Isaac led Sofia into the forests north of town.

It was his dad’s idea to time their departure during the afternoon church service. Most everyone in town would be there and the soldiers on patrol would be more lax, secure in the knowledge that the citizens were contained.

He and his sister had hours before someone would think to check on their home once Sofia didn’t show up for the party. Those people would find—

Isaac didn’t want to think about it.

He tried to focus on the moment. He needed to get through the forest and down the mountain with his sister.

After that?

He’d figure it out.

His mind ran through the catalog of threats they needed to avoid.

Large mutant animals were a distant second to discovery by soldiers.

Since it was day time they were unlikely to have any trouble with the former.

As for the latter, they didn’t stray out of the town’s boundary anyways.

All he had to do was avoid detection from the edge of the forest until they circled to the west and down to the south. Then they could either move closer to the road where the walking was easier or they could follow the river. It was a more direct route out of the mountains, but the forest was thicker and their chances of running into a larger mutant animal was higher.

Isaac was confident he could kill such a beast, but he didn’t want to risk the soldiers noticing the fight.

Thoughts of his parents kept cropping up. It was dangerous.

He didn’t even notice when Sofia strode past him and forged ahead.

His little sister was almost as tall as him. Her longer legs ate up the ground and forced him to hurry to catch up. She was a better athlete.

“Sofia, wait.”

“You’re being too slow.”

“Yeah, bu—”

“I studied our route with Dad. I memorized the map. I don’t have to follow you.”

“I was just going to say keep an eye out. You know, for the mutant animals.”

“I was!”

Isaac recognized the indignant tone for what it was.

“Totally,” Isaac said lightly. “Just a reminder.”

“Well you don’t have to!” Sofia snapped.

Isaac zipped his lips and focused on looking out for dangerous mutant animals.

The going was slowed by the lack of maintained trails.

Isaac figured they were about three miles south of the town’s front barricade when the sun finally set.

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“How much longer?”

“Thought you memorized the map?”

“Yeah, well it’s dark…”

Isaac suppressed a sigh and tried to keep his tone light. He wasn’t the only one dealing with emotional turmoil. “If you go by Google Maps then seven-ish miles down to the interstate, then like thirty to the city.”

“What about in stupid hiking miles?” Sofia snapped.

“Less, since we can pretty much walk in a generally straight line to the interstate, but slower since we have to do it through the forest.”

“Damn it! We can’t use the road. They’ll come looking for us once they realize we’re gone,” Sofia said.

“Forest it is.”

“I can’t see shit though… I have an idea. Give me a light.”

Isaac hesitated. He weighed the risks of being spotted by other people and relented. He generated a small flame from his finger, but kept it shielded with his body.

Sofia gestured and the flame flew into into her hands. She cupped it in her hands as a look of intense concentration scrunched up her face.

Seconds passed.

When she revealed the flame it was different.

It was still small, like a flickering butterfly, but shaped more like a bird.

The tiny flame bird seemed to look directly at Sofia as she stared intently at it.

The flame bird took off and flew ahead of them. It flickered and fluttered erratically, but remained floating in the air.

“It can go about a hundred-fifty feet away from me,” Sofia said.

“That’s a new trick.”

“Don’t make a big deal out of it,” Sofia shrugged.

“What else can it do? Are you controlling it directly?”

“I can, but I can also give it simple directions. It’s hard to explain. I just think really hard and picture what I want. Seems to work most of the time.”

“So…?”

“It’ll light our way and if any mutant bears are out there it’ll try to distract them and lead them away from us until it disappears once it gets too far away from me.”

“Advance warning is good.” Isaac was impressed. His sister’s ability was more versatile than his. “Can you make more?”

“Yeah, give me more flames.”

Isaac did so and Sofia created three more tiny flame birds, which she sent to patrol in a circle around them.

They were about two hours into their trek when distant howls made their skin crawl.

Wolves hadn’t been in the area forever, so Isaac assumed coyotes. The howls did sound deeper, which suggested larger sized animals. Mutant coyotes weren’t something he had seen yet.

Isaac urged Sofia to move quicker.

Another few hours had them very close to the pass leading to the interstate.

The coyotes waited for them to cross a wide open gravelly area near the river confluence.

Isaac and Sofia had scant seconds warning thanks to the latter’s flame birds.

The mutated animals came snarling and howling out of the thick forest.

They were much larger than normal. Their jaws opened wider with dagger-like teeth. Patchy and straggly fur covered grotesquely muscled bodies. Some parts wept oozing, bloody wounds where the skin had split.

Isaac sent a wide torrent of fire from both his hands to burn them all.

Sofia pulled from the flames and pulled a thin thread, which curved in the dark of night in a ring around her and her brother. She flared the thin thread into a curtain of fire that caught the mutant coyotes attacking from the other side.

Snarls and growls turned into yips of pain that became silent as Sofia kept the flames on their bodies going strong despite the mutant coyotes’ efforts to roll on the ground.

The fight was over before it began.

The heat within Isaac’s chest cooled as he finally had an opportunity to vent it in full.

A loud chime sounded in both of the Freeman’s ears.

Isaac prepared himself to listen to and read the notification. They were already on a Quest. He didn’t want another.