Ace stared outside the window.
It was dark, but he could still clearly see the snow falling. Hard. He thought. We're gonna get at least one call in the morning. He stepped away from the window, and peered into his sleeping owner's bedroom. One of his arms were hanging over the side of the bed. Ace chuckled to himself.
He should be awake. Ace thought, he walked into the bedroom and nudged his owner's hand. His owner, John, twitched a little, then sat up on his bed. "Ooooohhhhhh, thanks, Ace." John said in a sarcastic tone. John got dressed and peeked out the window. It was till snowing, still pretty hard. "Mmm, still snowing to hard to head in to the Station." John said. "Looks like it should slow down in an hour or two." He walked over to the kitchen, and fixed a meal for him and Ace.
Just as John predicted, about an hour in a half later, the snow was now a light drizzle. "Should of been a weather man." John chuckled. "C'mon, Ace!" He called. Ace trotted over and the two got in the car and headed to the Station. All the way, Ace continued to look out the car window. It was still quite dark out, being around six in the morning. Even so, the snow was still very easy to see.
When they arrived at the station, the snow had started to pick up again, they hurried to the door, unlocked it, and walked in. It was cold, but still warmer than it was outside. John turned on the light, and turned on the heater, the room quickly warmed up.
John and Ace were always the first ones there after storms. John was the Captain of the Rescue team, they had to save people caught in avalanches, blizzards, frozen lakes, and sometimes the dogs helped sniff out criminals for the police. Ace loved everything about his job.
A little over thirty minutes later, two more cars pulled into the parkinglot. Out of one car came a women and her female dog. The humans name was Sofia, and her dog's name was Happy Daisy. In the other car, a man and his dog came out, the human was Nick, and the dog was Waylon. They all walked in the building, the dogs shook the snow off their fur and the humans hung up their coats. The dogs, Waylon and Happy Daisy, walked over to a resting Ace.
"Any calls yet, boss?" Waylon asked.
"No, John and I have been her for about thirty minutes." Ace replied.
The three dogs looked out the window at the snow. The wind was picking up now, but the snow was slowing it's pace.
"It's still pretty dark out, if anyone has gone missing, whoever they were with may not know yet." Happy Daisy said.
"Good point, Daisy." Ace replied.
About ten minutes later, the three dogs noticed another car coming in. A women, named Scarlet, stepped out with her dog, Linette. Like the others, they hurried inside. The dog shook the snow off her fur and joined the others buy the window.
"Hey Linette." Ace smiled.
"Hey guys." The dog, Linette, replied. "I'm, uh, guessing we haven't gotten any calls yet?" They shook the heads.
"I figured..." She sighed heavily. A few minutes past, and two cars pulled in, breaking the silence.
"Oh, looks like Victor and Rummy are here!" Four figures heading for the door. Two men walked in, one was much younger than the other; he looked like he was in his mid twenties, and just behind them, two dogs walked in.
The two dogs also had quite an age difference, one was about two in half, the other was only about nine months old.
"Hey guys." Linette said.
"How long have you all been here?" The larger one, Victor, asked.
"Not long." Ace answered.
Victor chuckled. "Guess Joey and I hurried for no reason." The group chuckled aswell.
They talked for a while, and soon, the sun slowly started to rise. But before it was completely up, the phone rang. John answered the phone, he talked for a minute, then hung up the phone.
"We have a big one, guys." He said, everyone; dogs included, gathered around a large table with many small and large maps of Alaska. John picked one up, a small one. He unfolded it, and pointed out the location to where they would be going, and they started to leave.
"Ace!" Rummy called.
"Rummy, we're in a hurry!" Ace scolded.
"Can I come with you guys today? Pleeaaaasse?!" Rummy begged.
Ace paused. "No Rummy, this one is to big a mission. Next time-"
"C'mon, Ace! Let me come! Please! I've been training for months! Edward said I was ready!" He whined.
"I know what Eddie said, but, he asked John about it, and John thinks you should have a few more weeks of training." Ace explained. Rummy didn't seem very happy with the answer.
Ace looked down at him. "Rummy, a little boy is missing. We can't risk a rookie making a mistake. Do you understand now?" Ace asked, Rummy got the message, and stopped talking, he just nodded. His human, Edwrad, called him over, and they headed to the training section of the Station.
