Journey's End

by Christopher Holt

  Noticing how far back his friends had fallen, Max stopped to let them catch up, leaping up and down, his whole body quivering with excitement.

  “Hurry,” he barked happily. “My family is so close.”

  Rocky leaped up, licking Max’s side and batting at his fur. “We did it, buddy! We had to walk a billion miles to get here, but we made it!”

  Max’s gleeful, wagging tail slowed when he noticed that Gizmo had stopped a little ways back on the road. Her tail was tucked and her head hung down.

  “What’s wrong?” Max asked as he walked over to her side. “Do you need to rest? Is it too hot?”

  “No,” Gizmo whispered, not meeting Max’s eyes. “It’s just what you said. We’re almost to your family. Not mine.”

  Rocky sat next to her. “What do you mean? Max’s family is going to love you. Everyone loves you!”

  Gizmo let out a soft, sad whine as she looked between Rocky and Max.

  “That’s the thing, though,” she said. “They’re Max’s pack leaders. Unlike you two, my humans didn’t put a tracking chip in me, so Dr. Lynn couldn’t find out my name or where my family lived. What if we find your families and neither one wants to take me in? What if… what if I never get to see you again?”

  Growling at the thought, Rocky leaped up to his feet. “Don’t you think that for a second. You’re never going to leave our side. Right, Max?”

  Max lowered his head, his excitement evaporating. Because Gizmo was right. There was no guarantee that they wouldn’t be split up once they were reunited with their people. He had never thought about what would happen to the three of them after their journey was over. Even if Rocky’s owner took him back in, they still lived close enough to visit. But where would Gizmo go?

  Gizmo rested her fluffy head on her paws. “I’m just like a lot of the animals we met on the way here,” she said. “I don’t have a family, not the way I used to. I’ve been a stray for a very long time. Maybe my place isn’t with the humans anymore.”

  “Of course it is, Gizmo,” Max said.

  “I don’t know,” Gizmo said, her ears drooping. “I’ve been thinking a lot about what I should do when we finally reach the wall. My pack leaders lost me long before all the humans had to leave. I don’t think they’ll be looking for me anymore. So maybe now that you’ll have Charlie and Emma and Vet again, I should go find somewhere new to live. I could always head back to DeQuincy; that seemed like a nice enough town. Maybe—”

  “No,” Rocky said, spinning in a frantic circle. Rearing back his head, he howled a defiant “No!”

  Gizmo flinched. “Rocky,” she said.

  The Dachshund paced on the dusty road, leaving a trail of paw prints.

  “You can’t leave,” he said. “You just can’t, Gizmo. I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He gazed up at Max. “Either of you.”

  Rocky stopped pacing. “I remember when all this started,” he said. “I was fat and lazy and selfish. But then I met Max, who was locked in that cage, and he saved me from Dolph and his wolves. And then I met you, Gizmo, and—” He ducked his head. “You made me want to be a better dog. To be brave and kind, just like you. Because you and Max are two of the best animals I’ve ever met. If my human family tries to take me away from you, I… I don’t know what I’d do.”

  “Aw, Rocky,” Gizmo said softly, her eyes shimmering. She stood up and nuzzled his side. “I’ve learned so much from you, too. How to be cautious when needed, and how to use words rather than growls when faced with bad animals. You always stayed loyal and friendly, even when times were hard. I would miss you—both of you—a lot.”

  Max’s dream from the night before came back to him. He remembered the images of his friends linked together in their three rings, protecting one another from the dark, uncertain future.

  “So that’s what’s been bothering you,” Max said. “You’re afraid we’re going to be kept apart. You’ve seemed so sad sometimes, and I didn’t know why. I would never abandon you, Gizmo.”

  Gizmo leaned against Max’s leg, inhaling his scent. “Max, your pack leaders are on the other side of that wall. If it comes down to being with them or me, you have to choose them. You’ve been with your family your whole life. Me, I’m just some lost dog you met in the woods a few months ago.”

