughing. I just rolled my eyes at how stupid and immature they were.
"Come on, Leo!" the second grew impatient with their friend.
"Yeah, hang on" I heard the voice above me "I need to piss."
Fuck. Not here...
"Maybe he's in the bush, ready to bite your dick off?" the third roared with laughter.
"Or suck it" the second added with choking noises.
"Guys, that's disgusting" the first grumbled.
Did they know about that? They wouldn't know about Bruce. They were just being stupid.
Light washed over the upper portion of the bush. My eyes slid to it, watching it carefully.
"Fuck off!" the fourth laughed at being blinded momentarily. I saw a shadow lift. There was a flash of blue and orange.
A zipper cut through the laughter. I heard more adjusting and rustling as the fourth freed himself.
I could smell his warm skin and the sweat that stung from it. There was a sweeter scent of alcohol mixed with the richness of gravy from his meal.
The fourth farted, making his friends roar with laughter. Then, he sighed as the stench of piss began to stream through the leaves.
The ammonia trickled down my head I dipped downwards to shield my face. It pooled on the ground and started to crawl back towards the shoes moving slightly to adjust his stability.
I couldn't move. Glaring at the obscured face and burning body looming over me, I knew I had to remain calm if I was to get out of here.
The piss stung like acid. It dug into my gouges and boiled into the raw wounds. I had to bite down on my breath to avoid hissing in pain. My hand squeezed around the rope to try and divert my attention elsewhere.
"How much did you drink?" the first called in disbelief.
"Just.... a bit" the fourth replied with a chuckle, promptly squeezing out the last little bits onto my face and shaking himself dry, flecking more onto me.
The ground crunched when he dawdled back to the others. The light retracted with him and washed over the stones leading back the way I had come.
I waited until darkness enveloped me again before raising a hand to swipe over my face, flicking it in disgust. I didn't dare to open my mouth in case I accidentally swallowed any of the piss still running down my body.
Fucking filthy prick. If the others weren't there, I would have gladly reached out and snapped his dick in half.
And the audacity to joke about things they didn't properly understand. I felt myself boiling at their snide remarks on what I was most ashamed of.
I had to wash my burning face and remove this horrid stench from my body. Whatever the guy drank in his daily lifestyle, it wasn't water. I could smell how dehydrated he was and how it made the stench stronger.
Choking as I crawled from the bushes and reached back in to gather up the netting to tie around my shoulders, I double-checked that the lights were gone before hurrying across to the pond.
Any water was better than none. With fish stirring up the depths and the turtle still lazily paddling around, it wasn't exactly stagnant. In the middle was also a planted fountain that barely babbled above the surface.
Scrubbing my face and scooping up handfuls to swish around my mouth and spit back out, I felt the cold water soak my shirt before dampening my scales that appreciated the moisture.
I really needed to take care of my shedding like Francie had demanded.
I wonder how annoyed she'd be that I wasn't going to be submitted under her rough hands and snapping attitude like she enjoyed?
I was most relieved she wasn't amongst the group that came after me. I didn't think she would chase me down, but after tonight, I didn't think the idea of head- hunting would be so wildly popular by others I considered too morally good for that sort of thing.
I was going to miss our interactions together. If Elgress wasn't in the picture and I hadn't agreed to helping her out for so long, Francie would possibly have a place in my heart. I liked how feisty she was.
I couldn't stay here and think about stupid scenarios. I was clean and thankfully mostly rid of the horrid stench. Everything was calm again, like it should be.
Walking in the opposite direction of the group while cautiously checking over my shoulder, I gratefully slipped away into the night without another fight battered into my body.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSKrHH5gqk
I walked until the grass turned back to stone, then cracked concrete. I hid from traffic, and blatantly trudged beside it. Spiralling roads leading along highways became flattened lands of maze-like streets. Soon, buildings were replaced with trees. Soft grass sprouted where hard concrete had been. The only sounds were of cars escaping the continuous buzz of the city.
My legs screamed for rest when I veered from the road and towards the trees in fenced property.
Peeling apart the barbed wire and setting the egg down, I snagged my clothes when I ducked between it. The egg was lifted over safely so I could place some distance between me and the road.
