As it turned out, they didn't have to worry about drawing attention. After the initial Lobhobber encounter, most of the monsters in this area seemed strangely content to do their own things. That, or they were far less perceptive than Chad gave them credit for.

With Adrenaline Surge on cooldown, Chad felt a bit more exposed as he navigated through the gridlike streets. Luckily, they didn't run into any other swarms like the last one. Squawkers also redoubled his watch to make sure they weren't caught unawares. It kept them from being blindsided more than once.

Most of the enemies were of the same weird, offputting mutant variety they had gotten used to, if a bit more powerful. The major difference was they didn't run into anything below level three. Worse, things seemed to cluster together more often. There were even a few larger groups of assorted monsters they chose to sneak around rather than fight. It didn't seem worth the risk to take them all on. Not with their goal so close and daylight fading.

Despite all that, they saw enough action to earn Squawkers his third level and first skill - Identify.

"Really? You sure you don't want Iron Beak or something cool like that?" Chad asked skeptically.

"No! I don't even like fighting, you dimwit." The bird snorted. "Besides, knowledge is power. It'll make me a better lookout."

"All right. Even if Iron Beak would look way cooler."

Eventually, they turned a corner to find a tall beige building studded with neat rows of windows. Neat, that is, except for the shattered windowpanes. A broken and twisted gate led to a parking lot full of damaged and scratched vehicles with similarly smashed windows. Along the street loomed a large green sign bearing the hotel's name - the Milton Inn and Suites.

"We're here. Finally." Chad stepped toward the building only to receive a sharp nip on the temple. "Ow! What was–"

"Shhh!" Squawkers hissed at him and gestured upward. "Wait, you idiot!"

Glancing around in confusion, his gaze landed on the top of the building. A collection of dark shapes perched along the flat edges of its roof. It was hard to make out any details at this distance, though.

Chad squinted up at them in vain. "Are those birds?"

"Do they look like birds to you?"

"I mean, kind of, yeah. Big birds, but…" As Chad kept looking, he realized that it wasn't exactly right. They weren't just big birds. Considering the distance, they were probably massive.

"You, my friend, are blind." Squawkers sighed. "Do birds have teeth like that? Or literal blades for talons?!"

"How in the world do you see that far?" Chad strained his eyes even further. "They look like blobs from here!"

"I forgot that humans have awful eyesight," he grumbled. "Fine, let me explain then - those things are anywhere from level four to seven. They're called Ghoultures, which just screams bad news, and they look like they could probably rip me apart with one snap of their horrifying beak-teeth-things. Not to mention there's a lot of them. Also…" After a moment's pause, Squawkers continued. "Oh, neat! Identify is telling me a bunch more stuff! None of it's good, by the way."

Chad frowned and pulled back abound a nearby corner. "What else did you find out?"

"Well, their highest stat is constitution, apparently. Lowest is charisma – no surprises there, ugly bastards – aaaaaand they've got traits called Flight, Scavenge, and Nightcrawler. Some pretty spooky skills too. What do you think 'Soul Siphon' does?"

"I don't think I wanna know." Chad shuddered.

"Are you sure we have to go in there?" Squawkers asked hopefully. "Maybe your friend is in a different one of these hotels that we missed. Or heck, maybe he's already dead and there's no point risking ourselves at all!"

"Nope, I'm pretty sure we're in the right place…" He fished around in his pocket for Annie's phone.

Chad: Here. Bro ok?

Annie: Sounds like it. He's inside, apparently. They still can't get out though.

Chad: Ok. Milton south of airport?

Annie: Yup. There's only one in the area. What's wrong?

Chad: Bird monsters. Trying to get in.

Annie: Ok. Thanks, Chad. Be careful.

Squawkers clicked his beak in annoyance as Chad confirmed that this was, in fact, where they needed to go. "Dangit. Well, fine. That just means we need a plan to get in. A plan that won't bring those things down on our heads."

"Maybe they're asleep?" Chad gave a lopsided shrug. "Or maybe they won't notice if we just walk up real quiet."

The parrot muttered something under its breath before gesturing toward the parking lot once more. "Look over there. At the parking lot. Notice anything?"

"...It's kind of in awful shape?"

"Yes, good job. At least you're not actually blind. Anything else?"

"The cars are all broken up?"

"Yes, yes," Squawkers mentioned impatiently. "I'm not talking about the damage. I'm talking about what we don't see - bodies."

With a frown, Chad looked over the lot once more. Now that he mentioned it, the entire area and its surrounding streets did seem to be strangely clear of any bodies - monster or otherwise. It stood in stark contrast to everything else they'd seen. Even the side street they currently stood in had some.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ok, so what? Isn't that a good thing?"

"I very much doubt it." Another gesture directed the arm wrestler's attention toward the vehicles. "I can see blood on the ground and on some of the glass. So it's not like things have been peaceful around here. Which means…"

"...Those things ate whatever they killed?" A grimace twisted Chad's face. "Gross."

"Gross and dangerous." Squawkers nodded in agreement. "Which means we need to be extra careful. Everything points to them being aggressive, maybe even territorial."

"Sounds like we need a plan to get inside."

"Exactly my point. Can you shoot them from here?"

Chad checked through his bag. He'd managed to save most of his shotgun shells, though he'd spent a couple more on encounters along the way. All of his rifle and pistol ammo was still here, though, an exercise in restraint that was paying off now. Still, those magazines only held so many bullets.

"They're pretty far away." His brow furrowed. "I could probably take out a few, but if they come at us once I start firing, they might be able to reach us before I get them all. Depends on how fast they are. And how quick they go down, too. Maybe if you could shoot too…"

Squawkers gestured wryly with one clawed foot. "I'll let you know as soon as I can pull that one off."