Ace walked out of the building, and hopped into the truck. He walked in, and sat next to Linette. "What took you to long?" She teased.
"Rummy." He sighed, feeling bad about not letting the excited pup join them
"Rummy? What did he want?"
"He wanted to come, but after I explained how this is a high priority, he understood."
She shot him a sarcastic smile "Really?Just like that?"
"Well..sort of." Ace said, chuckling slightly. Linette seemed more pleased with that answer.
"I kinda feel bad for the poor pup." Waylon said, joining in on the conversation. "All he wants to do is come, and y'know, be the 'hero'" He smiled teasingly. The team laughed slightly.
"Well, that and he wants to please you, Ace" Linette pointed out. "He really looks up to you."
Ace nodded. He was well awair of how much Rummy looked up to him. But that didn't change how he went about his job. "I know, but he knows when things are to much for him, like this one."
"Yeah, I hate when children are missing." Daisy said. With that thought fresh in their minds, they rode in silence the rest of the way.
They arrived after the sun raised, but it was still early, around eight o'clock. The police were already there, they were talking to a man, a woman, and a teenage boy, around fifteen years. They had all been crying, the woman still was.
"When did you notice you son, David, missing?" The officer asked.
"Around six a.m." The man said. "The cabin door was open, and I saw shoe prints heading into the woods. I went looking for him, but, I could see anything....It was just....To. Dark." He tried hard not to cry.
"I went and searched again, when things calmed down, but.. We still couldn't find him, so we called you guys." He said, looking at Ace and the others.
His wife started to sniffle, he put his arm around her, and and pulled her face closer to his.
"Do you know why he would have run off, Mr.Blake?" The officer asked.
"Well, he loves the snow, Officer Scott." Mr.Blake smiled. Slightly. "Nothing would stop him from running out in the middle of a storm."
"Do you think he might have gone anywhere special?"
All three shook their heads. "No, we just got here yesterday."
John and the others walked over. "This is the Rescue team." The officer said. "Do you have something that your son used often? Like a jacket, a hat, a blanket.."
"Yes!" Mrs. Blake shot up. "He always sleeps his little blue blanket...Would you like me to get it for you?" She asked.
John shook his head. "No ma'am, just tell me where it is, and I'll get it."
"I-It's in the first bedroom." She pointed in the cabin. John went inside, and sure enough, and small blue blanket lied on the floor next to the bed, as if who ever dropped it had left in a hurry.
He put on his gloves, and picked up the blanket. He walked out side and held it in front of all the dogs, one at a time. He did the same thing again two more times, just to make sure they had the scent.
Each person unhooked their dog from it's leash, they five dogs headed in different directions, all trying to find the scent.
Ace noticed small impressions in the snow, they were almost invisible. He walked over, and took a whiff.
Got it!
He lifted his head and barked, letting the others know he had found it. The other dogs rushed over, just as Ace began to go after the trail. The others followed.
"They've got it!" John shouted, he and the others raced after them.
"Should I go, too?" Mr. Blake asked.
"No, sir, you stay here." Officer Scott said. He didn't want him to come just incase they found the boy after it was too late...
Ace ran after the scent, the others were right at his heals. They walked straight for a while, then it took a turn to the left, then the right. Where was this kid goin'? Ace thought to himself.
Suddenly, Waylon stopped dead in his tracks. "Ace!" He called.
"The scent, I-It's going this way!" He looked down a small hill. "There's even some light shoe prints!"
Ace looked down the hill. Waylon was right. May be he went that way... Ace looked in front of himself, and became very confused.
There were shoe prints in front of him, too!
This didn't make any sense. He bent closer to the ones in front of him. They looked a little different than the others. "I think... I think he went this way..." Ace said, looking ahead of him. Just as the others started to follow, he spoke again.
"Then, turned around, and went that way." He pointed his muzzle in front Waylon.
"What makes you think that?" Victor asked, very confused.
Ace looked angrily at Victor. "Look at these prints, Vic." He pointed his paw at the tiny impression. "They're deeper, bigger, and shaped different that the others. It suggests that he turned around, and went the other way!"
"Why would he do that?" Waylon asked.
