🌟 The Caged Bird 🌟 [Rebooted Reader Insert]

Part 12: gull-ed

What the-??

You flinched and took a step back as your eyes met with vacant black eyes. Clutching your clam to your chest, you looked the avian creature up and down in both curiousity and discomfort while it stared back at you with an unreadable expression.

You've heard your sire's voice talk about this bird before. It must have been a gull from the looks of its white body and grey wings. You dimly remembered him talking about how they had become a pain, but you didn't realize they'd be approximately the size of you.

You clicked you yourself, watching intensely as the bird periodically tipped its head from side to side, as if it were curious with you itself.

It took a small step towards you, and you suddenly didn't want to be around the thing a moment longer. Without breaking eye contact, you let out a warning growl in your throat and started to slowly and steadily back up from the bird, trying to think of a way to form a distraction to make an effective escape. It made a few chirping noises in response, taking a few more short steps towards you, causing you to tense up slightly.

It wanted something.

Your eyes flickered between the gull and the clam in your hands and quickly put together that this must be what it was looking for. Deciding it wasn't worth the trouble, you slowly offered the clam to the bird, as it continued to approach.

It suddenly made a sharp, coo noise causing you to flinch and your breath starts to become heavy, your gills flaring as you tried to keep yourself calm. Don't let it intimidate you... just keep going..

Standing completely still, you still held your offering out to the bird, hoping it would accept it back so it would leave you alone.

It seemed to look at it, almost like it were considering your offer, while you stood stone still, taking a couple deep breaths to steady yourself. Don't let this thing get to you... you told yourself sternly. I can get out of this. I just need to--

"EEK!!" The bird suddenly lurches forward and you feel the tip of its sharp beak graze your finger, eliciting a screech of more surprise than pain from you, as you stumbled back and dropped the clam.

You instinctively brought your injured finger to your mouth to suck on it and alleviate the pain, tasting blood as you looked back up at the aggressor, expecting to find it distracted by the discarded mollusk so you could escape, But it didn't even look down at it. In fact, it completely ignored the morsel you had dropped and instead took another step towards you, this time it snapped at you again, its beak inches from your face as it to tried to grab your neck, but you thankfully jerked back at the last moment, dodging the strike and fell backwards onto your back. You stared up at the gull with wide eyes as it still advanced forward.

It was then you realized didn't want the small clam anymore...

Once that realization hit, the adrenaline and instinct of self-preservation struck you all at once. I need to run!

You squealed and turned around, scrabbling to your feet to flee, but the moment you took your eyes off it, the gull seized the opportunity and darted forward. In a single bound, it landed on your back, landing onto your back and knocking you onto your belly with a squawk, pinning you to the ground.

It pecked at the nape of your neck, its hooked beak easily cutting slicing at your soft flesh, leaving deep cuts. You frantically scrabbled on the ground, squawking feebly for Steven as the aggressor tried to get a grip on your neck, squawking in what sounded like irritation.

Finally, it manages to catch the scruff of your onesie, and you found yourself being yanked back in a firm grip. It then tried to take flight with you, but you instinctively started thrashing and shrieking in terror, digging your hands and feet into the sand, your wings fluttering faster than a humming bird's in your panic.

In a swift, sudden motion, it bobs its head, and before you could even process it, you find your back in searing pain as it sliced through your flesh easily.

When you felt felt warmth as blood started to drip from your wounds, your adrenaline kicked into overdrive. Shrieking with all your lungs could muster, you tried your hardest to try and break out of the gull's grip, but at the same time, you were numb with fear and the pain of the gull's pecking at your back and your neck made it hard for you to think straight. You could only drag yourself across the sand.

Unfortunately, you only managed to get about 2 inches before you felt two sharp pinches at your flanks.

Turns out, this wasn't the only gull in the area.

Before you could even process it, you were soon swarmed by gulls; nothing but white and grey feathers filled your vision, and the shrill squawks of the predatory birds assaulted your sensitive ears.

You writhed and flailed to get free, desperately screeching for help until your throat was raw and all's that you could muster was a dry whistle of a cry.

Tears welled up in your eyes as you started to grow delirious from the on coming shock, feeling your body grow cold and numb and your vision started to blur. You began to feel dizzy...

Tired...

In a last ditch effort, you weakly curled in on yourself, your tiny wings clung tightly to your back and your hands clasped to your face to protect it.

I... need...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't tell me they aren't capable of this; have you seen what they're capable of eating?

And once one gull gets their hands [beaks?] on something, it attracts more like a hive mind (definitely not speaking from experience-)