Chapter 10

Loud banging rattled the double doors and walls. I opened my eyes and jumped. I had no idea what was going on, so I glanced around rapidly to see where the noises came from. The doors and walls buckled as they appeared to be rammed from outside.

“What the hell is that?” I shouted.

I rapidly looked around the barn and saw Steve and Eric waking up on the ground. I rushed over to Eric’s side and helped him up.

“Stanford, what is that?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” I walked to the crack in the wall. The strange sky lights were no longer there. I made out the landscape though the darkness. It looked as it did before, covered with snowy, grassy hills. In the distance, there were silhouettes of birds flying toward us. Pecking, clawing, and cawing noises were at the doors and walls. It was difficult to make them out because I couldn’t see them but from their sounds and sizes they sounded as if they were crows. “Shit, it’s the birds!”

“The birds?” Eric yelled.

I stood up and grabbed Eric by the arm. The walls and double doors buckled heavily. Who would’ve thought such small birds could impact a door with such force? After the birds rammed into the walls, sounds of them falling to the ground rang out. Steve started to stand and I rushed over to him.

“Steve, we got to move!” I shouted.

“Why?” he asked. The doors buckled loudly causing Steve to jump. He glanced around rapidly with wide eyes.

“Those damn birds are back!” I shouted.

“The birds?” Steve shouted. “They’re back?”

A cracking sound came from the double doors. Wooden debris broke away revealing a small hole. A crow stuck its heads through cawing and gnawing violently.

“Shit!” I shouted. I ran to the doors, grabbed a wooden plank off the ground, and used it to push down on the crow’s head to get it out. More birds appeared pecking at the doors. A large beak popped through a hole causing me to jump and stumble.

Though the barn kept the birds from getting inside I didn’t know how long it’d last. I wanted to do more to secure the barn, but my options were limited. All I had was the wooden plank. I was running out of time as the doors gradually gave out. I rushed to the doors and pushed on them. With all my might, I held the doors as firmly as I could. On the other side, the birds pecked and scraped more violently with each passing moment. The wood gave way as the birds pecked more holes through them. The birds were so strong for such small animals. How could such tiny animals have such strength? My heart raced and my stomach felt like it was on fire. Eric and Steve appeared beside me and helped hold the doors steady.

“I don’t think it’s going to hold!” I shouted.

The birds continued pecking large chunks of wood off the doors. Through the holes, eerie beams of pale whitish-blue light shined through. I didn’t know where the light came from, but there was no time to wonder about it.

“Oh my god!” Eric yelled. “Stanford, we need to do something! The doors are going to give!”

Flapping noises surrounded the barn. Loud thumping echoed from above. The birds pecked and scratched the barn’s walls gradually breaking them apart. They cawed loudly and the holes they bore caused more beams of light to shine in.

“Dammit! We’re surrounded!” I yelled.

The SUV’s driver door open and Kate stepped out. She stumbled and moaned in a groggy voice.

“Mm, what’s going on?” she asked. A bird rammed the wall beside the SUV which caused Kate to jump and shriek. She grabbed her head with both hands, ducked and screamed several times. “Oh my God!”

“Kate! Start the car!” I waved at her. “Start the car!”

She rushed back inside the SUV and frantically attempted to start it. As soon as its headlights came on, beaks pecked through the wooden walls.

“We have to get out of here! They’re going to get in! We have to leave!” I shouted.

Me, Eric and Steve released the doors and rushed to the SUV. The moment we let go several crows broke large holes through the doors and forced themselves in. We entered the SUV and slammed the doors shut. The crows flapped against the windows. I jumped in the back and landed across Steve and Eric’s laps. My feet hit the ceiling as I struggled to right myself. A crow hit the SUV’s back window and shattered it. Three crows flew inside pecking and clawing at us. We all tried shielding our faces with our forearms and hands. We tried swatting them away, but they just continued pecking at us.

One clawed Steve’s arm so violently that he let out a loud scream. I tried swatting the crow away but to no avail. Out the corner of my eye I saw the barn’s walls still being chipped away. I quickly let down my window. I frantically grabbed the bird attacking Steve with both hands. It struggled in my grasp to peck at my hands and arms. Fortunately, my coat shielded my arms as I tossed it out the window. It tumbled across the ground and fumbled to right itself. I swatted another out and Eric used his game to knock the last out the window.

After I rolled my window back up, I saw the wound on Steve’s arm bleeding profusely. He shut his eyes tight and gritted his teeth as he bent over while holding his arm grunting and stomping. I looked around for anything to help bandage it. There was a roll of paper towels on the floor that I handed to Steve.