"May be..He was trying to go back home." Linette frowned, "And took a wrong turn."
The image of a little boy running around in the snow came into Ace's mind. The thought of him shivering, turning around, and heading the wrong way. He shook the thought out of his head.
They all stared at each other for a moment, then looked to Ace. "What should we do? Split up, or all go that way?" Waylon asked.
Ace looked at both trails, then back to his team. "Waylon. You, Linette and I will go this way." he pointed to the trail Waylon had found. He looked at Victor and Happy Daisy. "You two follow that trail, just incase."
John stopped as the dogs headed in different directions. What the hell? He thought. "What are they, doin', John?" Sofia asked. He turned to his team.
"Lets follow Ace, I don't want us splitting up in this weather." John directed. Everyone nodded and they started after Ace and the others.
Linette and Waylon were running as fast as they could after the scent. Every few minutes, they'd stop and look around, just to see if the boy was in their sights. When he wasn't, they'd start running again. After a little while, it started to snow.
"You have to be kidding me! It's snowing AGAIN?" Linette growled.
"We need to hurry, if it starts to get hard, it might be to late." She turned to Waylon, who looked very concerned. He nodded, and they continued running.
Meanwhile, Ace, Daisy, and Vic were chasing the other trail. But the farther they went, the trail would slightly harder to smell. Every now and then they would slow down, and make sure they still had it. Ace was a little bit ahead of the others, but then, he stopped.
"What is it?" Daisy asked.
Ace turned around and faced them, a look of shock on his face. The look sent a thousand chills down Daisy's spine. It really creeped her out to see him like that.
"I lost the trial."
"What?!" Daisy and Vic gasped. The three franticly walked around, desperately trying to find the scent again. But it was useless
"It's...It's gone." Daisy whined.
"Lets hope Linette and Waylon are having better luck." Vic sighed.
Ace couldn't stop thinking of the little boy, he knew his team wasn't always successful, and he hated getting his own feelings mixed in, but even so, he wasn't sure what he'd do if they didn't make it to the toddler in time. This was one of the prices of his job.
Just moments later, John and the others caught up to them, they're hearts dropped when they saw the dogs walking in circles. Ace turned and saw him, but instead of panicking, he ran past him, heading to where the trail had split up. The others quickly followed. Ace was happy when the scent started to get stronger.
-----
Much farther ahead, Waylon and Linette were beginning to close in on the scent. They ran faster and faster, until the scent was so strong, the could lift their heads all the way up, and still smell it.
"He's gotta be around here somewhere!" Waylon said. A snowflake landed on his nose, he looked up, the snow was picking up speed. "C'mon, Lin, he's not gonna make it much longer-" He turned to face her, but she was gone.
"What the-? Uhg, Linette!" He called, frustraited, yet their was no answer.
"LINETTE!"
Linette just kept running. She was to close to stop. She came to a large, icy hill. She slowed her pace, and looked down the hill. Then she saw it.
In the middle of a small opening, their was a small body. Resting motionlessly as the snow piled on and around it. Without realizing it, she jumped for it. She couldn't tell from the top that the hill was just covered in ice, and when she hit it, her paw slipt under her. She landed on it, hard, yelping in pain. She hit the snow hard, and landed on her paw again, and cried out in pain.
This was the first time she'd hurt her paw this bad, the pain was horrible. She looked down, it was already swollen, and blood was dripping down onto the snow. She looked up, the now was still falling.
Then she remembered why she was down their, she looked ahead, and their he was. She tried to run to him, but fell to the ground when she placed her paw down. She would have to walk to him.
Waylon heard a sharp cry. "Linette!" He gasped, running towards the sound. He found the hill, he saw her at the bottom, struggling to her feet. He watched her as she tried to walk, then fall down.
He stepped out onto the ice and, he too, slipt. But he was able to catch himself and slide the rest of the way down. By the time he reached the bottom, Linette was standing, but wasn't putting any pressure on her front left paw.
"Linette? Linette!" He yelled. She seemed to be ignoring him. He ran up to her.
"Damn Linette! What did you do to your paw? C'mon, we need to get you-"
"Waylon!" She said, shacking. "I-I found him"
"You did! Thats-" He looked up, then he saw it. His jaw dropped
"No..."