  “Listen to me,” Max said, looking her in the eye. “After all we’ve been through, you, me, and Rocky aren’t just friends. We’re more than that. I meant what I said to those mice back at the mall, Gizmo: We’re a family. I will do everything I can to make sure we stay together for the rest of our lives.”

  Quivering, Gizmo whispered, “You promise?”

  “I do,” Max said.

  Rocky raced in a circle. “Together forever!” he barked. “Friends till the end!”

  Gizmo barked as, tail wagging, she leaped on top of Rocky, and the two of them rolled in the center of the road, nipping each other playfully.

  After a minute, Gizmo rolled off Rocky and shook herself free of dust. “Well, let’s get to that wall, then!” she said. “Oh, I hope they have a big pool or a pond or a lake to swim in.”

  “Better yet, some fresh bowls of kibble,” Rocky said.

  Max galloped ahead. “Let’s go find out!”

  With renewed excitement, the three dogs bounded down the road, the shimmering silver wall growing larger on the horizon. The stench of coyote was stronger as they neared the wall—Bonecrush’s pack had come this way, too.

  A hill rose off the southern side of the road, and Max left the asphalt to climb it and get a good look at what lay ahead. Rocky and Gizmo leaped over the tumbling weeds as they chased after him.

  Panting, Max came to a stop at the top of the hill. Just as Spots had described, the road they’d been following led to a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire that seemed to spread forever in either direction. The gate through the fence was next to two boulders and some bushes.

  Beyond the fence, the road and the electricity poles ran right up to the big, silvery wall—a sheet of metal that stretched as far as Max could see. Like Spots had said, it was tall, not as tall as the giant wall of Max’s dreams, but at least as high as a three-story building. If there was a gate or door where the road reached the wall, Max couldn’t see it, though the power lines extended over the top.

  Max was about to bark to his friends that they’d made it at last, when he saw the figures of a dozen or more animals converging on the road, just past the chain-link fence. A dry breeze rose from the west, carrying their smells to Max’s nose.

  Coyotes.

  And wolves.

  Dread flooded Max, and he backed away down the hill, trembling and shaking his head.

  “Is it…?” Rocky asked, incredulous.

  “Oh, no,” Gizmo said.

  “It is,” Max said as the fences and animals fell out of view. “Bonecrush and his pack made it to the wall.

  “And somehow,” he added in a growl, “Dolph made it here first.”

  CHAPTER 20

  A DANGEROUS PLAN

  Max stood, halfway down the hill, bewildered. It didn’t make sense. How was Dolph here? How had the wolf managed to catch up to Max at every stage of the journey?

  Of course Dolph would have found a way to lead his pack out of the gorge they’d fallen into during the hurricane. And unlike Max, Rocky, and Gizmo, Dolph wouldn’t have let his followers take long breaks by desert pools, or be herded off the path by a bunch of coyotes, or sleep all night in a comfortable burrow. Somehow, the wolves must have known where Max and his friends were heading, that their ultimate destination lay here, at the big metal wall.

  This journey was long and hard enough without having to worry about the wild canines who thirsted for Max’s blood. If only there was some way to talk sense into Dolph. But there was no way Max would ever get the wolves to show him mercy. Like the coyotes, the wolves knew no love for the humans, not like Max. They never would.

  Gizmo nudged Max. “What do we do?” she asked him
.

  “Any ideas, big guy?” Rocky asked.

  Max looked down at his two friends—his family—and saw them gazing back up at him with confidence. Even now, they trusted him to get them out of this.

  He hadn’t failed them, Max realized. Not yet.

  He refused to give up, not now that they were so close.

  “Keep very quiet,” Max said as he padded back up the hill. “And stay low. We need to see what we’re dealing with, and then we can figure out how we’re going to get past.”

  Rocky and Gizmo followed Max to the highest point on the hill, and then all three dropped to their bellies on the hot dirt, keeping their heads low so that no one would spot them.

  As Max had seen earlier, the wolves and coyotes were gathered on the main road between the chain-link gate and the metal wall. They circled one another. The largest figures—Bonecrush and Dolph—growled at each other, their hackles raised as they sized up the other one’s pack. Both must have found the hole that Spots and Dots had dug under the fence.

