title: Dead Birds Fall from the Sky
author: Stephan Cox
description: Stephan Cox is a writer and voice actor who lives in New York with his wife, author Lori Culwell.
zlib_text: ![image](../images/backad.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  The cold dawn light creeps onto the mountaintops; they emerge like islands in
  the valley’s dark sea, tendrils of steam rising up from the thickets clinging
  to the rock. Right now there’s no sound of birdsong or crickets, no hiss of
  wind in the trees. When Maderakka’s great shadow has sunk back below the
  horizon, twitter and chirp will return in a shocking explosion of sound. For
  now, we sit in complete silence.
  
  
  The birds have left. Petr lies with his head in my lap, his chest rising and
  falling so quickly it’s almost a flutter, his pulse rushing under the skin.
  The bits of eggshell I couldn’t get out of his mouth, those that have already
  made their way into him, spread whiteness into the surrounding flesh. If only
  I could hear that he’s breathing properly. His eyes are rolled back into his
  head, his arms and legs curled up against his body like a baby’s. If he’s
  conscious, he must be in pain. I hope he’s not conscious.
  
  
  __ *
  
  
  A strangely shaped m