Maximus Jones's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The beast struck the wall. Timber cracked. Maximus stumbled back from the window as dust fell from the rafters. He needed a plan, but the old cabin gave him no time. Another blow landed. A log shifted in its notch. The wolf backed into a corner and pressed flat against the floor. Maximus grabbed the stolen blanket and looked for a weapon, a hole, anything. He found a knife on the shelf. Small. Useless against that thing. The wall buckled again. Light showed through a widening seam. He pressed his hands to the boards, and the wood gave under his weight. The chimney breathed steady heat beside him. He thought of the carved boulder outside, the painted half-man shapes, the birds and wolves marching across old stone. Someone here had lived with this beast. Someone had known how. A voice cut through the pounding. "Move to the back wall. Now." A girl crouched at the window slit, brown ponytail swinging, binoculars bouncing at her chest. She wore a fishing vest with a dozen pockets. She had watched him, he realized, the way Hawk Eye had watched him. She reached through the gap and shoved a small tin at his hands. "Smoke starter. It hates fire more than it wants you." "Who are you?" Maximus said. "Aliyah. Talk later." She jerked her chin at the failing wall. "That stew you stole? That was mine." The beast hit the corner. Two logs tore loose and daylight poured in. A huge arm reached through, fur wet and dark, fingers spread. Maximus threw himself sideways. He pried the lid off the tin. Inside sat dry moss and flint. His hands shook, but he struck the flint against the knife and caught a spark. The moss flared. He pushed the burning clump into the coals, then scooped a flaming stick from the hearth and jammed it at the reaching arm. Fur caught. The beast screamed, a sound too high for its size, and yanked back through the broken wall. The whole cabin groaned. "Out the front," Aliyah said. "While it's blind with pain." Maximus ran. The wolf shot past his legs. They burst through the door into cold air. Behind them the beast beat at its own smoking arm near the split logs. Maximus did not stop until they reached the tree line, where two giant redwoods rose beside a curtain of willow branches. Aliyah crouched behind a trunk and raised her binoculars at the wrecked cabin. "It won't chase into open ground. Not yet." Maximus caught his breath. He had lost his shelter, his warmth, his fire. But he was alive, and he was no longer alone. He looked at the girl watching the beast so calmly. "You know how to find it," he said. Aliyah lowered the binoculars. "I know how to get close. Getting proof out alive is your problem."