  There were only six wolves now, Max realized. Last he’d seen the pack, there had been eight, including Dolph. Two must have run away since then—or been left behind, badly injured after the fall into the gorge. Still, six wolves were much stronger and more dangerous than a Labrador, a Dachshund, and a Yorkshire Terrier.

  The boulders and bushes next to the gate was where Spots said he and his brother had crawled beneath the fence.

  The road where the wolves and coyotes faced off was slightly elevated. A low ditch ran along the road’s edge, from the boulders to the metal wall. Meaning that if they were quiet enough, Max, Rocky, and Gizmo would have a place to hide, out of sight, on the other side of the fence.

  “What do you think those boxes are for?” Gizmo asked, gesturing with her snout.

  Farther south inside the fence, past the bush and the gate, a red box was attached to a support pole. There were more poles and boxes farther down at even intervals. Wires snaked out of the boxes, winding up the poles to a box with mesh covering the end, like the speakers Max had seen at the mice’s mall.

  “They remind me of those yellow boxes back at the train museum,” Max said to Gizmo. “They may have buttons, too.”

  “I wonder what they do,” Gizmo said.

  Rocky growled and scratched at the dirt with his hind legs, frustrated. “Why does it matter? There’s nowhere to hide once you get past that fence. We’d be out in the open.”

  “There’s a ditch,” Max reminded him. “It’s not much, but it’s something.”

  Gizmo sighed, her attention back on the snarling beasts. “So what do we do now? Wait for them to leave?”

  “Sure,” Rocky yipped. “Let those wolves and coyotes fight it out. Whoever is left standing will be way too tired to try and attack us.”

  “I’m not sure that will work,” Max said. “I get the feeling Dolph would win, and we all know he’s not going to let some battle wounds keep him from confronting me.”

  “Oh, I guess you’re right,” Rocky grumbled.

  As Max studied the fence again, his eyes kept coming back to the boxes and the little speakers atop the fence posts. The speakers reminded him of how Samson had used the sound system to frighten off other animals. Surely the red boxes wouldn’t connect to the speakers unless they could trigger some sort of noise.

  Max’s tail thumped in the dirt. “I have an idea,” he said. “I think we can get rid of Dolph, Bonecrush, and everyone else using those boxes.” He licked his friends. “You ready to give it a try?”

  “We trust you, Max,” Gizmo said.

  “We’ll follow you anywhere, big guy,” Rocky said.

  Tail still wagging, Max said, “We’re not home free yet. Stick close, and stay quiet. Ready?”

  “Ready,” Rocky and Gizmo whispered back.

  Still on his belly, Max crawled down the other side of the hill, his eyes on their destination, the boulders next to the gate. Stones and scrubby plants scraped his underside, but Max clamped his jaws shut and snorted in and out, ignoring the pain.

  When he reached the bottom of the hill, Max climbed back onto all fours. Checking that Rocky and Gizmo were with him, he ducked his head low and ran across the desert toward the big rocks.

  The stench of coyotes and wolves overwhelmed Max as he ran closer. The air was noxious with their scents of dominance and anger, fear and anxiety. Their barks and howls echoed as the two pack leaders squared off.

  “I will not tell you again,” Dolph was growling. “Leave here. I have unfinished business with the mutts. And they are on their way.”

  “And I say again,” Bonecrush snarled back, “so do we. You forest dwellers are as much strangers to these lands as those three pets. They promised us a feast of rabbits. They will deliver on this promise, or we will devour them.”

  “There are rabbits?” one of the wolves asked.

  “None for you!” the coyote Max recognized as Moonrise yipped. “They are our rabbits. You are strangers!”

  “We care nothing for rabbits,” Dolph roared. “I must have Max. I will destroy that mutt and his two companions!”

  Max came to a stop behind one of the boulders, waiting for his friends to catch up. He tried to ignore Dolph’s rage-filled words, tried not to think about what the wolf intended to do with him.

  Get past the wall, Max reassured himself. Then you’ll never have to deal with Dolph again.

