The Long Road

by Christopher Holt

  “They left a few hours ago, Lady Belle,” the female said. “They should be back anytime now.”

  “Do you mean kibble?” Gizmo asked.

  Belle looked down her snout. “Of course not. The bags. You’ve seen them. Out front.” Darting forward, she pressed her nose directly against Gizmo’s face. “So many treats inside those bags. We feast here.”

  “Oh,” Gizmo said. “Those bags.”

  With a twinkling laugh, Belle pranced backward. “You are a darling young miss, aren’t you? There used to be so many little dogs like you, but they all went away. Everyone went away.”

  “Belle—” Max started to say.

  The Collie laughed again, louder this time, and began to pace in front of the four dogs.

  “Yes, everyone went far away, with no thought of me.” She looked at the group. “So you must stay. Perhaps we can wrap sheets around you, too. Though I see you already wear adornments.”

  Belle brushed in close next to Max and sniffed at the collar around his neck. “I had a collar once,” she said. “It was old and had a sparkly crystal on it. But this smells new. It smells human.”

  Max refused to show fear, even as the two mutts by the door raised their lips into snarls at the mention of the missing people.

  “These collars were given to us by a kind woman not two days ago,” Max said. “That’s part of the reason we came here, Belle, to give you good news. Your pack leaders and all the other humans didn’t want to abandon you. They had no choice. They still love and miss you, and it won’t be long before they’ll be able to come home.”

  “Lies,” Belle hissed. “My pack leaders left me without a word. Meanwhile I saw other humans taking their pets with them. Those pets were wanted. I was not.”

  Memories came back to Max, of Boss explaining how Belle had watched as his pack leaders had tried to sneak away with him. That must have been what she meant.

  “And it’s not just the humans!” Belle howled. “All of my so-called friends in town do not come to visit me. The puppies from Happy Paws ran away, too. And B—” She stopped short of saying the Australian Shepherd’s name. “I had to form a new family. I had to go to the sewers and pounds and I found my mutts, who are happy to live in such luxury. Aren’t you, Blanche and Devereaux?”

  “Yes, lady,” the two mutts growled in unison.

  “Tell her about Boss, buddy,” Rocky whispered.

  Belle’s ears twitched. “What was that?” she asked.

  Max stepped forward. “We didn’t just come to tell you about the humans,” he said softly. “Belle, we met Boss. He wanted us to—”

  “No!” Belle screeched. The Collie turned into a golden blur as she raced upstairs, her makeshift cape whipping behind her. Without turning around, she said, “Never say his name. His betrayal was the worst of all. The thought of him makes me ill.”

  “Belle, please let me finish,” Max said.

  The sad, lonely Collie turned slowly so she could look down the wide staircase at Max, Rocky, Gizmo, and Georgie. She wagged her tail. “I forgive you,” she said. “You didn’t know any better. But you must never speak that terrible name again.”

  Georgie looked to Max, head drooping. “I don’t think this is going like you wanted.”

  “Not at all,” Max whispered.

  Next to him, Max sensed Rocky trembling in barely contained anger. Before Max could do anything, the Dachshund waddled forward, head held high and defiant. He stood on the bottom step and looked up at Belle. “Look, lady, we were just trying to make you feel good. Even though everyone we met lately, including the local rats, said you went nuts, we thought we’d help you anyway. If you aren’t going to listen, we’ve got things to do.”

  Belle shook her head. “But you can’t leave.”

  Rocky sniffed. “Who’s going to stop us? You and these starving dogs?”

  Belle snarled. “Yes,” she spat.

  On some unspoken command, the two mutts Blanche and Devereaux roared and leaped toward the dogs. Rocky yipped and hid behind Max. Gizmo barked back, even as Max forced her behind him with his front paw.

  “No!” Georgie bellowed.

  His voice was so deep and loud that it practically made the walls shake. Georgie closed his eyes and shouted, “Leave them alone!” Only he dragged out the last word, raising his voice until what burst from his jaws was an ear-shattering howl.

  The despairing, desperate howl of the Mudlurker.

  Belle scampered up the staircase, practically tripping over her sheet. But her two mutts turned their bared fangs at Georgie.

