Blitz and Ambyr sat on the floor of their usual hang out place, the boiler room. Ambyr had a fairly large pile of bones and treats on his side while Blitz only had a couple. Haywire stood to the side, wagging his tail, and watching silently. The two glared at each other challengingly. Haywire held his paw in the air.
“You in? Or would you rather quit while I’m ahead?” she smiled.
Blitz glared. “I’m in! All or nothing, same bet!”
Ambyr shrugged. “Your loss is my gain.” With a toss of his paw, two dice flew forward and tumbled to the ground. Blitz held his breath and crossed his claws. The clatter of the dice stopped. Blitz opened an eye...and sighed.
“Seven,” she said with a wide grin. “I’ll be taking those now,” she gestured to Blitz’s small pile of bones. He growled as he saw Ambyr’s paw reach over and snatch the last of his winnings.
“Someone just got hit tail whipped...and bad!” Haywire jeered. Blitz growled louder, and Ambyr frowned at him.
“Aww, come on, don’t be acting like that, just because you were beat by someone who’s new to the game...just think of it as beginner’s luck.” She winked at him.
Blitz stopped growling and got up. “Yeah, well...those were the only ones I had left.” He looked at her, a glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Ambyr smiled again. “Well, then, it sucks to be you, now, does it?”
Blitz’s expression dropped, and he headed for the door. “It’s a dumb game anyway.” Ambyr got up too and walked with him.
“Yeah, no kidding,” she said, and opened the door.
Blitz looked at her, surprised, and was about to attempt to try to get his bones back when he suddenly caught sight of an angry mob of humans come running down the road. The yelled and held their fists in the air, holding pitchforks, shovels, and torches. They both stared, very confused, and yet somewhat scared at the same time.
“Is there a parade outside?’ Haywire asked as he joined them in the doorway. Blitz and Ambyr didn’t have to answer. He soon had the same look spread on his face.
“It’s the afternoon,” Blitz said. “What’s with the torches?”
Ambyr answered his question, but Blitz wasn’t really listening because he already knew the answer. Fire is what humans use to ward off animals...wild animals. But what could they possibly be chasing away? A nearby human enlightened him.
“Wolves,” they all shouted at one another. “Wolves among us!! Lock your doors, and watch your children!! Wolves! Wolves!!”
“...This can’t be good,” Haywire said.
“Gee, you think?” replied Ambyr. Before anyone could stop her, she dashed forward, weaving her way through the mob.
“Ambyr! Ambyr, what’re you doing,” exclaimed Blitz, but Ambyr was already gone. He sighed, and took off after her. Haywire shrugged and soon followed. “Ambyr! Ambyr,” he called through the mess of trampling feet.
“Over here,” she called about fifteen feet ahead of them. It was difficult to hear with all the noise going on. She stopped, impatiently, as she waited for the others. When they got there, Blitz confronted her.
“I don’t get it. Why do you always seem to be running towards the danger?”
Ambyr started jogging forward, and Blitz and Haywire drifted behind her. She looked around. “When something goes wrong...you just gotta do what’s right, y’know?”
After a while of following the mob around the city of Nome, the three began to wonder if there were any wolves in the first place, or if the cold was starting to get into these humans’ heads. Haywire shivered and shook himself. “There’s nothing here. We’ve been searching for hours!”
“Actually, it’s only been forty-five minutes,” replied Blitz. They suddenly stopped, as they just now realized they were walking alone, and that the angry mob had dissolved. “No one’s here but us. We should probably go back. It’s gonna be nightfall soon, and that’s when the humans lock the door to the boiler room.”
Ambyr was still looking around, turning her head, this way and that. “But...we should still...I mean...They’re still out there, and...” she trailed off as Blitz walked up to her and put a paw on her shoulder. “...You’re right,” she said with a sigh. “let’s go back.”
