I was free, but I had no idea where to go.

I had never been so far from Kanti's house. I was new to the area. All I knew was that Kanti's house was somewhere in the north, but the only road there was led south. What could I do other than to start walking?

At the end of the lane, the road split into two perpendiculars, leading east and led west. All the houses were in the east, so I picked that road. However, I didn’t make it far, only till the next corner, before I had to stop.

The road was blocked.

There was a mountain of rotting bodies covering at least twenty meters of road and giving off an unpleasant stench. My first instinct was to run back the way I had come; second instinct told me to run faster because the bodies were starting to move. I didn’t wait for my third instinct, turned on my heel, and ran back the way I had come.

I passed the junction, turned the corner, and found myself in front of the shopping complex and its black scissor gate.

There was a commotion going on inside, somewhere near the back of the building. My hearing was sharper than ever before, but not to the point that I could hear people talking behind closed doors.

I wouldn’t have understood anything anyways. I wasn’t going back inside without finding my pack, so there was no point in it dwelling over it either. Though I worried about Kalki’s safety—

You have been over this. Come one, stop wasting time. I told myself because time was precious.

I had two choices again. I could go straight or turn left on the long road, at the end of which I had seen the stumbling shadow. I ran straight, same reason as before, hoping Kalki wouldn’t see me. She wasn’t around to see me.

I passed through a lane of square buildings, with marred paint and large gates. They smelled of grease and oil, not a scent I liked to be honest. Only one of the three houses opposite them had their gates open. No wonder the road was so clean and devoid of screamers.

However, after a few turns around the houses, I reached the end of the road. It was another park, circular in shape and enclosed by houses all around. However, there was no fence or flowers, sidewalks, or even a gate for entry, only a humongous old tree growing at the center over a flat land of trimmed green grass. And this park wasn’t empty either.

Things lived there. Things I didn’t like. Things called crows.

The cacophony of their shady cawing had the whole place interested. And there were not merely one or two of them; their whole family lived in the tree crown, and they were not polite.

I wouldn’t have minded it if it was only them, but there was a horde of screamers standing under the tree, looking up with their mouths open and hands raised. I looked back. I wasn’t really far from where Kalki and the others were.

There were too many of them. It was a horrifying discovery.

Did they hu-mans know? I didn’t believe so. Thankfully, their attention was someplace else, and they hadn’t found me —not yet, at least.

They were jumping up and down, climbing over one another, creating a pile of sorts to bridge the gap between the ground and the tree crown. And they were failing at it.

Their activity was suspicious no matter how I looked at it. They were unusually interested in the crows. Whatever the case, the truth was that there were far to any of them and they scared me. However, the crows were enjoying their misery. They mocked the screamers for their pathetic display. The whole horde had been painted white by the crows shit; none had been left untouched.

It was no wonder they didn’t notice me, but the crows did.

Look who’s here. One of the larger ones among their ranks furled his wings and flew to the roof of a house on my left. Three more followed him.

Is it the girl who feeds us? One with funny eyes cawed.

No, that one’s dead, fool. The fat leader cursed. You ate her eyes and you liked them. Did you forget already?

Yeah, fool! The others chimed in.

I did?

Bird brain!

All right, there was nothing to see there. I looked around to find another way through. There was no way I was risking being chased by horde just to cross the park, and there were plenty of ways. However, the crow wasn’t done with me yet.

Hey —the funny eyes one landed in front of me— can I taste a peck of your still healthy flesh? I’m going to go sick of eating the humans rotting flesh.

She was pretty loud. I worried she would attract the screamers; one look showed that I was still safe. The monsters were still distracted. However, I couldn’t take her seriously for she looked at my butt while talking to me. Either it was a sick joke of some kind or her sight was affected by her cross-eyes.

I was not the only one amused at that. Her friends —I seriously doubted they were friends— called her fool and moron and bird brain; So much so that even I felt bad for the bird, though it didn’t seem to affect her.

I swiped my paw at her and she took flight, only to land atop of my back. It was a really bad idea. Any other time and I could have made a meal out of her, but the screamers sacred me. And I was yet to find a way through. I was seriously starting to contemplate going back and finding another way. But there was a high chance I would just find another horde.

Yeah, let us have a bite before you let those things make a meal out of you. The leader landed on a young tree to my right. We promise not to dig in too deep. Think about our kids. He cawed raising his head and looking at the tree. They are too small to fend for themselves. Please, help us poor crows.

Help us!

Help us!

Damn, they were getting on my nerves and scaring me. I shook my body like I was wet and the crow took flight again, this time settling back on the roof with her so-called friends.

They were really annoying. But cal it luck or fate, I found a way out of there. Keeping one eye on the horde I started walking. I stayed close to the houses on my right. There was enough overgrowth of ferns near the edge of the park to hide me.

However, the crows followed, vehemently talking to each other about me.

What is he doing?

Our meal is getting away. Do something!

He’s thinking of getting through that space.

Does he think he’s a copycat?

I stopped and turned toward them. Do you know Tiger? That is what Cob called the cat. The rest of us called it simply cat because it called us not dogs or by our names, but copycats.

Do you know where he is? I asked the crows, and by asking I meant I barked.

I got a bit too excited. And a few screamers turned in my direction. I don’t know whether they saw me, or if they could even see with their scarlet eyes, but my heart leaped into my mouth from fright. Not like I stood in the open, but I smelled the same as them, sweet and mouthwatering —the roarer had told me so, and he was one of them. However, amazingly a screamer, not different from them in appearance, but with a denser odor of sweetness to it screamed, and they turned back toward the tree. Was it possibly leading them? I didn’t want to know and the crows were beginning to react.

