He took in deep, gulping breaths of the faded scent, letting it swirl through his nostrils and into his brain. The old woman might have shed her lab coat for brightly colored, flowery shirts and a big straw hat, but he’d know her by her scent.
Finding some of the orange beacons he’d been searching for since leaving the riverboat filled Max with happiness. The forest no longer seemed quite so dark and ominous.
Not that he planned to stay on the overgrown road any longer than he had to.
Turning away from the beacons, Max met his friends’ eyes. “We’re safe from monsters for now. Let’s get out of these trees before it’s dark!”
Soon, the trees thinned out and sunshine beat down once more on their fur, the stormy clouds having drifted away. A breeze washed over them, carrying the musty smells of the forest.
Rocky darted ahead. “Oh, sweet freedom!” he yipped. “I thought we’d never get out of those woods.”
They had reached a big concrete parking lot. To Max’s right, a small billboard read INLAND SHOPPING CENTER—NEXT LEFT. Across the vast, open lot was the biggest shopping mall Max had ever seen, several stories tall with wide windows that glittered in the sunlight.
Taking up most of the enormous building’s side was a movie theater. Next to the theater was the mall entrance, and next to that was a storefront with cartoon fish and puppies and cats painted on the windows.
“That place is huge,” Gizmo said. “I bet it’s filled with all sorts of neat stuff!”
“Grendel said we should find a way to spend the night inside,” Max said. “We still don’t know what’s lurking out here.”
“Uh, yeah,” Rocky said, peering up at Max. “I like that plan.”
“I wonder if there ever really was anything in the woods,” Gizmo said as they walked through the lot toward the mall. “It would be nice if, for once, we didn’t have any dangerous beasts after us.”
Rocky nudged her side. “I thought you loved everybody, Giz.”
She sniffed. “Well, I do,” she said. “Except when they’re trying to eat us.”
Max chuckled. He was about to say something when a stray scent met his nose.
He stopped walking, one paw raised midstep. All day, he’d been surrounded by the murk of the swampy woods and the briny smells of the ocean. Now this new, fleeting smell set off an immediate alarm in his head.
It was the musk of wolves.
At least, he thought it was. The scent was so briefly in and out of his nostrils that he couldn’t be sure.
Sniffing at the air, Max turned in a tight circle. Nothing. He didn’t think he’d imagined it, but he had to be careful. The last time he’d thought he smelled wolves, he’d been right.
There was still a chance Dolph could be following Max and his friends, wanting revenge. He had already tracked them from Max’s hometown all the way to the riverboat. The animal was relentless.
And in the dark of night, hidden by trees, could wolves hunting for a rabbit meal be mistaken for giant, iron-clad monsters?
“What is it, Max?” Gizmo asked. “Do you smell something?”
Rocky gasped. “Is it the monster? Is it here?”
Max didn’t want to worry his friends, so he said, “No, it’s nothing. Let’s just get to the mall, okay?”
Darting ahead, Rocky called out, “Don’t have to ask me twice. Let’s hurry!”
As they neared the mall, Max looked toward the massive pet store. Twin orange lights caught his eye.
“Hey,” he said to his friends. “Over here.”
Another of the small white-and-orange barricades was set up at the edge of the pet store. Just like the barrier in the woods, the beacons on top blinked with a steady rhythm, and the old woman’s faint scent swirled in the air. Painted on the wall behind the barricade was another crude orange circle with a black X through its middle.
“The old woman was here, too,” Rocky said. “But why leave a beacon here?”
“It’s a pet store,” Gizmo said. “Maybe it’s just to let people know that she already came through.”
Max angled his head back and studied the pet store. It was dark inside, though far in the back he could see faint blue lights refracted by murky water. Fish tanks.
But more importantly, the three-ringed symbol that had been on Madame’s collar was spray-painted crudely all over the store’s facade. The circles were black and misshapen. Drips of paint fell from their bottoms, leaving goopy trails.
