Free The Peco Incident by Des Hunt Page B

themselves. That’s what we’re hoping anyway. That only the local birds are infected and the disease will die out by itself.’ She moved away from the map. ‘You see any more dead birds, or hear of anyone who has, then come and let me know.’
    I thought of Murph’s birds up the road, and wondered if I should mention them. I didn’t, though; I couldn’t, not without first discussing it with Murph.

    That discussion never happened.
    We left the motel and began riding up the steep section of road when a bird flew over in a flash of green.
    ‘That was Harriet,’ said Nick.
    ‘You sure?’
    In answer he stopped pedalling and let out a loud whistle. Straight away the bird was back — it was Harriet. She glided down to sit on Nick’s shoulder.
    ‘Come quick!’ she said. ‘Come quick!’ She left his shoulder and flew off towards Murph’s place.
    When we didn’t immediately follow, she turned and flew back. ‘Come quick!’ she repeated. ‘Come quick!’
    ‘Something’s wrong,’ I said.
    Nick was already on his way. So, too, was Harriet. This time, she didn’t turn back.
    There was no sign of bird or Murph around the aviaries, so we ran to the house. Nor were they in the kitchen or lounge. By then I was real worried.
    ‘The bedroom?’ suggested Nick.
    I’d never been in the rest of the house before, but it didn’t take much to find Murph’s bedroom. He was not there. I put my hand under the sheets of the unmade bed — it was still warm.
    The bathroom and toilet were also empty.
    ‘I’ll call Harriet,’ I said, and then with my fingers in my mouth let out a long whistle. A moment later there was an answering call.
    ‘That’s down in the gully,’ I cried, heading back down the hallway.
    Harriet kept calling as we rushed along the path towards the native birds. We found her perched on top of the penguincage. Inside, Murph lay on the ground. His face was a ghastly purple colour. There was no sign of movement. Surrounding him were the bodies of dead penguins.
    ‘What do we do?’ asked Nick.
    I was thinking about how to answer that when Murph did it for me. ‘Get me out of here,’ he whispered.
    So we did.
    It was tricky getting him through the narrow doorway, but after that it was much easier. He was so light that one of us could have carried him. Nick had his body, with me supporting the legs. There was so little flesh on his bones that I felt I was carrying a skeleton.
    I had no doubts that Murph was seriously ill. Each breath brought gurgling from his lungs. At one stage he tried to cough, but he was too weak to shift anything other than air.
    When we finally got him on his bed, he lay for a time with his eyes closed, breathing noisily in a most distressing way. Then he opened his eyes and swore. ‘Bugger!’ More gurgling. ‘I’m done for this time.’
    ‘I’m going to get a doctor,’ I said, half-turning towards the door.
    He tried to lift his hand. ‘No — wait!’
    I waited while he took several painful breaths.
    ‘Harriet,’ he called.
    In my anxiety, I hadn’t seen that she was sitting on the windowsill watching us. With a couple of flaps of her wings, she was standing on his pillow. He turned his head to see her more clearly. ‘Hi, girl,’ he said. ‘I’m going away. Danny willlook after you while I’m gone.’ A pause to breathe. ‘And Nick.’
    He turned to me. ‘Take her away from here. You’re going to have to tell BIRT about the others. But I don’t want them knowing about Harriet. They can do what they have to do with the others, but not her.’
    ‘I’ll make sure she’s right,’ said Nick in a broken voice. ‘I promise nobody will harm her. Nobody!’

CHAPTER 12
    G etting Harriet to our place ended up being a bit of a mission — a real one, not a Nicholas Clarke hyperactive version.
    While Nick looked for a box big enough for her and all the gear, I rang Mum at the Albatross Centre. As soon as she heard how bad things were, she decided to ring 111. That