  Georgie spun himself toward the dark, musty-smelling archway. He stopped howling just long enough to shout, “Get out while you can!”

  Blanche and Devereaux made chase, their claws clattering over the floor as they barreled after Georgie. In seconds the three dogs were gone, disappearing into the darkness.

  “We have to go after them!” Gizmo cried. “They might hurt Georgie!”

  “He’ll be fine,” Rocky said, scrambling toward the door. “He’s ten times their size. Let’s do what he said and get out of here!”

  “No!” Max barked.

  Both small dogs stopped in their tracks and turned to look at him.

  “Who are you saying no to, buddy?” Rocky asked. “Me or Gizmo?”

  “Both of you,” Max said. “We’re finishing what we started. We have to go after Belle and tell her what Boss said.”

  “But she’s crazy!” Rocky yowled. “She’s been eating garbage and taking dogs prisoner and making them her slaves!”

  Gizmo ducked her head. “I kind of agree with Rocky, Max. I feel terrible for her, but I don’t see what we can do.”

  Max turned to his friends, his face stern. “Think of all we’ve seen,” he said. “Everywhere we’ve gone, animals like us have felt unloved and abandoned, and because of that, some have done terrible things. Remember Dandyclaw back in the Enclave? He wasn’t trying to be mean on purpose.”

  “Well, he was,” Rocky muttered.

  “He wanted to feel safe,” Max continued. “To keep his friends safe, too. He just didn’t know the best way to do it. But he tried,” he went on, pacing in front of the steps. “And so did Raoul and the house of cats, Boss and Captain on the riverboat, the animals at the zoo, the beach pets, everyone back in Julep’s town, and the possum family in the swamp. Even the Chairman just wanted life to make sense again, though he went about it in the worst possible way.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re getting at, buddy,” Rocky said.

  “I think I understand,” Gizmo said. “No matter what the animals we met have done, it’s been mostly for the same reason—to try to feel like their lives aren’t scary, even though everything has changed.”

  Max nodded. “Exactly. That’s why Belle is acting the way she is.” Looking between his two friends, he said, “Remember that cat Possum?”

  The two small dogs nodded.

  “She was convinced that we should all just give up. But when I told her there might be a cure and that the people could come home, she had hope again. It’s the same way we felt when Dr. Lynn told us our people still loved us.”

  Max turned back toward the stairs. “I think that’s what we’re meant to do until we see Dr. Lynn again. We’re meant to keep hope alive so pets don’t give up. Belle has changed a lot since the people left, but we’ve all changed a lot.”

  “Of course,” Rocky said. “We can read words now!”

  Chuckling, Max said, “Exactly. But who we were before is still in there, and the same must be true for Belle. We need to give her hope again.”

  A howl echoed distantly, followed by mad barking.

  Gizmo gasped. “Oh, no, Georgie!”

  “Belle is the only one who can call off the mutts,” Max said. “Let’s go find her as fast as we can.”

  “Right behind you!” Rocky said.

  The trio raced up the staircase as Belle’s voice rang out. “Help me! They’re going to attack me! Come
save your lady!”

  The three friends followed Belle’s voice down a long, dark hallway. Dog droppings lined the walls, and dead potted plants lay on their sides atop mounds of dirt and shards of porcelain. At the very end of the hall, a pair of double doors were open wide onto a grand room filled with gray daylight. As the dogs raced closer, Belle’s voice grew louder.

  “This isn’t how it was supposed to go,” the Collie cried out. “Beasts rampaging through my home, spitting fiery lies. Come to me, my pets! Come save your Lady Belle from these bad dogs!”

  Max ran through the doorway first and caught sight of Belle on a balcony outside a pair of ornate glass doors. A warm, damp breeze carried with it the mingling scents of chlorine, decaying leaves, and yet more garbage. Belle’s makeshift cape swirled behind her in the wind.

  Belle had been calling to her pack of mutts outside, but as soon as she saw Max, Rocky, and Gizmo, she darted back into the grand room and curled up beneath a coffee table.

