A/N: You're all probably having a love/hate relationship with Marshall and Everest. From what I can tell by the reviews, it's an extremely good thing. I've been told by a well known reviewer, PBJNachos, that this is one of the best MxE stories he/she has ever read. I know that I haven't reached that point of actually DOING the MxE pairing, but not to worry gents, it will be coming.
Not Obama: I appreciated the review. And I agreed with it every bit. I got lazy with that chapter, not afraid to mention that. I don't intend to change it now, mainly because it's gotten a lot of positive feedback. Your reviews are always welcomed. Thanks friend!
Let me make you all a deal. When this story breaks EITHER 20 favorites, 20 follows, 100 reviews, or 6000 views, I'll go back and fix Chapter 9. Seem fair?
I'm loving how many reviews I am getting with this story. Eighty reviews in just nine chapters. Holy cow! That's incredible! About ninety-five percent of them have been positive, which is fantastic.
Finally, I'm gonna shut the heck up and let you great people get right into it. Keep up the support and I'll bust out a chapter more often. Cheers you guys. Let's do this thing.
!Welcome to Chapter 10 of Hearts of Ice and Fire!
The entire team had rendezvoused at Katie's as soon as Ryder broke the bad news to them. The mood throughout the recovery room was mixed with both upset and angry emotions. Chase was sprawled out on his side, his lifeless legs not moving a muscle. His breathing sounded hoarse and almost painful.
Skye and Rubble had both held each other and cried over their hurt friend. Chase was the big brother of the group. Seeing him injured and helpless on the bed was heartbreaking. Skye cared for Chase like a family member. He cared for her when she was a stray and kept all the other males off her.
Zuma was in a shocked state. Too frozen to move or even express any emotion or feeling. Growing up without any siblings, Zuma looked up to Chase for advice. Chase was the reason Zuma was on the team. He had rescued the chocolate lab after he had gotten trapped in a sea cave.
Rocky glared at the bed and at the injured shepherd on it. He silently was cursing Chase and Marshall out, especially the Dalmatian. Even though he received another week long suspension from Ryder, he still hated Marshall.
Katie had to hold Ryder to keep him from falling to the ground. Seeing his first pup broken and unconscious on the bed was bringing Ryder to an emotional downfall. He kept on begging for forgiveness and wishing that these traumatic events had never happened.
Everest was sitting in a chair, just staring at Chase. She had cried most of the way to Katie's shop and let the rest of the water works come out. Seeing Chase in three separate casts truly showed her the devastation that Marshall had caused. But the odd thing was that she wanted to help him with his plan, so that he didn't have to receive a punishment. He's suffered enough! Anything else and he might be lost forever.
Marshall wasn't even in the room when the team arrived. Katie said that he just started crying and rushed out of the room. His rig wasn't parked outside, according to the arriving team members. Katie said that she had never seen a pup more upset or emotional in her life.
"When is he expected to wake up?" Ryder asked quietly, as he stroked Chase's back fur.
"Hopefully within the next day," answered Katie in the same tone. "But I can't let you take him home until I run some further tests to see how badly his paralysis is."
A few of the pups looked like their hearts had dropped. Their eyes were filled with concern and worry. Ryder did his best to not to succumb to it. The word paralysis left a gross taste in his mouth.
"How long should that take?" the boy asked, not taking his eyes off Chase like he was guarding him.
"About a day and then I have to keep him for an additional day after that just to be safe," she replied, moving her fingers across one of Chase's police blue casts. "This poor pup doesn't need to be in a hospital room any longer. The best place for him to be will be home."
"Thank you, Katie," Ryder said, shaking his head. "I need to contact his parents. They need to know of their child's injuries."
Katie reached across the bed and touched Ryder's shoulder. "You should let Marshall help you with that. It'll get them here quicker. The best medicine is family."
"I know, but what am I supposed to say to them Katie?"
"I know what to tell them," Rocky growled.
Ryder turned on Rocky. "I swear if I hear you blame Marshall for this incident, you're off the team. Do you hear me?" He crouched in front of the pup. "I realize I can't change your mind. But blaming others without reason is not tolerable. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, Ryder. I'm sorry," Rocky responded, rejecting a hug from him. "I have some things to do at the Lookout. I'll just get out of your hair." He started to walk out.
