Animal Factory by Philip Caveney

Author:Philip Caveney [Caveney, Philip]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fledgling Press
Published: 2013-11-17T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Night Rally

A few nights later Ralph had a dream. Even as he was dreaming, he knew that this dream must be very like the one that Fred had told all the farm animals about. In this version Ralph was running through a field of wheat. It was a beautiful sunny day and he was running as fast as he could, smashing down the ears of corn in front of him and enjoying being young and alive and full of energy.

Then he heard a squawk in the air above him and looking back over his shoulder, he saw that many black birds were wheeling and soaring in the blue sky. He kept running and glancing back and every time he did, he noticed that the birds were lower in the sky and that they were changing their shape, becoming bigger, longer, their clawed feet elongating into paws, their heads sprouting ears. One by one they dropped down into the wheat until the sky was completely clear of them. Ralph slowed to a halt, puzzled. He could not for the life of him understand what was happening.

Until he heard the rustling sounds. He turned around startled and saw that there was a commotion in the wheat behind him. The black things were running after him through the corn and then he heard a series of deep growls that seemed to turn his blood to ice in his veins. He turned and began to run again, but this time he was not running for the pleasure of running, but because he knew the black shapes, propelled along on their long, spindly legs were faster than he would ever be and that they were coming to kill him.

He put his head down and ran until he thought his heart would burst within him and now he was aware of the black shapes drawing closer, closer, their fangs bared and their lolling tongues dripping saliva . . .

Suddenly the first of them was on him, teeth tearing at his throat and he felt a jolt of agony as a second set of jaws clamped around one of his back legs and he fell, howling into the wheat, which seemed to have no end, it was dissolving into a golden blur beneath him and he was falling through the wheat, falling as the black shapes closed around him . . .

Ralph woke with a whimper and lay, in the straw of the old barn, hoping that his noise hadn’t woken any of the pups. He had deliberately chosen a bed as far away from them as possible, aware of the mischief that poor old Fred had had to endure when Kurt and his sibling were still pups. But as he lay there, letting his heart ease back to its natural rhythm, he realised that it was unnaturally quiet in the barn. Normally there would be the sounds of the puppies breathing, whimpering in their sleep, even giving little barks when they dreamed they were chasing chickens .

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