wide awake and standing at the entrance of the cave. “We have to find that team!”

 

Kodi rolled his eyes and smirked at Dusty. “Wow, look who’s anxious to get moving for once,” he said. “Are you okay, Ralph? Usually you’re the one complaining about being on the go, not the one wanting to do it.”

 

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Ralph said, getting irritated. “But the sooner we find the team, the sooner we get to go back home. So let’s go!”

 

The four dogs left the cave and began to look for the team from Nome again. As Kodi and Kirby walked along together, Kirby nervously asked, “Uh…Kodi…you guys wouldn’t really leave me out here all alone…would you?”

 

Kodi laughed. “Don’t worry, Kirby. Dusty was only saying that to get you up. Of course we wouldn’t leave you out here on your own. We have to stick together, and that’s what I plan on doing.”

 

Kirby breathed a sigh of relief. “Oh, good,” he said. “You guys kind of had me scared for a minute. Uh…I mean…on second thought, I wasn’t really scared. No, I knew you were kidding the whole time. Yeah, I knew exactly what was going on.”

 

Kodi rolled his eyes. “That would be a first,” he muttered.

 

“Hey!” Kirby said, giving Kodi a playful shove. “I heard that.” Then he lightened up and laughed. Kodi laughed again, too. It was the only moment during the whole search so far that they had even smiled. For once they were able to forget all of their worries, if only for a minute or two. But although the dogs weren’t thinking about their troubles, they were still there. And things were only going to get worse once again.

 

-----

 

Dingo and his team had already been running for a little while by the time the search team had set out, and the whole team felt the impending storm coming. But with newfound confidence and strength, they ran at a faster pace than they had ever run at before.

 

Although the White Mountain team set out at the same time as them, the Nome team easily pulled ahead and eventually out of seeing distance of the other team. Now it was approaching noon, and it was beginning to snow a little harder than before.

 

“How far do you think we are from Nome?” Matteo called out to Dingo, panting heavily.

 

“We’re still a few days away, at least,” Dingo shouted back. “We’ve got a problem, though. I don’t think we’re going to make it back by the time this big storm hits. I’m starting to get really worried about it.”

 

Matteo shuddered as he ran. “I hope it won’t be as bad as the last one,” he said. “Man, just when things were starting to look up…”

 

Dingo strained to see the wilderness stretching on before him, but it was already getting difficult to see through the now heavily falling snow. ‘Keep going,’ he thought to himself. ‘Don’t think about the snow. Just keep going…’

 

Eventually the snow began to fall so hard that the team had no choice but to stop and try to wait it out. Matt, Sam, and the rest of the team could tell that Dingo was upset about stopping again. Sam decided to talk to him about it.

 

Sam found Dingo lying down in the snow, punching the ground with his paw and muttering to himself. “Stupid snow,” he said. “Stupid storm…it ruined the race for us…now there’s no way we’ll get back to Nome anytime soon…”

 

“Um…hi, Dingo…” Sam said, cautiously approaching the other dog. He had never seen Dingo so upset before, so he wasn’t sure how he would react if he tried to talk to him. “Are you okay?”

 

“No, I’m not,” said Dingo, glaring at Sam. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been this upset in my entire life. Just when things were starting to look up and there was a chance of us getting back to Nome, this stupid storm hits! I just can’t win, can I?” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Sam. I’m just really angry about this dumb storm and I guess I’m taking it out on you by complaining like this. I’m just so stressed and worried…we have to make it to Nome, we just have to…”

 

Sam sat next to Dingo and put a foreleg over his friend’s shoulders. “We will make it to Nome, Dingo. Trust me. This storm isn’t going to stop us…it’s just going to delay us a little.”

 

Dingo groaned. “I’m sick of being delayed! I want to go back to Nome! I don’t care about this dumb storm! I want to go home, Sam, I want to go home!”

 

Sam nodded. “We all do, Dingo. Who knows? Maybe the storm will clear up in a day or two and we can get going again.”

 

“It doesn’t matter to me anymore,” Dingo said, shaking his head. “I’ve made up my mind. I don’t care whether the storm has stopped or not by tomorrow. We’re going to head out either way. We’re going to Nome and we’re not letting anything stop us.”

 

Sam was shocked. “Are you crazy? We can’t keep moving in a storm this bad! We have to wait for it to pass before we head out again.”

 

“No, Sam.” Dingo had a strange look in his eye. “All of a sudden I feel this force…something inside me…telling me that we have to go on no matter what happens. And that’s exactly what I’m planning to do.”

 

Sam was puzzled by the sudden change in his friend. “And what do you think this weird force that’s pressing you to go on is?”

 

Dingo shook his head and gazed at the moon. “I don’t know, Sam…” he said. “I really don’t know. All of a sudden I feel different…different than I’ve ever felt before.” Then he tilted his head back and howled.

 

Sam felt a chill go down his spine as he heard the sound coming from his friend and leader. Some sort of change had definitely come over Dingo…but was it a change for the better? Sam wasn’t sure if he and the rest of the team would find out the answer to that question soon enough… 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 15

 

Sam woke up at the sound of excited barking. “What’s going on?” he muttered, rubbing his eyes. “It looks like the sun just rose a few minutes ago and it’s not like we’re going anywhere today…so who’s awake already?”

 

Sam walked around his sleeping teammates toward where the barking was coming from. The snow was still falling heavily, so it was hard to see anything. After a few minutes, Sam could make out the silhouette of a dog and the musher. The dog was the one who was barking wildly, and the musher was trying to calm him down.

 

Suddenly Sam realized who the dog was, even though he couldn’t see him clearly. ‘It’s Dingo,’ he thought as soon as he remembered Dingo’s comment about setting out on this day no matter what the circumstances were. ‘Apparently the musher isn’t as eager to get going as he is.’

 

“Look, Dingo, I know you’re eager to get back home, but we just can’t go out in this storm,” said the musher. “It’ll probably be gone in a few days. We can set out then.”

 

Dingo growled and the musher’s eyes widened. “What’s gotten into you, boy?” the man said nervously. With the fur on his back standing straight up, Dingo began to bark fiercely at the musher. Scared stiff, the man had no choice but to give in. “Okay, okay, you win,” he stuttered. “Just wake up the other dogs and we’ll get moving.”

 

Dingo was suddenly completely transformed. He changed from an angry, savage beast to a happy dog, even wagging his tail. The musher shook his head as he watched the husky run off into the distance. “I don’t know what to think of that dog,” he muttered.

 

Sam didn’t know what to think of the sudden change in his friend, either. He was actually terrified. Dingo seemed to be reverting to his wolf instincts…and it seemed like he was getting wilder and more savage every day. Was it even safe to be around him anymore? Dingo could be acting perfectly normal one minute, and the next minute he could be attacking someone!

 

Sam nearly jumped when he heard Dingo’s voice a few seconds later. “Hey, Sam!” he said. “Ready to get moving again?”

 

“Uh…yeah…of course,” Sam stammered. “Um…Dingo, are you feeling okay? You seem to have been acting different lately…”

 

“Really?” Dingo raised his eyebrow. “How have I been acting different?”

 

“Well…I’m not sure…” Sam said. “You’ve just been acting…like a wild animal

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