Saba let out a sigh of relief.

She waited for about five minutes, and then crawled out of the crate, and into the light.

Saba looked around, and sniffed the air. Only after she was sure they were alone, did she allow the pups to come out.

The four of them walked quickly toward the outskirts of Nome, and safety.

Everest was running.

He could hear the dogs behind him growing closer. “I’m going to have to find some way to ditch them,” Everest thought, “and soon.”

The chase had been going on for almost forty minutes now, and Everest was growing tired.

He started down another alley way, but saw four dogs round the other end, barreling toward him.

Everest turned to look back, but he couldn’t go there either, the dogs’ shadows could already be seen on the wall of the first building in the alley.

Everest was trapped.

He looked up.

Piled against the wall to his right were a bunch of boxes, and near the top of them at the other side, was a window.

Everest jumped up on the boxes, as the dogs that were chasing him came into view.

He clambered up the unsteady stack, and reached the top, almost four stories off the ground.

“Stop!” One of the dogs yelled. “Everest stop! There is no use in continuing this chase! You can escape us! Every dog in Nome has been alerted!”

Everest took a deep breath, and jumped toward the window.

He felt some glass cut his shoulder, as the window exploded. He fell to the floor of a small barn, rolling to a stop.

He shook his head and stood up.

“Everest?!” A voice cried.

He looked up and sighed. There were four dogs in the stairwell of the barn.

Everest looked behind him, and saw the dogs that had been chasing him already scrambling up the boxes.

“This is it.” Everest thought. “Time to stand and fight.”

He growled as the four dogs rushed him, and hit the first one in the face, sending him reeling backwards.

That was about as close to a fight as this confrontation got however. The other three quickly put Everest on the defensive, and it was all he could do to not get hit, much less attacking his assailants.

Everest caught one particularly strong hit in the face, and then three more that lifted his front paws off the ground.

The dog that had hit him then turned, and kicked Everest in the chest.

Everest felt himself leave the ground, and slammed to the floor almost five feet away. He rolled two or three feet more, and then stopped.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, and blood ran into his eye.

He stood up, and spit on the floor. It was mostly blood.

“That can’t be good…” Everest thought.

He backed toward the window as the four advanced on him, but stopped, as he felt something behind him.

Everest turned, to see at least ten dogs standing in front of the window.

He sighed and hung his head, trying desperately to catch his breath.

“It’s over Everest.” The front dog said.

Everest shook his head. “No…”

“Face it.” The dog said. “You’re beaten, we can make this a lot easier for you.”

Everest shook his head. “No.”

The dog smiled. “So be it then.”

Then he hit Everest in the side of the head.

It felt like Everest had been struck by a truck. He flipped sideways, but managed to land on his paws.

The other dogs were on him before he even had a chance to stand up.

They were all around him, and Everest didn’t know where he was being hit from… but he was definitely getting hit.

The dogs pushed him back towards the other side of the barn. As he was trying to dodge the dogs attacks, he thought about running down the stairwell He glanced over there, but saw three dogs standing at the top of the stairs.

This distraction was enough for one of the dogs to decide to attack.

Everest saw the dog leap at him, but could do very little to avoid him.

The dog landed on his back, and Everest tried to throw him off, but to no avail.

He felt the dog tear into his neck. Blood ran down his flank, and quickly pooled in the floor.

Fear gave Everest strength then, and he threw the dog off of him.

Everest felt dizzy, and stumbled forward a few steps, right into a strike from another of the dogs.

The dog advanced, and had hit Everest over twelve times by the time he reached the window.

The dog paused, but only for a moment, as he put all the strength he had into a final blow that threw Everest backwards, and through the window.

Everest felt a shard of the glass stick in his head, across his eye. Then he fell four stories to the ground far below.

He felt something snap as he landed on the ground on his left foreleg.

The air was knocked out of his lungs as he slammed to the icy street.

He didn’t feel that he could move at all, but he knew he had to get out of the light.

Everest summoned all his remaining strength, and crawled to the protection of an overturned trashcan at the side of the alley.

Though he couldn’t see them, Everest heard the dogs above him.

“Do you see him?” One asked.

“No.” Another answered.

“I don’t think anyone could have survived that fall.” A third added.