The symbol was for the laboratory that had made the Praxis virus. But, as Max had discovered, many humans had chosen to paint the three rings as a warning on any building containing animals that might have been infected.
He could only be thankful to the kind humans who must have freed Twelve, Seventeen, and the other pets inside this store. Memories of the time he’d spent in the kennel immediately after the humans disappeared came back to Max. His loneliness. The combination of aching hunger and his worry that he might never see his family again.
Max shook his head. He didn’t want to think about what could have happened if he hadn’t escaped. “It doesn’t matter why she left the beacon,” Max said. “All it means is that we’re still on the right path to finding her. Let’s get inside.”
As they neared the entrance to the pet store, they saw a plain white door next to the dark display windows. On it was a sign that read EMPLOYEES ONLY.
The door was slightly open. The hallway beyond was narrow and plain—white floor, white walls, white ceiling. Quietly, the three dogs padded down the dark hallway to another door. It opened with a squeak of hinges, revealing a room flooded with light. They were in a storeroom filled with doggy beds, toys, and—most importantly—kibble.
With flashes of black-and-tan fur, Rocky and Gizmo darted inside.
“This is heaven!” Rocky said as he sniffed the bags of kibble lining the shelves.
Gizmo lunged into a stack of plush, plaid pet beds, and they collapsed around her in a heap. She laughed. “This is fantastic,” she said. “What a great place to spend the night!”
Max wrenched open a bag of beef-flavored kibble, spilling the pellets all over the dusty floor. He, Rocky, and Gizmo ate until their bellies were full. An upside-down jug of water on a white, square base stood beside the door. It was easy enough to figure out how to press down the lever on the front, and one by one the dogs drank the water that streamed out.
They spent some time exploring the storeroom, discovering jars of tiny turquoise rocks for the bottom of aquariums, plastic tubes for small rodents to crawl through, and toys—so many toys. But soon exhaustion caught up with them, and Max decided they were ready for an early bedtime.
They all agreed to keep the bright fluorescent lights on in the storeroom. Just in case they helped keep monsters away.
Climbing atop the mound of doggy beds, Max, Rocky, and Gizmo spun in tight circles and then lay down to get comfortable. Rocky was the first to fall asleep, clutching a nubby red rubber ball between his teeth.
Max didn’t fall asleep right away. He kept thinking about all sorts of things—his family, promises he’d made, the dangers that might lie ahead. In his mind’s eye, he saw enormous, metal-plated monsters breathing fire and tossing aside trees.
It was one of the downsides of being smarter, Max supposed. His brain always wanted to work now, when in the past he could just close his eyes and drift off.
A small, wet nose nudged Max’s neck.
“Are you awake?” Gizmo asked.
Max lifted his head off his paws. “Sure,” he said softly, so as not to disturb Rocky. “Is everything all right?”
“I’m not sure,” Gizmo said. “Do you ever have trouble falling asleep?”
“It depends,” Max said. “If we’ve been walking from morning to night, sometimes I’m so tired I doze right off. But other times, my thoughts keep me from sleeping. It’s been that way ever since—”
“Praxis,” they said at the same time.
Gizmo giggled. “Oh, good,
it’s not just me.”
Max licked Gizmo’s side. “Are you having scary thoughts because of all the monster talk?”
“Not really,” she said. “I keep remembering the day I last saw my pack leaders. I saw that squirrel outside their RV, and I jumped out the window to chase it. Even though I knew better!” She sighed. “There are squirrels everywhere. But there’s only one Ann, who loved me so much, and I loved her, and now I might never see her again.” Gizmo dug herself into the crevice between two upturned doggy beds until Max could only see the tufts of her tan fur.
“I was such a dumb, silly dog,” she whispered, her voice muffled.
Max climbed onto all fours, stretching his legs. As Rocky continued to gnaw on his rubber ball in his sleep, Max climbed over the mounded pet beds to where Gizmo hid.
“Hey,” he said. “You were never a dumb or silly dog.”
She peered up at him, a shimmer of tears in her dark eyes. “I sure acted like one.”