"Rocky, wait," Ryder called, but it was no use. He was already gone.
"Let him go," Skye said. "All he'll do if he stays is blame Marshall."
"Yeah," Zuma said. "The dude is obsessed with putting the blame on him. It's widiculous."
Rubble didn't say anything. He just whined and sunk down onto the floor with his hind legs sticking out behind him. The family that had taken him off the streets was falling apart around him.
Ryder bent down and petted his neck. "It's okay, Rubble. Everything is going to be okay."
"Is everything going to be okay, Ryder," Everest challenged.
"Yes, it is. I won't allow anything else," Ryder responded.
"Really, because I don't see what you're seeing. You want to know what I see? I see an injured team member, who will not walk again. Two team members going at each others throats. And the rest of us are just okay? Nothing is going back to what it was before." She hopped off the chair and walked past him and stood in the doorway.
"Where are you going?" Ryder asked seriously.
"I'm going to find Marshall. He's scared, alone and in dire need of a friend. And since none of you are looking to help him, I'll do it myself," she growled as she walked out. "Wait, Everest," she heard as she left, but she chose to ignore it. I want nothing to do with them. Right now, I need to find Marshall.
Everest hopped into her snowmobile. Despite to popular belief, her rig actually drove fairly smoothly over the summer concrete. In fact, it was just as smooth as the street treads on some of the other rigs or Chase's rig with the All-Terrain tires. Love my rig!
She knew where Marshall would go to get away from the world. It was an overlook clearing up in the mountains; one of Marshall's favorite places in the world. Everest knew that he was going to be up there. "He hasn't changed spots since I joined and he won't start now," she said proudly.
The transition from city to forest was very gradual and soft. A few houses nestled a few miles outside the city limits, where the term, rugged, came into play. If Everest was anything, she was a rugged pup who loved the amenities of modern society; the modern rustic style pup.
From the moment the trees officially took over and no houses were in sight, Everest guessed it was going to take her about ten minutes to get to the clearing. The road she was going to have to take was an old logging road, which was now a popular ATV and motorcycle trail.
She found the trail and took advantage of no speed limit signs to put the pedal to the metal. Cruising at a high speed, she left behind her a thick dust cloud that covered the entire width of the trail. She hadn't seen any trucks or trailers at the trailhead, so she assumed she was the only one out there. "Gotta be a little more careful," she said, cutting her speed down to something more reasonable.
Just like she had predicted, it took her about ten minutes to get to the clearing. Marshall's firetruck was the first thing that came into view. It was like seeing a black rabbit in a sea of white mice. Couldn't have hid yourself a little better, Marshall?
Parking her tracked machine next to his, she disembarked and looked around for her spotted admirer. "Marshall!" she called loudly, hearing her voice bounce off the trees and echoing throughout the clearing.
No response!
Feeling slightly worried, she ran to where he would normally be sitting, laying, or standing. She sighed with relief when she broke the crest of the hill to see him sitting there. "Oh thank the lord," she breathed. "Marshall!"
Marshall turned to look at her. "Leave me alone!" he said, as he began to run into the trees.
Everest instinctively took pursuit of him. "Marshall….wait," Everest panted. Oh, I need to get in better shape. "I need to talk to you."
Marshall ignored her and kept on running. He jumped over logs, flew past bushed, and snaked through the thick pine trees. The pup was incredible and cunning when it came to running and getting past obstacles, despite being very clumsy.
As Everest slowly started to gain on him, it became more of a challenge to keep a stable pace. The muscles in her legs and body weren't used to this amount of cardio. I'm losing him! She thought, as her vision became blurry and the sound of her heartbeat could be heard.
Suddenly, Everest tripped and felt a sharp pain in her leg. She screamed out in pain and clutched her leg. The crimson red blood slowly started to drip from in-between her toes. The husky tried to move and prop herself against a nearby tree, but something was keeping her from moving.
Staring at her injured leg, she saw what was causing her the pain and the resistance to move. "Oh my god," she gasped. "I'm in a hunter's trap." Panicking, she started to flail out, hoping the trap would come loose and let her go. It didn't.
