The Last Dogs: The Vanishing (The Last Dogs, 1) - Hardcover

Holt, Christopher

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0316200050 ISBN 13: 9780316200059

Verlag: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2012

Inhaltsangabe

In this exciting, dog-focused middle grade series, when all the humans in his world disappear, Max—a yellow Labrador Retriever—begins the search for his family. 

Max knows that if he can just find Madame Curie, a wise, old black Lab, she'll be able to help. Madame had a premonition of astonishing events to come—she might know where Max's family is.

But Max can't make the journey alone. Joined by friends Rocky and Gizmo, Max sets off to find Madame. Along the way, the trio must face a pack of angry wolves, forage for food in a land where kibble is akin to gold, befriend a house full of cats, and outsmart a gang of subway rats. Ultimately, they'll have to escape from the biggest threat of all: the Corporation, a "perfect" society for dogs and by dogs, where nothing is quite as it seems.

The Last Dogs: The Vanishing is a thrilling adventure and a tale of three unlikely friends on an epic quest to find their people—and bring them home.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Christopher Holt grew up in a house filled to the rafters with dogs. He draws on his memories -- of Salt, Pepper, Cupcake, Ariel, Shadow, Brandy, Sir Edmund Spunk, and Showtime Double Feature -- to create the four-footed heroes of The Last Dogs. He has worked other jobs -- most notably, selling gum balls and gum ball machines -- but began writing professionally at the age of eighteen. Christopher currently lives in Seattle, Washington.

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The Last Dogs: The Vanishing

By Christopher Holt, Greg Call

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Copyright © 2013 Christopher Holt Greg Call
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-0-316-20005-9

CHAPTER 1

BRIGHT AND EMPTY

Max's head jerked up from the chilly concrete floor. He blinked his eyes,clearing them of the fog of sleep.

Max was alone.

He was snuggled against a ratty old blanket in the back of his cage—akennel, the humans called it. It was quiet and cold, and Max's stomach growledendlessly, nipping at his insides until he ached.

It had been so long since he'd seen anyone. So long since he'd eaten the last ofhis kibble, two days since he lapped up the last of his water. Day by day heawoke to the click of a timer and the fluorescent lights on the ceiling flickingon, the buzz of them hitting his ears before the light shone into his tiredeyes.

And day by day Max expected Vet, the man who was supposed to watch after him, tocome and refill his food bowl, to take his water dish to the big stainless-steelbasin across the room and fill it with water.

But Vet never came.

It had been two weeks. At least, Max thought it was two weeks.

The first week had been normal, with Vet coming into the back room to feed andwater Max as he did every morning, and to take him out to the field behind thefarmhouse-turned-Vet's-office so that Max could run and stretch his legs.

The kennel was hardly Max's favorite place, but he'd grown used to it. Onceevery year, Charlie and Emma and their parents put him here while they wentaway. Why they didn't let him stay on the farm, he didn't know. But every visit,he was poked and prodded by Vet, who would lift Max's floppy ears and lookinside and clean his teeth with a strange-looking brush. Vet's helpers wouldcome brush his golden fur, combing out the burrs and matted hair. Eventually,after many days, Charlie and Emma always returned and everything went back tonormal—that's what made the time with Vet bearable.

But this time was different.

By Max's count, the fluorescents had turned out six times and had turned onseven times since he'd last seen Vet—seven days. Seven days since Max hadbeen out of his cage. Seven days since he'd had anything to eat.

His tongue and nose were dry. His stomach twisted with hunger pains. He was sotired.

And alone.

Vet's back room wasn't large, but it had enough room for four cages just likethe one that boxed Max in. Each kennel was about the size of one of the closetsin his family's home. Metal pipes made up the four corners, with chain-linkfencing stretched between each pipe so that Max couldn't get out.

In Max's past visits, other dogs had been in the kennels: Cupcake, a fluffyLhasa Apso who yapped complaints day and night about how her space simply wasn'tposh enough; Shadow, a stocky black Chow who was mostly quiet and shyand kept to himself; Ariel, a wiry mutt who liked to gnaw and dig at the bottomof the kennel when she wasn't barking challenges at Shadow.

