Max gritted his teeth and yanked the wheel. The Rustbucket plowed through a thicket of pine trees, the branches scraping against the sides with a deafening REEEEEE.
CRASH. THWACK.
They burst into a hidden clearing just as a massive explosion rocked the path they had been on.
BOOM.
A drone had self-destructed, leveling the trees where they would have been seconds ago.
Vix leaped back through the hole in the roof, landing in a crouch on the floorboards. She was covered in black oil and forest debris.
She immediately walked over to Ben and nudged his hand with her cold, wet nose.
WHINE.
"Yeah, yeah. Good job, Vix," Ben muttered, wiping a glob of drone oil off his shirt.
"Great. Now the van smells like a wet kennel and burnt grease," Gwen snapped, though she looked relieved to be alive. "What's next? Is she going to start shedding all over my sleeping bag?"
Vix turned her sightless head toward Gwen and let out a low, vibrating growl.
GRRRRRRR.
"Don't tempt her, Gwen," Ben smirked. "I think she likes the taste of redheads."
The Rustbucket's engine wheezed as Max steered it into a deep, limestone ravine. The jagged rock walls rose up on either side, blocking the view of the sky and the searching red lights of the drones.
**SHHH-CRUNCH.**
The tires rolled over a bed of dry river stones. Max killed the lights and the engine. Silence slammed into the cabin, broken only by the **TICK-TICK-TICK** of the cooling manifold and the heavy, wet panting of Vix.
"Is... is it over?" Ben whispered. He was still pinned against the floor by Vix's front paws.
**SLURP.**
Vix's tongue dragged from Ben's chin to his forehead. It felt like a wet rasp.
"HEY! STOP IT!" Ben tried to push her away, but her arms were like solid oak. The orange bristles on her forearms poked through his shirt, irritating his skin.
"Ben, you have a giant glob of alien spit in your hair," Gwen said, her voice flat with disgust. She reached for a roll of paper towels, but Vix's head snapped toward her.
SNAP. HISS.
Vix's neck gills flared open, emitting a low-frequency hiss that made the windows vibrate.
"WHOA! Easy, girl! I'm just helping the dweeb!" Gwen jumped back, her hands up. "Grandpa, your space-mutt is being territorial!"
Max climbed out of the driver's seat, his knees cracking loudly in the quiet. POP.
He reached into the overhead bin and pulled out a small, blue-tinted flashlight. He shone it on Ben and Vix.
"She's not being mean, Gwen. She's 'marking' him," Max said. He adjusted his glasses, looking at the way Vix was huddled over Ben. "Vulpimancers are pack animals. To her, Ben isn't just a partner; he's the center of her world. She's coating him in her scent so the other hunters know he's hers."
"That is the grossest thing I have ever heard in my entire ten years of living," Ben groaned. He felt a warm, tingly sensation spreading from the watch into his arm.
THUMP-THUMP.
The heartbeat of the watch felt louder. Ben looked at Vix's sightless face. For a second, he didn't feel afraid. He felt a weird surge of... pride?
"She thinks I'm the boss?" Ben asked.
"She thinks you're the 'Sire', Ben," Max corrected him. He sat on the edge of the bunk, his face looking old and tired in the blue light. "The Chaquetrix is sending out a signal. It tells her that you are the one who can continue her race. It's not about 'bossing' her around. It's about a biological contract."
"So she's like a bodyguard with a crush?" Gwen smirked, though she stayed far away from Vix's teeth. "Does this mean Ben has to take her for walks? Does she eat Sumo Slammer cards?"
GRRRR.
Vix let out a low growl at the word "walks." She turned back to Ben and began to nibble gently on his earlobe with her front teeth.
NIBBLE. CLICK.
"OW! HEY! THAT'S MY EAR!" Ben yelled. He finally managed to wiggle out from under her.
Vix didn't chase him. She sat back on her haunches, her long tongue hanging out as she panted. Her gills WHIRR ed contentedly.
"She's just checking your vitals, Ben," Max said, stifling a small laugh. "Vulpimancers use their teeth to check the blood flow of their young... or their mates."
"I am NOT her mate!" Ben screamed, his voice echoing off the ravine walls.
Suddenly, the Chaquetrix began to BEEP a low, mournful tone.
*BEEP... BEEP... BEEP.*
The pink light around Vix's collar began to fade. Her orange fur turned into translucent pink mist. She let out one final, soft bark...a sound of pure disappointment...before being sucked back into the dial.
SHLOOP.
The cabin felt twice as large without her, but the smell remained...
"Great," Gwen said, waving a hand in front of her nose. "Now the Rustbucket smells like a zoo's dumpster. What are we going to do about the roof, Grandpa? And the door? And the fact that we're being hunted by space squids?"
Max didn't answer. He was staring at the dashboard. A small, hidden screen had popped up, showing a scrolling line of red text in a language Ben didn't recognize.
"He's here," Max whispered.
"Who's here? Vil-something?" Ben asked.
"Vilgax," Max confirmed. "He's not just sending drones anymore. That last drone sent a full DNA scan of you to his flagship. He knows exactly who you are, Ben. And he knows what you can do."