“Here, use this,” I said.

Kate looked back at us. “What happened?”

I briefly looked back at Kate. “Steve’s hurt.”

Eric unrolled a few paper towels and wrapped them around Steve’s arm. Kate’s eyes were wide, and her brows slanted. Her pupils looked dilated and her mouth hung open. More crows and a few buzzards broke into the barn and flew to the back of the SUV. I hopped quickly into the back where the luggage was and held up a suitcase to barricade the window. The birds collided into the suitcase which I held onto firmly. Unable to break through they flew away and headed toward the side windows. As the birds hovered in the air, I reinforced the suitcase by placing more luggage behind it to keep it steady.

I made my way back up pass the back-passenger seats and to the front beside Kate. Her eyes were still wide, and she seemed out of it as she looked around frantically. She gritted her teeth and tightly gripped the steering wheel. The crows and buzzards rammed the SUV’s doors killing themselves in the process. A large vulture flew in from my side and scrapped at the window with its talons. More crows and buzzards broke into the barn and attacked the rest of the windows and windshield. Kate screamed loudly.

“Kate calm down!” I shouted. I knew the situation we were in, but her screaming didn’t help. She pulled her knees to her chest, curled up, and rocked back and forth. As the birds continued to ram into the windows, Kate continued to scream. I reached over and grabbed her forearm. “Kate, Kate, listen to me,” I said calmly. “You have to turn the vehicle around and get us out of here. You’re our only hope in getting us out.”

“I-I can’t!” she shouted.

“Listen,” I said. “You have to or else we’re going to die. You can do this. Don’t focus on the birds. Concentrate on getting us out.”

Kate stared at me for a moment. She looked forward and placed her legs down to where the pedals were. She reached for the gear and put it in drive. The doors were closed, and we had no other way to exit. With the birds now inside there was no way we could go out to unlock and open them. Kate lined the SUV up with the double doors.

“How are we going to get out of here?” Kate asked.

There was no other way out and going out to unlock the doors was suicide. I knew those doors had to be weakened considerably due to the birds’ assault. The wood never looked sturdy to begin with so enough force could probably break them down. Hell, if these small birds tore holes in them surely something bigger could easily smash through them.

“Kate, you’re going to have to drive through those doors,” I said.

“What? No! I can’t, we’ll crash!” she shouted.

“Those doors aren’t as sturdy as they look,” I waved a hand. “If those tiny ass birds can break through, then this big vehicle can as well.”

“But Stanford…,” she said. Her hands trembled on the steering wheel.

“It’ll be alright,” I said. “Don’t worry about the consequences. Just do it.”

She went silent and looked outside her side window and at the windshield. Maybe she debated on what to do but we didn’t have time for it. I knew she didn’t want to do anything risky, such as drive through wooden doors. But as I said, our options were limited, and it was either that or die. Honestly, I also didn’t know for certain what would happen if she drove us through. There was a part of me that said we’d be sent flying through the windshield upon impact or the vehicle would be smashed to pieces.

“Kate, now!” I shouted.

“Alright!” she gritted her teeth, put the vehicle in drive, and stepped on the gas. The back wheels spun for about three seconds before the SUV drove forward. Eric held onto the back of Kate’s seat with his knees propped up while Steve ducked and held the back of his head. I put a hand on the dashboard and grabbed the bottom of the seat with the other. I sat back and propped my knees on the dashboard.

We smashed right through the double doors. Wood debris and birds flew in all directions. The SUV buckled and bounced. Kate let out a mighty scream and Steve and Eric grunted loudly. We swerved and Kate turned the wheel sharply to keep the vehicle under control. Snow and dirt flew from the sides through the air. The vehicle slid a bit before stopping and rocking us. I took my knees down and turned to everyone.

“Are you all alright?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Eric muttered. Kate’s eyes seemed as if they were going to pop out of her head. She breathed heavily and gripped the steering wheel tightly. I grabbed her arm and she looked at me. I looked behind to find Steve.

“Steve?” I asked. He sat up with a huge gash across his forehead. Blood dripped down the side of his face.

“Shit,” I muttered. He touched his face and felt his blood. I looked down and saw the paper towel roll. I grabbed it and handed it to Eric.

“Here help Steve with his head,” I told him. I turned toward Kate. She didn’t move and trembled with her hands still on the wheel.

From the rearview mirror I saw lighting streak through the sky. From the barn, silhouettes of birds flew toward the SUV.

“Shit, not again. Kate, drive!” She still didn’t move. I grabbed her arm and shook her. “Kate, go!”

