Nome, 1926

The rooster crowed loudly as the late sun started to crawl out from the shadowy depths of the sky. A young dog named Blitz heaved out a heavy sigh of relief. He’s been up all night waiting to hear that sound. Now that the day he’s been waiting for has finally arrived, it was next to impossible to keep still for more than five seconds. Today is the day of Blitz’s first day on the job as lead dog on the new mail team. He smiled as he remembered how the tryouts went.

He was the youngest dog in the race, and he came all too close to backing out because of the hard times the other dogs were giving him. Boy, did he show them. Age didn’t matter, so long as you had speed. The flashback ended when he saw himself racing across the finish line a good three seconds ahead of all the other dogs.

Blitz kicked at the fleas on his head. His light blue fur felt soft and well taken care of. He wanted to change all that.

Sprinting outside, he caught sight of his musher, Mr. Drago. He confronted him with a wide smile and patted him lightly on the head. “You’re quite early, boy,” he said soothingly. “Couldn’t wait for your first job, eh? You wait right here. I’ll round up the rest of the team, and we’ll be on our way!” He left Blitz alone, chuckling to himself.

Before long, a black Husky came bounding his way up to Blitz. He had a controlled tone to him, but somehow looked like he was ready to start bouncing all over the place. Blitz’s ears perked up.

“Haywire!” exclaimed Blitz. He ran up to him. “You made the team too?”

“Chea...What’d you expect? Tryouts were a synch!” Haywire smiled to himself.

Blitz nudged him with his paw. “Yeah, right! You, along with all the other dogs, know I creamed you all during that race!”

Haywire’s smile disappeared. “Uh-huh. About that, you cheated.”

Blitz looked at him, shocked. “CHEATED?! And how much caffeine did you have that morning?”

“I saw you before the race started. You got a head start, and none of those humans ever saw...Cheater!” Haywire started running in circles around Blitz.

Blitz gasped. “I did not! You just –“

“Did too,” Haywire interrupted.

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

Blitz and Haywire kept this up for quite a while. They didn’t even notice the grey sled dog quietly walk up to them, watching the endeavor with narrowed eyes.

Haywire stopped and turned to her, his eyes widened. “Oh, hi, Ambyr,” he said, trying to sound innocent. “We were just...uuh...how long have you been standing there?”

“Too long,” she said.

Blitz came up to her, smiling. “Hey! My name’s Blitz! And I –“

“Don’t belong on this team,” Ambyr growled at him. “Why don’t you just go home? I’ve trained long and hard for lead dog, and now some kid who thinks he’s so hot suddenly changes everything.”

Blitz gaped at her, speechless. He remembered seeing this dog at tryouts; how her face was twisted with determination as he passed her to cross the finish line. Ambyr finished second, followed by Haywire soon after. He turned to Haywire for help, but he only shrugged. Blitz opened his mouth to say something, but Mr. Drago’s voice cut him off, walking from the post office, and to his sled. He was with a group of dogs that were to be on the team as well. Before Blitz knew what was going on, he was strapped onto the sled with them, along with Ambyr and Haywire.

“To White Mountain,” Mr. Drago yelled. “Mush!!”

Still feeling like crud, Blitz dashed forward, and the team followed right behind.

* * *

Blitz’s innate sense of direction was put on autopilot, as his mind also seemed to race with confusing thoughts and questions. After a few hours to debating with himself whether or not to talk with Ambyr, he finally made up his mind. “Why do you have to be so sour about the whole thing?” he asked, looking back and panting. “Aren’t you ever a good sport?”

Ambyr glared at him. “Being on a mail team isn’t a sport...it’s a duty.”

“You didn’t answer the question,” Haywire said happily.

“Shut up, Haywire!” Ambyr barked. Haywire whimpered and closed his muzzle. “Did you just expect me to play along, and pretend to love my job, now that it’s all just a big game of Follow-The-Leader?”

“In order for you to be a good leader, you have to be a good follower,” Blitz said.

Ambyr snarled. “And what do you know about being a good follower? Or a good leader for that matter?”

Blitz didn’t have an answer. Ambyr smirked.

