There she is, Georgie said. Good ol’ Belle. I can take you to her.
Max was about to respond—but as he watched the float reach the end of the street, something changed. The once-white cloud had darkened to gray, and flashes of lightning arced within.
“Something is wrong,” Max said.
Good ol’ Belle, Georgie said. Everyone just loves her.
Great gusts of wind whooshed through the street, picking up the gold scarf around Belle’s neck. The scarf shredded into tatters and tore away.
The stormy float turned the corner, and Max could make out several wispy shapes behind it. Some looked like wolves with glowing red eyes. Others, Max couldn’t recognize at all.
“What does it mean?” Max asked.
Everything will be all right, Dr. Lynn said.
Everyone just loves Belle, Georgie repeated as the unseen humans’ laughter grew louder.
Please find her, Boss’s voice sounded.
A crack of thunder echoed through the perfect summer sky.
Max awoke.
It was dark in the bedroom. A cool breeze blew in through the open window, raising the lacy white curtains. One of the shutters had opened and had slammed against the wall—the sound Max had heard in his dream. Rocky and Gizmo snored nearby on the bed.
But the space where Dr. Lynn had lain was empty.
Max’s heart began to pound, until he heard the door creak behind him as Dr. Lynn slipped back into the room.
“Oh, Max,” she whispered when she saw him awake and watching her. “It’s true, my friend. What happened at the labs cured you. I can save everyone.” She scratched behind his ears, her eyes glimmering.
“I’d almost given up hope,” she said.
“Me, too,” Max admitted. And though his words had come out as a bark, she seemed to know what he’d meant. She leaned forward and gently kissed his forehead.
“I have something for you,” she said. “And for Rocky and Jane.” She crawled into the center of the bed and sat down. She gently shook Rocky and Gizmo until the two small dogs opened their eyes.
“What is it?” Rocky said. “I was sleeping over here.”
“Did something happen?” Gizmo asked.
Max shook his head. “She says she has something for us.”
Dr. Lynn picked up Rocky and set him gently on her lap. Producing a red collar, she attached it around Rocky’s neck.
Rocky yipped and wiggled, trying to escape. “Whoa, I don’t need a collar! I never have, and I never will!”
“Hold on, Rocky,” Dr. Lynn said in a soothing voice, even as her strong hands kept him in place. “This is very, very important. I know you don’t like it, but I need the three of you to wear these.”
“But why?” Rocky said with a whine.
Dr. Lynn finished clasping the collar around Rocky’s neck, then set him back down next to Gizmo. “These collars have GPS devices attached. That means that no matter where you go, I will be able to track you. If you remove them, then I won’t be able to find you. Understand?”
Max barked twice for yes.
“We already found her,” Rocky grumbled. “I don’t see why she needs to find us.”
“Oh, Rocky,” Gizmo said. “She knows what she’s doing. Besides, I think you look very handsome with your new collar!”
Rocky ducked his head. “Yeah, yeah. Thanks.”
Dr. Lynn quickly attached a green collar around Gizmo’s neck, then a blue one around Max’s. Max wasn’t entirely pleased with his, either—it rubbed his fur. He hoped he’d get used to it soon.
The old woman fell quiet for a moment, then said, “I’m afraid, friends, that we have to part ways for now.”
Max stiffened. He stared at Dr. Lynn, not wanting what he’d just heard to be true.
Dr. Lynn smiled sadly. “I know you came all this way to find me. And I wish I could spend more time with you. But it’s urgent that I take the results of your blood tests to a special lab where my colleagues are working to find a cure, and if I take you with me…” She shook her head. “Many people are afraid of animals now, and even though it’s not your fault, they blame dogs like you for what has happened. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
It made sense. Max remembered the three-ringed symbols that people had spray-painted in places where there were animals.
But the idea of losing the warmth and comfort of the first kind human they’d found in months made Max want to curl up into a ball and whimper.
The three dogs watched sadly as Dr. Lynn stood and walked out the bedroom door. Max and his friends followed her, trailing behind as she left the house and made her way back to the vet’s office. Max saw a German Shepherd patrolling in the distance, but most of the other pets seemed to have turned in for the night. Some of the dogs and cats lay on the lawn and roof of the vet’s office, snoring peacefully.
Dr. Lynn collected several boxes from the vet’s office and loaded them into her white van. Max saw stacks of the orange-and-white barriers inside, ready to be laid out. The old woman also hefted out bag after bag of kibble and kitty chow, which she stacked in piles on the lawn, then filled all the empty bowls with water. Just as she had at the beach, she was leaving behind enough food for the animals to get by for a few more weeks, at least.
With her van all packed up, Dr. Lynn slammed the back door shut, then turned her attention to Max, Rocky, and Gizmo. “Remember,” she said, smiling sadly, “you must keep your collars on. I’ll leave a trail of beacons, so you’ll always know where I’m going. I can’t bring you with me in my van, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t stay close so that when I can collect you again, neither of us will have to go very far.”
Kneeling down, she petted the three dogs one by one. “I’m not abandoning you. This will all be over soon. We’ll see each other again, my friends.”
She stood and climbed behind the wheel of the van. A moment later the headlights flashed on, and the engine grumbled to life. Max trembled as the van’s tires crunched over the gravel driveway and turned onto the street.
“Oh, I’m going to miss her,” Gizmo said softly.
Rocky darted in front of Max and Gizmo. “Why are we sitting here? Let’s follow her! If she gets too far ahead, we might lose her! I don’t trust these collar things.”
Max longed to chase after the van, to find some way to open the back doors and sneak inside. Instead, as he watched the red taillights grow smaller, he said, “I’m going to miss her, too. But you heard what she said. It’s too dangerous for us to go with her. There are more bad people who might hurt us.”
“I can’t believe people would do that,” Gizmo said. “It seems so mean.”
“Yeah, well, some humans can be mean,” Rocky grumbled. “So what do we do now? Do we stay here and wait for her?”
Max shook his head. “We still have a promise to keep,” he said, remembering his strange dream about the Collie on her parade float. “We have to go to Baton Rouge and find Belle. We made a promise to Boss.”
“Oh, yeah,” Rocky said. “And that’s west, right?”
Gizmo sat next to Rocky. “Yes, it is. And I bet there’s lots more animals who would like to know there’s a cure coming. Lots of animals who would be less scared knowing their humans will be coming back soon.”
“Exactly,” Max said. “For now, we should get some more sleep. Tomorrow, we’re back on the road.”
The three dogs found a soft patch of ground on the vet’s lawn. Max knew he sounded confident and in charge to his friends, but he couldn’t help but ache inside.
It’s almost over, he told himself as he drifted off to sleep. The people will come home soon. Then everything will be back to normal.
The words were only slightly comforting, but enough to ease him toward dreams.
Until a breeze carried a familiar musk past his nose.
Max snapped to attention and raised his head.
“Wolves!” he barked.