Haywire nudged the bucket full of slush in place with his muzzle. Then, he climbed down the ladder to marvel at his work. The door stood half open, waiting for its prey, as the slush on top swished around with a very pleasing squishing and squashing noise. Haywire smiled to himself. What a classic, he thought. A work of art.

Ambyr and Blitz were in the next room, talking. Haywire wasn’t interested in what. They were probably discussing their mating plans or something...then he remembered Ambyr was older than Blitz. “Yeeach!” Haywire said, shaking away the thought. He finished up his plot by taking down the ladder and clearing the area. He then took a step back and shouted from the room. “Blitz! I got my paw stuck in a jar again! Can you help me out here?”

He heard Blitz shuffle and sigh. “That’s the fourth time this week, Haywire. How many more times will it take you to learn your less— “

The door creaked open, and the bucket of slush came hurling down on top of Blitz. With a loud Splash, Blitz stood at the doorway, a bucket draped over his head, and dripping ice, water, and junk.

Haywire couldn’t help himself. He burst out laughing, and collapsed to the floor, hitting it hard with his paw.

“What’s going on in here?” came Ambyr’s voice. She stopped short when she saw Blitz. She stared in amazement at him, then at Haywire, still suffocating on the floor.

With an angry snarl, Blitz threw the bucket from his head, and clattered to the floor. He shook himself, sending slush all over the place. Ambyr covered herself with her paws, but Haywire didn’t mind, as he was still in tears on the ground. He stormed up to Haywire and growled loudly in his face.

“THAT WASN’T FUNNY, HAYWIRE!” he shouted at him.

Ambyr came glowering up to Haywire also. “Yeah, that was just plain stupid. What made you think it’d be okay to pull a stunt like that?”

Haywire wiped a tear from his eye and stood up on shaky legs. “Because...because it’s just...hilarious!” He started laughing again, holding a paw to his stomach. Ambyr and Blitz exchanged angry looks with one another.

“That was so immature,” Blitz growled. “We all know you’re an idiot, Haywire, but do you just think FOR ONCE, you can act your age?”

Haywire stopped laughing, and stared up at him. “Aww...come on, it was just a bit of fun!” He smiled and wagged his tail.

A fuming Blitz slammed his paw down hard on Haywire’s tail. Haywire yelped and jumped in the air. He whimpered, and looked up again at Blitz, a very confused and hurt look on his face. After a few seconds of deadly silence, Haywire’s expression hardened. He stood up again and snarled back at Blitz. “Fine! If you want to act like such a jerk about it, you can go home, sniveling back to the dirt hole you came from!” He pushed past him and started storming out. He turned from the doorway. “...Or, to Ambyr!” He snarled again and ran off.

Ambyr gave a small gasp. “What?!” She turned to Blitz, but he shook his head.

Haywire sprinted outside, muttering to himself. He cursed at how those two were always so serious, and that he was the only one who really had any sense of humor. Blind to where he was going, he just walked to the first place where he thought he could be alone. He needed time to sort this whole mess out. His paws led him to a dark and secluded alley, lined with trashcans. “They’re just too serious!”, exclaimed Haywire. He angrily kicked at a trashcan and knocked it over. It fell to the ground with a loud crash.

“How wasteful,” said a voice behind him.

“Not now, Hark!” Haywire growled. He looked around for a hawk.

“Who’s Hark?” The voice came from behind him. Haywire spun around to see a shaggy dog walk from the shadows, behind some trashcans. It had brown fur with a tan underbelly. Its eyes shone in the darkness, but they were unreadable. The dog walked with his head low, over the where Haywire was sitting. “I don’t have a name...but everyone around here calls me Drifter.”

Haywire scowled. “Leave me alone.”

Drifter sat in the snow, looking at Haywire. He didn’t move an inch. Haywire turned to him again and growled. “Well? What are you looking at?”

Drifter looked off to the side. “Myself...once upon a time.” He got up and strode over to Haywire. Haywire growled again, but let him come near enough to talk to. “The friends you knew...the life you once had...are you willing to give all that up just because of some measly argument you had?”

