by Alex McCall
“Stay by the door,” he muttered. “Make sure nothing comes in or out.”
“What’s that smell?” Glen asked, wrinkling his nose. I could smell it too, mould and rotten things, like a gym bag that had been lying forgotten in a cupboard all summer.
“That’s the fruit, vegetables, milk, bread. Just about anything that can decay really,” Jeremy replied cheerfully. He handed us a mouth protector each. “Wear these, it helps. When all this is over someone’s going to have an awful time cleaning up this mess and it’s not going to be me.”
We found the tins and Jeremy walked about with a clipboard, making notes of what was there, what we were taking and what had to be left behind. There was a good haul in this place. There can’t have been many kids living around here and the stores had hardly been touched. A happy clinking filled the air as tins were piled into trolleys and people began cracking jokes. Everything was going really well and I was just thinking about heading up to the university…
When we heard the scream.
We all fell silent. The darkness suddenly seemed a lot more oppressive than it had a moment ago, and the torchlight no longer looked jolly, just dim and creepy. Someone broke the silence with a nervous chuckle.
“OK, who’s having a laugh? No mucking around, OK?”
No one answered.
“Is everyone here?” I asked.
There was a quick counting of heads – not easy with each others’ torches shining in our eyes – and we found someone was missing.
“Alright, split up,” ordered Jeremy. “Find Stevey. And if he’s having a laugh I’ll kill him.”
“No, we can’t do that,” Glen exclaimed.
Everyone turned to him. “Why not?” asked Jeremy slightly agressively.
“Haven’t you ever seen Scooby Doo? Something bad always happens when they split up.”
That helped to lighten the atmosphere a bit. I felt myself momentarily missing Jesse and his jokes. He’d probably have said something similar.
“Well, don’t be Shaggy then,” Jeremy said and everyone split into small groups.
Glen stuck close to Blake and me. I had half a mind to suggest we leave then. No one would notice us go. But they might waste time looking for us. And if there really was something in here, and it wasn’t just Stevey having a laugh or wandering off, I didn’t want to abandon them.
Blake led us back to the main door, where his guard was standing nervously, looking back into the store.
“Have you seen anything?” Blake asked.
The guy shook his head. “It was all quiet until the scream,” he said. “What’s going on?”
Blake shrugged. “I don’t know. Stay here and call if you see anything. Be on your guard; there’s something about this I don’t like.”
“You and me both, Blake,” the boy said but he stayed where he was, standing guard faithfully.
We trekked back into the darkness and headed towards the cluster of bobbing head torches.
“Have you found Stevey?” I asked the others.
“Yep,” came back Jeremy’s grim voice. “Come and see.”
I hurried over and looked down at a shape lying on the floor. It was Stevey and he was unconscious. And not just any kind of unconsciousness. I recognised it.
“Oh no,” I muttered to Blake. “It’s here.”
He nodded back, something of a smile on his face. “The chicken from yesterday. I get to fight it.”
I was more interested in what this meant. Only Jeremy had known we were coming on this trip today. Was he the spy?
Glen seemed to be paying more attention to the scavengers. They were shifting around, looking uneasy. “I think we should get out of here,” one of them muttered.
Jeremy stared at Stevey’s unconscious body for a second then nodded. “Grab his arms someone. We’d better get where we can actually see what’s going on.”
We pulled Stevey along the slick tile floor as gently as we could. Just as we were reaching the door something occurred to me. “Do we have everyone?” I asked.
Another quick headcount revealed that we were two short.
This time the screams were blood-curdling.
Something broke inside the scavengers. They dropped Stevey’s arms and ran for the door. Jeremy ran after them fast, getting ahead and throwing out his arms.
“Now, wait a moment. There are more of us than there is of it. We’re not going to abandon Stevey just because we’re spooked. Now get back there and grab him.”
And that’s when the darkness came alive and ate him.
It was like Sally all over again. Plating seemed to materialise from mid-air and crawl over Jeremy’s skin, enveloping him. Jeremy barely had time for a startled expression before being yanked backwards and away. And replacing him was the black mask of a chicken’s face.
The next ten minutes were a muddle of confusion. We all panicked and scattered, the head torches’ dancing beams adding to the craziness of the situation. The robot chicken strode between us, striking out with its wings and buffeting us over. It seemed to be everywhere. Blake would charge towards it, swinging his shock-stick and half blinding everyone, and it would melt away only to reappear again behind us.
Blake bellowed at us, herding us into place. Slowly, he regained some sense of order.
“People with shock-sticks, form a circle. Everyone else get inside it. If that thing comes at us again, it will live to regret it.”
Minutes passed slowly and nothing happened. Blake was beside me in the circle.
“D’you think it’s gone?” I muttered to him out of the corner of my mouth.
He shook his head, his voice tight with anger. “I hope not. I need another crack at it.”
“Look,” someone said in a hushed whisper and pointed towards the door. A shadow appeared there, the silhouette of a huge chicken. It turned its head, looking here and there, eyes gleaming a pale green in the darkness. We huddled closer together, getting ready for its attack. Eventually it strutted outside and away.
