Ch. 7

The clearing at the bottom of the slope on the north side of the Activity Center was the only place in the nature preserve that wasn’t wildly overgrown. It may have been the particular strain of grass; Elsbeth didn’t think too long on the why of it, it was just another example of good fortune for which she was thankful in that moment. Exiting the building to a soundtrack of chattering magpies, she and Trey walked as casually to the picnic area as they had done everything else since entering the preserve. They stood for a moment at the top of the slope to look out over the trees. While the clearing was empty, the treetops at the back of the building were also completely covered with birds.

“I think that’s Cardigan over there.” Trey pointed to the buildings in the distance, “it’s closer than I thought.”

“Cool. Later then?”

“I read that there is a path we can take from here. I think that the trip is longer by road, though.”

“We have an airship though.”

“Right! Okay, you ready?” Trey hefted the first of the balloons in her hand, giving it a little toss before catching it again.

“Give’em hell, Simba.”

The birds immediately stopped singing when Trey and Elz launched the first balloons down into the field. Ten more balloons followed, all in the air before the first hit the ground. The heavy thuds and subsequent pops startled the Heirloom Magpies into flight, while the Mutates looked on, alert but unbothered by the sounds. The flock of agitated Magpies circled the field, eventually taking notice of the coins that lay scattered among the latex balloon scraps in the grass. Flying lower to investigate the shiny objects, the birds began to calm, settling onto the grass as they discovered the seeds that were scattered by the exploding balloons. Trey and Elz walked away from the center, past the picnic tables towards the stairs that led to the playground from above. Under the cover of the trees, on a path that they’d cleared earlier, Elsbeth took aim at a tree on the far side of the property and fired off a quick three-shot burst.

Then they ran.

The Mutated Australian Magpies may not have been familiar with the sound of a gunshot, and they were not Corvids, but they were still smart birds. The sudden death of three members of their flock was quickly attributed to the humans who were now running away. For a moment, the air hung heavy with tension. Then the flock burst into action. The Mutates swarmed in a frenzy, calls of rage shrieking across the property.

Elsbeth and Trey split up as they ran. Trey started navigating the long wooden pathway that wound its way down the slope and Elz headed for the stairs that led directly down into the playground. Mutates in the trees ahead of them responded to the frenzy, swooping in to intercept them at the park. Elsbeth was the obvious target as she ran down the stairs out in the open. A bird swooped at her, its hard beak aiming for her head. She ducked, slipping off the edge of the stair as she twisted her body and shot the magpie at point-blank range. Recovering her balance, she started taking the stony steps two at a time, shooting at anything that came into her line of sight. She jumped off the last step and raced towards the small slope that held the slide.

The sky darkened as enraged birds from all over the Wildlife Centre descended on the playground. The birds swarmed at Elsbeth, feathers beat about her face, and claws grasped at her clothing. Elsbeth kept firing at them, but she was trapped at the top of the slide. As more and more birds congregated in the area, Elsbeth saw the chances of safely moving on to the next part of her plan slip away. Not able to gain any ground and barely able to maneuver, she dropped to the dirt and slid under the metal slide. She was trapped, but the birds could not come at her full force and as long as they didn’t land and walk under the slide, she had room to snipe at them.

While her mother was being swarmed, Trey ran down the ramp relatively unmolested. The canopy of trees above her was so thick and overgrown that the birds could not easily access the path below. There was the occasional bird roosting on lower branches but they were quick work, and the others were all chasing Elsbeth out in the open. When she was hidden from the top of the hill, about a quarter of the way down the walkway, Trey removed two coils of thick white rope from her pack and climbed to hang one of them high across the path. She secured tethering lines into the ground on each side of the walkway and repeated the setup about twenty feet further down the path. When she was done setting up the rope traps, Trey crept forward to the end of the path until she could see the playground. Her heart pounded as she heard the angry squawks and saw the massive flock swirling around the slide. From her vantage point, she could see that a few of the birds had landed and were trying to walk under the slide behind Elz. Deciding that the best way to free Elsbeth was to lure the birds away, Trey ran back up the path to the top of the hill.

From atop the stairs, the playground was covered in a writhing blanket of feathers and beaks. Every single surface was covered in birds and they were all trying to get at the human hiding under the slide. The Feeders had discussed this location and in that moment, Trey could see that Elsbeth had set up a perfect killing ground, but it wasn’t possible with the amount of ammunition she had at her disposal. Still, they had options.

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From one of the deeper pockets in her poncho, Trey pulled what looked like a flare gun. She grabbed two of the gel balls from another bulging pocket and shoved them into the gun’s wide mouth. Aiming at the teeming mass of birds furthest away from the slide she pulled the trigger. She reloaded and shot again as fast as she could.

