Free An Accidental Alliance by Jonathan Edward Feinstein Page B

them tasty. We may too, for that matter.”
          “I’m seriously thinking of being a vegetarian,” Iris told him, sounding just a little ill.
          “Well, this isn’t exactly easy for me either, dear,” Park told her gently, “but it’s something I have to do. If I get sick, it will have to be later. Now I just hope my knife can open this thing up.”
          There was a shriek from their right just then and both turned to see five large, bird-like creatures running toward them. They were larger than the ones they had seen the previous evening, standing almost three and a half feet tall and they were covered with hardened feathers all over their bodies, giving them the appearance of wearing scale armor. Their beaks were a foot long and came to a wicked-looking point. They had wings too, although they appeared to help propel the birds along the ground rather than provide the power of flight. Iris lifted her rifle quickly and fired on the bird in the lead. It dropped instantly and the others halted, confused. Iris fired again and dropped a second of the strange birds. The others squawked and ran off again, flapping their wings rapidly. They still were not truly flying, but now they looked as though a great wind was pushing them along, their feet scarcely touching the ground.
          Park turned back to the grazer and finally found a way to open the carcass up. It wasn’t a straight incision nor was it a pretty one, but it did the job. Without being asked, Iris went and retrieved the two dead birds. The feathers, if they could still be called that, were sharp, blade-shaped and very hard. They covered the birds completely giving them a natural armor that would leave a nasty wound in the mouth of any predator that attacked them that way. Iris cut her hand on one of them when she tried to pick it up by the neck. The talons on their feet were also long and sharp, reminding both Iris and Park of the feet of certain dinosaurs.
          Park had far less trouble gutting the two birds, but the load was far too heavy to carry back to the boat all at once. “Let’s take these blade birds back to the boat first,” Park suggested. “Then we can hurry back for the grazer.”
          “Blade birds?” Iris asked even as she picked the smaller of the two up by its feet.
          “It just came to me,” Park admitted as they started   briskly back toward the river. “It fits. I don’t know if those feathers are a unique adaptation or not, and I suppose the biologists will give these things their own names, but unless you have a better name for them…”
          “Not really,” she replied instantly. “We may as well call those other things grazers.”
          “Good enough for me,” Park shrugged. They reached the boat and Park threw the two large birds inside. They were only halfway back to the dead grazer when a large, translucent, golden-colored thing approached them at a surprisingly fast run. It had eight stubby tentacle-like appendages that lifted the translucent body off the ground and made it seem to float rapidly toward them.
          Not having the time to aim and fire, Park and Iris, tried running away from it. It followed them briefly and then turned to approach the grazer carcass. “Oh, no you don’t, whatever you are,” Park growled and lifted his rifle to his shoulder and fired.
          He missed with his first shot, but fired again and hit the thing on his second attempt, The translucent creature turned and started attacking them again, so both Park and Iris opened fire repeatedly. They hit the thing several times but it continued to come at them. “Split up!” Park yelled.
          They ran in opposite directions and the thing decided to follow Park. Fast as he ran, however, the strange thing was faster and finally, Park twisted his ankle on a rock sticking partway out of the ground and felt a sharp pain as he crashed into the dirt unceremoniously.