“Ah, it would seem our associate was indeed killing someone. So sad, blood and feathers everywhere,” the peacock shook his head sadly.
Leia stared at the scene before her in wide eyed horror. She had seen the aftermath of violence on TV and in her dad’s movies but never in person. As Mrs. G pecked at her feet to keep moving forward, Leia slowly became aware of the copper like smell of blood.
Small splotches of red speckled the floor and several streaks of it dripped down the glass panels where someone had hit them hard enough to crack them. Feathers of various colors stuck to some of the spots of blood.
Leia whimpered. The some of the feathers looked like her dad’s.
The peacock walked over to the barricaded room as Leia and Mrs. G stayed back. Making a few nondescript noises under his breath, he walked the perimeter of the fight scene, checking out every bit of broken glass, lost feather and scrap of fur. He picked up a crumpled tinfoil hat.
“Hmm, very interesting. Mrs. G! Take the little one back to the control room and keep her there. I have a feeling we might have a problem with old friend of boss’s, Redd. If so, I may need to find where Shorthair has gone: I would rather not have another bird slaughter on hand.”
Mrs. G honked a question.
“Well yes, he maybe inside room with barricade but he may also be on top of train eating remains of conductor bird. Such is nature of Shorthair,” the peacock mentioned casually.
Leia squeaked and gasped at the same time, covering her mouth with her hands. Her dad couldn’t be dead, right?
The peacock looked over at her, a blank expression on his face.
“Ah right, Little one. Do not worry, we will keep you alive,” he said cheerfully, patting Leia’s head with his wing tips.
Leia flinched back. She was shaking so hard she could barely move.
The peacock smiled again.
“Back to the control room now, like a good little girl,” he said, shooing her and Mrs. G away with his wings.
Leia stood frozen. She wanted to scream at them or cry or or just do something other than stand around!
Mrs. G snapped at Leia’s collar and dragged her towards the door.
“Ah, thank you Mrs. G!” The Peacock called happily as the goose took Leia through the door.
As she was dragged back down the stairs to the control room, Leia was screaming at herself in her head to move, to fight back, to see if her dad really was… Leia gulped. She needed a chance to escape. To run and hide. Now that there was only one, perhaps she could manage it.
Mrs. G dropped Leia for a moment and shook her neck to stretch her muscles. While she was the best goose in the business, dragging anyone using your mouth was a pain. Better to peck at their legs and chase them to where you want them to go.
Speaking of, Mrs. G extended her great wings to herd the little brat. A few hits with the wings usually got the message across and if not, well, Shorthair wasn’t the only one allowed to have fun. She snickered as Leia whimpered and fell to the ground.
Leia, still terrified, felt a new emotion rise up out of the deep choppy waters of fear. It was hot, boiling away all other emotions until it was the only one coursing through her veins.
Leia got to her feet, shaking with rage.
How dare they treat her and her dad like this?! Acting like they could kill him like it was no big deal? Ha! Like her dad would die so easily! She knew how it went, if you didn’t see a body, chances are they aren’t dead yet. Just like in her dad’s movies, he’d come back just in the nick of time and beat up both the bad birds.
A sliver of doubt tried to wiggle into her raged filled mind but she overruled it.
As for herself, she needed to get away from the stupid goose lady.
Mrs. G advanced on Leia, neck lowered, wings raised high, and hissed loudly in Leia’s glaring face.
Leia’s fist clenched and she punched the goose on the side of the head as hard as she could.
The goose pulled her head back, shaking it to recover but Leia wasn’t having any of that.
With pure fury she hadn’t had since the red dot incident, Leia launched herself at the goose’s neck, biting and scratching with all the rage and terror a small body like hers could muster.
Mrs. G danced around like a ballerina with fire ants in their leotard, honking wildly and trying to buck the biting terror off her body.
But Leia had the jaw of a bear trap and the will of toddler told they weren’t allowed sweets.
The fight continued across the room. Mrs. G crashed into various tables to knock Leia off and Leia smartly shifted her position to Mrs. G’s back to avoid getting hit. She was used to this game.*
Leia wrapped both arms around the goose’s neck and squeezed.
Mrs. G let out a horse honk and let herself slump down.
Breathing heavily, Leia let go. Shaking, she got off the goose’s back and took a few steps back.
Gasping for air, Mrs. G slowly tried to stand. Her small sunglasses had been knocked off during the fight and her dark eyes glowed red with hate.
Leia didn’t wait for Mrs. G to act. She bolted for the door leading to the other cars. She had been lucky, there was no way she’d manage that again. Best to hide for now.
Leia pushed open the door, half expecting the goose to charge her back before she made it through the door. Not daring to look behind her, Leia bolted towards the luggage room.
*Leia was called the Orange Terror for a reason. It was the same reason no one would babysit her anymore. Most birds prefer to keep their feathers and limbs.