A flock of smaller birds pelted the doors, slammed into the windows, and dive bombed onto the roof causing Kate to flinch and scream. More birds flew from ahead and slammed into the windshield leaving large, bloodied stains. Glass shards from the windshield fell onto my lap. I continued to shake Kate’s arm.

“Kate, Kate, snap out of it!” I shouted. “Go! Drive! Drive!”

A crow slammed into her side window and broke the glass which made her scream louder. A few glass shards rained down the side of her door. Birds started landing on the roof and hood.

“Kate, what the hell? Drive!” Eric shouted holding paper towels over Steve’s head wound.

I didn’t know what else to do. The birds were hell bent on getting us and I was concerned about Kate’s mental state. In that instant, I honestly thought we were going to die.

Suddenly, Kate’s eyes focused and she seemed to regain her senses. She took a deep breath. This was my chance in getting her to drive us out of here.

“Go!” I shouted. “Now!”

Kate screamed and stepped on the gas. The SUV’s back tires spun again briefly throwing dirt and snow behind us. We drove off causing the birds on the hood and roof to fly off. We drove down the snow-covered dirt road and onto the entrance of the freeway.

“Where do we go?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know. We just have to get far the hell away from here,” I said as I looked down both directions.

There’s no way we could go to my house as it was still miles away. Plus, my driveway was super long. There was no nearby safe place. We had nowhere to go, no gas stations, and the closet town was nearly a half hour away. All my other friends lived in town so we couldn’t go to them for safety and there was no guarantee that their houses were safe havens. I wanted to tell Kate to just pick a direction and go.

We pulled off fast onto the freeway and headed left to the direction from where we came. We drove down the wrong side of the road. Kate’s eyes were still wide, and she breathed heavily. Beads of sweat dripped down her face.

“Kate?” I asked but she didn’t respond.

“Kate where are we going?” Eric asked.

We continued down the freeway as the birds gave chase. They caught up with the vehicle and rammed themselves into the side windows. The piled-up luggage in the back appeared to keep them from entering the broken back window. The road was completely blanketed in snow with the same wrecked cars beside the road from earlier. Alongside them were still the fallen bodies we saw assaulted the first time we came down the freeway. Though it was dark, their blood stains in the snow was visible.

“Stanford, where are we going?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know,” I said. I looked at Kate. “Kate do you know where we can go for now? Do you know anyone close by?”

Again, she said nothing. The birds continued bashing themselves against the SUV. The needle on the speedometer gradually rose.

“Kate do you hear me?” I asked her. I felt myself becoming lighter as we descended the steep hills. “Kate slow down!” I shouted.

I sweated heavily and felt myself tremble. My heart raced and it felt as if my stomach would burst into flames. The road was too dangerous to be driving this reckless. We dropped down another steep hill and the SUV slipped which caused us to slide around. I grabbed the steering wheel.

“Dammit, Kate! You’re going to kill us if you don’t stop what you’re doing!” I attempted to gain control of the vehicle. “Stop this shit!”

Kate continued to drive faster. We had to have been going eighty or ninety miles per hour. Lightning bolts continued streaking across the sky. I didn’t know what time it was, but I hoped it was close to morning. I thought about pulling the emergency brake, but I didn’t want the SUV to accidently flip over. Even if we stopped safely, we’d be sitting ducks for the birds.

I hoped they’d get tired of chasing us but that didn’t seem to happen. I kept watch for any sort of safe haven. A gas station, house, anything we could use to get away from this hell. I hoped for anything to come into view. All my hopes were in vain as nothing appeared. In that instant something changed. I didn’t know what it was but for some reason I felt calmer as if an inner peace took over my body. Maybe in the back of my mind I came to terms with what was happening.

The birds swooped down onto the SUV’s roof and everyone screamed. In those moments everything seemed surreal. Everything moved in slow motion and everything sounded quieter. It was like I was in a dream. I glanced at everyone. No one made eye contact with me. Kate still breathed heavily and still looked out of it. Steve had a similar look. Eric clutched his teeth and fists tightly. As strange as it sounded, the main thing on my mind was how nice it was to see everyone. Being together with all my friends just seemed to give me this lighter-than-air feeling. It didn’t take long for me to come to my senses. I guess I was tired of all the bad things happening.

“Kate slow down! Please!” Eric shouted. “Kate! Kate!”

Steve spoke softly. “Kate.”

I felt a heavy bump. I didn’t know what it was, but it had enough strength to lift us off the ground and send us flying through the air. It felt like an eternity of us spinning in slow motion through the air. I saw Kate’s hair float through the air. Papers and small objects also floated across my face. The last thing I remembered was feeling a hard thump and my face smashed against the window.