I may have been out of the main city, but I wasn't free yet. Roads were still leading to other towns nearby. Patches of land were increasingly uncommon, especially when bright signs and every fast food joint imaginable was stacked in groups alongside the branching paths. This was a nice adjustment while I caught my breath and regained my strength again.
The birds were already warbling somewhere nearby to the sun rising. The sky was still mostly dark, but in a phase of greyness that I could make out shapes without having to strain my senses. Everything out here was cold from the night I had spent walking. The rising sun would make it all burn into my mind soon enough.
Night seemed like a calmer time to walk. Most people were asleep by then, and the roads were certainly quieter. The further from the sleepless city I got, the truer that became. There was no need to run a business so late into the night when there was no-one else to enjoy it.
I could rest my eyes from the multitude of burning, beating fiery heartbeats in the night. Sunlight armed the earth, which would lay down a bright path for me, but also help conceal anything hiding down apon it.
I couldn't hunt with something that massive hindering me. Unless the animals were stupid and panicked enough to rush above the bumpy ocean of orange, I'd be just as blind as I was back at Paragon.
I was just lucky I was born with a good set of eyes and didn't have to solely rely on my senses unless I needed to. What was useless in one way was of no concern in the other.
9Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUJvwlY58mi
Settling beneath the tree, I lowered the egg between my legs that kept it upright.
It still had that dark halo around the shell; warmth huddled more towards the center, burning brightly.
Was that good? Was that the proper amount it needed to develop?
Tasting the air around it and pressing a palm to the shell, it was still warmer to the touch than my cold body.
My leg slipped down onto the grass. I could feel my heavy head struggling to stay lifted now that I had stopped moving.
My eyes danced, fluttering between sending me to sleep with each heavy blink, and rolling back into focus on the blurred egg.
I couldn't fall asleep here. I knew I had pushed it by walking through the night and out into the colder temperatures when the warmth of the city ebbed away. If I slept, I might not wake up. The egg would freeze completely in another night of being exposed to the open air.
I had to keep moving.
Trying to push back up, my legs refused. Both slid into the grass, throbbing and burning. Stabbing prickled down the backs of my calves crushing the grass beneath them. My hands couldn't lift from beside me to even plant on the egg. They were as if I was being pinned by the weight of everyone's costume chains.
I couldn't rest here. It wasn't safe to be slumped out next to a road and on someone else's property. Snakes weren't exactly the most welcome creatures on anyone's land. One that was taller than an average man would only make a human panic more.
Seeing the land before me slowly starting to grow brighter, I pulled out my phone to dial the only person I could think of.
"Mmghmm?"
"Sorry for..." I stifled my yawn "...waking you."
"'s good" Balae mumbled back, still half asleep "w-what's....up?"
There was a pause between us. I heard movement and a groan as she stretched again.
"It's really early" her voice grew concerned "are you ok?"
There was a thump and another groan. I heard Balae's nails tapping over the wood before another thump came.
Something screeched down the phone, making me pull it away from my head.
"Sorry" she grimaced "I didn't want to wake Silera up."
"She didn't hear you jumping down the landing?"
"Maybe" Balae's voice lifted "she heard a lot nowadays."
I smiled back, looking down at the egg cradled between my legs.
"How are they?"
Were they still with her? Or did she abandon them for Ezra? Did Elgress listen to me and return so that things wouldn't devolve to that?
"They're fine" Balae brushed me off "you worry too much. How about yours? Sleeping somewhere warm?"
"That's why I was ringing you" I stifled another yawn "how do you know.... if it's.... at the right temperature?"
Another pause. Balae swallowed.
"What does it look like now?"
"Uh...." I looked down, as if I hadn't been watching it this entire time "it's orange in the middle."
"And dark around the edges?" she finished for me.
I smiled, confirming it.
"It's too cold" she promptly spoke " you want it to be a light orange all the way through. Too bright and it's too hot, dark all the way through and its dead."
I felt my gut dropped when I looked down at the little light below me.
"You can't keep it warm" she reminded me when I pressed a hand to the top to stroke it "you need heat. Where abouts are you?"
