Chapter 6

“Hey, do you all hear that noise?” I asked.

“Hear what?” Kate asked.

“It sounds like a bunch of rustling and flapping,” I looked out the window to see what was making the noises.

“Actually, yeah. I hear it too,” Eric said.

The noises loudened with each passing moment. I didn’t know exactly where the noises came from, but they sounded like they came from all around. I squinted to see into the woods, through the darkness, though I only saw silhouettes of moving branches. There was no wind to blow them, so something had to be forcefully moving them. Faint shadows landed on the branches. Through the darkness I saw the shadows were that of birds. The noises I heard had to have been the flapping of their wings. As they landed on the tree branches, I leaned back in my seat. I sighed in relief as I knew the source of the sounds. Maybe this was the feeling I got of someone being close by.

However, the flapping became louder. I looked back out and saw nearly every single branch move. Each one was lined with birds. There were so many of them landing beside one another.

‘Wow, that’s quite a number of birds,’ I thought. In front of us, birds landed on the branches around the curve. I glanced around and saw birds landing on nearly every branch in the woods. There must’ve been thousands of branches and each one was filled with birds.

“Oh my god look at this,” Eric said in a high voice. “Look at all the birds.”

“I never seen so many of them in one area. Where are they all coming from?” Steve asked.

I couldn’t make out what kind of birds they were. Their size and shape made some of them look like crows thought I knew there had to be several types of birds from the variety of shapes and noises they made. As the moments passed more and more birds landed on the branches and on the road.

“What the hell? Is this normal?” Kate asked.

“I don’t know. I never seen them gather like this,” I said.

“This shit’s scary,” Kate said to herself.

My vision adjusted enough for me to make out the birds in the dark. In different areas in the woods the same kind of birds were grouped together. There were sparrows, crows, woodpeckers, robins, vultures, buzzards, hawks and even owls. Many other kinds were there but I couldn’t make them out. From the left flocks of sparrows landed on branches just a few feet away from the SUV. A few tiny hummingbirds briefly landed on the outside rearview mirrors before flying off.

Why were so many birds here, especially during winter? Normally they’d fly south where it’s warmer. More birds flew in screeching and cawing as they came down. There were so many birds on branches that some fell off and glided to the ground. It seemed as if the woods were entirely filled with birds.

I glanced at the others who were in awe. Their eyes were wide, and their mouths hung open. No one said anything as our attention was drawn toward outside. I didn’t know just how long the birds took to gathered. All I noticed was their constant flapping, cawing, chirping, tweeting, and screeching.

Noises came from the right near the door. I looked down and saw a flock of vultures walking on the ground beside the SUV. They trotted around the vehicle and headed toward the front.

‘What the hell?’ I wondered. The vultures’ faces had hard, focused frowns.

“Oh, look at this shit,” Steve pointing to the left. I looked over and saw more vultures landing over in the grassy field and trotted toward us.

More flocks landed in the remaining branches and on the ground around us. Kate turned on the high beams which gave a better view of the front. The birds in the branches and on the ground all seemed to have hard stares and frowns just like the vultures. They were all completely still on the branches watching us.

“What the hell? Why are they looking at us like that? Are they frowning?” Kate asked.

“I know, this is so bizarre. But still why are they all gathering like this?” Eric asked.

Many alternated between looking at us and at other flocks. Again, I got a sharp pain which felt like something dropped into the pit of my stomach. I knew something wasn’t right. It was like it tried telling me something bad was going to happen.

The birds all suddenly raised their wings all at once and let out loud screeches and shrieks that were so loud that they shook the ground. It was such a deafening, bloodcurdling, powerful sound that even the woods shook. Inside the SUV, we all hunched over and covered our ears. Kate, Steve and Eric screamed. I glanced up and saw the windows vibrating like they were about to shatter.

The screeching came to a halt. We took our hands off our ears and listened as the sounds echoed through the woods. As we got our bearings, many birds stretched out their wings. They immediately took flight and flew above us out of sight. A moment later several thumping and scratching noises came from above which sounded like the birds were attacking each other.

“Are they fighting? Hey, are you guys hearing that?” I asked.

Many birds flew around us and were indeed attacking one another. They pecked and used their wings and talons to hit each other violently.

“Holy shit!” Eric shouted.

The birds collided into one another. Their bloody bodies flopped onto the ground. A few made loud thumping noises as they dropped onto the roof of the SUV. Steve and Eric held each other tightly. With wide eyes, Kate held her hands over her mouth as she screamed. A mutilated bloodied crow fell onto the windshield. It slid down and left a red smear. Kate cringed. She ducked and placed her hands on top of her head.

