AncilChapter 24: Flight Of The Corbeaux
“What the hell is that?” Sara asked, momentarily distracted from her pain.
“I don’t know,” I said as I readied my gun. There were only two more bullets left and I feared that it wouldn’t be enough for whatever was lurking. I told Sara to stay put and I went slowly into the parking lot of the school which was right down the stairs leading out of the corridors which were only blocked off from the outside by short metal railings. When I looked up to the sky I saw some corbeaux or massive black vultures flying in circular patterns bellowing out loud screaming noises. They looked like corbeaux but they were bigger. Much bigger. They were the size of commercial planes. Some were bigger than others but it didn’t matter. They were all GIGANTIC!! Sara came limping up behind me, her eyes fixed skyward at the menacing birds and said, “Corbeaux aren’t birds of prey. They’re not supposed to attack the living.”
“Corbeaux also not supposed to be the size of jumbo jets. Yuh dig?” I said
“Point taken.”
While we eyed the scavengers above us I managed to turn around just in time to see one swooping down behind Sara and me. I leaped out of the way pulling Sara along with me just in time for the corbeau to fly past us in a SWOOOSHHH!! The gust that followed raised dirt and garbage high up into the air. But that corbeau was only one of dozens more. The feathered creature kept swooping down on us but even though we both suffered the onslaught of the attack, it was clear that they really wanted Sara. The streaks of blood on her leg seemed to have stimulated their hunger a bit more. I took Sara by her hand and pulled her along with me back into the classroom that we had been in before. Three of the corbeaux keenly followed after us. They were too big to fit through the corridor but that didn’t stop them as their big wings ripped the metal railings on one side and the concrete walls on the other causing them to crumble. I saw the wing of one of the birds rip through the wall of the classroom Sara and I were in like a plane crashing into a building. Unlike a plane however, the wings of the bird remained intact as the roof and walls of the classroom collapsed around us to the floor making it useless as protection and spewing dust and debris into the air. Although the corbeaux weren’t damaged by the impacts, it definitely slowed them down which gave us enough time to make a run for it. I had two more bullets in my gun so I had to make every shot count. The railing on the corridor was completely destroyed so there wasn’t anything stopping us from escaping. Three of the corbeaux that were following us seemed a little flustered by the impact and remained on the floor among the pieces of shattered wall and metal. But they were more of them in the air. One of them swooped in and grabbed Sara, lifting her off the ground. I quickly fired a shot at the corbeaux with the power gun causing it to explode into a million pieces and drop Sara back down in a barrage of blood that also fell on me. Sara and I were both covered in corbeau blood and that was not good. The corbeaux attacked Sara based on a small wound on her leg but now we were both covered in blood. Suddenly I felt claws digging into the flesh of my back, then I was lifted off the ground by one of the massive birds. I swung my arms around and wriggled my body in an attempt to escape the corbeau’s grasp but it was futile. I felt the thick claws of the corbeau sinking deeper and deeper into my back the more I struggled and I knew I was trapped. However, before the giant bird could take me too far I pulled the cutlass out from my side and swung at the corbeau’s leg creating a huge gaping wound on it. The corbeau tried to maintain its grip but after a few seconds I felt relief on my back as the corbeau released me. I fell onto the large grassy playing field on the outskirts of the school corridor with two giant claw marks wedged in my back that burnt like hell. It was quite a fall almost completely knocking the wind right out of me. The number of corbeaux in the sky was now increasing by the second. I didn’t know how many corbeaux there were but there were enough to completely block out the sun like a dark rain cloud before a storm. The corbeaux were hungry and Sara and I were on the menu. There wasn’t much that I could do for her especially with one bullet and two large puncture wounds in my back. I struggled to pick myself up from the ground but Sara ran over to me and helped me up.
The corbeaux that had its leg cut fell to the ground and was bleeding heavily from the wound. It was letting out a scream that was so loud it shook the earth and shattered glass throughout the school. The corbeaux kept on screaming and it was too much for my ears to bear. I tried to block out the noise with my hands but to no avail. In the heat of the moment I ran to the screaming corbeau as quickly as possible and swung my cutlass at the head completely cutting it off. The severed head kept screaming but then stopped in a matter of seconds. The other corbeaux were still flying around in circles above us but almost instantly after I beheaded their fallen brother a swarm of the others rocketed downwards. I couldn’t run anymore and it was only a matter of time before Sara succumbed to hunger. Feeling defeated, I fell to the ground flat onto my stomach with my hands over my head, helpless. I heard a ton of the corbeaux on the ground and I heard them eating away at something but it wasn’t me. Was it Sara? I couldn’t summon the courage to look but I had to. I forced myself back up, looked around and saw dozens of the corbeaux feeding on the beheaded bird. They weren’t paying me any attention. Sara was safe as well but she was on the ground gasping for breath as her skin grew paler and paler. I picked her up threw her arms over my shoulder and ran as far away from the corbeaux as possible as they all fought over the remains of their own dead.