I looked for some sort of landmark of road sign. All I could see was the roofs of takeaways across the road. To my other side of this field was more indistinguishable buildings.
"Uhhh, the side of a road?"
Balae sighed back.
"Drop me your location" she demanded "I'll help you out."
Smirking at her bossiness, I quickly sent it across and hear her tut as she opened it.
"Jesus, how the hell did you get all the way out there?"
"Walked" I yawned back.
"No wonder it's cold" she grumbled "you need to take better care of it and yourself, ok? You can't be walking through the night without checking on it! Without stopping from the looks of it!"
"I had my hands full with people wanting to beat me up" I grumbled back "and then dealing with dickheads honking at me on the highway and wanting to pull up. I just wanted to get out of there."
"Well, you did" Balae blew out a breath "seriously, you've got to slow it down if you don't want to burn yourself out."
I snorted, shaking my head and smiling at her tone.
"Yes, Balae" I chimed back.
"Either way, it looks like you are right on a caged egg farm. Uh, it's called.... Feather Ridge Farm."
"Creative" I scoffed.
"It's good for you. Look around and let me know if you see any buildings close by. There should be one either in front or behind you."
It certainly wasn't in front. The grass stretched out for about a kilometre and ended at the side of another building over the fence.
Turning and leaning to look around the tree, I squinted my eyes to the stretch of wall painted white. Carrying onwards in one long building was what I assumed Balae was having me find. I don't think I saw a single window on it.
How could one business be so large? It even had its own road leading down to the furthest portion of it. Trucks were lined up there, flashing logos of happy chickens.
"I found it" I breathed back.
"Good. Head there. Cage places are lined with all sorts of warm lights. It'll either be a mass roaming kind of setup where they cram the chickens in a pen inside and dump the food down so they can call it 'free range' or they'll be stuffed into cages that are in aisles. Either way, it's got the warmth you need. Food too."
"I couldn't eat another bite" I laughed "at least for another fortnight."
"Some of us can only be so lucky" Balae retorted sarcastically "chop chop. You don't want to let the egg freeze over."
"Or myself" I grunted as I grabbed the tree to haul myself up. Cradling the phone in my shoulder, I hoisted the sideways egg back up to tie up again.
"Are you up?" Balae asked.
"Barely" I huffed back, wobbling on the first few steps towards the building "but I'm heading there now."
"Good."
She sounded pleased with me. I smiled back, seeing her strange smiling face in my mind.
"You seem to know a bit about cage farms" I noted as I walked.
"More like incubators" she replied "my parent was a sock puppet and a sheet. Sometimes it was a dripper too if I got too hot."
There was laughter in her voice. I giggled along, dumbfounded at what I was hearing.
"So, you were raised by a sock?"
"A very nice sock" she snorted, laughing "who gave me a very nice name that no-one else seemed to like. They used the sock so I didn't imprint on the humans and want to be around them. Cant get attached if you don't know what they look like."
"That's actually kind of smart" I admitted.
"Yeah, well, it didn't work" she scoffed back "I'm around humans."
"And snakes."
"That's on them" Balae snickered "they didn't teach me that snakes were bad."
"Oh, sure" I laughed at her.
She joined in heartily.
Why couldn't we have moments like this together when we were face to face?
"How did you leave?" I asked now.
"Oh, funny story" she gasped "so, they put me in this really nice swampland with a 'potential suitor' and all the jazz. He was called S1; Swan for short."
"Uh huh."
"But, who wants to spend their life dribbling water on a nest?" Balae sighed "and watching chicks fight to the death when you know only one will make it every time? Humans come around, save one, and repeat the same process they did with me. Gets really irritating trying to keep them away."
Wait, so she had a whole life before this one? She wasn't just tied to Silera and Paragon from the start?
I guess since my life had just been the same thing in and out that I automatically thought others had the same experience.
"So, when I popped out these bad boys" she laughed "my arms, I mean."
"I got you" I laughed back, still trudging for the building that never seemed to get any closer.
"Then they became realllll interested in wanting to take me instead of the eggs. I was S2; Stew to them; always like Balae better, but who was I to say anything?" she snorted "they put these stupid yellow tags in both wings. They were yellow with S2 on them. Swan got ones with his number too. I'll tell you, as soon as I grew out some nice fingers, they were the first things I pulled out."
