Chapter 101 - 101. Track That Chicken

"Come here chick chick chicken." Laura was wandering around the camp calling out in hopes that this would attract the free range chickens. However. She had a secret hope that they would instead stay far away after hearing her.

Asher and Jackson had a feeling that Laura might try and scare the chickens off so they moved in their own team. The two boys were not happy to be hunting a chicken but knew that it would eventually end up on a dinner plate anyways, so they headed out.

"You seem to be an expert in this kind of thing, where should we look?" Asher had a feeling that Jackson might know where a free range chicken might prefer to make a nest.

"Hmm, I just read it earlier but it was the free range chickens that escaped and became pests down south. Should work similarly though." Jackson was sifting through everything he had read recently and had heard on the television shows he had watched about animals.

"So we should look for some scratched up ground. That means the chickens have been looking for small bugs to eat. If we can find that kind of place we can follow tracks to a nest." Jackson's plan was easy to follow and the pair split up to check their surrounding area.

'Now if I was a chicken where would I go to find insect snacks.' Asher imagined that he was a chicken roaming around the camp. He avoided the busy areas where campers would most likely hang out when they came to camp. To him, it just made sense that the chickens wouldn't like the annoying noises of chatter.

Likewise, Jackson had the same thought, instead of looking at the front areas of buildings he was searching the back storage areas. Behind the buildings, there were almost no signs of foot traffic and plenty of weeds growing. It was an ideal place for little bugs to hide away.

Jackson suddenly started swatting in front of his face and he had just stepped forward. "Gah, bleh. Spider webs." He explained this as he jumped back trying t get the feeling to leave him. He wiped his face but was not paying attention to where he stepped., His butt had no sooner hit the ground that he heard the fearful squawk of a chicken.

His head turned and he saw the white tail feathers of a pudgy chicken running away from him. "Asher! I found one!" Jackson scrambled to his feet and started to sprint after the chicken.

Asher heard the shout and he started to run toward Jackson's voice. The second he rounded the corner of a cabin he saw that Jackson was running with all his might after a fleeing white chicken. He instantly started to run as well wanting to cut off the escape path.

The two were soon side by side huffing and puffing while watching the chicken dash away, The soft squawks as it escaped sounded triumphant. " I think...gahhh….that it can run….forever." Jackson was out of breath looking at the way the chicken went with awe.

"I thought they were slow and easy to catch." Asher realized he had not known a single thing when it came to chickens at all, his lack of animal study was plain as day here.

After catching their breath the two looked down at the ground and realized there were very clear tracks on the ground. "That must be one heavy chicken to leave tracks like this." Jackson was amazed that they were so clear and easy to see.

"I guess we are working on tracking today." Asher just shrugged and started to follow the tracks. The two were having no problem until they came to a sandy clearing. They looked down to find that the tracks were running in circles. They criss crossed over and over making it incredibly hard for them to follow. "What is this? The hard mode of chicken tracking?"

"Ooo I bet that will be a video game one day." Jackson thought this would be perfect for a phone game. He stored it away in his mind for a future endeavor. He had a friend in the gardening club that really wanted to make games one day.

"Just give me some credit when it becomes famous." Asher laughed a little while walking circles to follow the chicken tracks. The two were shoulder to shoulder as they followed the tracks toward a very large tree. They could not see any tracks that lead anywhere else.

Asher held up a finger to his lips and started to walk in the same way that Onyx had. He was more or less silent needing a lot of practice to reach perfection. But this was more than enough for him to sneak up on one side of the tree while Jackson tried to sneak up on the other side.

Asher jumped to try and scare the chicken in to a frozen state. However, there was a pile of dirt kicked up by the chicken right behind its talons. The chicken gave out a loud squawk and kicked up the dirt in to Asher's face. This puff of dust made Jackson rush up and become the second victim of the evil chicken.

"My eyes!!! Myyyy eeeeyyyeeesssss!!!" The two were desperately trying to clean their faces while nearly crying. The dust was blinding them and their eyes were watering constantly to get rid of the dirt. With their blurry vision, they managed to make it to the camp restrooms and use a sink to free their eyes from the dust.

"That chicken is the child of evil," Asher said this while full of hatred.

"Yes evil, but how in the world is a chicken smart enough to set a trap? I thought it was just stupid and ran away and we could follow it. But it deliberately lead us to a trap." Jackson was wiping his face and rambling about the slew of impossibilities here.

"I don't care how, I just care about catching it and getting revenge. The evil chicken must fall." There was a fire burning in Asher's eyes.