With her heartbeat booming in her head, Kathy watched the scene unfold as if in slow motion. Brad winced as several of the colorfully plumed animals bounced off him.

Brad grabbed the backpack and charged toward them, swinging it at the attackers, the bag’s contents flying everywhere. “Get the hell away from us!”

He managed to knock two of the birds to the ground. Bloodstains bloomed all across his shirt.

Without giving a second thought to the fire and the rest of their stuff, she yelled, “Brad, forget it! Let’s get out of here!”

Brad nodded. “I’m right behind you!”

Kathy sprinted across the beach, barely controlling a welling sense of panic as something slammed into her back. She kept her focus on the uneven terrain, racing as fast as she could go. She didn’t slow as something else slammed into her back and she felt a burning sensation. She assumed that a bird had taken a chunk out of her.

Behind her, Brad cried out in pain. She turned and the world seemed to freeze as she saw Brad climbing back up to his feet. Rivulets of blood poured down his face. There was so much blood on his shirt that there was hardly any white left. And for the first time ever, she saw fear on his face.

“Damn it, Kathy, don’t worry about me! Keep going!”

She looked up and saw the birds circling around for another attack. And suddenly she felt frozen in place. Her legs refused to move.

Brad sprinted toward her, grabbed her arm, and yanked her toward the tree line. “Run through the woods. There’s probably less shit to trip over in there, and they can’t attack us as easily.”

Kathy felt a surge of adrenaline and raced for the shelter of the coconut grove. As she weaved through the dense vegetation, several more times she felt the sting of a bird attack. Her breath was soon coming in desperate gulps, and she could no longer see Brad, though she could hear him crashing through the brush somewhere to her right.

“Brad! Are you okay?”

She got no response.

She could only hope she was still moving toward the boat. The dozens of burning gouges all over her body were a painful testament that this fight had become life-and-death. And she was losing.

And then a ray of hope. She spied the end of the coconut grove ahead.

Imagining herself making a mad dash for the lagoon and the safety of the sailboat’s cabin, she raced past the trees—and came to a lurching halt.

She stood in a clearing. In front of her was a concrete building, and to its side, not more than fifty feet away, was a tall aviary, filled with the rainbow-plumed birds. They should have been contained, but a coconut palm had fallen through the steel mesh of its enclosure, opening a large tear.