She looked at the noose that was sinking into her leg, making her lower leg go numb. "MARSHALL! HEEEELLLP!" she called out, in desperation. Where are you? She looked back at the trap and slowly lifted her leg. Just as she expected, the trap was hidden underneath a pile of leaves.
As slow as she could, she scooted towards the trap to give her some slack to be able to sit up. She sat up slowly, she could finally see the damage the trap had caused. It had shredded it's way into her leg, causing some muscle damage and a lot of bleeding. "Oh, that looks pretty bad."
Everest took the slack in her paws and pulled on it gently, exposing the trap fully. About five feet away, stuck in the ground, was a metal stake. I'm not getting that out by myself. "I'm gonna have to try and loosen the trap carefully. I can't claw or scratch through metal wire."
She found a stick and put it in her mouth for the pain she was about to induce on herself. "Okay….here it goes," she said through a muffled mouth. She extended her claw and dug into her leg, feeling an instant and excruciating pain. She bit down hard on the stick causing it to crack.
After working the metal wire around for a bit, she felt it come slightly loose. So she added another claw and repeated the process. Claw, pain, loosen, repeat. After adding in a fourth claw, she managed to free her leg from the trap. Her teeth had embedded into the stick from all the pain she had just gone through.
Her leg was torn up and the likelihood of her walking out of there without help was irrelevant. The ground around her leg felt squishy. She felt it and put her paw in front of her nose. Everest screwed her nose at the smell of blood. Her head started to feel dizzy and she felt sick to her stomach. Where is Marshall?
She looked around for the dally, not seeing him in her field of view. "To think I only want to help him and he returns the favor by abandoning me in the forest with a hurt leg."
"I didn't abandon you," said a familiar voice behind her.
"Where were you? I got stuck in a trap and called for your help. I thought you had abandoned me," she snapped aggressively.
"I went to go get the medical kit out of my rig," he said, finally coming into her view.
Everest scoffed. "Took you long enough," she grunted, wincing when she moved her leg.
"Don't try and move your leg," Marshal said, finally examining it. "Any deeper and that trap would have severed your Achilles tendon, but you're lucky. You'll walk again, soon."
Everest winced as Marshall began to clean her wounds with a bottle of water. "Whew…that is brisk," Everest shivered. "How do you make something that cold?"
Marshall giggled. "It's room temperature. Your body just isn't used to it." He began to wrap her leg with medical gauze.
"Hey! Watch it!"
Marshall snapped his gaze at her. "Do you want me to save you or not?"
Everest sighed, laid her head back, and nodded.
Marshall smirked at her sudden cooperation. "Hey, what's your favorite color?"
"It's ice blue, why do you a-," she started as Marshall suddenly tightened the gauze around her leg. She hissed in pain and her muscles tightened. "What was that for?" she asked through painfully gritted teeth.
"I had to cut off circulation to your wound, so the bleeding would stop. If I hadn't, you'd of either passed out or died on the way back," Marshall explained, putting a piece of medical tape on her leg to keep the wrap from coming loose.
"Can I at least stand up?" she asked enthusiastically. I hate the woods! I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.
Marshall nodded and got behind her. "Take it slowly. I'll steady you."
"Okay," Everest nodded as she started to rise to her feet.
"Easy now," warned Marshall. "Don't rush yourself."
Everest put her two front paws down and stood up slowly on her hind legs. She took into consideration of her injured leg and put as much pressure on the opposite foot. Come on, Everest. Fight the pain.
"You doing okay?" Marshall asked.
Everest finally stood up and balanced herself. "Yeah, I'm good. Let's get outta here."
Marshall supported her on his right shoulder. "Sounds like a plan," he said, as they started to walk slowly.
"Can I ask you something?"
"We got about an hour of walking, so I don't see why not," he replied.
"Why did you come back for me?" Everest saw the question eat at his mind almost instantly. Too soon, she thought before he glanced over at her, looking confident.
"Because you're the only one I trust."
A/N: I enjoyed writing this chapter. I know I say that a lot, but I genuinely enjoyed this one. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Remember that I enjoy the constructive criticism and well, normal reviews as well. Those are cool too.
Remember to favorite/follow and I'll see you in the next one.
AtlasWolfActual Out!