get up this time. Maybe she had to do her business or something. But at the time I didn’t care.

Besides, Dave said he would protect us. What could go wrong?

And of course, those four words always lead to something. Something bad.

I heard a lot of ruffling this time. And then a lot of other sounds, but I still didn’t care. But what made me jump back out of my nest was a shriek. The shriek of Curly to be more specific. When I was out of my nest I saw Curly face to face with a wild husky only half her size. Her face was dripping blood! I knew I had to do something to help. I started charging at the husky but Curly saw me and shouted. “NO! Don’t get involved! I can do this!”

“Curly look at your self! You’re dripping blood!!”

By then Dave popped out and saw what was going on. Curly shouted the same thing to Dave, and he laid back. All I could do was watch the pitiful sight. Curly was losing badly. Each time the husky attacked, more and more blood was coming out of her, to the point where I couldn’t even look! But when I peeked through my paws, I saw a circle of huskies now, waiting to pounce on Curly! She needs help!! But what am I supposed to do? I can’t save her now. I’ll just end up killed.

When the husky attacked Curly once more, she fell down and didn’t get back up. Big mistake.

All the wild huskies pounced on her at once and started to rip her to shreds! That was it! I just lunged on the pile of dogs and so did Dave. We tore apart every dog to get to Curly. And when she was found, it wasn’t even her anymore. All the dogs eventually left after a few fight with us. We went back to Curly to see if she was okay. She wasn’t.

“CURLY?!” I shouted.

“Curly?” Dave whispered.

Curly let out a groan. And she began to speak. “…I’m sorry…I thought I could handle it…but I didn’t…I’m a failure…”

“No you’re not, Curly! Don’t you say that! You’re a natural at dog sledding.”

“…You don’t get it…I SHOULD be good at this…”

“Not everyone is good at everything.” Dave said.

“…I should’ve asked for help…Now it’s too late…”

“No…” I whispered.

“…Buck, I’m dying…”

“Curly…”

“No, Buck…Look at me…”

Her real fur was covered in blood. Not one inch wasn’t covered.

“I’m sorry, guys…This is it…”

“It can’t be it…” I thought aloud.

“…I always thought…I could do things on my own…But…I was wrong.”

“Curly, please. Don’t give up on yourself.”

Curly’s voice was screechy and barely audible now.

“…Good luck…I know you’ll be a champion one day…”

She put one paw in the air and I put mine on hers.

“…friend…” We both said in unison. Then her paw fell to the ground with a thud. It was official. Curly was dead.

I started to cry and so did Dave. But then I heard laughing in the back round. I turned around, and behind my teary eyes I saw Spitz, laughing like we just told a really funny joke.

“Spitz?! How long were you standing there!?” Dave asked.

“Just the WHOLE TIME!”

“…And you didn’t bother to help us AT ALL?!!!” Buck shouted.

“I was to busy laughing. She fights so horribly it’s hallarious!”

“Spitz, your own teammate is DEAD! And you’re LAUGHING?!!!”

“Hey, c’mon. Watching a take down is the best thing I’ve watched since the fight with Kiki and the bear!”

“Kiki was a girl on Spitz’s old team.” Dave whispered in Buck’s ear. Buck was furious. But Dave leaned in again.

“Just ignore him. He doesn’t have a heart. He grew up facing death, and now he’s so used to it he can laugh at it.”

I growled at him, even though he would think nothing of it. And I mourned over Curly again. Then I realized something…

“This…this is all YOUR FAULT!!!” I suddenly shouted at Dave. Dave had a shocked look on his face.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 9: Two More Members

 

 

 

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Oh don’t play dumb with me! You JINXED US!!”

“Don’t tell me you believe in that kind of stuff!” Dave sounded annoyed.

“You told us you were going to protect us if there was any danger! And suddenly, there was danger!! And now Curly’s gone forever!! I say it again, YOU JINXED US!!!”

“I only told you that to inform you. And there is danger almost every night anyway. It’s not even a coincidence!”