“Maybe,” Max said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it now, right? We can’t go back and change it.”
“No, it’s probably not possible to go backward in time,” Gizmo said, nodding in agreement.
Max lay down next to Gizmo. “I think these thoughts are called regret. I remember all the friends we lost, like Madame and Boss, because I didn’t know how to save them.”
“What are we supposed to do?” Gizmo whispered.
“Well,” Max said, “we can learn from our mistakes. And we can imagine different things.”
Gizmo’s tail wagged slowly. “Like what will happen once we find Madame’s pack leader and her big hat! I wonder if she’ll let me wear it.”
Max chuckled. “Exactly! But that hat is so big, it would wear you.”
Max imagined a big straw hat with a wide brim and a pink bow plopping down on Gizmo. And Gizmo running around, making it look as if the hat had sprouted legs.
Gizmo must have imagined the same thing, because both dogs burst into loud, snorting laughter.
Nearby, Rocky grumbled in his sleep. Max and Gizmo put their paws over their snouts to quiet themselves.
“Thanks, Max,” Gizmo said. “You really cheered me up.”
“I’m glad,” Max said. “I’m still learning, too. Being smart is new for all of us.”
Gizmo’s small mouth opened wide in a yawn. “Good night, Max,” she whispered as she curled into the plush beds.
“Good night,” Max whispered back. And though worry and regret still threatened to keep Max awake, he made himself imagine a future where he and Gizmo and Rocky were surrounded by their families, and soon he drifted off to sleep.
CHAPTER 5
BRAND-NEW DAY
Max was back on the dark, overgrown road between the peaceful beach and the empty mall.
The leaves above him shuddered, and he could hear the fluttering of hundreds upon hundreds of wings.
Birds? Had the birds returned?
He looked up at the canopy, hope rising in his chest. What he wouldn’t give to see feathers of white, brown, red, and yellow as robins and cardinals, sparrows and warblers flitted above him.
Instead he saw a blanket of bats dangling from the branches, their leathery black wings unfurled.
From deep within the shadowy woods came a piercing, frightened howl.
The bats screeched and dropped from their perches, taking wing and swarming out of the woods, a living black cloud.
Max trembled at the lonesome sound—until two dogs appeared at his side.
It’s all right, Maxie, Madame said. His howl is nothing to fear.
We’re right here with you, son, said Boss.
And though the howl grew louder and louder, Max’s fear faded away. The warmth of his friends leaning against his side comforted him.
“Who is he?” Max asked.
He has many names, Boss said.
Madame added, But you will come to know him as “friend.”
The howling faded to an echo. As Max watched, the largest dog he’d ever seen slunk out of the trees. His shape and breed were unclear to Max—in fact, it seemed to shift by the second—but he could see the beastly dog’s sad, watery eyes and the lines of drool trailing from his snout.
Tail held low and head drooping, the large dog walked down the road away from Max. Far beyond him was the figure of a woman, a silhouette in the dim light. Madame’s pack leader. Next to her shadowy figure, an orange circle glowed.
Keep going, Max, Boss said. Take it one step at a time.
We believe in you, Maxie, Madame said.
Holding his head high, Max stepped away from Madame and Boss, following the large dog deeper into the overgrown woods. With each step forward, he felt his friends’ presence fade and recede until they were gone altogether.
And with each step, he felt the old woman grow even closer.
Max opened his jaws to bark at the sad dog ahead of him, to ask him to wait.
And Max awoke.
Max raised his head and yawned. Even though the room they were in had no windows, something told him it was dawn.
He roused Rocky and Gizmo and dragged the partially eaten bag of kibble over for a quick morning meal. After eating their fill and drinking from the water jug, the three dogs left the bright storeroom and padded down the dim, plain hallway they’d come through yesterday.
As they neared the EMPLOYEES ONLY door, a steady patter of rain met Max’s ears, and he looked out to see that the sky was a roiling, swirling gray.