Ace ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Daisy was on his heels, and Victor on hers. And of course, the humans were following them. The scent was getting stronger, and stronger, and stronger!
Just as they thought they were right in front of him, the snow picked speed. Ace growled aloud and started running. It felt as if ice was forming inside his lungs, but he had to ignore it if he wanted to find that boy. His stomach ached, he hadn't eaten since breakfast.
Breakfast! He thought. He looked up, the sun was setting! It would be dark soon, and little David was still out their. Linette and Waylon were also still gone, what if they couldn't find them either? If something happened to either of them...
He shook that out of his head. Nothing was going to happen to them. They had thick fur, they were smart, they had been trained for moments just like this. So they could survive a night out in the snow, right? Couldn't they?
Just then, their was a voice.
Ace stopped, dead in his tracks. So sudden and fast, Daisy bumped into him, and Victor into them. "What the hell, Ace?" Daisy said, a confused and slightly annoyed tone in he voice. "I heard something" Ace said, not even looking at her.
"What?" She asked, twitching her ears, then she heard it, too.
"Is...That Waylon?" Victor asked, looking towards the sound.
It started to get louder, then, a dark figure came through snow. It was running, puffs of air coming out of it's mouth. The three stared at it for a moment, then it came into the light.
"Ace!" The figure spoke, it was Waylon!
Waylon ran up the group of smashed-together dogs. He was panting, heavily, and his legs seemed to be shacking from exhaustion.
"Waylon! What are you doing here?" Ace asked, angrily.
Waylon was taken aback a bit. "Um.. Well I-"
"Is that blood on you? What happened? Wait-Wheres Linette?" Ace asked, frantically.
Waylon sighed, "The blood isn't mine, it's hers.-" Just as he said it, the others gasped.
"She hurt her paw, she's fine. But you guys gotta hurry! We found David!" He said as he ran off.
They all just sat there for a moment. They looked at each other as if to say "Did he just say what I think he said?"
Waylon turned around to see if they were coming. "What are you guys doin'?! C'mon! I don't know how much longer he can hold on!" That was all it took to get them on their feet.
They ran as fast as they could. "We need to be careful.....Theres a steep hill...That we need to..Go around." Waylon said between breaths.
The sky was now a dark pink and orange color. The sun has almost set, and Linette was starting to get buried in the snow. She'd been lying on top of little David to try and keep him warm, but that wouldn't do much good if she herself was freezing as well, would it?
She started to shiver. It started with a few small shakes here and there, then it started to become uncontrollable. She prayed that the snow would stop falling, but she knew that if it was going this fast, it wouldn't stop for a while.
She looked at little David's face. His little nose was red, and tiny ice sickles had formed at the tips of his eye lashes. His cheeks were red, and ice was forming around the edges. The little hat he had put on was just long enough to covered his ears. He looks so innocent Linette thought.
She rested her head ontop of his, hoping to melt off some of the ice and snow. She looked down at his eyes, they were still closed. She closed her eyes as the wind grew stronger, blowing some of the snow off of them. She gritted her teeth, and her shivering went out of control.
Suddenly, something touched her back.
"Ace?" She immediately though. Nothing was their. She looked on her back, and saw a little hand. She looked at David. His eyes were still closed. But they were twitching. The little hand on her back started to move, back and forth. She gently poked his face with her nose. One eye opened.
"D-Doggy?"
-----
The sky was now dark. They new that had to find David soon, or he would make it through the night. Waylon was leading the way, but he could only run so fast in that kind of weather.
"How much farther, Waylon?" Ace called out from behind.
"Not much...The hill should be coming up soon!" He called back.
The weather was getting to them. Their legs aicked, their stomachs grumbled, and their eyes burned against the icy winds. But that didn't stop them.
Waylon slowed his pace, he looked around for a moment, then continued until they came out of the woods. There was the hill! He could see it only a few yards ahead. He darted over, then, remembering the ice, stopped just before reaching the edge.
"Do you see them?" Ace yelled against the wind. Waylon squinted his eyes.
Just then, John and the others caught up to them. They watched as the dogs went around the ice-covered part of the hill, they followed. Ace nearly jumped over Waylon trying to get down the hill, everything was happening so fast, that he really didn't care.
