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"Smoke" There was plenty of smoke in my visions They showed the entire East Coast in flames

"Yeah, s, Vic The falcon doesn’t have any words for anything He’s driven by instinct He knows hunger, hunting, sleeping, danger" His head turned almost all the way around, toward the TV "That’s another reason I atching the nature shoas hoping it would give ht into how this body’s brain works So I can interpret its is better"

I nodded "So this darkness, or ser?"

The falcon cocked his head as Dad considered "Yes The burning feeling in the bird’s lungs her But he doesn’t want to flee He’s not afraid Instead he’sexcited And hungry But" For a moment, I could almost see Dad’s face--his real face--superiled to express his er that wants a cheeseburger or, you know, a rat The feeling isn’t in the bird’s stomach; it’sI don’t knohere it is But the only way I can describe it is hunger"

"Weird" I understood how hard it was, trying to use the human mind to interpret an animal’s perceptions When I came out of a shift, I had exactly the saer ever satisfied? Does it feed?"

"That’s a good question The short answer is no, it doesn’t But there’s a jolt of attention, followed by exciteets when its vision locks onto ain a field below"

"When it spots its prey"

"Exactly Then everything blacks out The book drops the curtain, so to speak, and I can’t see what caught the bird’s attention I’ll tell you one thing, though When I come back to myself, I’m ravenous" His hooked beak opened and closed "In fact, I think I’ll go out and get that cheeseburger now Maybe a couple"

"Munchies?" Dad may have been stuck in a falcon’s body, but he didn’t share his host’s taste for raw, still-squirround was Munchies, a fast-food restaurant in Deadtohere one of the zo to hi, but whenever the white falcon appeared, the cook would toss a cheeseburger upward and watch adht the food in his talons and clilanced at the clock "Shoot, I ht be open today Half of Deadtown’s zo around out there" And when zory

"I noticed that when I flew into town What’s going on?"

I filled him in "Daniel, he’s a homicide detective, thinks the Morfran is somehow involved Froht But frohtforward Morfran attack So I’ht Maybe that will help us understand what happened"

His falcon eyes bright, Dad nodded "You should take another look at the book, Vic New Morfran activity ht" A wave of weariness washed over me, and all I wanted to do was crawl into bed "I will But later" I needed to sleep If I even glanced at the book right nohile I was tired and weak, it would attack Onceto scrounge a cheeseburger or two, and I got ready for bed I thought about contacting Mab at her home in Wales to tell her about the zombie attack and its possible Morfran connection She’d want to know But I decided to wait It would make more sense to talk to the witnesses first That way, I’d have a better idea of ere dealing with

Right now, the only thing I knew for sure was this: Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good

5

I WOKE UP AROUND FOUR IN THE AFTERNOON, AFTER A long sleep blessedly free of drea in the Zone No visions of Boston burning No flashbacks to the sheet-covered bodies or stinking black slies decided to wait until I openedfora pillow on top of o away I know I tried