Chapter Text
A violent explosion echoed across the plateau. We all knew it was to come. The end was in clear view. And yet we hadn’t prepared. It wasn’t our goal to accept what they had written as our fate. We were just unsure of what we could do except face death and suffering with open arms.
My friends and I watched from rooftops as fire ripped across the land, climbing trees and tearing through the fields as the inferno encroached upon the aviary. We screamed. We cried. We held each other as a second explosion hit our town square.
The flash was bright. The terror, the horror, the bellowing shrill of death was louder than anything I’d ever heard. The force threw me back and off of the roof, and I was sent plummeting to the ground below. The fall knocked the wind out of me. I could barely collect myself. The thick smoke burned my lungs and eyes. I couldn’t catch my breath. Only the adrenaline could get me back on my feet. I heard my friends crying out from above. But I couldn’t see them through the smog. I didn’t want to abandon them. But I didn’t want to die. So I ran away.
I tripped over the rubble of fallen buildings. I choked at the sight of bloody, burned bodies of people I once knew. I stood face to face with strangers. The green-skinned, snide, evil people who were making war against my kind. The soldiers chased me and hunted me down, on my tail as I darted through the streets of the now unrecognizable village.
I found a spot to hide, to pull myself together, and to observe the chaos. Those monsters tore apart homes, gathering every egg in sight, shoveling them into netted bags and carts and hauling them away as mothers and fathers desperately tried to stop them, crawling through crumbled homes on the last threads of life. They were forced into silence, met with a brutal death. They had to die knowing their children, who’ve yet to see the world, would meet the same cruel fate. Cooked and swallowed up before they ever got to truly live.
The smoke was becoming dizzying. If I hadn’t been crying, tears would have been streaming down my face anyways. I feared surviving wasn’t going to be possible anymore. I had to do something. Help somebody before I gasped my last breath. I couldn’t die knowing I didn’t try to save something or someone. I carefully made my way through the debris, staying low and covered while I searched for any sign of life. Another person, a stray egg, anybody. All I could find were bodies. So many bodies. Blood spurting from their open wounds and gurgling up from their throats. Muscles twinging as they reached for the last ounces of life they had. But they were too far gone. I couldn’t save them.
I navigated to the far side of the village, where a few houses remained standing. The area was bustling with those swines, hauling eggs across the streets and taunting dying citizens with their awful, snorty laughter. I felt a blood-boiling fervor building inside of me. They only knew cruelty. Heartless, empty cruelty. Their greed for our land, our resources, our suffering, our eggs…it sickened me. If I wasn’t so afraid, I wouldn’t have let it slide.
I crept closer, shielding myself with pillars and posts. The crowd was too caught up in their own business to notice me. I moved faster. There had to be somebody I could save in there. In those houses. I had to be quick before there was no chance at all.
Suddenly, a hand grasped my hair from behind and slammed my head into the ground. Dazed, I managed to scramble onto my back. My eyes widened with terror. A man had me pinned. He pressed a gun to my forehead, grinning wide. My heart must have stopped right then and there. The world around me deafened, the screams and cries and crackling fire numbing into silence. He must have been a corporal of some sort. I could see his eyes through the harsh shadow casted by his helmet. They were wild, filled with blood thirsty mania.
“Well, aren’t you a pretty one?” He whispered menacingly, his voice gruff and deep and horrifyingly intimidating. “Any younger, you’d be in that succulent little shell of yours.”
I couldn’t catch everything he was saying, but it must not have been any good. I clasped my hands around his wrist, but he was far too strong for me. He pushed the gun further into my head. I could feel the bruise forming already. Why wasn’t he shooting me?
“What’s your name, little birdy?” He asked with a chuckle. I was far from amused. Far, far from it. I was so terrified, I would’ve rather been killed than have been taunted and toyed with beforehand.
I couldn’t get myself to speak at first. But then his finger traced itself over the trigger.
“Red,” I squeaked out, voice raspy from the smog. “My name is Red!”
He laughed harder. “Oh-ho-ho! How adorable. You’ll make a lovely decoration on the castle walls. I’ll make you history.”
I wanted to shut my eyes, but it felt as if somebody had pinned them open so I’d have to stare my killer in the eyes.
It’s over, I thought to myself again and again. My mind grew numb. My body braced itself. I couldn’t save anybody. Not even myself.
