out.

 

“Scout! Help!” Jenna yelled.

 

A splash of water slapped Scout in the face. “Oh no.” she said as she coughed. A log moved over her head and banged into another log. Scout was forced underwater and couldn’t find a way to get to the surface. She could hear Jenna yell “Scout!” from above the water. Scout swam over to Banshee and Decoy, who were also under water, clawing away at the logs above them.

 

Brendon was struggling to keep is head above the water, a bunch of logs came rushing towards him. He ducked under just before the logs were about to hit him, and he was completely submerged, with no way out.

 

Balto and Ashlie pushed their way through the logs. Jenna, Rylie, and Steele were saved, but Sage was nowhere to be found.

 

“Where’s Sage?” Jenna yelled as she looked around frantically.

 

Ashlie looked around, but then her head was crushed between two logs. She fell under water and then noticed that Scout, Banshee, and Decoy had found a way to the surface. She swam towards them, but then, a big rush of current came and pushed her away from them. She now had to swim a farther distance to get to where the dogs were, and she couldn’t hold her breath much longer.

 

Decoy and Brendon made it to the other side. Decoy cut his paw on a sharp piece of tree bark while getting out of the water.

 

“C’mon Scout!” he said. He waited for Scout to swim to him and he pulled her out. Rylie and Banshee stepped out and shook their fur.

 

“Where’s everybody else?” Rylie asked as he looked around.

 

Steele got out of the water, and shook his fur as he waited for Jenna to come. When she arrived, he helped her out of the water since she was unable to do it with a newly bruised shoulder.

 

Balto soon followed, and climbed out.

 

Ashlie came to the shore, and ran over to the rest of the pack and shook.

 

“Where’s Sage?” Steele yelled.

 

Brendon saw her floating on a log, almost unable to move. “There she is!” he yelled.

 

“I’ll get her!” yelled Steele.

 

Balto jumped in front of him. “No! Let me!” he demanded. Balto jumped into the river and pushed his way through the logs. By now the current was more calm, but still strong enough to push Balto around. He swam as fast as he could, and letting the current take him to Sage. He grabbed onto the log she was floating on.

 

“Are you ok?” he asked.

 

“No, I scraped my leg, I can’t swim if I can’t move it.” she said.

 

Balto pulled Sage off the log and held onto her collar. He fought the rough current, trying to make his way back to shore. He pulled her onto dry land and he shook his fur.

 

Sage tried to best to stand up, and eventually was able to.

 

Steele nuzzled her. “Are you alright?” he asked.

 

“I...I don’t think so.” she replied weakly.

 

Decoy shook his fur. “Is everyone else ok?” he asked.

 

“We’re alright I guess, but I think we should rest for a little while, to gain our strength back.” said Rylie.

 

“Alright.” Decoy said as he lied down. “But we should keep going, we can still make a few miles before the night.” he said.

 

Balto smiled at Decoy, and so did the rest of the dogs, except for Banshee, who was gawking. The dogs noticed that this trip is making Decoy see things differently. This journey was teaching him so much about safety and dedication.

 

“Ugh, my ankle is bleeding.” Ashlie said. She laid down and started licking her injury.

 

“You alright?” Balto asked as he approached her.

 

“I think so.” Ashlie replied. She stood up and licked her lips.

 

“Alright then, lets go.” Brendon said as he leaped into a trot.

 

The dogs continued on.

 

Later, the pack was walking on a smooth terrain, heading up another mountain in the sunset.

 

“How long do you think it’ll take to get home?” Decoy asked.

 

“I don’t know.” Balto replied.

 

“I’d give anything to lay down in my soft cushiony bed right now.” said Sage.

 

“We all would.” Scout said. 

The dogs spent the night on the mountain. They were about half way across the range, it should only take a few more days to get over it completely.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Day 5

 

Early in the morning, Jenna was nudged on the muzzle. She opened her tired eyes and blinked a few times, trying to wake herself up a little more. She lifted her head and looked to her left at Balto.

 

Jenna yawned. “What is it?” she asked.

 

“Wake the others.” Balto said. He began to walk towards Rylie, but stopped and turned back when he heard Jenna speak.

 

“It’s not even that light out yet, it’s too early.” she pointed out.