"I bet" I smiled "so you just left?"
"Had to" she replied with a sigh "I wasn't going back to a nest where humans were lurking. I told Swan to leave too when I did. Don't know if he ever did. That's when I met Silera."
Her voice grew soft and full of love. I softened as well, happy they both found each other after such a rocky start.
"Oh, she was feisty; still is."
"That we can agree on" I grinned.
"She was in the same boat. On a nest and guarding eggs. She didn't have a partner with her. They usually up and leave after the job is done."
"Oh."
"Well, I was interested in her from the start. I hadn't seen a snake before, let alone one so big and beautiful. I bought her food. Almost became it a few times."
Balae laughed again. I giggled along.
"She liked chickens. That's where my expertise comes in about the farms. I could fly, and she was always hungry, so I used to target a few free range farms until they started putting up nets. They suspected wild dogs or birds of prey, not a shoebill."
"You never got caught?" I wondered.
"Oh" she snorted, holding laughter "a few times. People are scared of something that looks like a dinosaur and sounds like a gun. Once they figured it out, they got clever with their fences."
We both giggled together at the imagery.
"I was just that good" she boasted now.
"Yeah, I believe you" I replied sarcastically.
"I could bring back twenty chickens a day, thank you very much" she gasped dramatically "and feeding Silera is no easy fete, as you know."
"I swear she could have wiped out the entire giant toad colony across the river" I added in awe.
"See? We agree on something."
I smirked.
"We became friends out of some sort of weird dynamic" Balae continued "I bought her food and dodged her fangs, and I got to sleep nearby where humans wouldn't get me. Soon enough, she stopped trying to eat me and the eggs hatched. Let me tell you that I stayed welllll away from those things when they all burst out. One big snake was more than enough, let alone a whole field of them."
"You were scared of snakes!" I teased, laughing at her "you chicken!"
"Not wanting to be eaten by a field full of snakes is called self-preservation" she bit back "it's called 'using your brain'."
"I don't know...." I dragged or through my wide smile "sounds like you were scared to me."
She huffed and I tried to withhold my giggles.
"Well what would you call it now?" she jabbed back snidely, thinking she had the upper hand.
"Self preservation" I turned it back on her.
"Oh, fuck you" she laughed.
Shaking my head at her, I peered up at the building steadily looming closer. Any entrances were still too far away. There was a few doors at the side I could make out now.
"You there yet?" Balae cut through my scrutiny of the closest one.
"Not yet."
"Hmm" she grumbled in thought "am I distracting you?"
I paused for a moment, feeling my heart prickle.
She was using her stories to pull me from everything else. She was staying with me to make sure I was safe and away from harm.
"Yeah" I breathed.
"It's working?" she grinned back "hey, what are you going to call it?"
"The egg?" I frowned now.
"Well, I'm not talking about anything else" Balae retorted.
I turned my head to check on it, still seeing the dark edges smothering the little light.
"I never thought about it."
"Well, you've got to have some sort of placeholder name" she sighed back as if it was the most obvious thing "you can't just call it 'egg'."
"Then I can call it Saah" I giggled.
Balae denied it instantly, trying not to laugh.
"Calling it 'egg' in another language is cheating" she reminded me.
"It's a placeholder for now" I replied simply "or I could call it Omelette? Boiled Egg? Scrambles?"
"Urgh, not Scrambles" she shuddered audibly "that's the name of a brain disease you can get."
"Then it's Saah."
"You are impossible" she almost whispered.
Smiling in triumph I steered towards the door at the middle of the long wall. It looked like it'd be the closest of them all.
"Speaking of impossible...."
Balae paused for a moment as I kept walking. The sound of me cutting through the grass was suddenly a lot more obvious. I noticed I could see the green of the blades now. In talking to Balae, she had made time fly by quickly. The early morning sun was now attempting to warm my cold back.
"Your snappy friend came up here last night."
Snappy friend? Did she mean Elgress?
She actually listened to me and returned back there? She was attempting to do the right thing and create a bond between her and Ezra?
