This is the first chapter of my seagull story, told from the perspective of the prey. I've got about 87,000 words written so far, but am editing it one chapter at a time.


Chapter 1

‘I don’t want to die today’ Sam thought, the burning of her exhausted muscles becoming more apparent even through the drenching numbness of the freezing sleet and rain lashing at her feathers. It came down in drenching sheets, so thick, it seemed she was flying through more water than air. Driven by the wind, it soaked through her feathers with a chill that pierced to the bone. Fatigue had set in long ago, and was giving way to exhaustion. She wanted nothing more than to stop, but if she dared ease off for even a moment, she’d be dead. There was nothing to keep her going now other than a will to survive.

Below her laid some desolate shore, the invisible threat of breaking water obscured by the murk and the darkness of night. Occasionally the turbulent waters below shone brightly as the sun, brought out with intermittent flashes of lightning. If she tired, the wind would surely blow her into that maelstrom, drowning her as easily as a fly.

What lay below was of little concern compared to what lay behind however, as at the moment, a large predatory bird was a far more imminent threat.

“You look tired puffin!” a taunting voice called through the murk. “I’d be happy to let you rest in my belly!”

‘Don’t let it get to you’ Sam thought, trying to keep a level head. She recognized her pursuer’s species as the Great Skua, one of her main predators. The skua was known as a large, heavyset seabird and an accomplished hunter. Easily twice her size, and many times heavier, he would have no trouble overwhelming her once he caught her.
“Give up while you still can!” the voice urged threateningly. “I don’t like to work for my dinner!”

Sam knew skuas were also scavengers though, and not inclined to work too hard for a meal. That he bothered to hunt in this weather hinted at desperation. There were slim pickings this time of year on this desolate shore, she had trouble finding food herself. It was not a good sign.

“You could’ve made it easy” he called. “I’d’ve killed you quick!”

The voice was getting closer.

“It wouldn’t have hurt…that much.”

Sam redoubled her efforts, making a bid to pull away and lose the Skua in the murk. If she didn’t shake him soon, she never would. Rain lashed at her face, as she urged her rapidly tiring body to fly faster. Her wings were beginning to feel like they were made of lead.

“When I catch you I’ll tear you to bloody rags!”

The skua sounded furious now, as she began to pull away. She wouldn’t be able to keep this pace for much longer, though. For a few moments, it felt as if she was getting away, but already she was losing speed.

With apprehension, Sam noted the predator was no longer taunting her. Shivering, she stole a glance backwards, hoping she’d lost him. Instead her heart leapt as outstretched jaws rapidly zeroed in on her neck. They were so close she could see the individual feathers of immense wings outlined in the murky light and the pale shape of a tongue within the gaping curve of the beak. Like a demon in a nightmare, the dark bird's eyes were filled with eager, calculating anticipation as he aimed his bill for a killing blow. A split second too late, Sam dove downwards, twisting desperately in the air to evade her pursuer.

With one savage stroke, he sunk the wickedly curved tip of his bill into the fragile flesh of her wing. Sam cried out in terrified agony as he tore ruthlessly into her. The pain was surreal, almost unimaginable. This couldn’t be happening. She was being mauled, eaten.

Desperately, she struggled to get away, hanging helplessly upside down from the skua’s beak. The world seemed to dim around her as the tip of his bill ground agonizingly in the wound, ripping the flesh from the bone. There was a horrible, gut wrenching, grinding snap as the cruel jaws violently crushed and twisted her wing, finally letting go.


Despite her luck that the skua's first strike had fallen short of its intended mark, Sam knew immediately she was in trouble. Helplessly, she plummeted into the blackness, trying desperately to regain control. Her wings were useless and did little to slow her horrid descent. She struck the ground a few seconds later.

The impact tuned out to be fairly harmless, more of a jarring thud than a bone shattering crash. Nonetheless, it had hurt a great deal with her injured wing. Sam blinked heavily, vision temporarily blurred from the pain, urgently, willing her vision to clear.

Luckily for her, she had landed in a rocky cleft, with a soft moss growing at its base. The moss must’ve cushioned the fall. Had she landed only a few inches to either side, she would probably have died. The sides if the cleft jutted upwards about two feet, forming a tight crevice in which she was now gently wedged like a butterfly in a cocoon. It was remarkably sheltered, blocking much of the wind and rain.

After a few seconds, she became aware of the circling form of the skua descending to the ground. He circled once, twice and then, finally spotting where she had fallen, veered sharply downwards, directly towards the crevice. Sometimes having a brightly multi-colored beak and orange feet was not an evolutionary advantage.

A terrifying rush of fear welled in Sam’s chest as the predator descended, landing barely two feet away from her. His dark form loomed directly above her now, blocking out what little light entered the small crevice. There was nowhere to escape, nowhere to hide. The massive seabird gazed down gloatingly at her, obviously quite pleased with himself. Sam flinched away as the other bird thrust his head and neck down into the crevice, jaws gaping, ready to snatch her up and claim his prey. As the jaws descended towards her, she watched, shrunken down as far away as possible from her assailant. They were so close now that she could see the pale, glistening tongue disappearing into the depths of the skua's throat. She caught a glint of anticipation in his hungry eyes just before he lashed out at her. Cringing, she shrunk away, bracing herself for terrible pain - but it did not come. Tentatively, Sam opened her eyes and saw that the skua's jaws had snapped shut less than an inch away from her face. The crevice was just narrow enough that the larger bird couldn’t fit.