 

“I know, but look ahead.” Balto said.

 

Jenna looked FAR ahead of her and saw a dirt slope that was incredibly steep, and would be very hard to climb over. She gasped and looked at Balto.

 

“We have to climb over that, I don’t know how long it will take, so I want to get an early start.” said Balto.

 

“Can’t we go around it?” Jenna asked.

 

“There’s no way, there’s a straight up cliff on both sides of it.” said Balto.

 

“But it’s dangerous.” Jenna said as she stood up.

 

“No, we can do it.” said Balto. He nudged Rylie and woke him up.

 

Jenna and Balto walked around, waking up the group of dogs, and then moved on.

 

By the time they were approaching the slope, it was daylight.

 

“Dang, that was a long walk.” Rylie said as he trotted around and over large rocks.

 

“Is it really a good idea to climb this?” Sage asked with a worried look.

 

“It’s no problem.” said Balto.

 

“It’s a long way, so everyone get ready.” Ashlie said as she stopped in front of the slope.

 

The rest of the dogs stopped and looked up, 30 feet, to the top.

 

It first started steep, there was dirt, and some patches of grass, and many boulders to climb over for the first 10 feet, then it got harder. It was nothing but dirt, stones, and roots.

 

“Guess we better get started.” said Brendon.

 

“Let’s go!” Decoy said with excitement. He bolted up the slope, slipping every now and then, with out much care.

 

Ashlie followed and caught up with him.

 

Balto and Banshee were the next ones to race up, then the rest of the pack followed.

 

Decoy took a few extra seconds trying to climb over a boulder, and Banshee found a very easy way up, and was able to pass Decoy.

“Everyone doing alright?” Balto yelled.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine.” said Jenna. The rest of the dogs agreed.

 

“Whoa! Look at that big long rock sticking out of the dirt!” Decoy yelled. He looked up at a long boulder, about 5 feet, sticking out horizontally from the dirt and stony part of the slope. He noticed that it would be a 12 foot drop if you were to fall over the edge. “Whoa, you wouldn’t want to slip off of that.” Decoy said quietly as he took another step up.

 

“You still have a lot to learn, pup.” Banshee said calmly but angrily. But in reality, Decoy had already learned much of what he had to learn. He had now gained bravery, thoughtfulness, and devotion.

 

Banshee came to another boulder, he climbed around it, then walked onto it.

 

But Decoy tried to climb over, but couldn’t. He got himself halfway up, but then started slipping. He panicked and clamped onto Banshee’s back right ankle.

 

Banshee yelped in pain and pulled his leg from Decoy’s grasp. Decoy slipped off the rock, scraped his arm in the process, and fell in the dirt. Dust went flying, and he immediately stood up and shook the dirt off him.

 

Banshee growled savagely at Decoy.

 

“Banshee! Knock it off!” Rylie demanded.

 

But Banshee didn’t listen this time. He jammed his claws into both of Decoy’s shoulders and chewed on his ear and the top of his head.

 

Decoy yelped and whined as he tried to struggle out of Banshee’s grasp.

 

Brendon lunged forward and clamped onto Banshee’s head, and pulled it towards him.

 

Banshee let go, and Decoy dropped to the ground.

 

Brendon let go as Decoy let out a loud high-pitched yelp, and Jenna, outraged by Banshee’s actions, lunged forward and bit his muzzle.

 

Banshee was now extremely furious, he lifted his arm and swung it down along Jenna’s face.

 

Jenna yelped and whipped her eye with her paw and then snarled at Banshee.

 

Above her eye brow, was an inch long vertical scratch mark. The fur was missing, and it was red, but not bleeding. Half an inch under her eye, the scratch continued down for another inch.

 

The dogs had seen Jenna’s eye, and they all gasped.

 

Banshee shook his head as Jenna growled fiercely at him. Banshee snarled, and was ready to attack her, but then, Balto leaped up, and put his front half on the boulder, just as Jenna was doing, and pushed her aside until she slid off the rock.

 

“ENOUGH!” Balto barked.

 

“There, now you look like Ashlie.” Banshee teased. He was referring to the white line of fur that went down Ashlie’s eye.

 

Ashlie snarled at Banshee. She felt

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