Dog vs. Wolf

Kodi stood with the leather traces of his harness tightly bound to his fur. Behind him stretched eight other dogs, each of them barking and howling for the freedom to run. The job was simple; it was a two day run over the mountain to a mining camp. The mining camp was self sufficient for meat, but they lacked necessary mining supplies, and food. Their master had been hired a long time back to ferry supplies back and forth across the mountain. It was the dog's job to pull

The weather had been unreasonably cold for the past few weeks. The mercury hadn't reached anything above thirty below. They sky was a constant grey, that kept the cold near the ground. The sunrise here was short, and provided little warmth for the people, and dogs of Nome. The sun would just blink above the horizon, giving the people a bright look at the day, then the sun would sink and give them nothing but darkness.

Kodi glanced back at his master, loading large boxes of dynamite, bags of rice and other essential items for the miners. But Kodi wasn't concerned with any of the human trinkets. He was concerned about one thing His love.

Kodi had only met clover a few day's earlier, but it was love at first site. He had met her walking down the street with some of her friends. As Kodi passed her, and she passed him, they both turned their heads to look at each other. After they both caught each other they turned and kept walking each one of them blushing. Later that night Kodi met her on a street by herself. Kodi then got up the courage to talk to her, it was love to end.

"Where is she?" Kodi mumbled to himself as he grew impatient with her tardiness. Kodi looked back at his master; he began to carry the last of the rice to the sled. It was only a matter of time before they were going to set off.

"I'm here Kodi." clover said running around the corner of a building to kodi's side. Her coat was thick and well maintained, she had to of been groomed at least three times a day to have a coat like that. She was white and red with a black face. Her paws stretched far below her body, with slightly larger paws then most dogs. Her tail was large fluffy and white, it hung far down from her body and would often drag on the ground.

"I was afraid you weren't going to show." Kodi said nuzzling up to her.

"Oh Kodi you know I would never do that…but Kodi I need to tell you something…"

"Ok boys lets get ready." the master interrupted, with his booming deep voice.

"You better move clover before you get in trouble." Kodi said pushing her away with his muzzle.

Their was a new step in their masters walk that told them they were going run soon. All the dogs began jumping and throwing themselves against the harnesses. Each one digging down, down into their souls, the part that made them run. It was the part of there being, their savageness.

The master stepped up to the overloaded sled, with gear piled as high as his eyes. He couldn't see the dogs, but knew that they were lunging to take flight. He stepped up onto the runners, using his weight to weigh the team down. The sled had to weigh over a thousand pounds, but he knew his team well. He knew that these dogs would have no problem pulling this sled, and pulling it fast. He grabbed the handlebar with one hand, and the release rope with the other. He gripped his hand tighter to the bar, then with one quick clean jerk on the anchor, the sled was free and moving.

The team didn't move with a sudden quickness like the master had thought they would, but instead moved slowly, dogs still jumping into the air to lunge at the sled. After fifty feet they were up to half speed, the sled creaking and groaning under the massive weight of the gear; the breath of the dogs blowing up over their heads, then over the massive pile of gear.

Kodi looked back, as they gained distance from the town, to see clover sitting on her haunches watching him run. She was always afraid when he went out, even though she had only known him for a short time. But each time Kodi went out she would sit their until they were out of site. Then the fallowing day, late in the afternoon she would come back and wait for his return. It had become a common thing for her to do.

Kodi then lead the team up towards the river, where they dropped down onto the river ice. The trip was going to be over a hundred miles long. First the team had to run eighty miles up the river; then the team had to make a twenty mile trip up over a six thousand foot tall peak. On the other side of the peak, was the mining camp. It was next to the stream, for ample supply of water for mining, and just across the valley from an extensive expanse of tundra. The tundra carried many animal, but the most sought after was the caribou.

Kodi ran over a large crack in the ice, the sled hit it and bounced then swerved slightly. The sun had already vanished around the curve of the earth, and now nothing but a lingering darkness ruled. The only dim light in the land was the northern lights shining at Kodi's nose.

The valley was not the average v shaped valley, but it was a u shaped valley. Spruce trees that had weather many storms, and much cold, lined either side of the waterway. On the other side of the trees the valley shot up to the sky with thousand foot cliffs; Eagle nests and mountain goats dotted the cliffs. The mountain goats traversed and lived on these cliffs, relatively safe from predators, but not always the weather, a fact Kodi learned several weeks earlier.

Kodi was lying in the snow, watching his master dry his feet after falling through the ice; when he noticed the mountain goats rambling across the cliff side. They bound from rock to rock, their white fur flapping in the wind, snow swirling off the peaks just overhead. When Kodi saw it, he saw the wind a sudden gust of wind blow across the mountain top. The blast of wind sent out a swirl of snow that went from one mountain top to the other. Kodi didn't see the initial fall, but when the scream of fear reached his ears; he perked his head and could see the tuft of white fur bounce off a cliff then go out of site.

