He walks in front of us.
To another tree.
It looks like a tree.
P:”It moves.”
R:”It breathes.”
The guide stops.
He runs back to us.
He hides behind us.
The tree breathes loudly.
Fat white feathers.
Chucking.
Chuckling.
Clucking & Quacking.
Silence is broken.
Silence is torn.
Pecked by a bloody orange peck.
The clucks break into my ears.
I can’t run to this thing.
The sound comes too fast.
The guide’s hidden already.
Leaving this mountain of feather to us.
He looks at me.
He won’t shoot this bird yet.
He waits for my 1st move.
I face the Bird & Scream.
It clucks louder.
Yeah…
The sound only is enough to shake your flesh.
The sound waves shake the trees’ bells.
As it clucks, it plucks itself.
White feathers off its own skin, in the air.
Dancing because the sound is too loud.
He aims for the bird’s head.
His arm shakes.
He lowers his weapon.
I throw a rock in its peck.
The rock clogs in its neck.
It continues to shake.
It wants to cluck.
The lower half of the chicken bursts.
Sat on a bed of Bones.
Before the pulsating tree.
From the low parts of its body burst…
Worms.
Twisting.
They throw themselves at us.
Me 1st.
Because I shook their host.
From beneath the earth.
From beneath the bird.
They look for me.
They throw eggs.
Little slimy, spherical eggs.
The shells break.
More worms.
They all come at me.
Running?
He aims for the Chicken’s head.
He shots.
Its eyes burst.
The chickens head shake.
So do the worms.
It swallows the rock.
Chuckles.
The worms shamble.
They liquefy.
Brown & viscous into the earth.
He shots another bullet in the chicken’s brain.
Last clucks…
And then…
Chants.
The guide comes off his hideout.
Wherever it was.
Closer the chicken’s nest.
To the bones.
Chants.
Chants from the bones.
Hollow bones.
Filled with music.
Crack the bones.
Let the memories be free.