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Teresa, The Haunted Wordsmith is starting a new challenge. Teresa says:

Welcome to the new Story Starter Challenge!

I am not sure how often this challenge will run (let me know in the comments what you would vote for), but I hope you enjoy this one.

Rule:
Use provided sentence somewhere in your post. It can be a starting sentence, closing sentence, anything you choose. Read it and see where the sentence takes you.

Have Fun!

Prompt: “Follow the birds.”

Linda woke up at the same time as always that July morning and set the coffee to brewing. She opened all of the blinds and the windows to let the cool morning breeze waft through. She went to feed the fish, when something didn’t seem quite right. She couldn’t figure out what it was at first. Then she did: there were no bird noises outside. Just like Rachel Carson’s book, “Silent Spring”, this was a silent July morning.

She walked outside and looked around. What she saw astounded her. Hundreds, maybe thousands of birds were in a column on the ground, and they were all silently walking towards the back of the property. Hawks walked with doves, jays walked with cardinals, creepers walked with pileated woodpeckers. Linda felt her blood run cold. What kind of bird mind control had the government put into effect?

Linda ran to get Josh, who was still sleeping, and told him what was happening. Josh thought Linda was kidding at first, but as his waking vision cleared he saw she was serious. Josh put on his shorts and followed Linda outside. Josh said, “There’s only one way to find out what’s going on. We have to follow the birds.”