Like a flash, the general’s head was met with a swift kick, and he tumbled off of me, writhing on the ground. I laid still, unable to process as somebody dragged me away by my wrist. I managed to stand and we ran together. Only then did I realize who’d saved me.
My best friend, Chuck.
He didn’t let go of me. He didn’t even look at me. We kept running until we reached the farthest corner of the aviary, intact and untouched. For now.
We made our way inside of an empty house and stumbled up to the second floor. My other friends, Bomb and Matilda, were huddled together in a corner, crying uncontrollably into each other’s arms. I collapsed down by their sides, breathing heavily. Chuck kneeled beside me, placing a comforting hand on my back.
“We’re going to die,” I murmured between panicked breaths. I couldn’t comfort them. Not now. It was a stark truth I was willing to face.
Bomb grabbed me and shook me aggressively. “You can’t say that!” He sobbed. “How can you say it like you know?!” I pushed him off of me, too overwhelmed to answer. It wasn’t like I knew. Maybe we could survive. But for how long…?
“We can’t stay here,” Matilda stammered. “They’re going to find us!”
“But if we run, they could catch us, too. Either way…we’re done for,” I retorted. Chuck scoffed.
“I won’t let that happen. Come on, guys!”
His confidence was more uplifting than I had thought. He was so fearless. And I’m not quite sure where it came from. Maybe he had more determination than I was trying to convince myself I had. I wanted to save people. But he could.
The four of us returned to the ground floor, peering out from the building and inspecting our surroundings. A group of those shoat soldiers were making their way closer. I felt sick. I felt even sicker when one of them shouted…and pointed directly at us.
Nobody needed to say anything. We all made a run for it, darting back towards the ruined plaza of the village. The smell of death and fire hit my lungs fast and I gagged. This was our only chance to escape. We couldn’t trip and fall. We couldn’t make a wrong turn. We couldn’t stop for any reason. Any stalling and we’d end up like the rest of the aviary.
Matilda, Bomb, and I followed Chuck’s lead. He managed to chart a quick route for us. We were getting closer and closer to the village outskirts. I was convinced we weren’t going to die. There was something for us out there. We’d find a way to live and see the next morning. It wouldn’t be the end of our lives, just the start of the rest.
My eyes spotted something in the rubble. Foolishly, I skidded to a stop, and so did the others.
“Red! What are you doing?!” Bomb snapped at me. I ignored his urgency, climbing through the piles of wood and stone, into the remains of what was once a home.
Nestled in the ruins was a clutch of eggs. Three of them, unharmed.
I quickly scooped them up into my arms, barely able to hold them securely as I hurried back over to my friends.
“Are you crazy?!” Chuck turned his back to me, ready to run again. “We don’t have time for this!”
Of course, I knew that. I knew we didn’t have time. I should’ve just left the eggs. But I wanted to be a hero. If I died, I wanted my life to be worth something. Even if nobody else knew. As long as I did, death didn’t seem as daunting.
A familiar voice bellowed out from behind me. The corporal that had attacked me earlier. His eyes were on me. And not just because I’d been able to escape from him and now he wanted his revenge. I’d made myself a prime target.
I couldn’t let them get these eggs.
“We have to split up,” I said. “They can catch one big target, but they can’t catch four of us!” I bolted past them. “Go! Don’t let them catch you!”
That was the last I saw of my friends.
I reached the outskirts of the village and headed forward aimlessly. I was tempted to look back, but kept my eyes looking ahead. If I was being chased, I didn’t need to know. Either way, I had to keep going. Further and further, I ran through the hills. The air finally began to feel clear. But it only helped my breathing so much. I was starting to slow down, my feet dragging across the grass. But I just couldn’t stop.
I gazed down at the eggs in my arms. I could feel their warmth, their life against my chest. I’d created an awfully huge responsibility for myself. I didn’t know whose eggs these were. I never would know. But I’d keep them safe. I’d give up my own life if it meant they could live just a little longer.
My vision began to blur and my head ached, my thoughts dulling into nonsensical sound rattling in my skull. My heart had been racing wildly. Unable to go any further, I collapsed to the ground. I curled up beside the eggs and gasped for fresh air. I didn’t think I’d get a moment of peace for a long while, but I managed to rest comfortably for a little bit. I let my eyes shut and kept my arms wrapped protectively around my new little responsibilities. I could feel a chill begin to form around me as the sun began to set below the horizon. I tried my best not to fall asleep, but as the adrenaline wore off, my energy dissipated. My head felt lighter and lighter as everything went dark and still and silent.
