Sophia Devero's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Sleep would wait. Sophia and Drake had agreed to hold the house against whatever circled the fence. But agreeing was easy. Tonight the thing outside would test the perimeter, and one weak section could let it in while they slept. Sophia would not let that happen. She pulled her ponytail tight and grabbed the flashlight. "We check every foot of fence before dark," she said. "Find the weak spot before it does." Drake slung his bow across his back and fell in beside her. The big dog trotted ahead, glowing markings faint in the dusk. They walked the line slow. The fence stood tall and solid, wrapped in vines, until the far corner behind the pool house. There a post leaned. Two bars had rusted loose. The gap was wide enough for a large animal. "Here," Sophia said. "This is how it gets in." Drake crouched and tested the bars. They gave under his hand. "We can't weld this. Not tonight." "Then we brace it." Sophia thought fast. "There's a basement. I found a hatch this morning. Ration crates, tools, metal. Enough to block a hole." They ran for the house. Sophia hauled up the hatch. Below sat a sealed bunker, shelves packed with food, boxes, and stacked steel plates. She grabbed a plate. Drake took two crates. The dog stood at the top of the stairs, ears flat, staring at the dark yard. Then it growled, deep and long. Sophia dropped the plate and looked out the window. Orange light burned in the gap. One eye. Then the shape came clear. A wolf, huge and twisted, ribs showing through gray skin, jaws already pushing through the loose bars. It had come early. "Go, go!" Drake grabbed a plate and sprinted for the corner. Sophia followed with the crates. The wolf shoved harder. A bar snapped. Its head and shoulders forced through. Drake dropped to one knee and drew his bow. The arrow struck the wolf's shoulder. It screamed and thrashed, wedging itself tighter in the gap. Sophia slammed the steel plate against the opening and drove it down with her weight. The wolf's snapping jaws stopped inches from her hands. "Crates! Now!" she shouted. Drake stacked the crates against the plate. The dog threw its full body into the pile, paws braced, holding fast. The wolf howled, ripped free of the arrow, and pulled its bleeding shoulder back through the bars. It stared at them once, one eye glowing, then vanished into the dark. Sophia sagged against the crates, chest heaving. The fence held. The gap was blocked. "We stopped it," she said. "But it knows this spot now. It'll come back." Drake wiped blood from his bow. "And it's hurt. Hurt things get desperate." He looked at the bunker hatch behind them. "We've got supplies down there. Enough to fortify. But we'll need more than one plate to hold that wolf next time."