Page 65 of Under Fyre

Back and back and back until I find Daddy’s smell. He’s everywhere but nowhere.

I smell the rats too, and I want to eat them. Hungry. But must find Daddy first.

Daddyfirst.

Chapter Thirty

Fyre

Iwake with a gasp that’s part agony, part shock. It’s black, and for a moment I’m convinced it’s because I’m dead. But then I hear a strange noise, crane back my head, and see a smear of stars in the sky.

Where the fuck am I?

That noise again. Familiar…but not.

My head clangs. My lips feel brittle with cold. Most of my body is numb, but there’s an odd prickling in my left foot.

The noise comes again.

This time, I recognize it.

Arrow!

But something’s wrong. She doesn’t sound the same. Her bark is hoarse.

Where is she?

Where the fuck am I?

Wait a minute.

Where’sCharlotte?

I shift, and slide a little to the left. A furious tingling breaks out in my foot, but I try to ignore it so I can get my bearings.

After working saliva into my mouth, I manage a croaked, “Arrow!”

She stops barking for a second, and then starts up again. Stronger now. Reinvigorated.

As my eyes adjust to the gloom, I finally make out shapes around me.

Gnarled roots clinging to sheer rock. A rough wall behind me. The…

JesusfuckingChrist.

I’m on a narrow shelf of rock. One of my legs went over the edge, but the roots of some tree created a small ledge that must have stopped me from plummeting to my death.

My head reels as I try to work out how the hell I got here.

Then I remember the accident.

“Arrow!” I call out again. “Calm down, pups. I’m okay.”

Arrow’s bark becomes a whine.

“Yes, I’m working on it.”

Christ.

---