Warning: The author has noted that this contains the highest level of violence. The lake was frozen solid enough to stand on. Brenden stood on the edge of the coast. Brenden began his trek with his snowshoes strapped tight. The snow was thick on the ice in some places and thin in others. His dog trudged alongside him. He could see the other side of the coast, sometimes accosted by the blustering wind whipping snow across the lake. He wiped the snow buildup off his mask as sometimes it almost became too much to breathe. His dog walked hard but had trouble on the thinly covered patches of snow, slipping on the ice. “You ok Gus?” Brenden asked. “Here, only awhile more to go and I’ll catch you a fish.” Gus gave out a small cough in between his labouring silence. They saw something in the distance. Brenden gave Gus a small piece of beef jerky he had loose in his pocket. Approaching the object, the snow was thin, ice making Gus’s steps more dangerous than they already were. Brenden could see a red coat and stood over it. He rolled over the coat with one arm to see the coat had been gray to begin with, before the blood. In the disfigured man’s arms was his dog, still alive being sheltered by his owner’s dead body. He looked at the tag “Barrow”. Barrow had kept himself warm and seemed reliable, so Brenden accepted him as another companion. “Hope you don’t mind.” Brenden nodded to Gus. Gus gave a low growl, but accepted Barrow would be traveling with them. Just then, Brenden heard a pack of wild dogs howling to his left. “Let’s get a move on boys, they don’t sound friendly.” Gus and Barrow were on high alert, despite their decreasing energy. Gus barked, and Barrow began following on the right side of Brenden while Gus remained on the left. He threw both of them some more beef jerky to show his appreciation. “Good boys.” He said as he wiped the heavy snow off his mask. Gus and Barrow kept their heads at opposite angles of Brenden walking in the middle. His frozen hands inside his gloves began to lose their feeling and gripping things became a task in itself. “Let’s push through boys, I don’t like the sound of those dogs, they could blindside us in the snow like Barrow’s poor owner back there.” Gus as well as Barrow let out light barks, and slid on. A few kilometers later, the snow was almost fully blinding. Brenden had to take much shorter steps as the wind was now blowing against him off the mountain that laid on the land he was trying to reach. It had taken longer than expected to reach this point, Brenden was now losing daylight. Brenden looked back as his dogs were now lagging behind. Both of them needed more food, but Brenden’s hands were so cold he dropped the beef jerky on the ground beside his feet. Gus and Barrow left both their positions, and began fighting for the beef jerky at his feet. “Ay! Both of you! Settle!” As the fighting dogs jockeyed on top of each other fighting. Once Gus registered what Brenden had said, he stopped fighting, but Barrow didn’t. Barrow bit down on Gus’s ear. Brenden kicked Barrow back off to the right side, who let out raspy yelp. Brenden loosely bandaged Gus’s ear and pinned it with the slight grip he had. He looked over at Barrow, who was not in good condition after the kick. He was walking even slower than the hobbling Gus, yet there was nothing Brenden could do about Barrow’s internal injuries. “Come on, come on.. I’ll get ya fixed up over there buddy come on..” Brenden encouraged the dogs. He was feeling sad and cold as though he was in the 9th circle of icy hell. “Come on.. come on..” He repeated, this time to himself. Barrow lagged farther behind, barely in Brenden’s line of sight. “Barrow.. Hurry up..” Brenden’s voice was getting laborious now. Barrow fell out of his line of sight into the snowstorm, and Brenden turned around just before he did. He turned back to grab him and bring him to safety. When the wave of snow disappeared, Brenden saw Barrow dead on the group with his throat ripped out. He frantically turned around, and Gus was still beside him. “You’re still with me Gus.. let’s go.” Brenden stuffed Barrow’s body inside of a sack he had for his dead friend. Gus watched on, his eyes emitting sadness. It was just beginning to get dark when Brenden could tell they were going to make it to the other side of the lake. The wind was picking up too. “You’re a good boy Gus..” Said a half delirious Brenden. Gus barked at the something only he could sense. The raggedy group of wild dogs had stalked them in the snow blindness from behind, at least five of them. Brenden kept making his way forward, while Gus walked behind him now. The sun was fully set now, and the moon was obscure. Brenden looked back but couldn’t see Gus. He continued to move forward for his survival, hoping Gus would appear out of the darkness. In the early morning on the other side of the lake, Brenden crawled out of the small cave he had dug into the snow for himself, and he could see the wild dogs. There were still five of them, except Gus was leading the pack. “Gus!” He shouted out into the quiet morning. The wild dogs kept running across the frozen lake, looking for their next meal. At that moment, Brenden wasn’t sure who was friend or foe anymore.

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