closer to Boris.

- Hey, Boris. How do you and Balto get food? – he asked with a low tone.

Boris gave a tap on his own forehead, realizing he had forgotten the food subject about Dan.

- Oh, I eat fish from the sea. Balto hunts his own food. – he said, startling Dan.

He would have to hunt? The idea of killing an animal and eating its raw, bloody meat was… disgusting.

– I knew I was forgetting something. - the goose continued. - But you will need to get used to hunting soon, or you will starve, and we’re at the beginning of the winter!

- Gee, thanks for the relief, Boris. – the hybrid replied, sarcastically.

Dan imagined, if wolves could eat meat like that with no hesitation, and his body was a canine one, maybe his instincts would allow him to eat it. If he was hungry enough... But the idea was still repulsive.

They arrived at Rosie’s house. They got in through the back door, which led to some kind of basement. The room was fairly illuminated. Its only light was coming from a small boiler, used to keep the rest of the house warm. The place looked to be just for Jenna. There were her dog bed, some bowls for water and food, and some toys. One of the bowls already had some dog food inside, followed by some meat pieces. Jenna indicated the bowl for him to eat. Dan gulped and approached the bowl, unsure, and looked better at its content. Normally it would be a disgusting vision, but his dog nose was sensing a very good smell. It started to look very tasty. He gave it a bite. The taste was great. Delicious! He kept eating, forgetting his previous disgust. His dog teeth made it easy to chew the food. Boris and Jenna watched from another side of the room. Boris raised an eyebrow.

- He learned fast. – the goose said. – Don’t humans use covers to eat? – Boris asked, amused.

Dan swallowed his last bite, and chuckled.

- Even if I still had thumbs. - he joked.

Suddenly, he stopped hearing anything, like he had just gotten deaf. What was happening? His thoughts turned involuntarily to the race. He felt something was wrong, and the feeling of fear caught him. The sounds came back, and it stopped. Boris and Jenna stared at him, confused. For them he was just standing there, looking at nothing.

- Dan, what's wrong? - Jenna asked, worried.

- The teams! - he just exclaimed and stormed out of the house, leaving behind very confused Jenna and Boris.

Outside the town, Dan was running the most his legs allowed him, just being careful enough not to spend his all energies before getting to Kodi's team. After some minutes of running, he two teams running towards him: Balto's and Steele's. Steele’s expression was of boastful victory, while Balto’s was of complete anger, but he couldn’t stop running. They all noticed the young canid running towards them. Balto smiled, happy that he was there to help, while Steele just glanced at him with a despising expression. Dan let them pass beside him and kept on his way. Something surely had happened to Kodi's team if they weren't there with the others.

After some more moments, he could see at distance Kodi and the other sled dogs sat near their musher, who was still looking to be unconscious. Kodi saw Dan coming.

- Dan? How did you know? - he asked, relieved, but surprised.

- I guessed. We must get him to the hospital - Dan said, indicating the fallen musher.

He helped the other dogs putting the man on the sled, amongst the mail bags. Dan tied him to the sled as he could, using both teeth and nails, seeing he had lost his human hand coordination.

- Alright, take him back to the city. - he said to the team.

- But Dusty got hurt! - Kirby warned.

Dan looked at the gray female. She had her front paw raised away from the ground, apparently feeling pain.

- Okay, Dusty, get on the sled too, I'll take your place. - Dan asked her.

Dusty got rid of her harness and sat beside the unconscious musher on the sled. Dan managed to get in the harness she had left. The team started running again, dragging the sled back to Nome. Dan found it a little hard to follow their rhythm, specially helping pulling a heavy sled.

After some minutes, they crossed the finish line and stopped. Some men came to help the hurt musher and Dusty, and carried them to the hospital. Some others that stayed noticed Dan in Dusty's place in the team.

- Hey, where did this one come from? - he asked.

Dan thought he would be thanked or anything like that, but no. The man took his harness with violence and tried to scare him away.

- Shoo! Get out of here!

Dan looked at him with an angry face, but walked away. He met Jenna and Boris with Balto, near the other sled.

- So, who won? - he asked.

- Balto's team. - Boris answered.