Her heart pounding in her ears, Kathy ran for the door of the building. At the same moment, a massive flock of the birds flew from their enclosure toward her.

Please don’t be locked.

She yanked on the metal door—and it opened. Stumbling inside, she kicked the door shut and collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.

Climbing onto all fours, Kathy trembled as she watched drops of her blood splash onto the concrete floor. She had no idea how many wounds she’d taken from the bird attacks, but it was a lot. Her arms were covered in slick red as if she’d been bathing in her own blood.

Something vibrated on her waist. The satellite phone. It was ringing.

She ripped it from her belt. “Brad, thank God! Did you make it to the boat?”

“Miss, we have a launch crew being sent now—”

“Holy shit, send a helicopter! We’ll pay whatever it takes. We’re being attacked by a crazy flock of birds and need medical help!” Kathy swallowed a lump of fear and started to cry. “My boyfriend is heading toward our boat, and he’s injured. I’m stuck in some building. I’m bleeding and Lord knows what—”

“Ma’am, calm down. Did you say you are on the island and—”

“Yes! Get me some goddamn help! It’s an emergency.”

“Ma’am…”

The voice seemed to fade, and Kathy felt fatigue wash over her.

Have I lost that much blood?

She lay on her back. The room began to spin. The sun peeking through the intact windows of the odd building faded as darkness closed in on her.

###

The boom of a distant explosion woke her.

Kathy sat up and shook her head.

Another explosion. It sent rumbles through the ground. And this one sounded… closer.

Shrugging off the pain, Kathy staggered to her feet.

When she’d stumbled in here earlier, she was too panicked to even notice her surroundings. Now she looked around. This place was clearly some kind of lab. Incubators were lined up on lab benches. Some contained piles of grape-sized white eggs; others held blind, featherless chicks. Leaning closer, she stared at the blind newborn chicks and noticed the beginnings of red pin feathers.

Holy crap. Someone’s raising these things?

Her chest tightened as she thought of Brad. She hoped he’d made it safely back to the boat. Feeling woozy, she nearly collapsed against one of the nearby lab benches.

On its work surface was a stack of notebooks with a logo emblazoned on them. AgriMed. The computer next to the incubator had a flash drive plugged into one of its USB slots; a sticker on the drive read AgriMed Confidential.

On impulse, she took it.

Another boom shook the building, and Kathy ran to the window.