The Vents
It’s heist time. No turning back now.
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Even if we wanted to, it didn’t feel like turning back was an option anymore. With Mac and all of the other pigeons standing just behind us on the mall roof, it felt like we were being driven into the vents like cattle being herded by sheepdogs.
We plopped ourselves down into the vents. It was action time.
Landing in the vents, there was the familiar echoed click of our claws on the metal. The sun disappeared, the wind stopped.
We paused briefly at the start of the vents, taking a moment for our senses to adjust to the new environment.
I looked at Joan and could see that the vents still gave her a tinge of pigeon panic.
“Remember, we move as a group,” I said.
She tucked away her worries and put on a tough expression.
“Let’s do it,” she said.
During our discussions and planning the night before, I had been adamant that I remembered the route that Francois had taken through the vents. Now was time to put that memory to the test.
I nodded left. “This way.”
We set off close together, keeping within each other’s wingspan reach, shuffling slowly to make sure we kept our close-knit triangular shape.
I was caught up in the nervous buzzing feeling of actually doing the thing that I had been playing over and over in my head. It was actually happening.
I could sense that Joan and Ruby were feeling the pressure too. There was a quietness between us and a slightly slowed uneasiness to our movements through the vent, as if expecting something to jump out and scare us at any moment.
We got to the first turn we had to take. As we rounded the turn, the final faint daylight of the entrance was totally gone now. From then on, we were in the world of the vents.
It felt like we were making some good progress, making it through a couple of turns without a hitch.
Then I heard the noise that I had been dreading – a quiet scratching in the darkness.
Joan caught it immediately and was struck with skittishness. “Did you hear that?”
“It was probably just the vents creaking,” said Ruby, trying to reassure her. “It happens all the time.”
There was another creak.
Instinctually, we all whipped our heads towards the source of the sound behind us. The vent was silent and black. I realised that it was pigeon panic that had turned my head. It was pigeon panic that was pinning my eyes as wide open as an owl’s. I had to take a step back. I had to calm down. We all had to calm down.
“It’s ok, guys,” I said, trying but failing to imbue confidence in my voice. “It’s nothing.”
Joan was lost in fear, staring into the darkness.
It was getting harder for Joan to believe that it was just a creak, no matter how badly she wanted it to be the case.
Being a red robin, Ruby was a small and nimble bird. She was jittery but always sharp. In that moment, even she was nervous.
“Let’s keep moving,” I said. “Remember, we just have to all stay close. We need to keep each other calm.”
We turned and continued, but not for long.
The scratch was back.
We spun around to face the noise and this time things were different.
There was a shadow in the distance in the vent, just faint in the darkness, occupying a big chunk of space. There was no denying it. Wishful thinking wasn’t of any use. We all saw it.
The shadow suddenly sprung into movement. It came charging towards us, its stomping steps rattling the metal ground beneath our feet. It crossed a little section of light coming up through the vents and we had a brief view of it. It was the size of a small dog. Its fur was black and white. Its face was determined and hungry. I had seen a creature like it once before back home. It was a raccoon.
Pigeon panic briefly stopped Joan and me in our tracks. It took Ruby to snap us out of it.
“Let’s go!” she said.
Finally, we turned and took off scrambling in a mess of wings and claws, Ruby leading the way at the front.
She called back desperately, “Which way?”
We could hear the raccoon stampeding after us.
I had to focus. I looked ahead and thought back to Francois’ path.
“There!” I said. “Next right! Next right!”
I only barely called it out in time. The three of us had to flap our wings hard to slow down and turned as sharply as we could manage, just making it around the corner.
The raccoon barged after us around the corner and the scurry continued down the straight. It felt like the gap was closing. Part of me felt like the raccoon was close enough to pluck one of my feathers.
We were at the point in the vents where I had found Francois. We were almost there. I could feel it.
Up ahead I saw a ray of light rising up from the floor of the vents.
“There!” I called out.
We reached the light and it was coming up through a square block of slits just like the vent entrance but on the floor. Through the gaps we could see the mall below.
Ruby immediately got to work unscrewing the metal bolts of the vent.
I looked back and the raccoon was fast approaching. Ruby worked as quickly as she could, getting one bolt and then moving on to the next.
Next to me, Joan was gearing up to fight.
Suddenly, Ruby got the second bolt free and that was all that needed to be done.
With the two bolts out, the vent swung open like a door, dropping downwards but not falling. I suppose the humans had designed it that way to not fall on anyone.
The raccoon was charging right at us. There wasn’t any time to think about where we popped out in the mall. We just had to go for it.
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