fast.”

            “Too late.”

Susan then pulled out some beef jerky. “Here you go little guy. And don’t worry, we still have enough to make the journey.” said Susan.

            She handed the meat to the pup and he started to gnaw on it vigorously. The pup took his sweet time on the meat. After he finished he sat down and started to howl.

            “Aww. Isn’t that just precious?” sighed Susan.

            “Maybe for you.” complained both Ritchie and Duchess as they covered their ears.

            While Susan continued to admire the little pup, pairs of eyes started to appear around the edge of the clearing. Ritchie and Duchess noticed them but Susan was completely oblivious.

            “We gotta do something.” said Duchess.

            Duchess ran over to Susan and gave her a slight push. Susan looked up from the pup and saw the glowing eyes.

            “Oh-oh no.” she stammered.

            She ran over to the fire and put it out. She picked up the matches and the skillet, dumping the meat to the ground by accident. She threw the skillet into one bag and called Duchess and Ritchie to her. After she hooked them up, she saw that more eyes had come and surrounded them. She then realized that the puppy was gone.

            “That thing led them straight to us. And I was stupid enough to fall for it. But it’s a good thing I didn’t get anything but the fire set up.” said Susan, fear heard clearly in her voice.

            Then it happened, the eyes came from there hiding places to show that they were what Susan had feared them to be, wolves. The wolves started closing in on them and Susan desperately tried to find an opening between them. After what seemed like hours one such space opened up. She yelled to Ritchie and Duchess to run. They took off and the wolves jumped to where she had dropped the meat. The gobbled it up and smelled more food from the escaping animals. Their next target was them.

            “We go to sleep for ten minutes and this happens!” yelled Duchess to Ritchie.

            “Well I’m sorry!” Ritchie yelled back. “I ain’t a watchdog!”

            The three raced through the forest, avoiding brush and downed trees, just trying to keep ahead of their pursuers.

            “Oh my lucky day!” barked Susan in a sarcastic voice.

            They had reached a part of the forest with many thick, low-hanging branches. She dodged multiple branches and then there was one where she just narrowly avoided it. She looked back and then looked back forward to meet another branch. The branch was not too kind and threw her from the sled and the sled raced away. The impact knocked the breath out of her and she could only manage a weak “stop.” to her dogs.

            “Did you just hear something?” asked Ritchie.

            “Probably just you’re imagination. Now focus on escaping before we become Kibble!”

            Ritchie turned around to find no Susan.

            “Stop!” he yelled.

            He put his paws out to try to stop them.

            “What are you thinking!?”

            “I’m thinking Susan’s still back there!”

            Susan had only a few moments to catch her breath before she heard animals pounding through the snow behind her. She glanced back to see the wolves had caught up with her. She jumped to her feet and thought of what to do. Then it hit her. She frantically searched through her pockets and pulled out the matches. She looked around her and found what she needed. She ran over to the long stick and grabbed it up.

            “Now what? Now what? Something to burn on this. Wait.”

            She ripped off the fluff from her sleeves and draped it over the stick. She struck a match and it went out. She cursed and lit another. This one stayed lit and she quickly set the fluff ablaze. The wolves were now on top of her. She turned around with the flaming stick and waved in front of her. The wolves backed away from the fire like it meant their death.

            “That’s right! You stay away!” she yelled in a strong voice.

            Then, out of nowhere came the sled with the dogs attached. She gave a thank you to no one in particular and jumped on the sled. She threw the flaming stick at the wolves and before she could speak, they were on the run again.

            They made sure that they were well out of wolf territory before they set up camp once again.

            “I guess we should thank those beasts. They hurried us up towards Nome. We should be there by tomorrow morning, even if we take a good long rest here.” said Susan.

            She finished up the tent and brought in Duchess and Ritchie to sleep with her in the bedroll.

Chapter Four:

Two Days Later:

            It was finally Thanksgiving Day and Susan had finally gotten done un-packing after she had arrived the night before. Nancy had been up since the break of dawn to fix the Thanksgiving dinner. She was in a great mood and she started to sing while she cooked.

            “Plump roast goose, just coundn’ get loose. Fresh smashed ‘taters ‘n sweet gravy, gonna put in my belly.” she cheerfully sang.

            The delicious smells of the feast drifted from one end of the house to the other.

            “Good morning… Mmm. Something smells divine.” Ritchie said to Duchess.

            Duchess sniffed the air. “I second that… Wait, where’s Jenna?”

            “I don’t know. Maybe she went out to get some air.”

            “Well then let’s find her.” said Duchess, standing up and walking to the doggie door.

            “Sure thing sweetheart.” and he followed her out the door.

            There was a gentle snowfall as they went to the streets to ask around if anyone knew where she was. It was difficult at first because everyone was either busy or just didn’t want to talk but hey were finally able to talk to someone. It was a black and white malamute who was rather large.

            “Could you help us sir?” asked Duchess.

            “Okay. May I ask who you are?”

            “We’re Ritchie and Duchess, Jenna’s parents.” answered Ritchie.

            The stranger smiled. “Sure, anything to help.”

            “Could you maybe tell us where our daughter is?” questioned Duchess again. “Ritchie’s not the best at directions. He couldn’t find his way from the front lawn to the doggie door.”

            “I love you too.” said Ritchie.

            “Certainly. I’d be happy to help.” said the stranger.

            The three talked for a half-hour. Jenna’s parents went back to the house in a state of silence, the stranger walked away, smiling.

            Ritchie was the first to speak once they had gotten in the house. “I can’t believe-”

            “that someone like him would be like that.” finished Duchess. “Maybe that dog could be-”

            “lying? Why would he lie to us Duchess? We just met him and he seemed to know a lot.”

            “I don’t know. But it does seem a bit suspicious that he knew that much.”

            “Hey. Never look a gift horse in the mouth as I always