Michael was crouched low as he looked at the small wooden building a few feet ahead of them. He’d already cast muffle on himself, but was still finding his footfalls to be louder and heavier than those of Marcus who was crouched down just a little further ahead.“We get in and get out. I don’t want to hurt anyone, and we don’t take any more than we need,” whispered Michael. He wasn’t happy that it had come to this, but they needed the protein, they couldn’t survive on roots and forage forever. The last thing they’d had was a couple of squirrels, and that was a week ago.“Alright, alright,” replied Marcus, lightly shaking his head.They both moved closer to the chicken coop, and Marcus silently leapt over the small fence that was keeping them away from it. Michael followed, climbing it carefully behind him to minimize noise. They could hear the soft clucking within.Marcus moved to the front of the coop and gently opened the door, climbing carefully inside with Michael close behind him.Once inside the chickens, realizing that they weren’t their usual caretakers, began to cluck and loudly panic, a few of them even pecking at them when they got close enough. Michael grabbed one of the nearest ones and quickly snapped its neck.Marcus did the same to two more.“Two would’ve been enough,” whispered Michael.“We’re growing boys, we need to be more than ‘enough’ full.”“Fine, let’s get going.”Marcus sighed as they walked out. “You know, this isn’t exactly the kind of henhouse I was hoping to sneak into once we deserted.”Michael chuckled. “Maybe not the one you’d hoped for, but definitely the one you deserve.”Marcus shook his head and climbed back over the fence.Michael could hear some stirring in the farmhouse nearby, and placed a single silver coin visibly on the top of the coop door. He then climbed back over the fence with the fat hen tucked under his arm and followed Marcus (...)