“Oh, great,” Rocky grumbled. “It’s storming! I say we go back to sleep and wait till it’s over.”
Max nosed Rocky’s side playfully. “You should be used to it,” he said. “We’ve dove into more rivers than I can remember by now.”
“Used to it, sure. But that doesn’t mean I like it.”
The three dogs left the building, making their way under a wide awning around the side of the shopping mall. Suddenly, Max realized the little terrier was no longer trailing behind him.
Panic seized Max’s chest. Had she gotten lost? Or worse—did one of those slithering monsters find her?
Max scanned the parking lot—and there, near an entrance to the mall, was the tiny tan-and-black fuzzball that was Gizmo. She sniffed loudly at a wide rubber mat.
Max trotted swiftly to her side. “What do you smell?” he asked.
“Hi!” Gizmo said. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to run off. It’s just that I got a whiff of a doggy smell, and I followed it here. It makes me think of a big, big dog.” She wagged her tail. “There’s dried slobber here, too,” she added. “Grendel said in his story that a big dog named Georgie was following the old woman to find his way back home, so that gives us one more trail to follow.”
Max’s dream from the night before came back to him in bits and pieces. He understood completely now: He was meant to follow Georgie, who would lead him to Madame’s pack leader. His tail wagged, and he licked Gizmo’s forehead. “Good work picking up his scent. I have a feeling finding Georgie will help us out a lot.”
“What’s good work?” Rocky asked as he waddled up. “What’s happening?”
“We found Georgie!” Gizmo squealed with a triumphant jump.
Rocky spun in a circle. “Where? Here?”
“No, silly,” Gizmo said as she nuzzled Rocky’s neck. “Just his scent. But Max thinks if we follow him, he’ll lead us to the hat lady. Between Georgie and the beacons, we won’t ever get lost.”
“Oh, good,” Rocky said. “Losing our way out there wouldn’t be fun.”
Max looked up at the awning. The patter of rain had lessened, but it was still gray outside, and a mist hung in the air.
“Ready to face the elements?” Max asked.
“No,” Rocky muttered.
“Sure!” Gizmo said at the same time.
“Let’s go,” Max said.
The rain was no longer a torrent but a gentle sprinkle as the storm came to an end. The air was heavy and thick, however, and it coated the
ir fur with moisture.
The parking lot on the north side of the mall was smaller than the one they’d walked through the day before. Keeping their heads low, the three dogs splashed across the empty lot as quickly as they could.
Before long, they reached the main street and then veered left, just as Grendel had told them to. The road west was covered with branches. Soon, Max realized that it was raised above the land like a bridge.
At the top of the incline, the three dogs stopped to catch their breath. Something about the humid air made every step feel harder, every breath more laborious. Max looked ahead and saw that, much like the road from the beach, nature had overtaken their path.
The trees on either side of the elevated roadway were thick and tall. They grew from the water far below, water that was covered with slimy lily pads and green algae.
The road itself was overgrown with tall, untamed grass. Leafy vines sprouted from the surface and climbed up the nearby trees or dangled from metal railings. Blankets of lush, gray-green moss hung in sheets from the branches and railings, floating ghostlike in the breeze.
Though it wasn’t quite as dark here as in the woods, there was an eerie, verdant hue to everything that made the path ahead seem dreamlike. More of the strange animal shrieks echoed through the trees, and down below there was a splash as something—or someone—plopped into the water.
Max was about to ask Rocky and Gizmo if they were ready to continue when a rustling came from the tree closest to them.
Rocky darted behind Max. “Get back, Gizmo,” he whispered. “Did you hear that?”
The branches rustled, and there was the briefest flash of gray fur. Not taking her eyes off the tree, Gizmo slowly backed around Max’s hind legs to join Rocky.
“What is it, Max?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Max whispered back.
With a shudder of leaves and a scrabble of claws, the branches and moss parted. A dozen glowing yellow eyes glared down at the dogs.
Rocky screamed, “The monster is back! And this time it’s in the trees!”
The Long Road Page 4