It was a while before we felt convinced that it was really gone. We spent the next half hour searching the store for people who’d been knocked out or forced to hide. But as the afternoon wore on we had to accept the truth.
We’d lost another council member.
And all that was left behind was a shiny black feather.
CHAPTER 12
After the darkness inside, the weak sun was blinding as we left the Asda. The scavengers didn’t speak much, just collected the trolleys that we’d already filled and set off home. They just wanted to get far away as fast as possible.
I was ready to go with them. But Glen wouldn’t let me.
“We’re so close,” he said to me and Blake in a stage whisper as we held a small meeting. “We just have to walk up that hill and we’re there.”
“He’s right,” Blake said shortly. He wasn’t very happy about being shown up by the chicken.
“I don’t know,” I said, chewing my bottom lip. “It feels like a big risk. We should get home while we have the chance.”
“Please, Rayna,” Glen said, tugging on my sleeve. “We won’t get another chance. There’s no way the council will let me try again after this. Everyone will vote against it.”
“It would be a waste not to try,” Blake agreed. “We’ve already been attacked once. I don’t think it’ll happen again. We were sent here for a reason so we should finish the job.”
“Alright but we’ve got to be quick.” I didn’t have much choice but to agree.
The university campus wasn’t far away. We trudged up the hill, Glen, Blake and what was left of his crew. Some of them had been taken out by the chicken and were snoring away in the trolleys being pushed home, along with Stevey. Those of us who were left didn’t talk much. I don’t know about the others but I had my own reasons for keeping silent.
I was scared.
More than scared, I was terrified. Completely and utterly petrified.
It felt uncomfortable. I
hadn’t been this scared of the chickens since the night I’d seen my sister get taken. Sure, I’d never been happy to see them, and when I was close to getting caught once or twice I’d been scared. But not this way. This was different. This chicken was so much more terrifying than the others. I didn’t want to ever face that thing again, see that blank expression so close to my face, those weird green eyes. I was frightened. Plain and simple.
But more than that, I was annoyed. If we were attacked today then Jeremy should have been the spy. That was the whole point of my plan. Perhaps it wasn’t such a great plan after all. Now that Jeremy had been taken we were back at square one and down a council member. Just one step closer to that line on Cody’s chart.
The Robert Gordon University campus came into view at the crest of the hill, just round a bend. Now we faced the slight problem of figuring out how to reach it. We tried going down an obvious path that led to the walkway below, but iron handrails blocked our way. In the end we just clambered over them and tramped across the grass and some roses that were beginning to wilt. Autumn was almost here. It was nearly a year since the chickens had first attacked. Scary.
There was no electricity, but it was easy enough just to prise open the automatic doors. Then we were in.
In contrast to the Aberdeen University glass-cube library where Glen had spent the first part of the war, someone had gone to a lot of trouble to make this place look nice. The modern space had an intelligent futuristic feel. There was a wide white wall at the far end of a curving high corridor. This must be the atrium. There were several walkways for people to bustle along and look important and a few bridges over a long corridor. Off to the right there was an area shaped like some sort of gladiatorial pit. Maybe a reading area? The lights in there were made to look like pine cones.
Glen was looking around with wide eyes, obviously loving everything he was seeing. He spotted a sign for the Computing Department, grabbed my arm and pulled me along. “Come on, this way,” he cried, practically dragging me. I dug in my heels, slowing him down.
“Careful, Doc,” I said, using Jesse’s nickname for him. “Don’t run too far ahead. Keep together and move slowly. That way we can protect you, as well as each other and not get ambushed.”
“Alright. Though I don’t think that thing’s going to be back. Is it?” He looked at me sideways, suddenly unsure.
I didn’t know what to say. On the one hand I wanted to reassure him. On the other I couldn’t promise the giant black chicken wouldn’t be back. But Blake interrupted anyway.
“I hope it does,” he said, swinging him shock-stick menacingly. “This time we’ll get to deal with it properly. No hiding in the dark. Just a fair five-on-one fight.”
Blake’s crew all nodded confidently at his words. I looked at Glen and shrugged. “What he said,” I told him.
Glen seemed to accept that and started off again. I followed, keeping an eye on my surroundings. I didn’t think it would show up again. But it never hurt to be careful.
Glen led us up some stairs to a computer lab. Then he started rummaging about. I watched, alarmed. “Hey, Glen,” I said. “How long do you think this is going to take?”
“I’ll let you know when I’ve found it,” he told me. I didn’t like the sound of that. I had assumed that he’d somehow know where it would be. There was nothing to do but wait and be vigilant.
Until one of Blake’s guys who’d been standing sentry came running up. “Bad news, guys,” he said. “It’s back.”
He pointed out the window and I followed the direction of his finger.
There it was, stalking across the grass, the same as we’d done, its beak to the ground as if following our scent. For the first time I got a good view of it. It looked like a chicken, obviously, but more sleek. Its feathers seemed individually cut and rustled slightly as it moved. Except on the wings, which looked like solid slabs of steel. Green orbs glowed in place of eyes – the only colour on it, everything else was menacing black. It looked up at our building a few times and I had to tell myself that it couldn’t see us.
