So, a quick AN before the next chapter, a huge thank you to follows and favs, and a special shoutout to celia azul and TwilightEclps for your reviews, you guys are amazing! It helps to have you guys for encouragement! Oh, and also, on my profile, there's a poll on how often you guys want to see updates. How often depends on chapter length, so let me know! Thanks as always -Z
Never before had Sophia been so quiet when she was this scared. The trip back to the windmill was taking much longer than it should have. They were everywhere. As far as she could tell, there were four different wild dogs. Just when she thought they have gotten far enough away, there would be howling or barking. They were still about a half mile away from home base, but how much would it take for the dogs to wander over in that direction? Especially with Ren and Sophia heading that way now… they might accidentally lead them back.
If they did, nothing would stop those dogs, not even the fences, she had no doubt in her mind they would find a way to get to them, or even get to them before they made it all the way back. Or, what about Bella? What if they already found Bella?
The bark under Sophia's hands was calming. Breathe in, breathe out. Reminding herself that she was currently at least ten yards in the air. Even a big dog like those couldn't jump that high, plus she still had quite a bit of tree to climb if it tried. And thank god they couldn't climb trees. Ren was a couple trees away, they had decided to split apart, in hopes to draw less attention to themselves. But, they were motionless, unmoving, because a big, black dog was growing close to Ren's tree.
Closer.
Soft footsteps brought the dog closer, too quiet in Sophia's mind. Birds had even stopped chirping, the whole forest knew this was dangerous. Across the way, Ren covered his mouth with his hands, probably trying to quiet his breathing, and Sophia's fear spiked. Their hearing was so incredible… how would they get away?
Closer. And closer.
As it moved closer, the scars across its back became apparent. They were long and shallow all across its back, even a couple stretched across its head.
Close
Now, it was only one tree away from where Ren hid, Sophia's stomach lurched as a low growl erupted from the dog. At first, they thought that the dog had finally realized they were there, but a low melody filtered to Sophia's ears. Someone was whistling, and the tune shouldn't have been scary, but it certainly was.
'All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel. The monkey thought 'twas all in good fun, pop goes the weasel.'
'A penny for a spool of thread, a penny for a needle- That's the way the money goes, Pop goes the weasel.'
"Where are you fuckers at?" Jumping slightly at the voice, Sophia tried to calm her breathing all while staying quiet. "Now!" The dog straightened up, from where it was smelling, leading straight to Ren, and turned around. Moving towards the voice. A loud crack filled the air, followed by the pained whine of a dog. "What the fuck are you doing all the way over here." A deep voice sneered, before picking up the nursery rhyme once more, fading as he got further and further away.
They didn't move for at least three minutes. Afraid that the stranger would come back, they remained still, until the birds began signing again. She hadn't realized she was crying, until tears hit the back of her hand.
"Hey, Sophia. Let's go." Ren looked at her, he was trying to be brave, and at least that made one of them. Nodding slowly, she stood up, hands leaving the bark, leaving patterns on her skin from being pressed against it for far too long. "We'll be back soon." Nodding slowly, the blonde girl wiped away her tears, before spinning determinedly back the way of the windmill. The dogs weren't supposed to go this far. They would be okay, right?
**Sophia**
Before she even knew what happened, Bella welcomed them into her warm embrace, checking them over for scratches and wounds. She didn't say anything at first. Instead, she forced the two canisters of water into their hands, and cut an apple in half. The trio sat around a fire pit, the small flames were enough to coax the kids from shock.
Bella held out two outfits, which were surprisingly clean. Changing into the new outfits, Sophia welcomed a warm sweater instead of her t-shirt. Her pants were nice too, it felt good to get out of those grimy clothes. That just have been where Bella was while they were supposed to fish, because even Bella had a new outfit.
The dirty clothes were discarded to a bag, and maybe they would clean them up later. But, right now? Sophia was trying to work up the courage to tell Bella exactly what had happened.
"We ran into a bunch of dogs. They're what howls at night." Ren spoke, eyes staring off in the distance. Bella nodded in agreement, hugging her knees to her chest. "There's at least four of them. Down by the lake, they attacked a zombie, and killed it really quickly." Nothing else had to be said about that part. If zombies were brought down so easily, what about them? "I think they may have been smelling us a little, one almost found us."
Bella hugged them closer to her, and didn't speak. She smelled like apples and sawdust, and Sophia tried to take comfort in the older girl. She was so brave, and tears began falling once more.
"There was a man. We didn't see him, but… I think he controls the dogs." Ren's sister stiffened at his words, but didn't give anything away. Instead, she placed a kiss atop Ren's head, and kissed Sophia's head too.
"Well, he isn't here now. Will you two help me? we need to pick these apples before they go bad, or before animals come across them and steal them." The apples were indeed becoming ripe, and, they welcomed the distraction. At least for now.
**Sophia**
It was later that night, after Bella had shown the kids how to dry out apples so they would be good for a treat for months to come, when Royal gave a small coo. All three were curled up on the second floor, and Ren was reading the book of greek myths by flashlight.
Sophia turned to look at Royal, and was surprised to see both wings extended. And, the owl practically jumped out the window.
"Royal!" Running to the window, she watched in amazement, as his wings caught the air, and was whisked away. He angled his wings, and a couple flaps later, Royal sat in the window once more, looking very proud of himself.
Perhaps today wasn't all bad.