9

You run straight for the soldier, clearly the last thing he expected you to do. By the time he gets his wits about him and pulls the trigger of his weapon, you're close enough to duck down and bowl him over.

The man lands on his back with a sharp crack, and you worry for a second that you might have killed him. You take a moment to check his pulse and breathe a sigh of relief when you're certain that he still lives.

Lapu calls out for you as the other three wolves bound from barrier to barrier along the road back to the bridge on the way home. Not keen on being caught with the unconscious body of a downed soldier, you quickly drop to all fours and lope down the road, catching up with your friends as they race toward the bridge.

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The bombed-out streets of the refuge of Haven stream by you in a blur as you race to keep up with your friends. A shiver runs through your body, causing your fur to bristle and stand on end. A human had pointed a gun in your direction, ready to kill if necessary. Today was a first for that, although it isn't unheard of for a wolf to get into trouble with the army from time to time.

For as long as you can remember, the adults have told you that the human side of the refuge is forbidden, despite the fact that most adults travel there almost every month. You have chafed at the restriction, as have your friends. Forbidden Zone, you thought. What a load of nonsense. Now that you know the truth, you can't blame the adults for trying to keep you sheltered. Why on earth did you decide that coming here would be a good idea?

Dena argued against the idea in the first place but insisted on accompanying you when your mind was made up. Lapu and Tiva needed little convincing, both always ready for adventure to break up the dreary monotony of life in the refuge.

You blink back a tear as you run. Just the sharp wind in my eye, you try to convince yourself. No amount of running seems to put any distance between you and the truth your curiosity uncovered today.

You're panting, leg muscles burning with exertion by the time you reach the base of the bridge. From here, the old concrete pillars rise, elevating the asphalt surface of the road in an elegant arc, eventually leveling out as it crosses to the other side.

Once there was a lower bridge that spanned the length of water, but it was lost during the Purge before you were born. Humans call the span The Q, and though none of the wolves in the pack know where the strange moniker comes from, it stuck, and The Q is the de facto endpoint to the pack's domain.

Arriving at the base of the bridge first, Lapu pauses and sniffs the air, a low whine rumbling in his throat.

A great wall was built in front of the bridge sometime after Haven fell, and access to and from the pack's home is limited to a small walkway, barely wide enough for two wolves to pass abreast. A pair of great black monoliths stand at either side of the pathway, and they emit a subtle hum barely audible even to your superior hearing as electricity flows through them.

"They weren't on when we came in!" Lapu groans as he paces back and forth, looking for another way onto the bridge.

"Maybe we should just run through?" Dena says, staring up at the dual standing stones, neck craned back to take in all twenty feet of their bleak uniformity.

Tiva sniffs and digs a furrow in the loose asphalt with her hind-paws. "I heard my pa talking about these one night when he thought I was asleep. The pillars ID each wolf as they come through. It lets the humans know who's moving through the checkpoint. If we just run through, they'll know we were here for sure."

Before you can decide how to get around the obstruction and onto the bridge, you hear the sound of shuffling feet approaching from a nearby cross street. Tiva hears it, too, and her ears flatten along the back of her skull.

"We've got company coming," she says, nervously clicking her claws together. "We're running out of time."

A nearby building provides adequate cover, and you point it out to your companions, rushing into hiding without a moment to spare as the soldiers near the bridge. You hear the patrol walk past you, their footsteps measured and precise. As they approach the bridge, you risk a peek out from an empty window, its glass long since shattered and swept away. The soldiers fan out, searching through the nearby buildings for any sign of intruders.

"We've got to get out of here!" Lapu squeaks, and Tiva puts a finger to her lips to shush him.

You motion for the other wolves to follow you as you skulk further into the abandoned shell of a building. It looks like this place once hosted an office complex. You might be able to find the steps to a storage basement if you're lucky. You stalk from room to room, wincing every time one of your companions steps wrong, crackling a piece of cement or rattling a loose piece of rebar. Eventually your persistence is rewarded, and you find a set of steps leading down into the blackness below.

Tiva shivers. "You really think we should go down there? What if they find us? Corner us?"

"It's the best place we've found so far, Tiva," you say.

Tiva whimpers as she walks down the stairs, her face disappearing from view, swallowed by the gaping mouth of the long-abandoned cellar. You take the lead, instructing your companions to hold paws as they feel their way through the pitch blackness.

It's not long before you hit the far wall, and you skirt to the left, feeling for cover. Your claws clink over a metal cylinder, and rust flakes off in your palm. An old water heater? It will have to do. You whisper to the others, telling them to crouch down and huddle around you in the darkness.

Time is difficult to measure beneath the earth, swathed in eternal blackness as you perceive minutes stretching into impossible hours. You concentrate on your heartbeat, spiking irregularly with fear and far from metronomic, but the beats give you something to hold onto, reminding you that you're still alive.

A whimper. Tiva again. You never would have guessed that the most celebrated student of your combat class is afraid of the dark. But then again, we all have our demons.

What you imagine to be several hours pass before you dare to emerge from the shadows of the storage basement. Lapu sneezes as he brushes dust and cobwebs out of his fur. Tiva gives him a withering look, grumbling something about "it only being funny the first time."

Peering out the window into the wide-open space at the base of the bridge, you breathe a sigh of relief. The way is clear. You perk your ears up, listening for the hum of the checkpoint pillars.

"They must have switched them off after they cleared the area!" Tiva announces, beating you to the punch. "Let's go!"

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