And Max's favorite kennel companion out of all his visits was an older femaledog named Madame Curie, though Max just called her Madame. She was the same sizeas Max and the same breed—Labrador—only her fur was like the nightsky, black and flecked with strands of white. She was all wise words and goodhumor, and talking with her always helped the days pass by faster.

Max especially liked looking at the sparkly golden symbol on hercollar—three connected rings in a straight row. He'd never seen anythingso fancy on another dog, and it glittered spectacularly even under thefluorescent lights.

Madame had been with Max right up until the day Vet had stopped coming. Maxawoke one morning to find her kennel empty, its door squeaking on its hinges.She hadn't even said good-bye.

Since then, the other kennels remained empty.

Max barely had enough room to pace back and forth. His area was bare except forthe torn blanket that he slept on to avoid the cold concrete floor, the emptyfood dish, the plastic water dispenser that used to fill his now-dried-up bowl,and the shed fur that formed little messy piles. Once he'd also had a rubberball, but in a fit of hunger, he'd torn it into tiny pieces, which were now partof the mess on the floor.

And in the back corner was the place Max made his bathroom. He had been soashamed the first time he'd been forced to go inside his cage. Ever since he wasa pup, he'd been taught that his business was only to be done outdoors.

Beyond the kennels, Max could see Vet's examination room. The walls were linedwith counters and cabinets, with sterile medical equipment hanging from pegs andlying in blue liquid. In the center of the room was a long table, its top shinysteel. On the other side of the room from Max's cage was the large metal basinwith the faucet.

The faucet dripped.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Each water drop pinged against the bottom of the sink, and Max's ears twitchedwith each ping. His throat burned for water.

Max hadn't thought of it much at the time, but in the days before Madamedisappeared, she'd started to act strangely. Muttering of something coming.Something dangerous.

"Be prepared, Maxie," she'd told Max in that serious, grave tone of hers thenight before she was gone. "There is a darkness on the horizon. I can feel it."

Max had been chewing on his red ball covered with nubs. "I don't feel anything,"he'd said with the ball between his teeth. "Are you sure it's not just an olddog ache?"

Madame had barked a friendly laugh. "Of course I feel it 'cause I'm old, Maxie.Old dogs have smarter bones that creak and rattle when bad things are going tohappen." Laughter leaving her voice, she added, "I don't know what it is yet.But when I find out, I'll tell you. Be safe, little Maxie."

And now Madame was gone.

Everyone was gone.

His dreams showed the darkness she spoke about, or at least how Max imagined itlooked. And even though his body ached, he couldn't stop worrying about whereshe'd gone, or what her cryptic words meant for his family.

Because if Max knew one thing above all else, it was that his family would neverabandon him for two weeks unless something or someone was keeping them from him.

If only he had a way out, then he could find his family himself. A wave ofexhaustion rolled over Max, and he padded back to his blanket. He turned in acircle and began to lie down, his eyes already halfway closed.

And then he heard something: a rustling of plastic and a creak of hinges.

Max's eyes snapped wide open. He darted to the side of the kennel, stuck hissnout through the chain-link fence, and sniffed deeply.

A stench of fur and musk met his nose. He saw the small cat door that led fromVet's examination room into the main house. It was swinging back and forth, asthough something had just darted through it.

And Max could hear a clattering of claws atop the concrete floor.

"Hey!" Max barked. "Who's there?"

From across the room, a muffled voice barked, "Whoa!"

There was a great noise—a clanging and crashing as things fell and hit thefloor somewhere out of sight.

A creature darted from behind the table and raced across the room, back towardthe door, a latex glove covering its head.

"Stop!" Max yelped. "Please, I need help!"

The little creature skidded to a stop mere inches from the cat door. It shookits head until the latex glove flew off, letting Max get a good look at theanimal.

It was a dog.

A very small dog—no bigger than Max had been as a puppy. For a moment...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2012
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0316200050
• ISBN 13: 9780316200059
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 384
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Giunti Editore; n.pederzini@terminaldistribuzione.com; ; Via Bruno Buozzi, 24/26,; Granarolo dell'Emilia BO,; 40057; Italien