track.

   "Mushers at the ready! You'll race around the town, to the outskits of the beach and out to the forest. Once you make it to the forest, camp there for the night and then finish the race in the morning. A heavy snow storm is moving in fast, so highly suggest resting for the night. Ready! Set! Go!" They bolted from the starting line. Jason trined his dogs well, so did John. Don't start out with a thrust of speed if you don't want to fall behind. Your dogs will get tired quickly and slow down. For not knowing this knowledge, eight of the twenty teams were dead last already. By sunset, Jason and John were at the beach approaching the forest. They stayed behind a small group of teens that laughed back at them for being "behind". The forest was cold, but welcoming. The storm only shook the treesas the teams set up camp. The three teenage boys let their dogs off the hooks for awhile. Jason and John had been in this kind of situation before, they knew what to do. Jason laid out food, water and blankets for his dogs to stay warm. John did the same. Jason wandered up to Tomohawk and bent down to his ear.

    "Liten here boy. If any of those three give yo trouble you bark, got it." Tomohawk barked sleepily and licked him. "Good boy." Jason and John went inside their tent and so did the boys. Jason and John got right to sleep, but the teens went out of thier way to get drunk. As under aged drinkers, they couldn't handle the alcohol, and one pasted out imidiately. The other two went outside. One had enough sense to tie the dogs back up, correctly in fact.

Chapter 6: To Close For Comfort

   One of the teenagers older, more mature huskies hastled Star. he wondered around her and tried his best to be charming. On Star, that never works. It's either be her friend or back off.

   "Hello pretty girl. How about you leave these losers and join me in a little one-on-one action."

   "He abviously doesn't know what he's going to get for this." Wave whispered to Eagle, as he nodded with a wide grin on his face.

   "Leave me alone loser." She turned away from him and laid down.

   "Really? You'll do it right here? how nice." As he stepped one paw over her, she snarled.

   "Back off. This is your last warning." The warning didn't edge him away and he came closer, to close for comfort. Star flipped over and grabbed his throat. She used little strength to flip him on his back.

   "I could have killed you, be careful next time. Even if i didn't do anything, I'm sure my friends would have silenced you in an instand." She eyed him carefully and tilted his head with her paw towards the others. their fur was ruffled so high that you couldn't tell if it was fur or spikes. He got up and stumbled back over to his owner.

    "Hey. What happened to you? You're bleeding," He glanced over at Star and the team. "So it was you guys. I think we need to teach these little rascals a lesson." Still drunk, the two went inside and pulled out a rifle.

   "This was only suposed to be used for wolves, but using it on you guys would be a favor. Lets deal with that little bitch first." he pointed the gun directly at Star. She stood her ground and dared them to try. Tomohawk then saw a shine from behind him. The other musher had grabbed a hand gun from the tent as well.

   "Star watch out there's another-" But before he could finish, the other teen fired. The handgun went striaght through the heart of the orangish fur lying there. Dead on the ground was Tiger. He had jumped in the way to protect Star from harm, a true friend indeed.

   "Tiger!" Tomohawk began barking his head off. Jason came to from inside his tent. John was awake too. Iron and his team were scared stiff. They whimpered in the dark tree's shadow that covered them.

   "What's going on!" Jason burst outside of his tent. Just then, Tomohawk had broken loose of his chain and rampaged at the teenager holding the handgun. he jumped on him and wrestled him to the ground. the teenager beat Tomohawk on the head with his gun, but it was no use. John threw the rifle from the other teen's hands and ran over to help the other helpless drunk.

   "Down Tomohawk! Down!" John pulled as hard as he could and finally the dogs vicious hold was broken. The teen cried in pain as he clenched his arm. It was severed in many places like it went through a meat grinder.

   "It's broken. Jason we need bandage! Jason!" But there was no response. Jason patted his dear friend Tiger as his limp, dead body lay in the freezing snow. His eyes filled with tears, he went over to the teen who was carring the rifle.

   "You killed him! You..killed...him!" Jason broke out in tears again. He  clenched a fist and gave the teen an uppercut to the jaw. He then glared at him. The teen's eyes filled with fear and terror. Then Jason came back to his senses.

