Drew whipped out his phone and took a photo of the bird. He then did a Lens search before grunting in surprise. “According to Google, it’s an Ayam Cemani. Ahen, I’m guessing?”
Zach looked from the results page to the chicken, noting the glossy black feathers, small black comb, and beady black eyes. The chicken may have been frozen, but it was still cognizant and Zach could see the malice in those eyes. “It does look like one.”
“It says these come from Java and are really uncommon. What the hell is a rare breed of chicken doing wandering around Collier Dam Park?” Drew mused.
“More to the point, why is it attacking us?” Zach asked.
“You,” Drew corrected. “It was attacking you. It didn’t seem fazed by me. I wonder what it’s doing here?”
Zach held up his torn and bloody arms and gave a feral smile. “Hell’s version of Uber Eats?” he suggested.
Quick as a whip, Drew snatched the hen from the air and cradled her in his arms. “You are not eating her!” he cried. The chicken, which had unfrozen as soon as Drew had touched her,bokkedangrily at Zach.
“Why not? She tried to eat me!”
“She’s tiny! She wasn’t a threat to you,” Drew chastised.
“Exhibit A!” Zach exclaimed, shaking his wounded arms in Drew’s face to make his point.
“Don’t be such a baby,” Drew chided. “She was just scared.” He nuzzled against the hen’s feathered neck. “Weren’t you, girl? You were just scared,” he said in a cutesy voice. “Let’s get you home, get you something to eat, and see if we can find your owner on any lost pet pages.”
“Wait, what?” Zach frowned. “Why are we taking that thing home with us?”
“Because she’s probably a missing pet and someone might be looking for her,” Drew explained patiently, as if Zach was a little bit daft. “Besides, I don’t want her becoming cougar food.”
“She’s more than capable of defending herself,” Zach argued. He held out his arms once more, a little annoyed that Drew wasn’t taking hiswounds more seriously. Zach had patched up his wounds, after all. “Once again . . . Exhibit A.”
“You’re just grumpy that you were beaten in a fight by a three-pound hen.”
Trying not to pout, Zach muttered, “Am not.”
Drew leaned in and gave him a kiss. “Come on, you sore loser. Let’s head home. The sooner we find her owners, the sooner you can go back to being the biggest baddest winged creature in town.” Then he turned around and started walking back the way they’d come, towards home.
Over his shoulder, Zach saw the hen give him a smug look before she settled down and snuggled against Drew’s chest.
Eyes narrowed, Zach stalked after them.
“I can’t believe no one is missing such a sweet girl,” Drew said, looking up from his laptop.
Zach grunted. “You didn’t find any ‘missing demon chicken’ posts on Facebook, then?”
“Maybe I’m looking in the wrong groups,” Drew drawled. “Perhaps you could look in your old groups for actual demons that are missing a pet chicken.”
The chicken—who was sitting on top of Zach’s favourite cushion on the sofa next to Drew—gave Zach a triumphant look and then began to preen the feathers on her chest. Drew absently reached down and began to stroke along her back, and much to Zach’s astonishment, the hen not only allowed the petting but seemed to enjoy it. He glared at her, feeling strangely jealous of the attention she was getting from his boyfriend.
A few minutes later, Drew made a hummingnoise.
“Find something?” Zach asked.
“No, still nothing. It looks like we’ll need to set her up a perch and buy some specialised grain mix, as well as a waterer, but I guess a small container will do for now.”
“Excuse me?” Zach couldn’t possibly have heard that right.
“I mean, if we don’t find her owners, we’ll need to build her a pen outside, but I’m thinking for now she’ll be okay inside. We’ll just need to keep her away from the bedrooms that have carpet.”
“We are not keeping a chicken inside!” Zach protested.
“Why not?” Drew asked, frowning.
