The Chicken That Crossed the Road

The chicken opened its eyes sleepily. Blinking, it got up to the sound of the Giver opening the Gates of Other to bring the daily breakfast. As he sprinkled the food on the ground, the chicken decided he wasn't very hungry at the moment, but instead chose to watch the Giver as it engaged in various activities.

The Giver entered the chicken coop and grabbed some things from the nest- white, oval-shaped objects. Eggs, maybe? As the Giver left the coop, the chicken saw an egg on the ground. Inspecting it, the chicken was quite fascinated with the egg in all aspects. How smooth it was! The egg was perfect in every way. But the important thing was that the Giver forgot about it! 

As the chicken turned to cawl for the Giver to come back, he heard a small tap tap tap. The chicken, looking back, saw the egg crack. What was happening? Surely this is normal? 

tap tap tap.

The egg split open a little, and the chicken saw a familiar sight- a baby chick! The chicken cooed at the little one, but just at that time the Giver came back in in a huff, and scooped up the egg and chick, and left quickly, leaving only dust in its wake.

The chicken blinked a couple times. What did that mean? Did that mean that all the eggs the Giver was taking were baby chicks? But what about the beautiful heaven the Chicken lived in right now- food everyday, without fear for predators- unless the Giver was that predator?

Determined to get to the bottom of this, the chicken decided to consult Mother Hen on the matter.

"Bok bok! Don't you ever speak of that again! You will be taken!" squawked Mother Hen when confronted with that matter. Apparently finished, she sat back down on her nest and closed her eyes in a content manner. The chicken left in a daze, confused. Does that mean that Mother Hen knew all along? That the Giver takes the little chicks, but gives them a safe haven in return? If so, then no one was truly safe- the eggs taken were a testimony of that, and the chickens left on the farm were a minority.

More determined than ever, the chicken decided to find a safe haven for all the chickens, where the eggs wouldn't be taken. 

Over the course of the next few days, the chicken closely observed the Giver's daily routine under the pretense of eating and wandering. After a week, he was ready to make the great escape.

On the chosen day, the chicken ate the food he stored from gathering the week before earlier than anyone else, and close to the Gates of Other. Soon, the Giver came through the Gates to deliver food, but didn't see the Chicken standing close by. The chicken, seizing his opportunity, rushed through the Gates before it automatically swung shut behind the Giver. 

Now on the other side of the Gates of Other, in uncharted land, the chicken sent a quick farewell to the rest of his family- and proceeded out of the farm. After a while of blundering through the grass, the chicken arrives at some other land- a different color than the green grass, that's for sure. Grey-ish land greets the chicken, with white and yellow stripes all along to the horizons. 

As the chicken tenatively proceeds down the road, a distant roaring catches his attention- an object, a monster, with shining yellow eyes, coming down the land. The ground shakes, the chicken hears roaring, thundering, he sees it get close, closer, CLOSER-