“I said I’m fine, Lucky, Let’s go.” She put action to her words and started walking.

The dogs spread out around her, keeping their distance one from another and making sure they had good visual coverage of the street and the buildings that flanked it. Val jogged ahead of the group to act as forward scout and Axel fell behind a bit to bring up the rear. Lucky trotted in the gutter on the right side of the road and Intrepid was in the gutter on the other. Girl and Sugar walked side-by-side down the middle of the road.

The City felt strangely empty. Empty and quiet. Empty, quiet, and still. Lucky drew a deep breath, mouth open to taste the air. He chuffed out a breath and took careful stock of his feelings. There was an uneasiness, but it was different from the way he felt when [Dangersense] was alerting him. Their pace was easy and still they managed to make it to the edge of the blast radius by midafternoon. There was plenty of light left thanks to the lengthening days of summer.

The edge of the blast radius wasn’t really a clear demarcation, it was a gradual thing. Trees and buildings damaged by a strong wind, but not pushed over by it. There were some broken windows and places where bits of trees had been blown into other things. There was a scent in the air that reminded the dogs of the aftermath of a campfire. Not the ashes themselves, but what the grass around the fire smelled like. Warmed, almost scorched by the flames. The smell made Lucky’s muzzle wrinkle. Something about it made him want to sneeze.

The further they walked into the area, the more intense the damage became. There were buildings that were leaning dramatically away from the center, trees that had been uprooted, and everything seemed wilted by heat. If it hadn’t been obvious from their vantage outside of town, it clearly originated from a central location rather than a natural weather event. The air was heavy with humidity and before long they were all panting in the heat. It seemed that the closer they got to the center of the blast area, the hotter it got.

There was a point after which true destruction reigned and once they had crossed that invisible demarcation, the ever present sensation of something squeezing his insides grew stronger. Lucky stopped moving and waited for the others to circle around him.

“There’s something dangerous ahead of us.” Lucky spoke softly but confidently.

Girl heaved a discontented sigh. “Of course there is.”

“Is there anyplace anymore that isn’t dangerous?” Axel asked with a jaded chuckle.

“Has there ever been?” Intrepid’s voice was barely more than a whine.

Sugar brushed her shoulder against Intrepid’s to offer comfort and said, “Maybe safety isn’t a place.”

Girl put her hand on Intrepid’s back, scratching gently under his collar. “So how dangerous?” She asked Lucky.

“More than the rats,” Lucky spoke slowly as he tried to gauge the level of danger. “Maybe.”

“You don’t sound very sure of yourself.” Axel said.

“It’s a strange feeling inside. It’s hard to give it meaning. I only realized today what that feeling meant.”

“Are you sure that’s even what it means and it’s not just something you ate?” Axel’s voice was as much challenge as question.

Lucky tilted his head to one side and met Axel’s eyes. “I’m sure it’s [Dangersense].”

“How can you be so certain?” Axel asked.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“I’ve realized that when I get a notification about dangersense, I always have this feeling.”

“Did you get a notification about [Dangersense] just now?” Girl asked.

“No.” Lucky sighed. “Not just now, but I can feel it.”

“What’s it feel like?” Val asked.

“It’s like a heaviness in my stomach and something clenching around my heart.”

“I feel like that all the time.” Intrepid muttered.

Axel snorted. “So, you’re afraid?”

“What?” Lucky almost squeaked it. “No. I’m not afraid. It’s like something enormous is looming over me and squeezing me.”

“Fear.” Val said. “You can’t say that every time you feel afraid something dangerous is out there.”

“Something dangerous is always out there.” Intrepid said.

“I’m not afraid.” Lucky protested. “I know what fear is and this isn’t fear. It’s something else. Something more.”

“More than fear?” Axel mused. “Perhaps terror would be a better word?”

Val snorted.

“Let’s not argue.” Girl said. “If Lucky says there’s something dangerous ahead, there’s something dangerous ahead. We need to figure out what it is.”

“I can range ahead and see what I can see.” Val said.

“Take Axel with you, send him back for us after a while and he’ll escort us up before catching up with you.” Lucky said. “And be very careful, there’s something out there.”

“Always something out there.” Intrepid said.

That silenced all of them for the space of a pawful of breaths. They looked from one to another around the group before Val’s mouth dropped open in a grin. “Now, I’ll be the something out there.” With that she turned tail and trotted off and Axel was drawn along in her wake.

“Are you okay, Gi-Isobel?” Lucky asked, looking up into her leafy-green eyes.

“I said I’m fine.”

“The more you say it like that, the less I think you’re actually fine.” Lucky said.

Girl heaved a heavy sigh and walked over to the nearest curb to set herself down on it. She wrapped her arms around her knees and hugged them tightly, resting her chin between her knees. Sugar laid down on the scorched grasses behind the curb and curled against Girl’s right flank. Intrepid took the other side, cuddling in close. Lucky sat down in front of her and gently nosed her cheek. She was silent for so long, he had decided that she wasn’t going to speak at all.

“It’s stupid.” She said at last. The dogs waited out further silence as it stretched tightly between them. “I mean this whole thing.” She lifted one hand, flapping it wildly to take in everything that surrounded them. “It’s stupid.” Again she was silent, tucking her hand back around her legs. Several times over the next few minutes she opened her mouth as though to speak only to snap it closed again. “It’s, like, almost silly.” She finally spat out, shaking her head. “Titanorats? Superpowered rats? Rats are, like, the number one quest in cheesy adventure games. Are we dreaming? Stuck in a computer?” She shook her head sharply. “I don’t know what I expected to see once we left the Farm, but it’s so…” One hand lifted and made a circling gesture as she tried to find the word. “Grim. Dark.”

She sighed and Lucky nuzzled her cheek again. “At first it all seemed like some grand adventure. Just Lucky and I, saving the world.” She reached up and gently stroked the fur of Lucky’s cheek and he leaned into the touch. “It was exciting and a bit fun, I guess. Then people got hurt in the Wind, but…” She sighed again, “It wasn’t people I really knew, I guess. It didn’t feel real. Then there were the attacks on the Farm. They were scary, but not really scary.”

She hunched her shoulders, curling more tightly into herself. “I guess it’s starting to feel real. Really real.” She huffed out a sigh. “Really real and really stupid.”

Lucky tilted his head to the left, his expression curious.

“Think about it, Luckodile. I’m fourteen and you’re a dog and this is the apocalypse. Heck, it sounds like the set up for a joke. We don’t even know what’s happening, what’s been sending the skitterings and things to attack us. We don’t know what caused the winds, we don’t know anything.” She sighed. “Are we kidding ourselves? Do we have any chance of doing anything useful?”

“Of course we do.” Lucky said. “We’re Lucky and Girl, we can do anything.”

She laughed, took his chin in her hands and put her forehead against his. “I hope you’re right, Luckopotomus. I hope you’re right.”