Page 63 of Under Fyre

Bark.

Bark!

It’s a one-in-a-fucking-million chance that it’s even here while I am, right? I mean, what are the chances?

What. Are. The. Chances?

I watch the white sedan speed toward me. It flashes its lights, and starts slowing down.

Arrow’s gone quiet. When I look back, her eyes are so intent. It’s as if she’s trying to communicate via telepathy. As the car’s tires crunch over the grit scattered on the shoulder of the road, as it comes to a stop a few yards away, she drops onto her belly andwhines.

Fuck.

Fuck!

I turn and run.

But I’m too late.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Arrow

The bad man’s smell is everywhere. My flanks shiver, and my tail tucks between my legs.

I must help Daddy’s girl, but I’m scared.

The bad man, he makes me hurt.

He made Daddy’s big girl hurt until she was dead. Then Daddy’s little girl too.

I tried to stop him. That’s when he hurt me. That’s when he made my leg stop working.

Now he’s back to hurt me some more.

I must fetch Daddy. He made the bad man go away. He can do it again.

But Daddy is far away.

And the bad man is fast.

He already has Daddy’s girl. He’s already hurting her.

I bark—scared, but brave.

No, just scared.

When bad man looks at me, my legs stop working. My bark stops working. I lie on the ground in the cold and wish he can’t see me. I don’t want the bad man looking at me.

Don’t want the bad man hurting me.

I whine, too scared to bark.

I shuffle forward, brave, but scared.

Bad man laughs when he sees me. He speaks to me.

Dog.

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