I ran farther into the forest when I heard the footfall on a crust of snow followed by a howl. It had only taken them fifteen minutes to discover that I had tried to run away again. I scanned the shadows searching for my pursuers while dogging sharp hillocks and sudden crevasses that hid glinting ice. To my left I spotted the pair of ice-blue eyes that belonged to the alpha of The Pack. They caught the glow of the raging and burning aurora borealis overhead.
He ran alongside me, trying to keeping up with my pace. To my right and behind me I heard panting. The whole pack caught up with me and was testing me. They were seeing how fast I could run, how strong I was. Seeing how close I was to joining them. Ahead of me was a tree stood up from the leaning forest with thick limbs low enough for me to reach. I steeled myself and dashed right at it, landing on a high branch when I jumped. I climbed up the tree and looked down to see the six huge wolves that made up The Pack starting up at me, their eyes placid and content. I could see their laughter as they wagged their tails and circled the tree.
"Go away Beck," I said to the one with ice-blue eyes and black fur.
He looked up at me and grinned the only way a wolf can. He leaned backward, stretching out his forelimbs, and sank down to lie in the snow. He wasn't going anywhere. The others started to circle closer to the tree. The gray one with the black muzzle, who was my brother Rixon, jumped up at me.
His paws snapped the branch I was just on in half, missed my foot by a few inches. At the base of the tree he dropped down and started to back up. Before I could get to a higher branch, he charged and jumped again. This time he was going to slammed himself into the base of the tree.
"No! Rixon stop! You're going to nock the tree over!"
But he didn't stop. He backed up again and charged. When he slammed into the tree it began to tilt. The Pack backed away as the tree fell with me in it to the ground with a thud. The blanket of snow cushioned my fall, but I was now pinned down by the tree. Before I could try pushing the tree off and run, Beck was pulling me out by the hood of my jacket. The Pack trotted up to me and started pulling me to my feet. In a desperate attempt to get away, I kicked Devon, the dark brown wolf in front of me, with my steel-toed boot.
He yelped as I ran past him and deeper into the woods. Behind me I could hear The Pack running after me again. I never made it this far into the woods, usually The Pack caught me and dragged me back home. Up ahead I could see a fast flowing stream. I dashed to the edge and jumped high into the air. I landed a yard away from the bank on the other side of the river and ran. The Pack was over the stream in seconds and closing in on me.
Pulling out my knife, I ran faster to an upcoming cliff. From what I could tell, the cliff only dropped four feet and out of the woods. I would be close to where Max was waiting for me. After that I had to run out of Alaska and run along the highway. The Pack wouldn't risk getting exposed just to catch me. If I could make it to the highway I would be free. Up ahead was the frozen lake. The Pack would have to go around it or they would fall through the ice and have to swim. I looked over my shoulder and, as expected, The Pack turned to go around the ice. I ran over the ice, more than half way across. I could see where the ice turned to snow covered ground and sped to it. A yard away from the edge, I plummeted into the icy water.
The lake must not have completely frozen over was my only thought as I saw the ice shift back into place. I was sinking in the peaceful, bone drenching water when the ice above exploded. Beck swam to me and I wrapped my arms around his neck. He swam to the bank and The Pack came close. They stayed in this tight formation to warm me with their ridicules body heat and to make it impossible for me to run off again. We walked back home in silence.