It also secured survival for my babies too that Silera guarded. With Ezra out of the picture again, she wouldn't move from that nest. There would be nothing to replace them if Elgress kept Ezra away from Silera and Balae.
I breathed a sigh of relief. My chest suddenly felt lighter. I began to chuckle in glee, smiling wildly towards the door washed in golden light.
They were going to make it after all.
"You sound happy about that" Balae sounded skeptical.
"Insanely" I gushed "everyone is staying in their sides. I don't have to worry so much now."
"About us?" Balae asked, puzzled "I can hold my own, you know. If she comes over here, she's got to get through me first."
I felt my grin return. At least I knew the instinct to stay with the nest was still there.
"I doubt that'll happen. Elgress is....."
Stubborn? Ignorant? A manipulating, backstabbing, bi....
"She scares easy" I just spoke up, shutting down my own thoughts "she hasn't been the same since I showed her my fangs."
"Ah, poor thing" Balae quipped sarcastically.
"I take it you don't like her?"
"I don't hate her either" she made an unsure noise "she's somewhere in a grey zone for me until I figure her out."
I snorted back.
"Not much to figure out."
"With her up here, I'm kind of doubting that. She's too close for comfort for me, but Ezra seems to be tolerating her."
"For now" I added.
"For now" Balae agreed.
I shoved Elgress from my mind and set my sights back on the door.
Now that I was closer, I could see cameras pointed towards the entrances. They looked like ordinary doors with bright warning labels across the bars that they were alarmed.
How was I getting through that?
"They're alarmed" I told Balae "all the doors are."
"It's fine" she brushed my concern aside "they'll probably think it's one of their own who forgot to punch in a code. Just get in and find somewhere to hide until you get warm again."
"There's cameras too" I added.
"Well, that complicates things" she hummed "but you should have enough time before they get you to move on. Just act wild. Speak Heshier. They'll move you along if they don't recognize you."
"What are the chances of that?" I sighed.
"Very, very slim."
I felt my gut drop again, irritating me.
"Thanks for the support" I replied bluntly.
"You're welcome" Balae chimed back in false enthusiasm "now get in there, you chicken. You've dealt with worse than some alarmed door."
She was right. The office door was by far the more terrifying of all the ones I had faced. This one meant nothing to me. These people and their oversized business were insignificant.
"I'm going to hang up before it deafens me" Balae decided "itl be easier to sneak around without talking to me."
"Good point."
"Don't forget to talk every now and then, ok?" Balae warned me sternly "get yourself a portable charger so you can. Power points don't grow on trees."
Giggling at her again, I just sighed out my smile.
"Yes, Balae."
"You had better ring me the moment Saah starts hatching!" she jabbed "and when you get a proper name for it!"
"I will. Don't worry."
"Urgh, you know I always will, you idiot" she grumbled back "thank you for making Silera happy again."
I beamed, feeling the sadness prickle back up again.
I was a few meters from the door. It was just grass between me and the large grey door. The smell of dirty feathers and piled shit was starting to waft towards me. I could only see a block of burning spots when I mustered up the courage to try and see through the concrete.
"I've got to go."
"Yeah, you should" Balae replied in defeat "stay safe."
"You too" I glued my eyes to the door, waiting for anyone to push out of it "bye."
"See you."
Silence.
The crisp air on my body started to drain the strength again. Even with the sun now lighting the earth, I couldn't rely on it to pull me out of this fog I barely pushed through.
I could do this. It was just one stupid door.
Forcing myself towards it, I braced for the inevitable that would come.
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With the alarm wailing through the air, I ran along the hall that was planted before me to stretch both left and right.
Large black letters were painted on the sides of the grey walls flashing past me. The entire alphabet stretched alongside me, accompanied by numbers all the way up to ten.
There were less numbers. I could hide in there and soak up the heat until I could move again.
I knew I was sluggish compared to my usual stride. Leaning against the 'R' wall, I used it to push myself onwards and last the crammed faces of the panicked chickens trying to move within their confines.
People were scarce in this portion of the building. It seemed like everything was automated by the way I could easily dart around the side of a wall whenever a lone person hurried past for the door.
