The visit

After a deep breath Miles runs a hand through his hair, "What happened? Why are the chickens out?"

Ezra looks off to the side and shrugs.

"Don't shrug at me without an explanation. Did you let them out of the room?" Miles asks.

The child takes a sudden interest in the floor.

"Okay, fine. You will need to help me get the chickens." Miles states as he looks around.

The two can hear them cluck from time to time. When they find a chicken, it runs away with surprising speed. This frustrates Miles as he can't seem to catch any of them.

Hours pass by in a blink. Still, Miles has not caught one chicken. Ezra walks over with a brown chicken in his arms, it clucks and looks up at Miles.

"How did... you catch... her?" Miles says between breaths.

The boy shrugs and pets her. The chicken clucks, the sound is long and sharp. She looks up at Ezra and then back to Miles.

"Let's get her in the room," Miles states while guiding Ezra to the chicken's room.

Miles opens the door and takes the chicken with as much gentleness as he can muster. Placing her in a makeshift nest he mutters to himself. Once the chicken is in the nest he runs with as much speed as he can out of the room and shuts the door.

"Can you catch the other two?" Miles asks the child.

Ezra tilts his head and then nods.

"Good, we need to get those chickens in the room." Miles pats the boy's back.

Ezra runs off and goes looking for the remaining chickens. It doesn't take the child long to catch the other two chickens. With the three together in the room again. Miles smiles at Ezra, "Thanks."

He pats the child's head. Ezra looks up to the older male.

Miles sighs, "I guess it's time to get everyone fed, including ourselves."

Ezra follows Miles and helps. The cows moo once they see the two. The sounds are loud and obnoxious. The two take some time to pet the cows. Miles apologizes to them while running a hand down a black and white one's back.

Once finished they work on getting them fed as well as feeding the horse. Miles rubs the horse's face.

Then they move on to getting water. It takes a while for them to finish that up. But when they do they sit on the steps for a little.

"Now we need to get ourselves fed." Miles comments.

Ezra yawns. The two remain on the stairs for a little while longer.

When they finally get up Miles pauses. His head goes light and the world spins. When his vision returns to normal, he notices he feels weak and shaky.

"Perhaps I waited too long," Miles rubs his hands over his eyes and then moves on.

Ezra tilts his head to the side but as always says nothing.

They get a meal together, though the process took more time than usual.

Though the meal was bland and not well made it was still the most delicious meal Miles has eaten. He savored as much as he could despite gobbling it down as fast as he could to get rid of the hunger as fast as he could.

Ezra ate as he always did.

Once they were both finished, they left the house and checked on the animals as well as fed them for a second time. While inside feeding the chickens a knock resounds through the house. Miles straightens, "Ezra, stay with the chickens."

The boy nods his acknowledgment of Miles's words and sits down. Miles leaves the room and answers the door.

On the other side of the door stands Martin and Seline. Emil is behind the woman stressing the hem on his sleeve.

"Where did you keep the chickens?" Martin asks.

Miles points to the fenced enclosure. Martin turns and looks. He walks away from the group and observes the area. Seline and Emil stand by. Miles hears Seline talk to Emil, but Emil is so quiet he's not sure if the young man is talking back. Miles's eyes stay on Martin.

"Have you seen any Foxes, hawks, owls? Any kind of cats or dogs?" Martin asks.

"No," Miles answers.

"You're going to have to keep an eye out then. What you have to do depends on what you've got watching and killing your chickens." Martin says.

Miles nods as he listens to the older male.

"Do you have anything to guard them while you are away? You could benefit from a trained dog. I've got a guard goose. Though he grew up with the chickens," Martin rambles, "How many chickens did you say you had left?"

"Three."

"How are they?" Martin asks, "What have they been doing since the last attack?"

"When they are outside, they keep an eye on their surroundings, but inside they huddle in a corner or wonder about." Miles rubs the back of his neck.

"Inside?" martin raises a brow.

"Yeah, they are in a spare room in the house," Miles points to the mentioned building.

Martin rubs his chin, "I tell you what. I'll come back tomorrow with some stuff to help you out. Get you a better situation for your chickens and see if we can't keep them around for longer. Also, what are you keeping your chickens for? Are they pets? Or are you keeping them to sell eggs? Using them for food?"

Miles stares at the man, his mind goes blank and for a second, he panics. What could he say, He didn't know why he had the chickens. The animals came with the place. But he couldn't tell them that.

"Yes?"

Martin looks over Miles for a minute, "Alright. I'll get you a few more chickens."

"You don't need to do that." Miles states.

"Trust me, you'll want more chickens if you are raising them for eggs and meat," Martin says.

"What do you want in return?" Miles asks.

"Nothing," Martin replies.

It was now Miles's turn to raise his brow.

"He likes helping people out, he's a good man," Seline says.

Emil peeks out from beside her. Miles chuckles and ruffles Emil's already messy hair.

"Well, I should get back to the farm. I'll be back tomorrow," Martin says looking at Seline.

"Okay," is all Miles can think of to say.

"We'll see you later Miles," Seline says with a wave.

Miles waves back. With that, the three leave. Miles sighs and heads into the house. Miles looks in on Ezra and the chickens.

Miles spends a little time holding and petting the birds and he makes sure they have clean food and water. Ezra watches them.

"Would you like to pet one of them?" Miles asks the boy.

Ezra shrugs, his face void of any emotion.

Miles gestures for him to join him. The boy scoots close and Miles takes the boy's hand in his. He places Ezra's hand on one of the chickens. The chicken clucks, surprised by the action. She looks at the two before returning to curling up.

The two sit with the chickens for a little before leaving.

Once out of the room Ezra takes the man by the hand and leads him to his room. The two sit down on the bed. Miles lays down and before long he falls into slumber.

Ezra sits and watches Miles as he sleeps. The boy pulls the blanket over the both of them and lays down. He curls up close to Miles and then closes his eyes. It isn't long before he too falls asleep.