had created. Other wise, we were safe. I looked around and spotted Dakota, shivering with his paws over his eyes.

 “Are you okay?” I said, managing a smile.

Dakota opened his eyes, looked around and nodded, wagging his tail.

            “Who was that dad?” he said, scooting closer to me.

“Someone horrible” I started.

            “Buck! Dakota!”

Kaya was standing on the bank, most of the pack behind her. The enemy pack stood a little farther away. I didn’t blame them. It must have looked like Dakota and I had fallen right out of the sky. I heard an angry howl from the top of the cliff. Boss was even more furious then before.

                        “Go kill him and the pup!” he snarled, trying to push Talon off the cliff after me.

Time to go. Dakota started to scramble toward the bank and I started to stand when a resounding CRACK hit the air. I looked down at the ice under me  that had splintered. I slowly lowered myself down again.

            “What’s wrong dad?” called Dakota. He was running back to me… he’d fall through the ice!

“Go to your mother right now” I ordered.

Dakota looked at me quizzically.

“Now!” I barked.

Dakota scampered across the ice toward Kaya.

                        “I said get him!” Boss thundered, finally on the scene.

Boss pushed Talon onto the ice just as Dakota reached the halfway point to Kaya. Talon scrambled to his feet and ran clumsily after Dakota cracking the ice as he ran along. I stood up and jumped clear of the breaking ice. I pushed off the shards and slid toward Dakota when Talon jumped. My feet hit Dakota who slid quickly toward Kaya, hit a bump and flew through the air, landing at her feet. Talon hit me instead and the ice couldn’t hold our weight together. It shattered from under us and I was plunged into ice cold water.

            It took me a few seconds to realize that I was being pushed by the current. The creek was taking me away from my family! I tried to open my eyes but the cold water stung. I kicked up but the further downstream I got, the thicker the ice got and the smaller the chance of breaking through it became. There was no way I could claw through it. My lungs felt like they were shrinking. Swimming to shore was out of the question; the more I kicked, the more I spun. Then I started to get weak. The energy drained out of me quickly and I stopped trying. I was almost ready to give up…

            Then a bright light shone in my face. I still couldn’t open my eyes but the light made the black behind my eyelids look pink. Something grabbed me by the back of my neck and threw me onto a sandy bank with amazing force. In a futile struggle, I tried to find my feet, but I was shaking furiously. Before I could even turn around to face my attacker or savior, I collapsed from hypothermia and exhaustion.

Buck, Kaya, Dakota, Anyu, Talon, Sitka, Atka, Nero and Yukon (c) me

Bristol (c) Anileu

Boss (c) Tadie