Page 77 of Fearless
Hades stared directly down the intersection we just passed. The next block up would be Jandro’s house. Down that intersection was his shop.
I had to go there.
The same force that stopped me from walking pulled me toward Jandro’s shop like a rope around my waist. I couldn’t explain it as anything other than aneed. I had to go there. And I had to hurry.
“Mari?” Reaper called after me as I started down the street, Hades at my side.
“I don’t know what’s going on,” I called back to him. “I just…need to see something.”
The feeling grew stronger, more urgent, the closer I got. I bypassed the front of the duplex and went around the side. A wooden fence with a gate blocked my path to the backyard.
No, no, no.I stood on my tiptoes to reach over the fence with the latch, but wasn’t tall enough. I was this close to climbing the damned thing to get to where I needed. Hades scratched at the wood and whined.
“Reaper, help me!”
Thankfully, he could see how serious I was and didn’t dally.
“Mari, what do you need back there?” He reached over me and unlatched the gate with ease.
“I don’t know, I just have to go there.”
I ran through, following nothing but the feeling in my gut. It led to me to a large pile of debris. Ducts, hoses, chunks of drywall, concrete, and old motorcycle scraps piled nearly as tall as the fence itself. Some of it had to be from when Jandro tore down the walls between the duplex garages.
The feeling tugged me straight to that pile in a way that was almost painful. Oh no. I thought it was bad, but it was getting worse.
“Mari, what is it?” Reaper followed me, concern filling his voice.
“We have to hurry!” A desperate sense of urgency clenched my heart like a fist. I moved rocks and debris as fast as my hands could move, paying no attention to the cuts and scrapes on my hands.
This was life or death.
I could feel her life, fragile as a newborn baby, hanging in a delicate balance. I didn’t know how I knew this presence was a her, but for some reason my instinct was to give her a female gender.
“Help me, Hades!” I begged as he came up next to me to sniff the rubble pile.
He barked once and immediately began digging. His front paws pulled away more dirt and sand than I ever hoped to with my bare hands. I helped him move the heavier stuff—slabs of rock, concrete, and piping.
“Wait a minute, boy. Stop,” I told him.
I turned my head and leaned my ear down close to the pile when he paused. I thought I heard something but maybe…
“Meowww! Meowww! Meowww!”
“She’s alive!” I cried. “Keep digging! We have to save her!”
At that point, Reaper snapped into action. He came up next to me without a word and picked up the heaviest pieces to toss over his shoulders. Hades dug out a small burrow just big enough for his head and front paws to fit through. He paused to stick his face in all the way, snorted out a nose full of dirt and kept digging.
“Please, please, please…”
I couldn’t begin to understand this at all. Yes, a kitten was stuck under there, which was awful. But the idea of losing her wasn’t normal sadness, it was devastatingly painful. Like I’d be losing a part of myself.
“This whole fucking thing is gonna collapse if you’re not careful,” Reaper warned.
“No, we can’t let that happen!”
My vision grew blurry with tears. When I blinked them away, Hades reached into his burrow again, ears folded back carefully in the cramped space. When he scooted back out and turned to look at me, he held something in his jaws.
“You got her!” I gasped in relief, holding my hands out. “Is she…”