Blake cursed softly and joyously under his breath. “Found what you’re looking for yet?” he asked.
“No… not yet,” Glen replied, anxious. “I need more time.”
“Then I guess it’s our job to buy you that time.” Blake jerked his head from side to side, cracking his neck. Then he cracked his knuckles. Carefully he took off his heavy jacket and laid it on the ground. The others did the same.
“Come on, team. Let’s see how it likes being ambushed for once. Rayna, you stay here and look after Glen. And start composing some epic victory songs.”
He ran off, his crew snapping at his heels. Crazy. They were absolutely crazy.
Glen kept searching, but I turned back to the window. I wanted to see what would happen next.
The chicken stalked up to the same door we’d come through. Blake and his team had vanished. The huge black robot walked through the door and looked right up at me. It took a menacing step forward.
“Get it lads!”
The chicken hunters swarmed up from behind the reception desk and charged at the giant bird. It hopped back, its wings spread, as if trying to flutter away.
“Hailey, entangle it. Get it into the pit thing!”
One of the group pulled a chain from some pocket deep in her jacket and whipped it at the chicken’s leg, tugging sharply. The rest poked at it with their sticks. They drove it back to the lip of the sunken pit I’d noticed earlier then forced it in.
Blake stroke forward. “Not so tough now, are you?” he taunted and swung his shock-stick.
I thought I saw the chicken’s eyes flash. It raised a wing and the staff bounced off it with no effect. It looked angry.
Blake stepped back and settled down into a boxing stance. “This just got interesting.”
I returned to Glen, who was kneeling next to some boxes, playing with some sticky notes. “We’ve got a little bit of time.”
“Good,” he said, getting to his feet. “Let’s get going.”
For the next ten minutes Glen and I searched room after room, Glen scribbling in his notebook as he went. Although the university looked pretty, I wish it had been better organised. If I ever get to design a university it will have lots of arrows all over the place saying things like, ‘Emergency transmitters this way!’
Finally our luck ran out. As we hurried along the next walkway we witnessed the chicken and Blake’s crew in a battle of the ages.
I’ll say it again, as I’ve said it before. They might be crazy. They might be downright insane. But Blake and his crew certainly knew how to fight. Four of them stood with their shock-sticks glowing in their hands against the dark mass that was the chicken. One already lay on the ground, stick lying a few inches from her fingertips.
The rest of the crew were putting up a good fight. They danced around the robot, hitting it several times all over its body, changing direction, jumping over strikes and generally making a nuisance of themselves. Blake was right in among them, always trying to strike the chicken’s face and hold its attention while his crew did what they did best. The robot struck at them with its wings but they either dodged or blocked with their sticks, throwing up glowing blue sparks. I couldn’t believe they’d held it off for ten minutes.
But as valiant as they were, it was all in vain. At the end of the day they couldn’t hurt the chicken, and it only had to land a glancing blow for the shock in its wings to incapacitate them. Someone was swept out of the air with a lucky flick, someone else wasn’t quite fast enough to jump a hefty clawed kick. One by one they fell, until only Blake was left.
He gave a scream of rage and charged forward, swinging his shock-stick hard. The chicken turned sharply, just brushing Blake with the edge of its wing, but that was enough. The sparks flew and Blake was felled at last.
Then the chicken turned and stared directly at us.
“Oh no,” I moaned and grabbed Glen’s hand, pulling him along. He ha
dn’t been following the fight; he’d been scribbling frantically in his notebook the whole time. Maybe he was making up the epic song Blake had requested. Though I was scathing of the guy, I had to admit he kind of deserved it after that performance.
We ran through corridors, then stopped when we realised our boots were making a lot of noise against the pristine white floor. I glanced wildly around, Glen waiting for my instructions.
“Get in here and stay quiet.” I pulled him into a room and we hid behind a desk. Through the glass panel of the door we watched the corridor outside.
Then we heard it: a gentle tap-tap-tapping that echoed strangely around us. I felt the goosebumps shiver and migrate across my skin.
It was coming.
Closer and closer the sound came: tap, tap, tap, tap. A shadow passed across the door and I stared at it in mute horror, praying that it would pass.
It slowed and stopped, looked around with those awful green eyes. I felt the sudden mad impulse to laugh, to jump out and scare it. But I knew it was just the fear talking. I bit down on it, suppressing the urge. I mustn’t lose it. I had to keep control. For Glen if no one else.
I looked around to see how he was dealing with the situation. He was still scribbling in that notebook. I stared at him, bemused. What on earth was he doing?
Then the tapping came again. I looked back round and saw the shadow move off. The chicken must have decided we were deeper inside the building. That worked fine for me.
“Look,” I whispered to Glen, “we can’t outrun it but it can’t stay here forever. If we don’t report back, Noah will probably come get us armed with lasers. We just need to hide and wait it out.”
“Uh-huh?” he said, not really looking at me.
I frowned at him. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“Nothing.” He tore the paper out of his notebook and scrunched it into a ball. “Should we go back and get the satellite GPS? I think I know which components to take now.”
