Genevieve Renee's Arc

Chapter 1 of 2

Genevieve Renee pressed her back to the boarded church door and counted the raiders in the street. Three of the Dragon's scouts walked a slow loop past the blue dome, rifles slung, eyes on every alley. She had come to Saltbite to raise this ruined church back into a sanctuary and to light its cross so the faithful could find shelter here. But she could not cross the open ground without being seen. One dash for the tools inside the yard, and the Dragon's men would drag her off before she reached the steps. A tug came at her hem. She looked down. A small brown hamster stood on its hind legs, a scrap of leather strapped across its chest. It pointed a paw at a gap in the church's foundation, then at the scouts, then shook its head hard. "You live in there," Genevieve whispered. She understood. If she brought a fight to this church, the little creature's family lost their walls. "I won't let them burn it. But I need to get inside without being seen." The hamster darted through the foundation gap. Genevieve waited, her cross cold against her palm and her book pressed to her ribs. A grinding sound answered from behind the boarded wall. Then a whole section of stone swung inward. Behind it stood a battered android, orange plating scarred and dented, one eye glowing amber. He filled the hidden doorway, fists like sledgehammers. The hamster perched on his shoulder, pointing at her. "You're the one who's been watching the beacon," the android said. His voice scraped like dragged metal. "Unit-47. They called me Sledge. I clear rubble. I build." He looked past her at the scouts, then back. "The rodent trusts you. Come in before they turn around." Genevieve slipped through the gap. Sledge dragged the stone shut behind her. Inside, dust hung thick over broken pews. Green shoots pushed through cracked tile, one plant crowned with a single white bell-shaped bloom. High above, the dome opened to gray sky. "The scouts patrol the front," she said. "But not this wall." "No." Sledge crossed to a tarp and pulled it back. Beneath lay a cross-shaped fixture, metal and glass, its core dark. "The beacon still has power. Light it, and every believer for miles knows this place stands again." "And every scout knows too," Genevieve said. Sledge set one heavy hand on the fixture. "Then we finish the walls first. Give them nothing to break through." The hamster chattered and hauled a length of pipe toward him. Genevieve knelt beside the beacon and traced the cross with her thumb. She had feared the open street. Now she had a way past it, an android's strength, and a hidden door the Dragon didn't know. She looked up at the broken dome. "We seal the church," she said. "Then we light the cross."