The hill came to an end, and they ran for the round figure lying in the snow. "Linette!" Ace called, not even realizing it. But the figure didn't move. Ace picked up speed. He reached them, and began pushing them with his muzzle.
"Linette! Wake up!" He yelled. Her head shot up and looked around, confused. When she saw that it was Ace, she calmed herself. Their attention left the other and went to the David. They smiled.
John rushed over, several blankets in his hands. Linette jumped off of David when John went to pick him up, he wrapped him up in the blankets.
"David? Can you hear me?" He yelled.
-----
Mrs. Blake sat on the front porch of the cabin, sipping the cup of coffee her husband had made her. He eldest son, Jake, sat next to her, while her husband was inside, getting more blankets for them.
"Don't worry, mom, they'll bring him back." Jake said, rubbing his hand on his mother's back.
"God I hope so." She cried. "It's dark out, though, what if-"
"Honey!" Mr. Blake called from inside. "Uhh-Want more coffee?"
She sighed, "No thanks, I have plenty."
Suddenly, two headlights came into view. It was the Rescue van! Mrs.Blake held her breath.
When the car came to a stop, Scarlette went around and let out four dogs, then jumped in the back to care for Linette's paw. Then, Nick got out of the drivers seat, Sofi and Joey got out of the back. And John went around the other side of the van, something in his arms.
He came around the van, holding little David in his arms.
"My baby!" Mrs. David cried, jumping to her feet and running to John.
"Mommy!" David coughed as she wrapped her arms around him.
The four dogs smiled as they watched the family reunite. Ace looked back into the van at Linette, who was getting her paw looked at by her master, she looked at him, and winked, over hearing the excitement and knowing why he was looking at her.
"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Mr. Blake said.
"You're welcome. You should take him to the hospital soon, just to check on everything." John suggested.
"We will! Thank you sir, thank you!"
The two men shook hands, and everyone gathered back into the truck, and headed back to the station. Waylon sat next to Lin, who was lying down, looking at her bandaged paw. "Hey, Ace?" Daisy asked. "Don't you have something you want to say to these two?" They both looked up at Ace, who looked...unhappy?
"Waylon, Linette." Ace said in a stern voice. The two looked at each other, puzzled. What had they done that was wrong?
"I'm proud of you two." He smiled. They two sighed, relieved. The other three chuckled.
"Just..Be a little more careful." He winked at Linette, who rolled her eyes playfully.
"How long are ya gonna be out, crippled?" Walon teased, giving her the name 'crippled'.
She glared up at him, then chuckled to herself. "Eh, only a few weeks, Scarlette thinks its just a bad sprain, but she's taken me to the vet tomorrow just to be safe."
"Good." Victor said.
The car stopped, the dogs were let out, and they all walked to their cars, and went home.
-----
The next day, the hole team was celebraiting at John's house. Nick, John, Joey, Sofi, and even Edward was their. While ouside, Ace, Waylon, Daisy, Vic, and Rummy were all outside. There was a knock at the front door, loud, happy voices came from inside, the five dogs looked at the door, and smiled at the limping white figure that came out.
"There she is!" Waylon teased, getting up to greet her.
"How was the vet, Crip?" He laughed, refuring to her as 'crippled' again.
"Shut up." She said, and nuged him out of her way.
"Come and join the fun." Rummy barked. She looked up, they were all lying down, "Ppssshh, yeah, real fun. What is this, a tea party?" She laughed, the team laughed as well.
"So Rummy. I heard you finished training." Ace said.
"Yup! Sure did. May be this means I can come with you guys next time! Huuh, huuh?" He suggested.
The others exchanged glances and "hmms" then looked at the no worried Rummy. "I don't see why not." Ace smiled.
Rummy jumped in the air. "WOOHOOO! YES! YEAH! WOOOOO!!!" He howled with joy, running and jumping all around the yard. The brood of resting dogs laughed.
"Now I just want for it to be tomarrow! Or the next day! Or-W-What ever day my first mission is!"
"Now, settle down, kid." Vic chuckled.
Ace just smiled, "Don't worry Rummy." He said, getting the rookie's attention. Rummy couldn't help but run over sit next to Ace, just to see what else he might say.
"Hmhm, You will be a her before you know it!"
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All character(C)Me