“C’mon Maze. Let’s go home, buddy.” Cole held his hand out in a gesture of friendship.
Maze pawed the earth with his raw skin. Evan’s sharp medical eye could see he was hurting. The pads of his paws had grown thick calluses, but they were cracked and bleeding so much they were caked with muddied blood. The dirt beneath his prancing feet was christened with reddish-black droplets, but still the coydog stood his ground. He’d managed to get burs tangled in his silver coat over the past twenty miles and he was favoring his right side. His right front ankle was swollen badly. Evan was afraid he’d been stung by a scorpion or bitten by a snake. He wouldn’t know until he examined him, but either way, he needed immediate treatment.
“Maze, I know you want to find Meg. We do, too. We haven’t given up on her,” Evan glared over at Cole, nodding emphatically to the coydog.
“I won’t stop until we find her, Maze. I promise. Come on back to the car with us. I need to check out your leg. You’re hurt.”
Maze lowered his head and stared up at the boys. The coydog knew exactly what they were trying to do and wanted none of it. Maze had lost respect for the people who let his Meg leave.
“Maze?” Evan coaxed.
Then Maze did something he had never done to any of the Winter children, ever.
He stood his ground and growled furiously, barking and snapping at Evan. Thick spittle and foam flew from his angry mouth.
He had a wild, crazed look in his usually intelligent yellow eyes that would have been proof to anyone watching that coydog had crossed a line inside himself. Maze was absolutely serious about fighting for his right to keep running toward his Meg and if they were going to try to stop him, they would seriously regret it.
“Maze, calm down,” Cole tried to coax, but Evan knew better. Maze had checked out. His body was quivering with anger, his shoulders twitching—ready for a fight. His whole body was poised like a coiled spring ready to burst across the fifteen yards between him and those who dared try to stop him.
Evan reached behind his back slowly and grimaced at what he knew he was going to have to do. He wrapped his fingers around the tranquilizing gun and slipped it from his back pocket. He didn’t even take time to aim. With the precision of years of training, Evan raised the gun and pulled the trigger. Maze reacted the moment he saw the glint of metal coming from behind Evan’s back. He darted off to the side, trying to escape, but he was too late. Evan’s shot was too accurate. Maze was caught in midleap. He let out a plaintive cry when his flank was hit and tumbled to the ground in a pile of matted fur.
“Wow,” was all Cole could say.
Evan walked carefully toward the coydog that had been hand-raised by his sister and watched as his anxious panting started to slow. “I’m so sorry, big man. Honestly, I am. But we need you safe and healthy for when Meg comes home. We need you to calm down.”
Evan reached down carefully and patted the strong canine’s side watching his yellow eyes as they struggled to stay open, fighting against the strong tranquilizer. “That’s right, Maze. Just rest. I’ll take care of you. It’ll be okay.” Evan didn’t stop to notice moisture in his eyes until he blinked the tears away.
Maze let out a pitiful series of whines as he fought to stay conscious.
Evan reached to rub his ears just the way he liked—the way Meg would—and the coydog yawned a sad cry. There he lay, feeling alone and abandoned by the girl he loved, bleeding and broken, shot by his brother. All the anger seeped out of him as he slipped his tongue out of his numbing mouth and licked Evan’s hand once before succumbing to the tranquilizer.
“Do you need help?” Cole’s voice came from over his shoulder. He’d forgotten about him.
“I got him,” Evan said, sniffing. He reached under the coydog and lifted him easily. Evan didn’t say a word the entire walk back to the car. Cole opened the door to the back seat for Evan. Though he had offered to help carry the fifty pound dog, Evan insisted on shouldering his sister’s coydog the entire way.
Once they were back on the road, Cole tried to reach out again.
“Listen Ev, I’m sorry if I offended you before. I’m sure you want to find your sister.”
“You have no idea,” Evan mumbled and fell silent, staring out the side window of the sedan in silence the rest of the ride home.
Cole shook his head in frustration, but accepted Evan’s silence. It’s all he’d been giving anyone since Meg’s disappearance.
Once home, Evan reached in the back seat to lift Maze out. He didn’t say a word, even when they walked inside to find Sloan and Dr. Winter wringing their hands with worry over the disheveled canine.
“Sloan, would you please fill the tub halfway with medium hot water so we can clean him while he’s still out.”