Chickens of The Dawn

Crows

"Gather round, guys." Jenny called once she was on the lowest branch.  Slate sat beside her and looked down upon the flock, her brown gaze boring into them.
The Ameracauna shifted and faced the crowd.
"Yoko, you told them, I presume?"
The creamy coloured hen nodded and proceeded to hold her sword to Jeffrey's throat.
"So, the river is our greatest obstacle yet, but Slate and I have an idea as to how we can over come it.  If you will, Slate."
Slate took a breath and gripped the wood until her talons turned white.
"I believe that if we are diligent and determined, we can build a raft.  We know that on one log, we will roll over and drown. I've never tried swimming, but I'm not about to try in the middle of a roaring river.  If we lash two logs together, it should stay afloat and we will float downstream until we get to the shallows."
The others  thought about it for a moment before nodding slowly.  Jenny lifted her head in satisfaction as Slate took on a determined expression.
"No!" Jeff shouted, struggling free from Yoko's grasp. He flung the hen back with his powerful wings and limped foreword, looking aggressive.
"Want me to fight you again, fool?" Jenny cried, glancing at Yoko, who was getting up from the dirt. 
"I've realized something, Jennifer." The rooster yelled. "I can no longer let you lead, for you will let these hens perish."
Jenny stood up defiantly, as did Slate.  "We will stand with our leader, rooster." Slate called down, spitting at the chicken's impaled foot.
"Then I have no choice."
Suddenly the rooster let out a high pitched shriek that echoed through the forest.
There was silence as Jeff looked at Jenny with triumph, leaning on his undamaged leg. The undergrowth rustled in the wind, but Jenny picked up a significant scent.
"To the trees!" She clucked with alarm.
Slate jumped up and screeched with surprise as a long, sharp talon met with her face.  The claw sliced through her flesh, scarlet blood spattering the tree bark.  A black figure flashed in front of Jenny and she lashed out blindly.  Her talons were met with air and she nearly lost her hold on the branch.  Another figure zipped onto the stick above the chickens and stared down at them, an air of evil about it.  Jenny glanced up to see a large, sly bird, the colour of the night itself.  The crows beady eyes grazed into her back and it opened it beak, letting out a harsh cry.  It cackled and launched out of the tree, dive bombing Lennox and grabbing a hold of her left wing.  The hen screeched in agony as the crow ascended and tugged at her wing socket, pulling at it painfully.  There was a loud crack and Lennox screamed and fainted, weighing the crow down at the sudden dead weight.  Jenny couldn't stand it any longer and grabbed her sword from her side, jumping into the chaos.  She tried to bring the blade down upon the bird's back as she leapt up, but Jeff barrelled into her and the wind was knocked out of her.
She stumbled into the near bushes and looked up to see horror unfolding.  It was chaos as black birds attacked from the sky, tearing apart her hens.
Jeff didn't wait for her to regain her footing and swiped at her with his spurs, missing the hen's face by a breath.
Jenny howled with rage, and she took her sword, leaping up with all her strength.  She landed on Jeff's back, digging in her talons.  Without hesitation, she flapped her wings and in a swift movement she sliced the blade clean through the rooster's neck.  He twitched for a moment before his head simply fell to the ground, followed by his body.
As Jenny looked down at the bloody rooster, still having muscle spasms, she felt her stomachs grumble uneasily.  The sight made her feel sick like the corpse was already rotting, crawling with insects. 
Shaking her head, the hen let out a shallow breath.  Her ears rang and her blood ran cold as she tried to stumble away. 
Jenny only made it another two wobbling steps and she collapsed to the musty scented ground, completely passed out.  Her world had turned sideways, then darkness.
Just darkness.
The very pitch of it was as deep as the bluest sea, as black as the latest twilight, and Jenny fell down into the pits of despair, remorse, and regret.
She had just murdered someone.
And yet wasn't it ironic?  Jenny had always believed chickens could be better than this, away from the cold hearted humans that ate them.
Jeff was a rooster, and a bit of a lunatic.  Even so, it did not change the fact that she had just done the very act she had always tried to prevent.
Her mind was placid and her thoughts dimmed.
Her last troubled thought was how she had let her hens down.

A/N
Sorry for the late and short chapter.  COTD will continue soon.