The team moved up the stream inconspicuous in this great land. The dogs struggling on, fighting the cold, the darkness, and the utter loneliness, but they weren't alone in this dark land.

Kodi hadn't noticed the signs, or perhaps he might have been able to change the event to come. But Kodi was numb to the world, when he ran; the blood ran from his head to his legs, stars and a fuzzy picture would surround his vision. And wolves didn't bother to hide themselves because of this fact.

They stood on the sides of the river watching as the dogs ran by, completely unaware of their presence. Then as the team ran by they would retreat back into the trees, race ahead, and meet them again before they passed. It was a perfect hunting tactic, one that the dogs were unaware of. The musky smell of the wolves fowled the air but Kodi was numb to this, and everything else around him, but not the overflow.

Kodi could see a patch of overflow up ahead, it was a minute difference in the way the snow flowed, but one that told him what was ahead. The master had also seen this and had already found his way to go "gee." the master yelled. Kodi took the command, and turned left up onto the dirt bank.

The wolves closed in, they crossed over the river towards the trees where the dogs were running. They moved with the swiftness and skill of an elite hunting team. They flowed with their pray, constantly moving and compensating for the quarry's movements. They ran up into the trees a hundred yards in front of the team. It was the first time that they had left their quarry's side, but they were aimed at attack.

Kodi ran through the trees, still not paying attention to the many signs of impending doom around him. The wolves formed a bottleneck, which Kodi ran headfirst into. He slid to a stop at the base of a tree, and just in front of one of the largest wolves he had ever seen.

The wolf stood twice as high as Kodi, a charcoal black coat, large enough to be a blanket on some trapper's floor. His all hearing ears were large, they were ripped to shreds, obvious the sign of a leader who has had to fight to get to the top. The wolf's feet, also giant, twice as big as Kodi's feet.

Kodi stood under this wolf's shadow, staring up at the massive creature, eyes open, mouth dropped. The master had seen this wolf had seen all the signs before this wolf, he had figured that wolves wouldn't attack. He had never been attacked by any before, so what did he half to worry about. He had sent the team up on the stream bank hoping to lose the wolves in the trees but that was a failed hope

The master grabbed for a rifle that lay on the side of all the gear. But as he pulled at the rifle he found is stuck, and stuck solid. He grabbed the rifle with both hands and ripped madly at it, trying to get the rifle free. But the rifle wouldn't budge.

Kodi stood under the wolf. "Who are you?" he said meekly. "What do you want?" the wolf didn't move or even blink; the only movement being of his blowing fur. It was a creature dead to everything outside his mind.

"Attack!" he yelled. Then with one fast jump he landed on Kodi, knocking him to the ground. Kodi fought, struggled, and bit at underbelly of the large wolf.

The master watched as the wolf jumped onto his lead dog. He made one more lunge at the rifle before a wolf shot out of the bushes and attacked him. The wolf ripped his teeth deep into the mans shoulder. At the same time he pulled the trigger on the rifle sending a shot through the sled and into the dirt underneath it.

Kodi managed to grab a little flesh of the wolf's underbelly. He ripped at it but lost his grip when the pain shot up his back. The wolf had felt the bight on his belly and bit down on Kodi's rear leg.

Wolves came out of the woodwork they leapt into the air and attacked the dogs. For each dog there were two wolves and each seemed to have already chosen their body part. Each dog had a wolf ripping at it's face, chest, or legs, then another ripping at it's hind legs or soft underbelly. Blood began flying through the air and soaking each dog and wolf in it. The wolves ripped the skin off the dogs, letting blood flow out of them and onto the ground. They bit at the dogs necks, sending showers of blood all over themselves

The master had been able to pull his knife and make a stab at one of the three wolves attacking him. He stood on his knee's, knife in his bare right had. He spun around, swinging the knife out in front of him like a sword. The wolves seemed amused by this man futile attempts to save his life. They taunted him by coming in when his back was turned and nipping at his coat or pants. At which point the man would swing around with his knife then the pattern was repeated

Kodi lay on his belly the large black wolf sitting atop him ripping at the top of his head and shoulders. Every time the large wolf went for Kodi's neck, Kodi would role a little and snap at the wolf's face; But would only hear the metallic click of his own teeth. The wolf then stood up and moved around to the front of kodi. He stood with his head hung low, looking out under his brow. Kodi stood to make an attack, when he realized that his front foot had somehow got caught in his harness. Kodi stood on his remaining legs, still ready to fight. But before he could attack, the wolf made a lunge. Kodi felt the teeth of the wolf rip into his flesh just under his ear. He watched as the stream of blood flowed out from his neck and poured over the wolf. Then darkness

The wolves watched the man still swinging the knife, then one of the wolves yelled out "get him." the wolves lunged at him all three of them biting him at once. The man jabbed the knife into the side of one of the wolves, and listened to it scream. Then the man grew cold and distant. Pain no longer seemed to effect him, he felt tired, and wanted to sleep, and so he did.