“We’re currently passing over the southernmost part of Ireland.” The Captain’s voice said, “We should be in Wales within a few hours. The ship can serve as your base camp for your hunt and will remain at your disposal until you choose to return to New York.”
Elz liked the sound of that. Hunting mainly in New York, she rarely had to be concerned about where they were going to camp at night, because her condo was always a few blocks or a short ride away. Still, she was used to making do; she had quite a few international jobs under her belt and she always managed to find a safe-ish place to camp.
That reminded her…
“We’re getting in to Wales before midday, so depending on the situation I want to try to wrap this all up today and be back airborne by nightfall. All in favor?”
Both Trey and Man Xiong raised their hands. Elsbeth continued, “Cool, and since we should have a few days before this other job in Norway, and it seems like transportation won’t be an issue. Ireland is a go!”
Man Xiong nodded in agreement, and Trey’s smile threatened to split her face.
“Okay kiddo, One more gear check and prep your arsenal. ” Elz brought Trey back to the job at hand. With only a few hours to Wales, she needed to get her gear loaded, weapons cleaned once more and everything double checked. An ounce of prevention, and all that.
Trey headed back into the bedroom and Elz and The Old Man sat at the table with the map in front of them.
“So here’s what I th…” Elz stopped short. “Did he say until we choose to return?”
The Old Man merely nodded.
Not much later, a fully dressed Trey walked back into the main cabin and handed over her pack to Elz. “Check me, Mommy?” she asked, sitting in an armchair.
Elsbeth made a quick but thorough once-over on her daughter’s pack and gear, checking for damage, wear and other issues. Trey had had loaded her pockets with the new smoke and irritant grenades and prepped her old weapons just as they had discussed. The new guns could wait until after they’d had some time to practice with them.
“You’re looking good, kiddo.”
“Roger that! I’m ready when you are.”
“All right then...” Elz placed a finger on the map. “In a few minutes, the airship will set us down about two miles from the Teifi Marshes Nature Reserve, in a field in Bridell. We’ll walk the main road most of the way in.” She moved her finger along the road. “We’ll cut across this field here, to pick up the road into the center. I don’t know what we’ll be walking into. If we can, I want to observe the flock first to see what we can learn. Not sure if its guarded like Central Park, but we don’t want to spook them prematurely. Got it?”
The hum of the airship’s engines changed to a low hum and Elsbeth had a brief moment of a floating sensation, a subtle sign that their descent had begun.
“Loud and clear.” Trey responded as she stood, slung her backpack on and secured her thigh holster. The old submachine gun once again hung on her like a cross-shoulder bag.
“Good!” Elz said as she pulled on her own gear and checked her pack one last time before securing it to her back. “Let’s do this.”
With a final shudder, the airship made contact with the ground, its powerful engines winding down into silence.
Elz and Trey stood at the door waiting to disembark. The cabin door opened, the sounds of the world outside rushing back in as the seal on the cabin was broken. Elsbeth looked back at The Old Man, who nodded reassuringly.
“I’ll be here”, he said. Elz nodded.
“You ready, Freddie?” Trey asked with a giggle.
Elsbeth looked down at her daughter, an amused glint in her eye. “On the job, Bob!” she said. “Lead on!”
They began their trek north towards the Welsh Wildlife Center. Their footsteps almost silent on the grassy overgrown road. The weather was warm, the sunlight dappled through the thick trees that bordered the road, and the scents of flowers mingled with the scent of overripe fruit from trees that had sprouted up from along the roads. The sound of birds chirping filled the air as they moved through the remains of Penybryn village; broken glass crunched underfoot, echoing through the empty streets like gunfire in an abandoned war zone.
Just as they approached the edge of the village, Elsbeth’s tablet chirped. The tablet’s screen flickered to life as soon as Elz pulled it from her pocket. The message, stark against the screen’s pallid glow, was short:
> Deliver culled mutates to Cilgerran. Any condition!
No greeting, no signature. Typical of the Creaux, as they did not posses the human need for pleasantries. Still, the job had just become exponentially more annoying.
The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
“Ugghhhh.” Elsbeth groaned.
“What’s it say?” Trey asked, as she peered at the device, silver streaks in her hair catching the light.
“This has just gone from Culling to Feeding, delivery included.”
“But the flock is huge.” Trey immediately identified the issue. “We don’t have anything with us.”
“Right. We’ll need a way to move them.” Elsbeth replied, scanning their surroundings for anything that could serve their purpose. The edge of town loomed ahead, buildings were already scarce and would be even more so from here to the Wildlife Centre.
“Let’s head back a bit.”
They walked back into the village proper and started looking for a means of transporting their kills. Many of the homes had been boarded up and Elz was wary of breaking into them. Even abandoned, the properties still had owners, and assuming they were alive out there somewhere, she was loathe to trespass in their homes. After a brief search, a home with a small farm out back yielded two wheelbarrows. Elsbeth sized them up and realized that there was no way Trey would be able to utilize them. They were to large for her when empty and would be much too heavy when full. Elz pulled one of the wheelbarrows out to the main road and left it on the side as she looked around for another solution.
“Mommy.” Trey came around the corner of the house. “Maybe we should go over to Cilgerran. There’s probably more stuff left behind there.”