There was a deadly silence throughout the rest of the way to White Mountain. Blitz considered quitting the team. What good being a leader if you’re not even trusted by your followers? While they stopped, they were each given a bowl full of fresh, clean water, but Blitz couldn’t even take a sip. He just sat there, staring down at it. Suddenly, he shook his head and whacked his bowl away with his paw. The water spilt on the ground and seeped into the snow.

“You know, I would’ve drank that if you didn’t want it,” Haywire chimed in. Blitz growled at him. “But on second thought...I’m already full.” He rubbed his stomach.

Before long, they were back on the road again, for the return trip to Nome. They ran for what seemed like forever.

This day is definitely not turning out the way I thought it would, Blitz thought. Suddenly, he heard Haywire groan.

“I think...I think I’m gonna be sick,” he said. “I knew I never should’ve drank too much water.” His face started to bulge. Ambyr rolled her eyes.

Blitz dug his paws in the snow, and the sled team ground to a halt.

“What’s going on,” all the other dogs said. “Did we get lost? Did Haywire throw up again?”

Their questions were answered when Haywire gave a loud, “BLLEEEEEAAH!!”

Blitz and Ambyr cringed. “What’s going on up there? Haywire, are you okay, boy?” Mr. Drago started to make his way to the front of the line.

Blitz took advantage of the opportunity. He turned to Ambyr. “If team’s going to work out, you and I have to get along!”

Ambyr chuckled. “This team isn’t working out. Not with you here.”

“Can it,” Blitz growled, “because I’m not quitting the team!”

“Neither am I, so we’ll just have to see who lasts longer, won’t we?”

Their discussion was cut short when they head a loud and sickening Crunch! from under their paws. The sled dogs looked down to see the snow under them start to crack open. Mr. Drago quickly put Haywire back in line and ran to the sled.

One of the dogs gasped. “FISSURE!!”

“We will indeed,” Blitz said. He jolted forward. The sled team made it past just in time to get off of a block of ice that caved in a deep crevice. The fissure continued, and Blitz ran ahead, trying to keep him and his team ahead where the ground was falling apart. Haywire’s face began to bulge again.

“I think I’m gonna –“

“You do, and you die!” Ambyr snarled. “If the cave-in doesn’t kill you, I will!”

“No time, Haywire! We gotta move! Come on!” Blitz continued running. The crunching sound of the ice became almost unbearable to hear.

“Come on, mush, MUSH!” Mr. Drago yelled. “Don’t let me down now, guys!”

The cave in followed the sled team for a couple hundred meters. After that, the sound seemed to die down.

Blitz stopped to catch his breath. Everyone was panting...all except Haywire.

“Whoo! What a rush! Who wants to try that again?”

“SHUT UP, HAYWIRE!” All the dogs yelled. Haywire lowered his ears.

“Is...is everyone okay?” Blitz asked, still panting.

Ambyr set her paw down “We’ll all be fine, just as soon as you pick up your lazy tail and –“ She never finished her sentence. Just before she could, one last crack appeared in the snow, and Ambyr’s paw became stuck in between the crevices. She grunted as she tried to pull it out, but couldn’t.

Blitz looked at her, uncertain of what he should do. He came up to her and lowered his head to see.

“Get away from me,” Ambyr snapped. “I can do this on my own!”

Suddenly, there was another loud crunch. A large chunk of snow, not too far behind the sled, began its descent into the dark abyss below. Then another ice chunk fell, followed by another, and another. The cave-in was starting to get dangerously close to the sled. “Whoa, boys!” Mr. Drago yelled. “Come on, heave!”

Blitz gave one final gaze at Ambyr. He sighed. “I-I’m sorry, Ambyr!” He quickly lowered his head and grabbed Ambyr’s leg in his mouth. With a hard tug, her paw wrenched free. Ambyr fell over, and looked at Blitz. There was an unreadable expression on her face.

But soon, it had “Watch out!” written all over it. With Ambyr’s paw no longer plugging the crevice, there came a horrendous roar, and the ground beneath Blitz began to quake and rumble. Blitz didn’t have enough time to react. Before he could jump out of the way, the ground beneath him caved in, and he started to fall down below.

Blitz’s strap was attached to the rest of the dogs, and he was slowly starting to pull them all down with him. Haywire and Ambyr both stomped the ground with their paws, and the team stopped.

“Blitz!