Author's Note: Wow, a reviewed already. Nice. Thanks!
Chapter Two
Frenzied Birds
Trafalgar Square, London
The day was absolutely gorgeous, though slightly cloudy with some drizzle here and there. A touring American man with his wife and son were enjoying the scenery, the birds, and the day just fine despite such desolate conditions.
"Look at my hat." his wife smiled, tilting her head at all different angles. Holding a camera, her husband worked in the scenes and his wife at the same time. Suddenly the camera went blank for a second. He turned it to their son, Justin, then to a few people walking in the street, than a flock of birds taking flight.
His wife, with a content smile, turned and saw Justin frowning, looking out across the lot.
"What is it, sweetheart?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Justin said nothing, only pointed. A dead bird lie in the street, it's neck broken, feathers still rustling in the wind. The boy looked to his father for an explanation. He leaned down.
"It's okay son. These things happen all the time and..." but he was cut short as another bird flew headlong into a cement sculpture next to him and fell dead to the ground. Another, another, and another followed. Justin looked around in fright. This wasn't fun.
Soon large flocks were taking to the skies, flying around in frenzies, only to collide with the nearest heavy structure and fall dead to the ground.
"Let's, go, let's go! Come on!" said Justin's mother.
A few yards away and a few yards up, a woman at her desk was jolted awake when a barrage of birds collided with her windows, causing glass to shatter everywhere.
All around the birds were crashing into buildings, statues, cars, people, and glass. Rains of debris fell down upon those in the streets not already occupied with the swarms.
Justin and his parents ran frantically through the streets, trying to avoid the din and the birds all at once. The panic and the crows were not helping their progress however.
Every few moments his father was able to catch a glimpse of the panic through their camera. Here were people running and screaming. Here were people clutching at their wounded faces. Mayhem, mass hysteria was everywhere.
"Justin!" he tripped and fell in the street as the stampedes surged.
A cab driver careened through the street, shouting at the pedestrians in his way.
"Watch it, you bloody idiots!" he yelled. His gaze turned to his right for only a moment, until a bird collided with his windshield, shattering it instantly. He steered left, than right, desperately trying not to hit anyone, until at last he found his cab dug into the back of another car.
"Hurry! Run!" Someone screamed. Justin's father dropped the camera and concerned himself with his family. It captured more images of the mayhem, but the possibility of them ever seeing the item again was slim.
The driver of a double-decker bus was having his own problems. Swarms of birds crashed through the windows as passengers ran around screaming in fright. One maddened and crazed fowl landed in his lap and began to flap its wings violently. He had to protect his face, but that meant letting go of the wheel. Desperately he tried to keep control of the bus while swatting at the accursed creature.
Justin and his family sought shelter from the streets. A man ran around whimpering and clutching his eye, others screamed in fright, many were running to seek what Justin's family desperately needed. A place to hide. They found shelter within a convenient store just in time to see a double-decker bus barrel up and over a car with a cab stuck in its rear bumper, then tip over with those passengers still alive screaming in horror and pain.
Looking up, all within saw a swarm of birds heading straight for their windows. Justin coiled into the space between his mother and father, fearing for his life. Some hit, but others veered away in time. The glass shattered, but nothing else. In seconds the flocks dispersed and all that could be heard was wild twittering and alarms sounding from all areas of the streets. "Daddy!" a little girl screamed. Justin wept in his mother's arms. He didn't like birds so much anymore.
University of Chicago
"The skies are empty over Nelson's Column now, but a few hours ago it was a different story." Josh, Acker, and Danni gathered near the television listening with frowns on their faces. "Eyewitnesses claim that the frenzied swarms of birds were not in fact attacking people deliberately..."
"And its not just this time." Acker came in, shaking his finger at the other two. "No, no, no, no, no, no."
"But seemed to be confused and flying blind." finished the reporter.
"The Fortean Times reported violent bird swarms..."
"Five people are confirmed dead, dozens injured..."
" ...twice last month in Australia and Japan."
"...in the panic that followed the bizarre and terrifying incident in London's historic Trafalgar Square."
"Weird." Josh stated, rubbing his hand through his sandy blonde hair and moving away."
"Mm-hmm." Acker agreed.
"Quite strange, also." said Danni, moving her head.
"Mm, strange indeed. Mm!" Acker laughed, mimicking her Indian accent.
Josh walked to his computer, scratching the back of his head. His eyes, brilliantly blue in the light and the spark in his head, turned around.
"How do birds navigate?"
"By sight?" Danni laughed.
"No, no, no. The long range stuff." Josh turned back to his computer.
"Magnetic fields. Little ions in their brains align with the magnetic field of the earth. Right?"
"Yeah, what she said." Acker smiled.
Something sparked in Josh's head. "Acker. Hit the 'Net. Do a search for oh uh, two years aught to do it. Any and all like "weird news", you know bizarre animal migrations, specifically birds. Whale and dolphin beachings. Unusual atmospheric phenomenon, unexplained airplane crashes, you know just use your imagination."
"That is a huge search!" Acker protested, looking up over some lab equipment.
"You can use our T-1 line to look up Sailor Moon crap. You're up to this." Acker looked away, slightly embarrassed as Danni giggled. "Danni, Danni, get me the brightest kids from the Field Theory Class, and design a computer model of an electromagnetic field."
"What are we doing?" she asked.
"I need a 3-D computer model of the Earth to lay the field over."
"Whoa-ho-ho, the planet Earth?" Acker protested again.
"Yeah, the planet Earth. You know, the pretty blue one." He turned to Danni who was smiling at the comment. "Map out the anomalies that Acker finds and grunt out the equations. And uh..." he had been running around the lab for some time, grabbing random binders and books and dragging them along with them in his walk. "...grab those smelly kids from the Non-Linear Diff class, too."
Acker leaned over from his seat and gazed at the professor. "Listen, Josh, do we even have time for this?"
Josh sat down, leaning his hands on his knees then rocking backward. There was an inextinguishable light in his eyes that told the others he was on to something.
"Do this and I'll sign your doctorates blindfolded."
"Blindfolded?" Danni asked in disbelief.
"Blindfolded." Josh confirmed. "Do not pass Go. Go directly to PhD." Acker shook his head and went on with his work as Danni left. Josh returned to his computer and sighed. "Be wrong. Be wrong." he observed the maps and icons popping up. Hopefully this was all just an ecstatic theory of his. It couldn't be true.
Author's Note: Yeah I know, still no changes. Those will come around during chapter 11 or 12. I haven't decided if I'm going to keep Iverson or not.