  The walls here were lined with floor-to-ceiling shelves filled with books and metal artifacts. At one point, Max imagined, the room must have been some grand sitting area. But many of the books on the lower shelves had been tossed to the floor, their pages torn to bits and their leather covers gnawed into slobbery messes. Piles of leaves coated the balcony and the floor in front of the ornate doors.

  “Belle,” Max said as he padded quietly toward the trembling Collie. “Please listen to what I have to say.”

  “Don’t you come closer,” Belle said from beneath the low table. “My pets are on their way. They will punish you for your lies. And then you will learn to be my pets, too.”

  Downstairs, the halls suddenly filled with barks and growls. Dozens of footsteps thudded, climbing the stairs.

  “She’s not joking!” Rocky said. The Dachshund slammed against one of the hall doors, making it creak on its hinges. Gizmo joined him, and the door shut.

  Belle stuck her head out from beneath the coffee table. “Help!” she howled. “Your lady is in here!”

  Max glanced back to see the shadows of at least six dogs bursting through the dark, trash-filled hallway. Rocky and Gizmo worked to shut the other door, but it didn’t seem to be moving.

  They were cornered. Max looked back to Belle, meeting her frightened eyes. He needed to get through to her. But that would never happen if he and his friends got hurt.

  “Out of the way,” Max called to Rocky and Gizmo, and he leaped with all his might against the door. He bounced right off it and fell to his side.

  Something was jamming it in place, some doorstop, but nothing he could see. The barks kept growing louder, the footsteps more thunderous, and he caught a flash of the first mutt at the door.

  “Come on!” Max shouted, already running toward the balcony. “We’re cornered!”

  “We’re going to jump off the balcony?” Gizmo asked.

  Rocky sniffed the air. “Smell that chlorine, Gizmo. Looks like we’re going for a dive into the pool, just like old times.”

  Reaching the leaf-covered balcony, Gizmo laughed. “You almost sound like you enjoy it!”

  As her pack swarmed through the entrance to the sitting room, Belle wiggled out from beneath the coffee table. “Don’t you dare!” she called after Max, Rocky, and Gizmo. “You aren’t allowed to leave!” To her pack, she ordered, “Get them!”

  Rocky didn’t hesitate. His legs were a blur as he took a running start to the edge of the balcony. Leaping between rails, he shouted a triumphant “Hiiii-yah!” A second later came a splash.

  Side by side, Max and Gizmo leaped as well; for a moment, the world was nothing but warm, suffocating, humid air. Seconds later, Max’s belly smacked hard against frigid cold water and he was enveloped by a great splash.

  Rocky had been right—this wasn’t their first time taking a wild leap into unknown waters. Following the bubbles from his nose, Max swam to the surface. Gasping for air, he kicked with his hind legs and paddled until he reached the ledge of the pool.

  It took all of Max’s strength to heft himself out of the water and onto the dry concrete. Water glugged in his ears, but with a shake of his head he could hear again—and immediately he could tell that every dog in and around Belle’s mansion was barking at the top of its lungs.

  Max spun around. Rocky and Gizmo were close by, shivering and staring at something on the opposite end of the pool. Max turned to see what his friends were looking at.

  He felt a hollow open in his stomach.

  The pool was a rectangle, with its short end facing the house. The long sides were bordered by overgrown bushes. The only escape was through the doors to the house behind Max—which were shut tight—or the opposite end of the pool, which opened up to the backyard.

  And that’s where six of Belle’s mutts stood, blocking the path. They had herded Georgie, whimpering and afraid, to the pool’s edge.

  “I told you!” Belle called from the balcony. “You must learn your lesson for making me feel so terrible.”

  Max’s mind raced. He could try to get back into the house, but he didn’t know how he’d get the doors open, and once inside it would be a maze of halls to navigate, not to mention more of Belle’s mutts.

  Plus, going inside would mean abandoning poor, brave Georgie. But trying to take on six dogs with only Rocky and Gizmo as backup seemed much too dangerous.

  Once more, Max found himself cornered.

  Before Max could react, he saw the mutts by Georgie go stiff and smell the air. The hedges lining the pool began to rustle, and low growls pierced his ears.