Haywire looked at him, and then turned his head from him.

“Ah, so that’s what happened.”

Haywire snarled a warning. “What do you want?”

Drifter scratched himself. “I want nothing more than to survive in this world. You think I had a life before becoming the stray nobody wanted or cared for?’

“Well, I don’t care. Not about you, about your life, about my life, or any of my so-called ‘friends’.”

Drifter looked at him. “Well, you certainly got the mind of an ally dog...but soon, we’ll see if you got the guts. Meet me behind the butcher’s tonight.”

Haywire said nothing. Drifter started to turn around, but then stopped. “Hey...I didn’t catch your name.”

He hesitated, but soon got over it. “Haywire,” he said.

Drifter thought a moment. “Haywire...I like that!” He turned around and disappeared in the shadows.

Haywire didn’t know what just happened. One minute, he was setting up a prank to play on his friends, living a life he thought was problem-less. The next, he’s on the streets, teaming up with a stray dog he barely knew. He wondered if the two Haywires were ever once the same dog.

Wandering over to the trashcan he knocked down, he soon found some crumpled newspaper, and used it to make himself as comfortable as possible until night fell.

Haywire shivered and was awoken by the sound of a wolf howl. Staggering to his feet, it took him a while to remember where he was...or if he was still dreaming. He shook his head, also remembering what his name meant. It’s a wonder he somehow managed to remind himself to meet Drifter.

The walk to the butcher’s was long and lonely. By this time, all the lights in Nome have been closed for the night. It kind of worried Haywire what Drifter had in store for him, although he suspected it was quite obvious.

“About time you showed up,” said the darkness behind him. Haywire turned to see Drifter materialize out of nowhere.

“Can you please stop doing that? It’s creepy!”

Drifter shrugged. “Like you, Haywire, my name holds meaning as well. This way.” He led Haywire to the side door to the butcher’s shop. He got on his hind legs and lifted the bolts from their screws, and the door slid open. Haywire stood, shocked.

“How’d you know how to do that?”

Drifter walked in. “Tricks of the trade.”

Blitz was pacing the boiler room, and Ambyr yawned as she watched. He continued to pace, keeping his eye on the ground at all times. Finally, Ambyr spoke.

“It’s been hours,” she said. “I’m getting worried.”

Blitz didn’t say anything, but pretended not to notice a word she said as he walked back and forth, nervously.

“Did you hear me? He could be anywhere out there! I thought all he...and you...needed was time, but not this much!”

Blitz remained silent.

Ambyr growled. “BLITZ!”

“I heard you!” he shouted, stopping his pace. He looked back down at the ground. “I’m...getting a little worried too.”

Ambyr stared at him. “So...what do we do?”

He looked up at her. “We find him...and bring him home.”

The butcher shop looked entirely different from when Haywire would occasionally squeeze his muzzle between him and the glass outside, thinking at how lucky humans were to have access to such easy food. Now that the whole place was deserted, dark, and not to mention broken into, Haywire suddenly wished he hadn’t spent all that time slobbering all over the glass. The meat was all gone, and Haywire gave Drifter a puzzled look.

“All the meat that hasn’t been sold gets stored in the freezer,” he explained. He walked in front of Haywire, and into the back room. “In here.”

Haywire followed him to a large, silver door with a latch on it. Just the sheer size of it could only make Haywire fathom how much food there was inside. Realizing he hadn’t had anything to eat in a while, he suddenly became aware that he was quite hungry. “Great. So how do we get in?”

Drifter held a paw up to his face. “With these. Come on, help me.”

Haywire shrugged. He walked up to the latch and they both stood on their hind legs. “Alright, on three,” he said. “One...two...three!”

They heaved, and the latch lifted a little, but it soon fell back down.

“Again,” Drifter said. “One...two...three!”

They both grunted and growled as they forced the latch open all the way, and the great door creaked open.

“Alright, we’re in!” said Haywire, excited. Drifter nodded, and the both of them pushed it open all the way. Their eyes sparkled at the red wonders that lay before them. Drifter licked his