"Nothing's impossible if you put your mind to it." Chad grinned. "We can probably make it work. I can teach you!"

"Uh-huh," came the skeptical reply. "Sure. Well, let's think about how we get inside without fighting. We have to make a real plan."

Glancing toward his shoulder, Chad noticed a strange glint in the bird's eyes. As dangerous as the situation was, it seemed that Squawkers couldn't help but get a little excited.

"I'm all ears, Mr. Brains." He met the bird's anticipatory gaze with a chuckle.

A feathered chest puffed up in pride at the nickname. "Ok. So listen up…"

***

About ten minutes later, Chad began to regret giving Squawkers free rein on their plan.

"Wait, wait, wait," he interrupted yet again.

The bird replied testily. "What now?"

"I don't know how to build a tank."

"You don't have to build a tank – you just have to stick some wheels on a dumpster."

"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm down to try, but…" He glanced at the sun as it dipped dangerously close to the horizon. "We're running a bit low on time. I think we need something a bit quicker."

"Fine. How about this then…"

A few minutes into the next convoluted plan – this time involving precisely coordinated tactics, a decoy bird with prerecorded calls, and corraling a mob of monsters like sheepdogs – Chad interrupted again. "Squawkers?"

"Hmm?"

"How are we even supposed to make the decoy talk? I can't throw my voice like some sorta ventriloquist. Can you?"

"Well no," the bird admitted, "but maybe we can set up some sort of pre-recorded audio loop that we activate remotely once we're far enough away–"

"With what? Annie's phone?" He stared at his feathered friend in horror. "No way I'm leaving that behind to get eaten! She'd kill me."

"Well, fine!" Squawkers crossed his wings in a surprisingly human-like motion. "Since you apparently hate all my plans, do you have a better one? Let's hear it."

Chad thought for a second. "What if I just… throw a rock?"

That earned him a flat look. "Throw a rock? Really?"

"I mean, yeah! They do it all the time in movies." He mimed the motion of tossing an object. "Everyone looks toward the rock, then you run while they're distracted. Easy."

After a long and rather condescending look, the bird finally sighed. "Fine. You can… throw a rock, I suppose. But if it doesn't work, we're going with plan C!"

"Sure, sure." Chad nodded, despite having completely forgotten which plan that was. Maybe the one where they tried to glue feathers to themselves and pose as Ghoultures?

They maneuvered toward the back of the building, weaving between alleys and streets quietly to avoid detection. Squawkers made them halt a few times when some of the birds stretched their wings or repositioned, but none lifted off or looked in their direction. Along the way, Chad found a grapefruit-sized rock and hefted it in his hand. The hunk of stone would do nicely.

As they gained a clear line of sight toward the back door, Squawkers nodded. "Ready?"

"Ready." He confirmed.

"Remember, if the door's locked…"

"I know. We'll break through a window. Are you sure I can't just break down the door, though?"

"Very. If you want to leave a big ol' hole behind us for them to swarm through, go ahead. But I think those things are big enough that they might not be able to squeeze through a window so easily."

"Got it. Stay close to me, ok?"

With that, Chad took a deep breath to steady himself. His gaze focused on a spot just past the front parking lot as he decided how best to throw the rock.

Time to dig up that old high school track and field experience.

Chad had experimented with a number of sports before settling on his one true love. Baseball, wrestling, even a bit of football. However, he'd quickly learned that whole-body sports didn't do it for him. Track and field offered better options in the form of javelin throwing and shotput, but even those involved a lot of other muscle groups that he didn't necessarily care about. Hence why he'd ultimately abandoned them.

At least I remember the technique, I think. How exactly did it go again?

Screwing his face up in concentration, Chad hefted the stone in one hand and brought it to his chin. Then, he squatted and began to spin.

"Chad?"

He stopped. "Yeah?"

Squawkers stared at him. "What are you doing?"

"Trying to throw the rock. What does it look like?"

"It looks like you're trying to listen to it while spinning in circles."

He shrugged helplessly. "I mean, this is how you shotput! I think. I don't really remember too well. It was a long time ago."

"Then why are you doing it?" Squawkers asked in exasperation. "Can you just throw it like a normal person?"

A frown creased his brow. "But… I thought this would be better…"

"If you don't even know what you're doing, then why risk it? If you throw that thing short, we're both screwed." A wing gestured meaningfully toward the flock of birds still perched ominously atop the building. "Plus, any method that looks that impractical can't be helpful."

He shrugged. The bird had a point. Besides, his arm had grown enough that this chunk of rock felt no heavier to him than a tennis ball. Maybe throwing it overhand was a real possibility.

Stepping back once more, Chad took another deep breath. This time, he wound up as though preparing to throw a baseball. He took a running start forward for good measure, then hauled back and threw.

The stone screamed through the air, far faster than he'd expected. It completely overshot his intended target, sailing over the empty parking lot and toward the next building over. It impacted the wall with a loud crack and embedded itself deep into the brick wall of the neighboring convenience store. Shards of stone and dust scattered in every direction.

You have displayed rudimentary knowledge of how to move things from point A to point B very quickly. Throwing (E) proficiency earned!

Chad stumbled forward and barely managed to keep himself from falling flat on his face. His jaw fell open as he looked at his arm with newfound appreciation. Holy shit. Did I really just do that?

"Go, go, go!" Squawkers hissed, already flying forward toward the back door of the hotel.

Snapping his jaw shut, Chad followed suit at a dead run.