Chapter 7 Animal

Nothing gets through when Maximilian Rival is around these days.  Candace knew she walked straight into his other home, the one that isn't mom's, dad's, Lucky's, or hers.

He was the baby now and everybody protected him as such but he was determined to not take his little sister's place as the next one up for grabs.  Everybody was a candidate for a wrestle in the woods next to the river on a cold night now that he was older, regardless of what Lucky expected of him.

"Hi." Candace said, stepping away from her little brother's rushed shoveling of her into their brother's home.  She heard the luggage topple after he let go of it and then a solid unmistakable thud on the table.

"Hi." Max said.

She looked at the gun on the table.

"It's not my fault, whatever it is." She said to him, knowing him. "Maybe you should turn that down." She said, sitting at the table.

"For what?" Max asked, "It's legal.  The government gave you the same right to do what you need to.  Thing is, we aren't looking at people."

Candace looked at him.  She could see that he was agitated.  He always was and she understood that no matter how calm or distracting their lives were they would never be like normal people.  No family gets to experience strange sightings together. Sure, the gathering in the front yard to figure out what made the tracks in the walkway was a normalcy that happened all the time with little luck of ever finding out what did it but to be in the arms of the beast, the whole family, was not normal.  She didn't hound him.  It was too early for an argument with her little brother and after the long ride there, all she wanted to do was see Lucky and rest before visiting the river.

"Lucky's at work." Max said, taking a sip of his beverage.

"I know.  I saw him in the paper.  Hoped I'd catch him before he left."

"You saw that too?"

"Yeah but I didn't read the story." Candace said as she is rubbed her temples.

"Pick a bed.  The couch is mine." Max said and so is the television.  Cup of coffee?" He offered.

Candace smiled.

"No thanks.  I'm going to do what you said and pick a bed and wait for Lucky to get back."

"Good idea."

"But before I go—" Candace began. "How have you been?"

Max responded to his big sister by looking away from her.

"Don't." He said, quickly shutting her out. "Don't you have some luggage to put away?" He asked, getting up and hauling it into the back before she could say anything.

The second he returned she leapt from the chair and hugged her little brother as tight as he allowed.  Max held onto her, sniffling in her ear.

"Don't forget," Candace said, her arms still holding him, "I was there too."

Max let his sister go.  He looked into her eyes, trying to smile.

"Yeah. I know." He said and sat down to what was left of his coffee.

Candace turned to go into the room.

"It was at the hospital.  The last full moon we had." Max said.  "I read the story."

Candace turned back around and took in her little brother sitting at her big brother's table sipping a mug of coffee with a gun in front of him.

"Is Lucky ok?" She asked.

"Well, he's at work with a sprained arm. He's acting like there's nothing wrong with it. Other than still reciting dad, he's fine."

"We need to get out of here."

"Where are we going, Candace?  The continent looks at this stuff like a bad case of hallucinogenics. You know.  Even the old man that helped us that night knew about that animal." Max said.

Candace didn't move.  The house was quiet once again.  She thought about that night and remembered the strong embrace she was held in.  No one has held her that way since.

"Animal?" She shivered.

Max looked at her without answering.  The truth about that night, evident, on his face.

"Are the doors locked?" Candace asked.

"Yes." Max answered.

"The windows?"

"Yes." He replied.

"We'll go see dad in a couple of hours. I have a driver." Candace said.

"He cool?" Max questioned.

"Half priced. Yeah." She answered.

"What else did the paper say?" She asked.

Max thought a moment, "A lot of people were killed."

"Did it turn back?"

"You know what?  It didn't say."

"Hmm. I'll ask Lucky about it."

"See you later." Max said, getting up from the table, grabbing the throw blanket and falling into the softness of the couch.

"See ya later." Candace said and went into the bedroom.

She shut the door without slamming it.  Looking around the room, she noticed that nothing had changed.  The plant in the corner could use some water, she noticed.  In a year, it had grown beautifully.  She sat on the bed next to her luggage and opened it.  She sorted through a few pieces and decided that since everything was there, she wouldn't fill the bureau  just yet and zipped it. 

The bed felt good to her body.  By now, she realized that Lucky, her brothers, had given her this room.  Every year they always sat her luggage in this room.  It was such the norm that she couldn't remember the day it became her room, fully set up with a television, rabbit ears on top of it, and a rotary phone with its own number.  Having the kind of peace from the world that many long for in the world, the personal line was a nice luxury to experience.

"Dad." She said softly and picked up the receiver.  She dialed his number and put the receiver to her ear.  She listened casually for her father to answer his phone.  There was no sound to hear.  The dead air of the rotary forced her to wonder if she had dialed the correct number.  After resetting the line, she listened for a dial tone but there was none.  Strange, she thought.  It had worked before.  She checked the coil of the receiver to the base of the large square with the huge cradle that sat on the nightstand.  It was intact.  She followed the phone line from the back of it to the phone jack installed on the baseboard near the nightstand. She wondered why that end had not been secured inside the phone jack. She pushed the small clear square into it's opening until she heard it click.  She listened for a dial tone once again, but there wasn't one.

"All right.  Lucky was doing some cleaning and bumped the phone jack and damaged it." She excused her older brother for his terrible cleaning and went to use the phone in the living room.

Maximilian was asleep until he heard the rotary completing each number.  He covered his head.  Candace listened for the ring again but there wasn't one.

Even stranger she thought.  And checked the line.  Seeing that it was fine she tapped Max on the head.

"Come go outside with me.  And bring your gun."

In seconds, the two were walking around the property. Max was careful not to display the weapon.

"What are you looking for?" Max asked. 

"The phone line. We can't make calls." She said.

Max stopped. "That means we're trapped." He said.

"Come on and no it doesn't.  I'll use his neighbors phone. I just want to know where it is in case the phone company asks.  Max, I hope he doesn't call home otherwise he's going to be disappointed." Candace laughed.

"That's not funny." Max insisted as Candace stopped the two of them.

"No, Max.  That's not funny." Candace said, looking at a bundle of severed telephone wire next to Lucky's house.

"What do you think did that?" Max asked, looking at wires that were easy to tell, had been ripped apart.

Candace looked at him, dazed by the sight of torn telephone line. 

"Let's start with a bear." She said.

Max grunted at the answer.  He figured out all of the possible angles that could have been used.  There was no food, including garbage, nearby.  No swimming pools or mud puddles for drinking water.  There were no trees to climb.  Everything pointed in the direction of human. A mad human. Max thought. 

"Yeah.  Right."  Max said, removing the gun from his waist band. He cocked it and scanned the yard.