  Another scent quickly joined the stench of chlorine and garbage, and despair rushed over him.

  The musk of wolves had enveloped the yard surrounding Belle’s mansion.

  Dolph was finally here.

  CHAPTER 23

  A VERY NICE THING

  The wolves appeared in the yard behind the six mutts: half a dozen red faces and four gray, ears flattened and teeth bared, led by Dolph, who was scarred and still limping.

  Confused, Belle’s mutts simply stood there, not knowing what to do. Max couldn’t move.

  He wasn’t hurt. Not physically, anyway. But inside his Praxis-enhanced brain, a war raged.

  He’d spoken so proudly to Rocky and Gizmo about looking for the best in all animals, even their enemies. About how all anyone needed was a little bit of hope, and things would be okay. That even if someone seemed dangerous, offering help was the right thing to do.

  But here was Dolph, the deadly, vicious wolf. Max had done the right thing for Dolph, hadn’t he? And what did he get for it? A stronger enemy.

  He’d tried to help Belle, and now he was cornered with nowhere to run, even though he was so terribly close to seeing his family again.

  He’d tried to help Dandyclaw and the Enclave, only to be turned upon. Same with the Chairman and his Corporation, and Gertrude and her laboratory.

  Max watched the ten wolves move ever closer to Belle’s mutts and Georgie, and he grew sadder and sadder. Even though Praxis supposedly had made him smart, he thought maybe he was just a dumb dog after all.

  “Max,” Gizmo said, nudging his side. “Max, we have to do something, we have to—”

  The wolves attacked.

  They leaped toward the six brown-furred mutts, jaws open wide, teeth grazing the thin dogs. Yelping in terror and tucking their tails between their legs, the mutts raced past the wolves and into the yard, disappearing from sight.

  The wolves followed, howling and snarling. All except Dolph, who looked past Georgie, still cowering next to the pool.

  Directly at Max.

  Then Dolph ran out of view, chasing after the mutts as well.

  “This is our chance, buddy!” Rocky yipped. “Come on!”

  Max didn’t know what to think. Silently, he followed his two small friends around the lip of the pool toward Georgie. As he did, he heard Belle’s voice echoing from deep within the mansion.

  “Stay away from my pets!” she cri
ed. “I need them!”

  Max, Rocky, and Gizmo reached Georgie’s side. The big dog was clearly frightened, but he didn’t seem to be hurt.

  “You all right, big guy?” Rocky asked.

  “I think so,” Georgie said. “I was hoping you would have already escaped, though.”

  “And leave you behind? Never!”

  Max peered around the hedges. The howls and barks from the wolves and dogs echoed through the mossy trees, but he couldn’t see them in the vast, overgrown backyard.

  “We’re going to leave,” he announced to his friends. “We need to find Fletcher and Whitey, have them help get Georgie somewhere safe, and then we need to run away while the wolves are distracted.”

  “What about Belle?” Gizmo asked. “You said—”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Max snapped.

  He looked up at the balcony where Belle had stood moments before. He wished so desperately that he’d had just a little more time to speak with her.

  “All the other animals were right,” Max went on. “She went bad. Let’s just go before Dolph comes back.”

  No one said anything as Max padded off the concrete surrounding the pool and into the tall grass of the backyard. From the sounds of it, the wolves and mutts were fighting farther away, but Max crept slowly and carefully, ready for the next horrible surprise attack from Dolph.

  Instead, as the four dogs rounded the line of hedges and headed toward the front side of the house, Max saw Belle.

  The Collie spun in frantic, terrified circles next to the house. Her flowered sheet flowed around her, almost as lovely as she must have wished. Catching sight of Max, Rocky, Gizmo, and Georgie, Belle sobbed, then darted away toward a section of the yard that was hidden behind tall white walls.

  “She’s so sad!” Gizmo said. “We have to talk to her.”

  “Gizmo—” Max started, but Gizmo was already off through the overgrown grass.

  “Is that a good idea?” Georgie asked.

  “Probably not,” Rocky said, “but Gizmo is Gizmo. She trusts her instincts, even if it sometimes means running full on into danger.” He wagged his tail. “That’s what I love about her.”