The first grenade exploded in the air spreading a fine powder across the backs and wings of the birds. The second one was snatched out of the air by a large Magpie with red plumage and popped with a snap of its hardened beak. Heads whipped up as the pheromones spray inside splashed all over the Mutate’s head. The magpie flew upwards out of the throng, trying to shake the substance off but instead, it only helped to spread it across its body as it quickly dried. The birds closest to it rose in unison and, attracted by the scent, attacked the larger bird. As they flew, the powder from the other exploding grenades was blown around them and worked under their feathers. Soon a large section of the flock was flying about wildly, torn between their instinct to kill the “insect” that they were scenting, and the unbearable irritant that had worked its way past their feathers and to their skin.

Confusion spread among the rear of the flock; The pheromone bomb had been based on a mutated strain of cockroach and played with the birds’ intense hatred of the TreatyKeepers. Mutates that had not been affected by the irritant grenade flew toward the source of the offending smell, only to find themselves attacking one of the flock’s leaders. The irritant only spread further as loose powder was stirred up and distributed by the birds in flight. Unfortunately for the Joneses, the flock was so numerous that even with the large number of birds thrashing about under the effects of the irritant powder, there were still thousands more crowded into the space. It was going to take more than the few dozen grenades Trey had on hand to clear them out.

“Hey, bird brains!” Trey yelled. “Over here!” She shot off two more of the irritant grenades to the center of the flock and then fired a smoke grenade directly at the birds near the slide. Their attention secured, she turned and ran back down the walkway once again. This time, the birds followed her into the arboreal tunnel that covered the path.

Trey sped down the wooden walkway past the first rope hung across the path. As she passed the second, she dropped two smoke grenades and pulled on the tethering line. The smoke filled the space, obscuring vision, as the rope unraveled into a thin net that blocked the entire path. Trey dropped another pheromone grenade, jumped over the short slide at the end of the walkway, and ran up through the playground. The birds she had affected with her first salvo of grenades were still writhing on the grass, desperately trying to rid themselves of The Alchemist’s skin irritant.

"Mom, come on!" As Trey ran past the slide, Elsbeth crawled out— a bit dirty with a few scratches, but otherwise unharmed. She followed Trey up the steps back to the entrance of the wooden walkway. They walked down the path quietly with their guns at the ready.

The Mutates had rushed in behind Trey, flying confidently into the smoke after the grenades went off. The ones closest behind her had flown directly into the net she’d set and the momentum of those behind them had crushed them into the trap. Enticed by the pheromone bomb, the birds in the back continued to swarm forward, making it impossible for the birds pressed against the net to escape. Trey and Els walked quietly up to the rear of the group. Trey triggered the second rope trap and Elsbeth fired two more grenades into the flock. As the irritant and smoke spread among the birds, the two feeders walked away leaving the birds in pain and chaos.

“How long do you think the nets will hold?”

Elsbeth shrugged, looking down at her outfit. The poncho had done its job. There were a few areas in the fabric that looked stressed and almost torn, but the threads were slowly returning to the original fine weave.

“I’m trusting The Trinity’s work, so I’ll say, long enough.”

Trey nodded in agreement. They descended the stairs once more and walked past the first few casualties of the day. The large Mutate with the red feathers had been pecked to death, and he had taken a few of his attackers out with him. There were feathers scattered everywhere and among them, bodies that looked like they had been plucked for the pot. There were still some birds dragging themselves across the grass, rubbing their feathers off in their frenzy.

“We have to work fast. Make sure your gloves are on.” Elsbeth started grabbing the birds that were still alive and dragged them to a spot beside the playground fence. Most struggled weakly, and some of the large birds were hard to manage but she bullied her way through the task. Trey collected the dead birds and piled them up on top of the still-living ones. Once the pile of bodies was complete, Elsbeth used her knife to poke a small hole in a gel grenade and they dripped a trail of Keeper scent along the path to the side of the cottage.

A

small amount of the birds still flew about manically, but many of the others had flown away to seek some kind of relief. They may have also gone for help because even as the Feeders worked, they could hear a rising chatter of Magpie voices growing closer.

“Move faster.” They began to run to the Bunkhouse.

“Stay Here!” Elz barked the command at Trey before bursting into the bunkhouse and rushing upstairs. Set on the higher ground as it was, the cottage was level with the second floor of the Bunkhouse, where Trey and Elsbeth had left two windows propped open. Elsbeth checked their traps and then squeezed out more of the pheromone liquid on the window sills. The sky darkened as the remainder of the flock flew towards the cottage. The angry chattering grew louder as the flock, led by two very large mutates, flew towards the house.

Elsbeth ducked low and ran back down the stairs, doing her best to quietly sneak out of the house without being noticed. Before she was fully out of the building she could hear the rush of the birds streaming into the room above. She rushed out the front door, slammed it closed, then tethered it to the support columns.

“Run” Elsbeth pushed Trey in the direction of the well.

The feeders climbed into the filled-in well at the front of the building and curled up against the dirt; they waited, guns at the ready.