Does he think we’ll tell him the cat’s trying to get into the pigeon pen?

Yeah, does he think we are stupid?

I hope the cat gets to them. Their fat leader added. It will get one and the rest will be ours.

And they started cawing, loudly. They were trying to get me noticed! Stupid bloody crows!

I rushed toward the small, alleyway between the two houses. That was the only way I had found. I would have an easier time scaling walls if I was the cat, but I was not. So that was my only escape route.

And of course, the screamers noticed the crows, and hence me. The one I believed was their leader turned saw me and screamed, and the whole horde starting screaming one by one as if they were connected to each other somehow. That’s all he did and the screamers came after me one after another. They knew one of them had found a delicious meal. But they didn’t concern me much. I only needed to make it to the alleyway.

However, my hopes were crushed when I got a closer look at the space. It was tight, too tight. It was not an alley, but a crack of space between two adjacent houses. My heart fell. I was not going to make it.

No, I was small, I had a chance. I would be free if I got though because the screamers were definitely not going to fit through that.

I can get through. I lied to myself. What choice did I have? I can do this. I believed and sped up.

I saw one of them fall and get crushed by those following it. That was me if I was caught. A mangled pile of flesh and bones would be all that remains of my body if they got me. The truth was brutal, but it gave me courage.

The warmth in my heart moved, it tried to flow into my veins, but I restricted its flow. It was possible, not easy but possible. But I could not change. The space was narrow enough already, I didn’t want to get stuck with my feet dangling outside because of my changed size.

Caw-caw-Caw, the crows cried, or Run-Run-run, basically the same thing. They were condescending, those little devious black followers of death. I hated them.

A few screamers pulled ahead of the rest. I couldn’t see how many, but they were coming, and that mattered most. How far was I? Too far. They blocked my path.

One missed me by a mere stride. Another almost caught me, but it couldn’t crouch properly thanks to its painfully tilted hip, and I evaded by pushing right of it. The third one came directly at me. It lunged forward with its arms stretched forward. I didn’t have to do anything, however. It kissed the dirt, while I jumped onto its back and dashed forward using its body as a springboard. I was almost at the crack of space between the two houses when the crowd caught up to me.

Their screams rattled my body; they were so bloody close.

I heard air swishing and swooshing as their hands clawed the emptiness around me, but one bony hand —literally no flesh— slapped hard on my bandaged back. The hand broke from the force, and I peed from the pain. I blacked out. I didn’t fall, however; my legs kept moving and my momentum carried me forward.

A low guttural howl escaped my throat, and the screamers responded in their own way uniquely barbaric ways. Even those that hadn’t yet left the tree and were after the crows joined the mass once I howled.

The screamers really didn’t care about each other. They were toppling over one another, crushing those that fell, and pushing those ahead of them to become the first to taste my warm-sweet blood; in turn, slowing each other down. I believe if there were a few of them, say only a tenth of the crowd, then I would have never gotten so close to the crack of space.

I pulled through the pain and under the legs of the last one that stood between me and my escape. That one didn’t act even after I was long past her for some reason. Whatever the case, I reached my goal and jumped into the tight space.

I hit my right shoulder on entry as the horde crashed into the back of the two houses behind me. Thump-thump-Thump they struck, while I squirmed deeper into the crack. A stretched hand brushed against my tail, but that was the only and the last bit of excitement that resulted from my tussle with them.

My shoulder was broken. Maybe I shouldn’t have jumped and should have tried to slip into the crack, but my heart was starting to grow uneasy and the warmth inside was acting up as the pain flared. Getting through that space was not a task for the faint-hearted. The space was unbelievably tight and wet, and smelly —oh, it smelled bad, rotten even. Something had died there; I was sure. Someone pathetic and foolish like me had most likely thought it was a shortcut and gotten stuck inside.

Moving was already troublesome, even with my thin, feeble body. But my body was changing to heal my shoulder, and it was not helping.

I was moving forward thanks to the wet and slippery green layer that covered the walls on both sides, but space was getting tighter and tighter with my every breath. To tell the truth, I was starting to panic.

It was dark down there. I could see the sky past the towering walls of the two houses upon lifting my head, but even light seemed to shy away from the bottom. The exit was a crease of light in the far distance. Really, what in the stupid name of escape had I gotten myself into?

I was halfway into the crack, unbearable hot and thirsty when something hissed right in front of me. That made the few hairs I had left stand up, along with my ears and tail.

I first believed it was a figment of my imagination. The screamers behind me were too loud and aggressive, but I know what I had heard. I didn’t see it, but I could hear something moving on the ground. It was squirming among the empty packets that made loud noises when stirred.

However, the hisser didn’t attack me. It tasted my scent with its tongue but stayed close to the ground without moving. Fear burrowed the warmth back inside my heart, and I slowly changed back to my previous self with the added benefit of a healed shoulder. Back to my original weight and size, I somehow managed to get through.

Like a newborn pup I pushed out of the crack, covered in the green silkiness of the wall growth, and dripping wet in a white viscous fluid. My heart rate was fine, and breaths were under my control, but I was exhausted.

Ah, the cold air had never felt so good.

There were no screamers around since all of them had already gathered at the tree. Well, if they could get there, they could probably get back, too. I looked back into the crack; I couldn’t even see the other side! It was a miracle that I had gotten through. Exhausted as I might be, I pulled myself up and started dragging myself away from the place.