“Let’s just go tell Drake that it’s done then.” The first dog to speak said. “We’ll look for the body tomorrow, when it’s light.”

Everest heard the dogs moving around above him, and then a few minutes later it was silent.

Everest knew he was injured badly. He didn’t think he could walk.

He looked down at his leg.

It was a mess of torn muscle and blood. The ivory bone had snapped, and was sticking about three inches out of the top of his leg.

Everest tried to stand, but couldn’t even gather the strength necessary to raise his head.

He felt the bottom of he trashcan beginning to become slick with the blood that was seeping out of him at an alarming rate.

His vision was a little blurry, and his right eyes hurt badly. Everest could feel something there, but didn’t know what it was.

“I’m sorry Saba.” He thought. “I wasn’t strong enough.”

Everest then closed his eyes, and drifted away.

Chapter 9

 Saba stood outside the cave waiting for Everest. The wind blew, and small snowflakes started to fall.

Saba shivered, and sighed.

It had been almost three hours since she’d left Everest.

 “Something has happened to him.” She thought. “I just know it.”

She sighed again, and walked back into the cave, where her three children slept.

She gently woke all three of them up.

“Mommy?’ The little female, Sunny, asked.

Saba smiled. “Yes sweetie, it’s mommy.”

“Why’d you wake us up?” One of the boys, Rife, asked.

“Mommy’s going into town to look for daddy, but you little ones are staying here.” Saba said.

“… but I thought you said that town was dangerous.” Tram, the other boy, said.

“It is.” Saba said. “That’s why you’re staying here. Now listen to me.” Saba sighed. “If I don’t come back by tomorrow, I want you to go into town and ask for Jenna. You’ll be safe with her.”

“Mommy?” Sunny asked. “Is daddy dead?”

Saba sighed. “I… I don’t know, but I hope not.”

It was silent for a little while.

“Well, I’m leaving now. Hopefully I’ll be back soon” Saba said. “Sunny is in charge while I’m gone.”

Then Saba walked down the hill.

When Saba made it into Nome, she found the dogs of the town were still awake and patrolling the streets.

She was walking against an alleyway wall, and froze as she heard voices.

Saba pressed herself against the wall, and crept to the corner, where she could see the dogs that were speaking.

“… so where did he go down?” A brown one asked.

“I was there.” A red one said. “It was near the old mill. He fought like a mad main, but there were just too many of us for him to handle.”

“What happened to him?” The brown one asked.

“Well, we fought him back to a window, and then one of us, I’m not sure who, hit him, and he went through it. It was almost a hundred feet to the ground… but we never found a body.”

“So that’s why Drake’s got everyone looking for him?” The brown dog asked.

“Yeah.” The red one said. “But I don’t think he survived. That was a long fall.”

Saba felt tears come to her eyes. “I hope you’re alright.” She thought.

Saba waited until the dogs had left, and then crossed the street, headed for the old mill.

Saba felt awful.

It wasn’t hard to guess where Everest had fallen.

Saba stood in front of a large pool of blood.

She looked around, and saw a pretty good blood trail in the darkness.

Saba followed the blood trail about ten feet to an overturned trashcan. Inside was Everest.

He lay as he had collapsed, curled in a ball in the trashcan, the bottom of which was covered in bright red blood.

 “Oh my God…” Saba thought.

She nudged him.

Nothing.

Then Everest took a deep breath, and opened his eyes about half-way.

“Everest!” Saba cried, unable to help herself. “My God, I thought you were dead.”

Everest coughed. “Not… not far from it I’m afraid.”

“Oh Everest…” Saba said. “I should have never left you to fight them yourself.”

She crawled inside the can, and gasped. “Oh goodness! Your… your face. Look at me.”

Saba grabbed the large shard of glass, that stuck out of Everest’s eye, with her teeth, and pulled it out.

Everest winced. “Ow!”

Saba sighed. “Do you think you can stand?”

“Maybe...” Everest said.

“Then come on. Let’s go. The whole town is out looking for you.”

Everest nodded, and stood up shakily.

“You alright?” Saba asked.

“No.” Everest said. “But I can manage.”

Saba looked around.

“It’s clear, come on, let’s go.”

Everest nodded.

The two made their way slowly down the alleyway.

Almost half an hour Saba and Everest