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The red combs of the chickens I looked across to were hanging pitifully in their faces. Each brown hen was squashed into a cage that crushed their tattered wings to their bodies and forced them to their stomachs. The bars ran horizontal so that they could force their ratty heads between them to pick at the plain feed dumped into a pipe. Another one moved before that to rumble the constant stream of brown and white eggs down towards the end of the block.
The sad chickens were stacked in rows that touched the roof. There were no windows to filter the stale stench; only bright lights meant to simulate the sun. Endless rows surrounded me. Defeated, the animals didn't even have the energy to socialise. Their life was just to eat and lay in endless days of filth and pain.
All I could hear was the beaks clacking over the feed. The noise was like rain around me, another layer to the pulsing wail just beyond the thick wall that buffered most of it.
I couldn't do anything to help these poor creatures. I had to help myself first by trying to find a suitable location to hide. From the layout of this block, the cages ran from floor to wall with no gaps. I'd have to venture further to try and wedge into a corner as my only solution.
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It was only five minutes of horrid ear-splitting wailing until it suddenly cut out. In that time I was approaching the first of the numbered walls to slip around it.
Instantly confronted with more endless cages, the constant munching of beaks was amplified here to resemble hail.
Confused, I saw there were the same floor to roof cages stacked in rows with tiny aisles between them. However, these cages were slightly larger. The eggs vibrating along the moving pipe funnelling them to the back were also bigger than the alphabetically sorted chickens. More of them were coated in blood.
Looking to the one opposite me, I was met with another comb hanging in the face of a brown chicken. Unlike the other small eyes that barely lifted from the feed, these ones did.
They were not orange like the wild hens. These ones were brown, streaked with darker shades.
My feet shuffled past the brown eyes to be met with blue. Past them, more browns. Stopping again, green and grey joined the dull, lifeless sea.
These were hybrids. They may have looked like bigger chickens, but each one held an indication that they were something else.
These ones couldn't move. Bowed on knees or tucked chicken legs, these hybrids only knew food. Even with a snake walking amongst them, they didn't have the energy or will to live to even alert the others.
They had given up a long time ago.
Had they been born here? Maybe tempted with endless food and shelter, similar to what Paragon promised? I couldn't tell since none of them fought to be free. They just accepted fate under the lights, squashed and forced to live amongst shit that coated the trays beneath them.
Unlike the hens who had a simple lifting mechanic to open the doors, these cages were equipped with a silver press button to force the latch open. With most of the hybrids relying on their crushed wings for hands, or others with claws that were too defeated to try the buttons, none had even attempted to reach through the small bars they wedged their heads through.
Even if I opened one, it would be pointless. How would they be able to move on legs that had been bent at strenuous angles for what could be years? What's to say they could walk if they even struggled out to touch the concrete below?
Only the first three rows of the aisles would be free. The others were too high up to have the same fate. Those pressed up against the roof would die if they tried to leave the cage from that height.
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Continuing down the aisle, it was disappointing to see not a single hen having any fight left in them. They would just accept whatever happened. They bled from forcing out eggs and didn't even cry out in pain. Eyes focused on food, even when I leant in to try and find some spark of hope within the walls of sluggish heartbeats.
It was thrilling when they gave some sort of fight for their life. When Avery broke his arm and screamed in pain, he kicked alive my most basic instincts to hunt and kill. He was mesmerizing when I was starving. Even live rats that bit and scratched my throat when I swallowed them whole didn't have the same thrill he did when he walked around with a broken arm and cut wings.
A crippled and grounded bird ignited sparks inside me. Looking over at these ones, the same feeling wasn't there. Maybe it was because I was still full from the giant toads, or maybe it was that these didn't have the same fight Avery did? They were basically offering themselves for slaughter. If I was starving, I probably would have snapped a few necks to gorge myself. With a clear mind, I only pitied these dumb creatures.
Circling around the end of the row, I looped back around the next one to slide down the wall and replace the egg between my cramped legs now laid across the lowest cages and forcing the hens to stretch their necks around them to continue eating.
The lights here were warm. The air was stifling between the sharp blood and sludgy shit, but I soaked it in gratefully through closed eyes.
Saah wouldn't die. I had done my job to keep it alive for another day.
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