Then I snap out of it and jerk back, hitting the fencing. “Who are you?”
The dark-haired guy huffs out an annoyed sound.
“I told you this was a bad idea,” he says to Gus. “I told you not to do it.”
“It’ll be fine, Wade,” he says, waving him off.
“No, it will not be fine,” Wade grits out, running a hand through his hair. He looks at me, then shakes his head and starts to pace.
“Who a-are you?” I ask again.
“I can explain,” Gus says, taking a step forward.
“You will do no such thing,” Wade barks.
“What other choice do we have?” Gus says to him.
I watch their interaction, not really getting the vibe that they’re going to hurt me but being cautious anyway.Movement from the corner of my eye catches my attention, and I glance at the ground, at the dark brown chicken standing there.
Just the one. Alone. I look around the pen as the two men quietly argue with one another and realize two of my chickens are missing. I look outside of the fencing, but I don’t see them out there. Chickens don’t usually run off, but they will wander. Maybe they went inside the coop? I don’t know where else they could have gone, but I hadn’t even made it to open the door yet.
Were they out here when I stepped inside? Now I can’t remember.
The one chicken that’s out here goes over to the guys and pecks at Gus’s dirty white tennis shoe. He doesn’t seem to notice, so the chicken pecks at his jeans.
“Ow, Rhett!” he says, looking down at the chicken. “Knock it off.”
The chicken clucks, then turns to face me. Gus brings his attention from the chicken to me.
“Wh-what is going on here?” I ask, getting a really weird feeling in my stomach.
Something is wrong. It doesn’t feel scary, but it feels wrong.
“We should just tell her,” Gus says.
“No,” Wade growls. “We are not telling her.”
“Someone better tell me something before I call the sheriff.”
Wade looks at me, then barks a cruel laugh. “Please do. Because I’d love to talk to him.”
“What good would that do you? You’re on my property. You need to leave.”
“Trust me, babe, if I could, I would.”
What does that mean?
What the hell does that mean?
“I knew these chickens were—”
“Ba-cawk!” comes screeching out of Gus. He slaps a hand over his mouth, looking horrified. His eyes go wide. My eyes go wide. Wade rolls his. “I am so sorry,” Gus says, looking at me. “I can’t help it.”
I frown, just staring at him. What is he talking about? Why did he just ba-cawk like a chicken?
“Please don’t say the C-word,” Gus whines, dropping his hand.
“C-word?” I ask. “Oh, you mean chicken?”
