The crows were gone.
The crows took off together, wings beating hard as they cleared the trees. Deer broke from the brush at the same time, sprinting uphill without looking back. Even the rabbits vanished into the grass, leaving the road suddenly empty as if nothing had been there before.
Sera noticed it all, her eyes tracking the empty fence posts and bare branches where black shapes had been only moments before. Nothing moved like that unless there was a bigger predator around, and for once, she didn't think that that was her.
Zubair didn't look for the animals.
His hands tightened on the wheel as his focus snapped outward, scanning the tree line, the shallow cuts in the land, the rise ahead where visibility collapsed too quickly. The speedometer dipped without conscious thought, his foot easing back just enough to buy time.
Whatever had triggered the flight hadn't lingered. There was no stagger to it, no confusion.
That meant intent.
Coordination.
