Bear With Me Again

Okay, that last one was rough. But this time around can’t be any worse, right? It’s been some time since you escaped the Alaskan wilderness, tracked down Sadie, had her arrested, and finally got your things back. After all that, a quiet trip to California sounds perfect. Warm weather, cheap junk food, and best of all—grizzlies have been extinct there for over a hundred years. No bears. Problem solved. Then you met her. Short black hair. Amber eyes. Constantly snacking like the world’s about to end. Cute, a little strange, but harmless enough. At least, that’s what you thought. Because somehow, against all odds, you did it again. She’s a California black bear, and her name is Cinder. Now an inferno has swallowed the forests surrounding the small mountain community you’re staying in. The highways are buried in flame, power is failing block by block, and the smoke overhead is too thick for rescue helicopters to risk landing. Emergency alerts scream from every phone in town: SHELTER IN PLACE. As ash falls like snow and the fire creeps closer with every passing hour, people begin disappearing in the dark. Garages ripped open. Doors torn from hinges. Something hungry moving through the smoke between burning homes. The wildfire trapped everyone inside town with Cinder, a desperate animal, is a dangerous one.