I was still in fury even though he was right. “Fine, but you still broke your promise!”

Dave couldn’t argue with that. “You’re right…I should have saved her…       And now I’ve paid the price.”

“Yeah! Now I can’t even trust you!”

“Buck, you don’t understand. A lot of dogs on some of the teams I’ve been on have passed away, and I never even felt sad about it. I just shrugged, met the replacement dogs, and went on with my life. Now…now that I caused the death…I…” He broke into tears after that. My scowling face half disappeared. I was still angry at him, but was a softie inside.

“Dave, why didn’t you save her?”

“Same reason you didn’t. I really thought she had a chance of defeating him, and when the group of huskies came out, I knew right then she was going to die, and we couldn’t do a thing about it but have them kill us, too.” The tears were still coming out. I nodded. I understood, but if there was a chance Curly could be saved…, we both should’ve gone for it, but we didn’t.

“I guess it’s not all your fault. Even though you promised, it’s not like you wanted it to happen. And I take some blame, too. I should’ve saved her also, but didn’t take the chance. I’m sorry I yelled at you. Where I live, there are all kinds of superstitions going around. And I just wanted an excuse to be mad at you.” I chuckled. But sighed deeply at the sight of Curly’s now lifeless body. “Well, nothing we can do about it now.”

“Except to bury her. I’ll dig up a hole.” We spent the rest of the night making a proper burial for Curly. And when she was finally in place. We went to bed, thinking of Curly the whole time.

The next morning, Parrult found out Curly had been killed, so went out to buy more huskies. Dave, Spitz, and I were talking while he went to get them.

“So, what do you think they’ll be like?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Hopefully not some sort of freak.” Dave said.

“Like you?” Spitz had an angry look on him, like always.

“No, like your face!” Spitz slapped Dave in the jaw, and Dave growled at him menacingly.

“Whoever they are, I just hope they’re not so mean, like Curly was.”I said softly.

“C’mon! You’re still sad about what’s her name? She’s GONE!”

“YES! So shut up, Spitz!” Spitz was surprised he was able to tell him to shut up. But just ignored him.

“Yeah. Whatever.” Spitz mumbled.

“Well, we’re probably going to get experienced huskies since we’re a little short on money right now.” Dave pointed out.

“Why are experienced dogs cheaper?”

“Because they’re called “used dogs.” They have already been on a team and are usually not in the best condition like new dogs are. Some are almost starved to death, some are too worn out. But we were lucky to get you and Curly with the money we had.”

“Look, here he comes!” I shouted. Parrult had two dogs by the leash. The both had the same dark brown fur, but one had a tan underbelly while the other was white. And one had green eyes and the other had blue. The blue-eyed and tan under-bellied one looked happy, and excited at that. The green-eyed, white under-bellied one looked like he was going to kill somebody! He looked as if that was the only face he had ever made. Spitz ran up to the blue-eyed one first and had no problem telling him that he was the boss, but when he went up to the green-eyed one…he kinda fell back. Dave and I stared in amazement. Dave had said Spitz was the master of all, and that nothing scared him. I guess he was wrong. I was glad that something actually frightened Spitz. But I guess that meant everybody was afraid of him.

I learned eventually the blue-eyed one was named Billie, and the green eyed one, Joe. And I learned Billie and Joe were brothers. I was a bit shocked, considering they act nothing alike. And as Dave predicted, they were both “used dogs.”

When everybody knew each other, it was time again to see who would go where. I would probably stay where I was, since I still had much to learn. But I was wrong.

Since Billie and Joe hate each other, they were separated, and that meant I was being moved! Billie was in front of Dave this time, and I was between Billie and Joe. I was glad they had moved me up. It gave me a sense of pride for a moment. But then we had to leave, and that meant I had to put on my game face. But then I glanced at Curly’s grave that Dave and I put together. My game face disappeared as we were all getting into our harnesses. I was really never going to see her again. But I knew now

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