The predator bristled angrily and tried another angle. Sam flinched away again as the jaws rushed towards her. No matter how much he twisted and turned though, he could not reach. Screaming in anger, he scrabbled violently at the rocks and snapped viciously at her, twisting to no avail. After a few minutes, he gave up, angrily ruffled feathers smoothing out.

“You received the best of luck today, puffin” he said. “Don’t count on it in the future.”
Then there was a rush of feathers and he was gone.


Sam waited in silence for what seemed like an eternity to ensure the skua really had gone. She could feel her heart hammering away in her chest from the terror of the encounter. After ten minutes, her ragged breathing began to slow as she realized the predator was not coming back. Finally, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Now that the immediate threat to her life was gone, Sam tried to shift to a more comfortable position and then gasped in pain. Her wing was twisted behind her at an unnatural angle, obviously broken. Once again she saw stars, this time her gaze going dark as she nearly blacked out. Any motion at all brought unspeakable agony. Sam could see that her feathers were matted with blood. Some was still seeping slowly from the wound, tinging the puddle of water around her a slight red. Her mind urged her to give into the pain and just rest for a while, but somehow, she felt she wasn’t safe just yet.

'I've got to get to shelter' she thought. The extreme cold was beginning to get to her. Gazing down the crevice, she saw that it drained into the sea. The other end opened out to a flat space a few feet away. Beyond that, there was a small cave opening. It looked very sheltered from the wind and rain. She decided she would have to try and reach it. Swallowing the immense pain of movement, Sam began to drag herself listlessly towards her goal. Several times she had to stop, pitifully unprotected in the open to avoid succumbing to the sting of grit in the wound. Her wing dragged uselessly on the ground behind her, twisted and limp. If it wasn’t for the drenching torrents of rain, she would be painting a smear of blood across the rocks.

After several agonizing minutes of crawling through the rain, Sam finally made it to the cave entrance. It was easily large enough for her to crawl through and the inside of the cave was surprisingly dry. The violent sounds of the storm raging outside were subdued and muffled by the rock to the point she could barely hear them. Carefully, she limped to the back of the cave away from the cold, and huddled in a hidden corner for better protection. Finally safe, she collapsed to the ground, in a puddle of her own making. Everything went dark as she blacked out, finally overcome by pain and exhaustion.

---

Sam came to several hours later. Waking up felt somewhat like breaking the surface of the ocean- everything changes at once, one world to another. Her entire body ached. Her wing throbbed dully, but escalated to horrible pain with even the slightest movement. It was clear she wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. Dried blood caked her dirty feathers, but it looked like the bleeding had stopped a while ago. Blinking, she glanced at her surroundings. From the look of it the storm had mostly dissipated. Sun shone dimly through the cave entrance. Sam could just see the turbulent, wind streaked sea stretching to the horizon from where she was huddled. Although the storm had passed there was still a strong breeze blowing outside, and the air was bitterly cold. Despite the hours that had passed, her feathers were also still damp, and she was chilled to the bone. She shivered, the memories of the previous night flooding uncomfortably back into her mind. Shuddering, she tried to put the harrowing experience aside and instead focused on her surroundings.

The cave was an interesting formation. The rock of the cliffs was streaky, the result of centuries worth of sediment building up layer by layer, and Sam could see where the rock had fissured, crumbling away over time to finally create the cave she was in today. There were several large boulders around her niche in the back of the cave, and some loosely packed gravel and stones as well. The floor sloped gently downwards from where she was before leveling off about four feet away. The cave entrance was about ten feet away, across an open space with a flat floor. The cave ceiling was just under three feet high, also sloping gently downwards as it approached the cave entrance. There was plenty of space for someone much bigger than her to stand up. Turning her eyes back to the ground, Sam noticed that there were objects scattered throughout the open part of the cavern. In one corner of the open space was what appeared to be a pile of reeds and grass. Next to it, neatly piled up were several small trinkets and assorted items, many of which Sam did not recognize. They were odd objects, of various sizes and colors. Obviously, such objects had not gotten here by chance. 'Apparently somebody lives here' she thought.

Turning to the other side of the cave, Sam caught sight of something piled in the shadows. It was the only thing in this part of the cave, irregular, and much less neatly organized than the objects she had seen before. Gazing more closely, she saw with growing uneasiness that it was a pile of bones. A chill ran down her spine. Some of those bones were big enough to have come from something her size. With mounting fear, she swept her gaze back and forth across the cave. She had intruded upon somewhere occupied, and judging by some of the bones, it had been occupied quite recently. Sam felt an ever increasing desire to get out into the fresh air, as far away from this place as possible, but with her broken wing, she knew she wouldn’t get far. If she stayed put though, whatever had left those bones could come back. Unsure of what to do, she hesitated, considering her options. Before she could make her decision, she heard a flutter of wings outside the cave entrance. The light outside dimmed as a shadow passed over where she was hidden. Something large was coming into the cave. Instinctively, she ducked behind a boulder to hide, but the motion knocked a few small pebbles loose, and they clattered noisily across the sloped floor towards the opening. All of her force of will urged the stones to stop moving, but they tumbled on for what seemed like eternity. Horrified, Sam dared not move a muscle for fear of making more noise. A few seconds passed in utter silence. Then, she heard a voice.