Too silent. Too still. I was too safe. For far too long.
Distant shouts broke me out of my sleep. I sat up, not feeling well rested at all. I couldn’t have been asleep for very long. I grabbed the eggs and stood up. I could hear commands being barked left and right. Soldiers must have been closing in on me. There weren’t many safe directions I could go. I spun around and trekked away from the noise. As far as I could, anyway. I didn’t make much distance.
Cliffs. I looked over the edge of tall, jagged cliffs. As the moon began to rise, it left rippling reflection over the water below. I was at the coastline of the island.
I looked back. The voices were only getting closer. They must have seen me. They must know what way I went.
My eyes went back to the water. Did I have a choice?
My heart rate picked up again, pounding harshly in my ears.
If I jumped into the water, would I be able to find the shore? Would I get swept under the waves and drown? I didn’t even know how to swim.
I glanced behind myself one last time.
Silhouettes. I could see them. Looming closer and closer.
I didn’t have a choice now.
I took a few small steps back, held my breath, and leapt into the sea.
The fall felt long. Time had slowed. It felt as if I were floating down slowly, gazing up at the stars above. They twinkled with an ominous glimmer. Perhaps they were taunting me. Laughing in my face. Is there always something there to taunt you right before you die?
My body slammed into the ocean, and I panicked. Water quickly infiltrated my airways and I choked, kicking my legs violently as I began to drown. I should’ve known better. I should’ve let the soldiers take me. I would’ve much rather been shot or stabbed or strangled or beaten. At least if I became their castle’s decor, my body and feathers strewn up on a wall, I wouldn’t be lost at the bottom of the sea.
Despite my consciousness slipping away from me, I didn’t let go of the eggs. But the longer I tried to stay alive, the less heroic I felt. In the end, they’d die too. They’d sink and crack on the ocean floor. Or perhaps they’d float away, never to be seen again. Either way, I failed. And even though I tried, it didn’t feel like enough. Maybe that’s all I was destined for. To try…and to fail.
…
My eyes shot open and I wheezed, coughing up the salty sea water from my lungs. My body ached and my head was pounding. I lifted my head and shook the sand from my hair. I was on some kind of beach. It was quiet and breezy. The sun was high in the air.
What day was it?
How long has it been?
Where was I…?
My heart suddenly jolted as memories flashed through my mind. The explosions. The ruins. The bodies. The soldiers. The general moments away from shooting me.
My friends.
I wondered where they ended up. I wondered if they were alive.
…The eggs.
I desperately glanced around. They were nowhere in sight. I’d lost them. I scrambled up to my feet and paced the coast, treading through the shallow water and climbing over boulders. Nowhere. They were nowhere.
I felt mad. If I had known how to swim…or if I just hadn’t jumped into the water at all…they wouldn’t have been lost. Why did I let myself do something so stupid?
Where was I supposed to go now? What was I to do?
I didn’t have a home.
I didn’t have my friends.
I couldn’t save a single life.
I decided to walk the coastline, clueless and hopeless. I cried a little. I childishly cursed myself out.
I just didn’t understand why it had to be us. And I’d probably never understand.
I kept walking. I had no aim. No end goal. No destination.
I kept going and going and going.
I made note of things I saw in the sand. Clam shells, sticks, colorful rocks. Strangle little crabs scurrying about. Shiny, iridescent scales. Clumps of seaweed.
And an egg.
I nearly screamed. It was one of the eggs! I glanced around cautiously before scooping it up and hugging it close to my chest. As I focused ahead, I saw another. And not too far ahead, the third. They’d washed up on the shore. It felt like a miracle. I quickly collected them and took another look around, as if there was somebody to thank. Not a soul in sight except for myself.
“…Thank you,” I muttered to the sea.
I had to make it back to the plateau. But I was at the bottom of a steep, jagged cliff. I’d have to follow the shoreline. There’d have to be a way back up eventually. So I started walking.
My hope returned. I had a goal. I was going to reestablish the village, a brand new refuge. And I was going to deliver justice to the swines who murdered my people.
No matter what.