   "Jason! We need bandages!" John finally yelled at the top of his lungs. The dogs quieted down and Jason went to grab bandages.

........a few hours later.......

   The storm had kicked in. The dogs stayed quiet outside s the teens were being treated by John.

   "What happened out there?" He looked over at the two and then at Jason.

   "We got drunk, then I pasted out. You have to ask one of them."

   "Do they have names?"

   "Butch sir." John glanced at the other one.

   "Chris."

   "What happened boys?"

   "We got drunk, tied the dogs up and one of our dogs got in a fight with your female husky."

    "You mean the black and white one. Her name's Star. She doesn't like to be messed with." Jason spoke up with a deep irritation and depression in his voice.

    "Well when Casper came back to us and he was bleeding, I figured that your dog tried to kill him and then...then..."

    "Then you shot. Not knowing if you would kill the target or not, but Chris was a different story. Isn't that right?" Chris nodded and cleared his throat.

   "Casper was the first dog I ever had. I didn't want to lose him, so.."

   "So you decided to shoot one of mine! Is that it! You couldn't stand to see your dog suffer so you shot mine!" Jason yelled and the dogs got aggitated.

   "No. I nver meant to pull the trigger, I only meant to scar them. It was an accident." Jason went outside and broght in Tomohawk. He was a lot more quieter then before, but the Chris backed into the corner of the tent slowly.

   "I brought him in here to give you some educational trianing. If you point a gun at a dog they'll attack. If you never hurt them, they'll be nice to you."

   "I never even glanced at him tough!"

   "Doesn't matter. You were trying to hurt his friend and then when you killed one of his fiends, he was scared. That' the only reason he attacked you." Tomohawk looked into the teens eyes, they looked frightened. 'Why would he be frightened of me. I know, I'll show him how nice I am.' Tomohawk sat down and pulled at Jason's hand holding his collar. As he loosened his grip Tomohawk walked cautiously over to the teen. He sat down next to his hand and began to lick it smoothly.

   "He wants to be friends with you, to forgive you for what you did and what he did."

   "Really?" He cautiously reached over to Tomohawk. He noticed andgot up. Slowly but surely Tomohawk wandered up to the boy's hand.

   "Careful Chris." Butch said as the other teen sat there, watching his friend enjoy a moment of peace.

   "I think that he likes me know. Good boy." The peaceful moment was cut short by the dog's barking. A large roar echoe through the distance.

   "What do you think Jason, bear maybe."

   "Probably. I'll set some flares around. They'll scare what ever it is off."

   "I'll help!" Butch shot up immidiately and followed Jason outside. The night was long and cold. Tomohawk sat at the edge of the tent entrance where Jason slept. He woyld wander out to check on his pals and the other dogs. Once in a while he'd drift to sleep, and see tiger's dead body limp in the snow. He wanted to moarn his old friend, but the strom was to thick to go outside by now.

   The morning was horrible and too fast. The mushers fed, watered and strapped up their dogs. Jason had wrapped Tiger's body in a large blanket and packed it on the sled to have a funeral at home. Chris was going back with his buddies, they decided to quit the race and get help for him.

   "We'll take the main road back and meet up with you guys later. Hopefully at the finish line." They took off. The snow flowing out from underneath thier sled. John and Jason never had anyone pass them so far and as far as they were concened, that was okay. They promised to stay side-by-side until the final stretch of the race. Tomohawk enjoyed not having to run so fast for all this time, but it couldn't help but remind him of all the times him and Tiger spent racing. Star looked as if she was going to burst into tears, everyone was sad, but Star had to face the fact that it was her fault Tiger died. She ignored anyone who tried to tell her other wise. As the sleds approached the city of Nome they sped up.

   "Maybe we'll beat you again! Ay, John."

   "Yeah, or not. Either way, we're both going to get a medal."

   "But only one of us is going to get the gold medal." Jason let the dogs pick up speed. John didn't want to make his dogs go faster.

   "You win it for Tiger."

   "Alright, but it won't be good unless you compete with me!"

   "Okay Jason, if that's what you want." Iron sped up