He staggered through the ruined aircraft toward the cargo hold, half-dazed, half-guided by the eerie way the birds circled overhead, refusing to leave. The air outside was thick with their cries, not random screeches, but something that felt focused, almost pleading. Every instinct told him to stay in the relative safety of the cabin, to wait for rescue, to pretend this was just a freak accident. Instead, he followed the dread in his chest and tore open the hidden compartment.

The eggs glowed pale in the beam of his flashlight, fragile shells cradling stolen lives. In that instant, the chaos made sense: the suicidal dives, the relentless attacks, the way they had followed the plane down. This wasn’t madness; it was loyalty. Jason knelt there, surrounded by contraband and consequence, feeling the full weight of what humans had done for profit—and what nature had done in response. Outside, the flock cried on, not as monsters, but as parents who had refused to surrender, even to the sky’s most