The walk back to the boiler room was eerily silent. Even Haywire’s jokes and jeeves couldn’t make her break a smile. She just made her way, looking at the ground the whole time. With their warm and cozy room being on the other side of town, the walk seemed to take an eternity. When they finally got there, the sun was enjoying its last few rays as it slowly began to sink into the mountain. Ambyr suddenly stopped as she approached the boiler room. “Hey! Who left to door open? You’re letting the cold in!”
Blitz and Haywire looked at each other. “I remember closing it,” said Blitz. “Haywire, did you –“
“Don’t even say it,” replied Haywire. “I was with you two this whole time.”
Not bothering to say any more, the three Huskies quietly crept over, and stood beside the open door, out of sight. They all listened and could hear voices...and they weren’t voices from any human either.
“Teh, heh, heh, those idiots couldn’t even catch us! Didja see how they ran all over town, and most of them didn’t even catch a wink of anyone here?”
“Chea...what a bunch of morons! I think the snow froze their brains.”
More laughing followed, but it suddenly stopped as a new voice began speaking. “Nothing’s funny about this!” The voice was deep and angry. “We came here for a reason – to get back at those menacing humans for wiping out half our pack!”
There came a few whimpers, from inside. Ambyr’s expression became dark. “Those’ve got to be the wolves,” she whispered. “I’m going in to stop them.” She started walking towards the open door, but Blitz and Haywire bit lightly on her tail and pulled her back.
“What’re you, crazy?” asked Blitz. “There’s got to be at least three of them in there!” Ambyr glared at him.
“And there’s three of us here! See, it’s evenly matched.” Haywire whimpered and lowered his ears. Ambyr turned her head. “Okay...so it’s semi-evenly matched. We can still take ‘em!”
Blitz had an urgent look in his eyes. “This isn’t some game you can only wish you get lucky on,” he said. “The best thing to do is alert the humans.”
Ambyr’s eyes widened. “And you call me crazy! We’ve been chasing these guys all day, and now, when they’re finally our, you’re just gonna hand them over? I don’t think so!” Once again, Ambyr arched forward, and was about to spring into the room.
“No, Ambyr, wait, don’t!” Blitz and Haywire both lurched for her, but it was too late. Before they could latch onto her legs, Ambyr had sprang forward. Unfortunately, neither of them could stop in mid-air, and crashed straight into her. The three gave out a painful grunt as they collided into one another, and landed one on top of the other in a heap through the doorway.
The only good that came out of this was that Ambyr and Blitz were right; there were three wolves, talking and laughing amongst themselves in their boiler room. One was an all-grey wolf with a scarred leg, most likely from a trap. Another was a bulky black one with a grey underbelly, and the last, was a dark brown colored one with eyes that bore holes deeper than Ambyr’s, and an unusual scar scratched across the side on one of its hind legs. The all stared at the dogs that just came blundering in. Finally, the dark brown one snarled and yelled at his two comrades. “GET THEM!!”
“Nice going, you two Einsteins!” Amber growled. She tried to spring up to her feet, but the black wolf was already bearing his teeth on her neck, and pulling her out, throwing her painfully off to a corner in the side. He immediately began to do the same for Blitz and the grey, scarred one took care of Haywire. The three were now surrounded, backed to a corner by three wolves. Haywire whimpered, and Blitz turned to Ambyr.
“Wow...now do you think we can still take them on?”
“I would’ve at least had a chance if you two idiots hadn’t gotten in the way!”
“Now, now,” said the dark brown wolf, slowly walking up to them. “A bunch of little city-dwellers like you would be crazy to even think they could outmatch even one survival-trained wolf like me.”
Haywire looked at Blitz. “What did he just say?”
Blitz shrugged. “He just basically said we’re hosed.”
The brown wolf snarled, louder this time, and chuckled. “Indeed, you are.” He lunged ahead, at Ambyr first, aiming straight for her throat. She only had enough time to close her eyes and whimper. To this day, she could not recall what really happened, except for hearing another ferocious snarl, and a small whine that followed. Ambyr opened one eye, and her jaw dropped.
“DRIFTER!!”
Drifter had his back to them. He watched as the dark brown wolf staggered to his feet while the other two wolves
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