  The wolves and coyotes howled, the tension between them threatening to break at any moment. Rocky and Gizmo crept into the shade of the boulder next to Max, panting quietly.

  So far, the dogs hadn’t been spotted. And the dry breeze must have been carrying their scents to the east, away from the beasts’ strong, wild noses.

  “This way,” Max whispered.

  Once more he dropped to his belly, crawling along the ground to the bushes.

  Tufts of gray and red-brown fur were caught in the spiky leaves, and the scent of the wolves and coyotes was strong here. Fresh-turned earth formed mounds next to the bushes, where the other animals had enlarged the hidden passage.

  Max let Rocky go first, then Gizmo. The small Dachshund and terrier made it through easily. Max crawled under last, careful not to get his own fur tangled up in the metal links.

  Then they were all on the other side, between the fence and the wall.

  Max saw the old, withered tree that grew next to the wall, near where Spots said he and Dots had dug their tunnel. Sunlight reflected off the metal, glaring into Max’s eyes. But he didn’t care. He would get to the other side, where the humans were. He just had to.

  As he’d guessed, the ground here was lower than the asphalt road, forming a ditch. It was enough space for the dogs to huddle together and hide, at least for now.

  “Stay here,” Max whispered.

  Rocky and Gizmo curled up in the ditch, trembling. Keeping low, Max padded forward to peek onto the road. There, he saw that the coyotes and wolves had formed a rough circle, and in the center of that circle, Dolph and Bonecrush were pacing.

  They were similar in size, though Dolph’s bushier fur made him seem slightly larger than the desert coyote. Even so, it was clear that chasing Max across the country had taken a toll on the wolf. He still moved with a slight limp, and Max could see his ribs poking beneath the exposed skin where some of his fur had been burned away in the riverboat fire.

  Bonecrush was better fed and had the larger pack. But Max knew the wolf’s single goal was to take him down. He would never bet against his old enemy.

  Dolph had nothing to lose. If a fight broke out with the coyotes, he would go dangerously feral. Max was certain he’d be the last beast left standing.

  And then he’d be free to attack Max without any opposition.

  Max carefully backed away from the growling packs. Turning his head, he looked down the chain fence at the nearest red box. There was a black button set in its center, and above it was a sign: ALARM.

  Crawling back to his friends, he bark
ed softly to get them to come in close. They lay huddled in the ditch, snout-to-snout.

  “They’re going to fight any minute,” Max whispered. “But I think if we can press the button on that red box, it will make a noise that might send them scattering. The sign says it’s an alarm, so even if they don’t run away, I bet humans will come and scare them off.”

  Gizmo’s tufted ears drooped. “That’s if we can even get to the button before the wolves and coyotes see us. It’s right out in the open.”

  Rocky let out a whine. “And we can’t just make a run for the tree next to the wall. There’s nothing but wide, open desert between here and there.” Tucking his spiky tail, Rocky muttered, “I still trust you, buddy, but I’m beginning to get nervous.”

  Max scanned the distance between the hole in the fence and the silvery wall. Everything Rocky and Gizmo had said was true. As soon as they stepped out into the open, the wolves and coyotes would be on them.

  Then an idea flitted through Max’s mind. A dangerous, deadly idea.

  From the road, the growls rose even louder.

  “Last chance,” Bonecrush howled. “Leave here or die.”

  “I say the same to you, desert rat!” Dolph bellowed back.

  The fight between the leaders of the wolf and coyote packs was about to begin. And even though the ditch provided some cover, Max and his friends weren’t exactly hidden. At any moment, a shift in the wind could alert the wolves and coyotes to their presence.

  Max had no time to think about what he was about to do, no time to reconsider.

  He looked down at his two best friends in the whole world. Gizmo with her fluffy face, bushy brows, and happy, trusting eyes. Long, slender Rocky, his black fur shining under the bright sun, his gaze fearful but steadfast.

  Max would not let them down. Not now.

  “I have a plan,” Max said softly, his words almost lost under the noise from the road. “You’re not going to like it, but you have to trust me, one last time.”