Elsbeth had to admit that the suggestion made sense, so after shooting a quick message to Man Xiong in the airship, they were headed east to the neighboring village.
In Cilgerran the search was much easier. Almost immediately upon entering the village, they found a large four-wheeled cart abandoned at the gate of a garden. Not wanting to waste any more time, Elsbeth was ready to take the cart and continue on their way.
“But who really wants to drag a cart?” Trey switched into ‘annoying teenager’ mode. “Can we keep looking?”
“What else do you expect to find? A truck?”
“Maybe a tractor to pull the cart?”
Less than twenty minutes later, a search of the local nursing home yielded two motorized chairs that some diligent worker had plugged in to charge before the place was abandoned.
“We can hook up the carts and ride.” Trey was excited about the idea. Elsbeth was less enthusiastic.
“Trey, these things are slow.”
“Yeah, but they can pull the cart and we won’t get tired.”
The idea had merit, and they’d already spent longer than Elsbeth wanted to, searching for carts. She shrugged, “Alright, whatever. Lets go.”
They rode the scooters back to the cart and using some paracord, soon had them tethered to the cart. Moments later they were back on the road, once again heading north.
“See, this isn’t so bad, right?” Trey shot a mischievous grin across the road at Elsbeth, “Wanna race?”
“We’re attached to the same cart, you lunatic.” Elz shook her head. “Why don’t you tell me what you learned from the maps.” Trey was easily redirected; her insatiable curiosity drove her to absorb tons of information and she was always ready to share it. This coupled with a remarkable memory and her childlike belief that she could accomplish anything, made her an excellent partner as she would often make connections or pick up on things that Elsbeth missed.
“Cilgerran wasn’t that big as far as villages go, but there are a few places back there we can check out. The map showed a paddle-board shop, and an artist studio.” Trey looked thoughtful for a moment. “Mommy?”
“Yeah.” Elsbeth recognized her daughter’s serious tone; there were times when she could tell that Trey was trying to make sense of a situation, and in those moments her precocious nature would be overwhelmed.
“Did all these people die?”
Elsbeth didn’t answer immediately. She knew how her daughter’s mind worked. Trey would then wonder if Elsbeth’s response was just to make her feel better, and she would dwell on it even longer. It was ultimately better for Trey to work it out herself so that she could have faith in the answer.
“I don’t think so. Think about something. Do you remember the houses in Mastic Beach?” Trey nodded, but waited to see where Elz was going with her question. “What’s different about the homes in Penybryn and Cilgerran?” Elz asked.
“In Mastic Beach the roofs were destroyed by the birds.”
“And?” Elsbeth prompted.
“And it looked like people just grabbed whatever they could and left.” Trey perked up. “In Penybryn, all the houses were locked up. The gates were closed, there were no abandoned pets running around. Cilgerran was like that too, I think.”
“Exactly. Many of these smaller towns were evacuated, not because of attacks, but because it was just better for people to live closer together now that there are restrictions on transportation and how energy is generated.”
Trey smiled, “That makes sense. So, Cardigan is north of here and it’s a lot bigger than Cilgerran. It looks like a good place to check out. There are large farms, a health center, police station and a pool.”
Elsbeth looked over at her daughter. “Why would we need a pool?”
“Life vests and chlorine.”
“Why on earth would we even need chlorine?”
“I don’t know, but I guess it would be good to know that there is some somewhere, in case we ever needed it.”
“Not a bad point, kiddo.” Elsbeth took in her surroundings; She was beginning to hear the sounds of birds. They were about half a mile from the Reserve, at approximately the point where they had originally planned to cross the field from the west.
“We need to stop here. Any further and we risk the birds getting wind of us.”
“Got it.” They stopped the scooters and pocketed the keys. Elsbeth started to move on when Trey called her back.
“Server check, Mommy.” She said. “If we can hear them, we’re already engaged.”
“Who made you such a smart kid?” Elsbeth checked her weapons, unzipped the pockets that held her grenades and pulled her hood over her head. Trey was correct. There was no way of knowing where the boundaries of the flock’s territory was, and how they would react to the humans walking in.
Once they were both ready with their weapons accessible, they resumed walking. The faint chatter of the Magpie flock ahead grew louder and clearer with each step. As they approached the Wildlife Centre, the Joneses caught their first glimpse of the massive flock, perched like sentinels on every tree, shrub and rooftop in the Nature Reserve. Although two flocks shared the space, the Mag Mutates were easy to distinguish with their increased size and occasional bands of blue color on their feathers. Elsbeth slowed her pace and moved closer to Trey.
“Be prepared,” she warned her. “We’re going straight into the Reserve. If they don’t come at us, great. But either way, we’ll head for the Activity Center and reassess the situation from there.”
They walked without encountering any resistance until they reached the entrance to the Wildlife Centre’s parking lot. When they turned into the lot, the birds’ chatter stopped abruptly, but the birds did not offer any additional to their presence. Elz and Trey maintained their casual pace as they crossed the lot, alert to the tense situation but unhurried. Finally they arrived at the door to the Activity Center and, finding it unlocked, they let themselves in, fully aware of hundreds of eyes following their every move.
“Fuck!” Elsbeth cursed, leaning against the door as it closed behind them.
“We need more firepower.”