A heavy screeching noise came from the right. Outside, I saw a flock of vultures in the ditch. Among them, a large vulture in the center stared hard into my eyes. To my disbelief it frowned. This wasn’t just an assumption I had with the other birds. This one legitimately was frowning at me like a person. It held out one of its wings and seemed to point at me while it made a loud screech. The other vultures rushed toward the SUV and crashed into the doors all at once. They hit so hard it caused the vehicle to balance briefly on two wheels. We were all rocked and flung as the vehicle came back down. The vultures dropped dead after they collided leaving their bloodied dents on the doors.

We had to leave. It was just a matter of time till the birds broke into the SUV. There was no time to wonder what made them act out. I reached forward and tapped Kate on the shoulder.

“Kate! We got to get out of here, it’s not safe! You got to drive us out! I don’t know what the hell is wrong with these birds! But we can’t stay!”

“But what about Rhoda?” Steve asked. “We can’t leave her here!”

I thought about it briefly. I didn’t want to leave Rhoda, but it was basically impossible to find her now. I felt a burning sensation swell up in my gut. I slammed my fist on the back of the passenger seat.

“Forget it, we’re leaving,” Kate shouted.

She pulled forward and backed up. The birds stopped fighting and turned their attention to us. They began violently crashing themselves into the vehicle from all sides. The birds above dove down and divebombed the roof.

There was a small flock of sparrows flying into the back window with so much force that their heads exploded upon impact. The tiny, feathered missiles were strong enough to crack the glass. Kate shrieked while Steve and Eric continued holding each other. Kate drove off and several flocks gave chase.

We went back through the steep winding road. Kate breathed heavily as she drove. The crows pecked and scraped the sides of the SUV. A large vulture swooped down on my side and cracked the window, causing me to jump.

Kate drove fast while swerving. I thought she’d drive us off the road. On the way back where the slope was, I saw just how steep it was. I couldn’t even see the bottom for it was too far down. We’d most likely roll to our deaths if we went over, especially since it was filled with shriveled trees and large rocks.

“Kate, careful!” I yelled.

Snow started falling as a few flakes but soon fell heavy. The snow was damn-near blizzard-like. Despite the flash snowstorm, I was more focused on the onslaught of birds coming after us. With Kate driving recklessly, birds damaging the SUV, and oncoming snow, I thought we were going to die. We arrived at the groove of pine trees and crossed over the railroad tracks. Miraculously, we arrived back onto the freeway.

The snow came down so hard that even with the SUV’s high beams visibility was nearly impossible. Fortunately, there were several lampposts alongside the freeway illuminating orange lights that pierced the darkness. The lampposts allowed us to see the road enough to navigate. Above us, a flock of crows glided back and forth. Even though Kate was being careful she still drove very fast in this snow. However, this didn’t seem to slow down the birds who were able to keep up with us.

“What do we do?” Kate screamed. “I don’t know what to do! Where do we go?”

“We have to get out of this snow and away from these birds,” I said. “Let’s go back to my house. It’s the closest place I can think of where we’ll be safe.”

Several wrecked vehicles were alongside the road and people scrambled to safety as they were assaulted by birds. All over the countryside birds were everywhere attacking wreckage and those unfortunate to be on the road. I was unsure if all these people crashed in the blizzard or if they were attacked by the birds but if I had to guess I’d say it was the latter. The people’s horrified, painful screams were loud enough for us to hear. A lot of people were face down in the snow. Birds picked their bodies apart with their talons and beaks. A few houses on the side of the road had birds smashing their way in through the windows. It was rough seeing so many people all around us being killed and screaming for their lives. There wasn’t a thing we could do for anyone.

A man on the right side of the road ran from a flock of crows. He tripped and fell in the snow. The crows used their beaks to stab him in his throat and his blood gushed out like water. Moments later, a young woman ran through a snowy field chased by three flying vultures. They all latched onto her back with their talons. The vultures caused her to fall onto the ground as they proceeded to rip her apart into bloodied pieces.

“Oh my god!” Steve shouted. “We should do something! We have to help them!”

“There’s nothing we can do,” I said as calmly as I could. “If we go out there, the birds will kill us too.”

Steve sat back with a horrified look on his face. His eyebrows slanted as he looked around frantically. I knew he understood but felt powerless that he couldn’t do anything. He’s always been a caring person. I understood his need to help others.

