Going Underground
A lost pigeon named Lew...
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New day, new chapter!
In today’s chapter, Lew, Francois, Ruby, and Joan are going underground…
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It is important for you to know that, at that time, I didn’t even know what a subway was. The word would have meant nothing to me. We certainly didn’t have any of them back home.
Nevertheless, as Francois turned his attention to the descending staircase at the side of the road, the disturbed look on Ruby and Joan’s faces already told me I wasn’t going to like what was about to happen next. Still, I had trusted Francois that far and I wasn’t stopping now.
Gliding towards the entrance, I saw that the staircase that led underground was absolutely packed with humans, crowding every inch of space. As we approached, I silently gulped down my fear as if it were the last bite of an unpleasant meal.
Without hesitation, Francois went straight in and dived underground, soaring just above the human heads. The rest of us then poured in behind him, trying to stay close.
Flying underground, there was only a slim slice of space just above the flock of humans below and the low ceiling above. The wind evaporated down there and the chocked tunnel was full of dizzying echoes. Flying above the humans, a few of them squealed and wailed in their typically overdramatic way.
I had never been underground before. As a bird, it felt deeply wrong. Flying down those stairs, the feeling of more and more earth above me made me feel increasingly trapped.
I looked back towards the subway entrance as Mac and co made their way underground as well. There was hesitation as they pulled up and I saw a few of them hit the brakes, unwilling to enter.
I caught Mac briefly begin to shout them down, but he obviously didn’t have time to unleash the wrath he wanted to. And so the chase continued…
Flying down the staircase, we were low enough now for our stolen goods to attract the attention of some of the humans that we were flying over. Pushed unusually close to them because of the low ceiling, we were in trouble. As we flew, the occasional human hand would shoot up into the air like a striking snake and try to snatch Joan or me up. Our stolen jewellery wasn’t just valuable for birds. It wasn’t just a little hairclip that happened to by shiny. This was the sort of treasure that even humans were interested in.
The long staircase of clustered humans just kept going.
Finally, we made it to the bottom of the long staircase and the path eventually flattened out, although it wasn’t much better. The ceiling was still low enough to have us in grabbing distance of human hands.
The sunlight was completely gone now. Everything was covered with that horrible fake white buzzing type of light that humans seem to love, the kind of light that gives the exact opposite feeling to the sun, that sucks the warmth right out of you.
“Mac’s seen the gold and silver now,” said Joan. “It’s pigeon greed. Him and the other head pigeons in the pack, they’re not going to stop chasing us.”
“I know,” said Francois. “You’re right. That’s why we’re going to lose them. Just stay close.”
We followed Francois down a wide white hallway. Just like we did in the narrow alleyways above, we stuck together like a fine-tuned gaggle of migrating geese.
Francois turned back to us as we flew.
“Get ready,” he said. “It’s about to get busy.”
I couldn’t imagine how things could get any busier than they already were
We got a little further and then the hallway ended.
Now I understood Francois’ warning…
The hallway had opened up to a vast sprawling space with an army of humans shuffling around like a prodded ant colony. There was movement everywhere and, unfortunately, the ceiling remained as low as ever. It was like one big vent, with the added bonus of a thousand humans who were either terrified of us or wanted to grab us from the air.
At least in the hallway, you knew you just had to follow it forward. Here it was like being dropped in the middle of the ocean and being told to fly home. Even Francois wasn’t immediately sure which way to go.
The rest of us watched on as Francois thought things over.
I then caught a nearby rumbling sound. By the look on Francois’ face, it was clear that this had been the sign that he was waiting for.
“This way,” he said.
We took off in the direction of the rumbling, even though it had now stopped.
Sure enough, just as we started to create some distance between us and the hallway we came from, I looked back and saw Mac and a handful of other pigeons come flapping into view.
They lingered for a moment, scanning the area. Mac himself then locked eyes with me. In that brief moment, I saw the drive he had in him – those focused, vicious eyes, charged by pigeon greed.
Looking back wasn’t going to help us. We needed to keep moving.
We raced across the vast space, trying to stay close to the low ceiling. More hands reached into the air after us, forcing me to duck and weave.
The scenery eventually began to change. We reached a long line of humans who were standing completely still as if they were being blocked by some invisible wall.
Francois went straight past them and then we were hovering above an empty space not dissimilar to a very narrow road. The ceiling was slightly higher now too.
The plot thickened when I saw where the little road led… into absolute darkness.
Francois slowed things down for a quick moment of discussion. His voice was more serious than I had ever heard him, and yet more concerned than ever too.
“Everyone needs to keep high near the ceiling,” he said. “No matter what.”
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