Chereads / Chicken's Rise / Chapter 5 - Meeting the family

Chapter 5 - Meeting the family

*Rustle* *Rustle*

Feeling like an earthquake was taking place, I awoke, startled.

I looked around the room and saw every single egg that surrounded me immediately start shaking like a naked man in winter, the quiet desperation that emanated from each crackling sphere filled me with worry. Looking around my immediate vicinity I saw my makeshift pillow shake with even more vigour than any other egg there, while I was attempting to understand the magnitude of what was happening, my thoughts were deafened by an unholy screech.

"CHEERRAAAAOOOOOOUUUUU!!!"

The previously incognito mother hen of sorts had tucked her head under her body to give a resounding cheer to her future children, it shocked me at first, but after a few seconds, my muscles (what was left of them anyway) started to feel like they were energised by a dying star, every inch of my body was on fire, my body couldn't handle being still in this moment and I started to shake.

Everything around me was a blur, I couldn't take the time needed to think and organise my thoughts, I just started running; moving quicker than I ever have in this life. I hopped over eggs, crushing them under my feet with surprising strength, helping my future brethren break free. Unable to control myself, I fell to the floor and began ramming into eggs one after the other, I felt like an energised pin ball with feathers.

*CRACK* x 5

*CRACK* x 12

*CRACK* x 109

...

As time passed, the sound caused by the eggshells splintering started to compete with the giant hen's previous screech, all the while, I was panicking, unable to control myself or do any premeditated actions.

The heat that then enveloped my body had started to fade, before it was as if I had swallowed the sun itself, but it had been reduced to a few furnaces.

And then I fell.

My collapse into the floor was broken by the soft hay that was strewn about, my muscles which milliseconds before, filled with otherworldly energy had been replaced by muscle pains I hadn't felt since my middle school cross country.

"yeecchihcihiii..."

I groaned and rolled about on the floor, I could feel the bones under my skin sqeaking from the strain I had put them through, they felt like they were less than a move away from splintering.

The pity party I was throwing for myself was only beginning when all of a sudden-

"YEEECCHHHOOO"

"YEHICHIHCIH"

"YOOHHCHII"

A cascade of helpless chirps flooded my ears, having such little control of what was happening around me, having pain in every molecule of my body, and unable to escape, my panic level began to launch itself into overdrive.

I looked around, trying to get a better grasp of the situation, I saw huge baby chicks, covered from head to toe in some slimy liquid, each one opening their beaks to their maximum potential and allowing animal instinct to take over as they yelled.

Immediately, the mother hen's head which was relishing at the sight of her new chicks, started to shake, her eyes glew a pale yellow hue, and her beak opened and closed, making soft clacking sounds. The screeches from the other chicks died down as we all drew our attention to the hen.

The yellow light from her eyes spread across the whole room, my panic of being in an uncontrollable situation died down, a sense of calm and peace permeated my body.

With a final clack of it's beak, as if she were proud of herself, her head was taken out of our red coop, a gust of wind startled me and I closed my eyes, when I opened them, the black ceiling which I had grown accustomed to had been replaced with a bright blue sky and for the second time in this life, I felt a cool breeze tickle my feathers.

The walls of our "home" started to tremble and fall apart, as if it were an elaborate structure made of fragile building blocks. Now surrounding me was the exterior I had visited to drink water, trees of a bright green and tapestries of tiny birds gliding through the branches filled my peripherals, taking initiative for the first time in the day, I stood up and looked around before something caught my eye, the newly revealed outdoor had an indescribable beauty, behind me I saw a flowing blue river, to my sides I saw animals communing together and playing in harmony, and to my front I saw something which filled me to the BRIM with anger and feelings of betrayal.

A stack of... no... a mountain.

MountainS.

Of seeds.

Golden pellets blocked my view of the south, the seeds lay in such a way it was easy to mistake them for the sand dunes of the Sahara, the sheer amount of them that lay in front of me left my beak agape.

'All along.... there was actual food...'

My eyes widened in disbelief.

'I crushed rubbery worms and guzzled their guts down...'

The traumatic memory flashed before my eyes once again.

'AND THERE WAS FOOD?!?!?!'

'You cold hearted system SON OF A-'

While I was despairing at the fact that I had to smash a worm and drink its innards like a lumpy soup to survive, I was knocked down by chick running at breakneck speeds, it had a distinctive white tail, which I saw running towards, and quickly into, the seed mountain.

*rummbllee*

By having the ability to see behind me, there was no need for me to turn to look at what was happening, but almost as if I were in a cartoon, I slowly turned my head until my beak was facing the tidal wave of yellow and orange chicks, their legs carrying them at speeds I would never expect a newly hatched chicken to reach, afraid of being trampled, I too turned and ran, away from the chicks and towards the seed mountain, which I could swear was a lot smaller now...

I plowed right into it, running through the mountain not bothering to look back at the massacre of seeds behind me, the sounds made from a horde of babies crushing up seeds was too loud for comfort. I emerged from the mountain on the other side, and tumbled to the floor.

My appetite had greatly diminished from when I reminisced about my very first meal, but based on the speed at which the mountain of seeds was collapsing at, I knew it would be gone quick. I turned back to the mountain and stuck my face in. I wasn't sure when I would next be able to eat so I knew I had to make the most of what I had right now.

The bland taste of seeds was vastly superior to the disgusting Erom worms I had so recklessly ate before, it could've benefitted with a few pinches of salt though. After eating my fill, I collapsed onto the soft grass, my little stomach bulging a bit as it strained to hold in the gargantuan amount of seeds I had managed to smash into this tiny belly.