A man ran alongside the road. He saw us and waved his arms in the air frantically to get our attention. “Help! Help!”

“What do I do?” Kate asked.

“Keep driving,” I told her. She stepped on the gas and sped past the man. I turned around and saw him with such a helpless look on his face. His eyes slanted and his mouth drooped. Several crows pounced on him. He spun around frantically and let out a blood curdling scream as he fell to the ground.

I turned around, placed a hand over my face and took a deep breath. I glanced at the rear-view mirror and saw crows still trailing us from above swooping from side to side. In that instant they looked so majestic swaying to the sides flying through the snow. I don’t know if it was because I was still sick, but I briefly forgot about the situation. The falling snow at night with orange glowing lights and the way the birds flew was surreal.

I wondered where Rhoda was and if the birds killed her like those poor people. When we first drove away from the birds, I swore I heard her voice. It sounded like she was singing.

I hoped we’d be safe at my house, but it was still so far away. I figured we’d probably wouldn’t make it there and thought of other places to go. Gas stations, police stations, buildings, all were out of reach. No other places came to mind.

I wasn’t sure what time it was, but it was clearly nighttime. The snow came down as thick as a fog. The lampposts became scarce which limited our vision even more. A few crows flew beside the SUV briefly. I wondered how they could fly at night during a snowstorm like this. The entire road was blanketed with snow, which made driving for Kate difficult. She swerved several more times and jerked us around in the back.

“Kate, you got to slow down,” I said calmly. She’d probably panic if I screamed so I was attempting to speak as calmly as possible.

The area around us looked familiar. We rode by a large grassy field where I remembered an old, abandoned barn was. I leaned up to Kate and pointed at the approaching driveway.

“Kate, look at this trail coming up. Turn right up here,” I said.

“Why?” she asked.

“There’s a barn,” I pointed at the direction where I thought the barn was in the field. “I think we can use it to escape the snow and the birds.”

“Alright,” she said. “I don’t know what else to do, so I’m trusting you, Stanford.”

Kate turned onto the driveway. The snowy field was large. There were several rolls of bale scattered throughout. The birds seemed to stop following us as I didn’t see them anywhere. At the end of the trail the black wooden barn came into view. It looked like it hadn’t been used in a while. There were two wooden doors on the barn where Kate stop in front of.

“We have to get inside,” I looked outside for any birds but still didn’t see any. “I’m going out to open those doors. Afterwards, Kate, you drive inside.”

“What the hell, Stanford?” Steve shouted. “You can’t go outside with all those crazy ass birds!”

“Someone’s got to open those doors so we can get inside,” I looked out the window. “Plus, I don’t see them anywhere. It’ll be quick, just out and in.”

I hopped outside and shut the door. I noticed the dents and bloodied marks on the side of the SUV where the birds slammed into it. I rushed toward the barn’s doors trotting through the thick snow. There had to been around two to three feet of it. The lights from the SUV helped me see through the falling snow. I was concerned the doors were locked but they didn’t look like they were. I grabbed doors in the middle and struggled to pry them opened. They weren’t locked but were very stiff. All the while my face was barraged by snow and wind.

There were faint cawing noises in the distance coming closer. I knew I had to hurry but a cawing noise sounded like it was right beside me. I turned around and a crow flew right into my face. I flailed my arms about to shoo it away, though it was relentless as it attempted to peck me in my face. Another soon appeared and started pecking me on top of my head. I threw my hood up for protection, though they continued to attack.

I fell to the ground and heard everyone inside the SUV scream my name. With a rush of adrenaline, I forced myself back up. I grabbed the doors with all my might and pulled as hard as I could. The doors were so hard to open. The cold wind and snow and the crows pecking the hell out of me didn’t help. I nearly slipped and fell again as I finally got the doors open. I held my head down as the crows continued trying to peck me in the face. I stepped to the right and waved for Kate to drive in, which she did. One of the SUV’s door flew open and Steve ran toward me. He flailed his hands at the crows.

“Go, get away from him!” he shouted. He waved his arms, and the birds turned their attention to him. I staggered and continued to wave my arms at the birds, but they wouldn’t leave.

I ran to the right barn door and tried to pull it close. Eric ran out the SUV to the barn’s left door and pulled as hard as he could. Steve attempted to grab the birds and toss them outside. As we neared closing the doors more crows approached from the distance.

“Come on! Hurry!” Steve yelled.

As they flew toward the barn, we closed the doors causing the birds to crash into them. The shock of which caused me and Eric to fall to the ground.