A beat up blue Ford bumped down the road returning to town, Xavier grumbled under his breath trying to wrap his brain around what had happened at the ranch. He on his way to see the grumpy, overworked vet about the dog clawing and biting the bars of the pet carrier in the bed of the truck. The ranch dogs had gone to the vet this morning for routine shots and both had been acting sick, lethargic for the first few hours. 

Then the older dog was a total spitfire. It was funny to see the dog running in circles like a pup again. Then everything flipped without cause. The mutt attacked his boss, the dog’s owner since the birth of the dog. Not just attacked but nearly tore out his throat. Pete, another hand, had to shoot the thing three times before the old dog stayed down. When the female started following that same pattern, they shoved her into a dog carrier and drew straws who would deal with this mess.

His boss’ wife took him to the hospital, more than likely needing lots of stitches to mend those chucks torn from his shoulder and neck.

Xavier took off his hat and wiped his brow out of habit then need and replaced it. He shifted the wrist protector covering his forearm, glancing at the full quiver of arrows beside him on the bench seat. Aware of the well-used compound bow hanging on the rack in the back window. He wasn’t taking any chances if that dog got loose. There were many kids and old folk around this place that wouldn’t be able to defend themselves. 

His foot slammed on the break and the dog yelped in pain being thrown off her feet, tires dug into the gravel. He pulled the parking break and popped the manual transmission into neutral before stepping out staring stupidly at the vet’s clinic engulfed in flames. Someone was screaming inside, he bolted toward the building, the vet was running in circle in the laboratory part of the clinic engulfed in flames.

Xavier fumbled with his phone dropping it several times before he managed to get it steady enough to start dialing. The small town’s fire truck was already screaming toward the vet’s office by that time. A neighbor on the crest of the hill had seen the smoke and had called it in. “The vet is inside,” Xavier called to them moving away from the intense heat.