The Replacement
Kodi's eyelids fluttered slowly open, him staring groggily about the room. It took him a few moments to actually realize that he was in the back room, having apparently fallen asleep while watching over Dusty. He raised his head, letting out a long, loud yawn as he did so, and looked across to regard Dusty. He was surprised to find the basket empty, the blanket flowing over one side. It was the work of only a second to sniff and find that she had apparently gotten up to 'make a little room', judging from the way her scent stretched across and into the other room and (presumably) out the door.
Kodi's thoughts on Dusty were immediately swept away as he heard the tell-tale 'thud' and 'clomp' of his Master's boots as he descended the stairs to wake Kodi and the rest of the team for their job; delivering the mail both to and from Nome. 'Should I stay?' Kodi asked, and then scolded himself for even dreaming of skipping out on work; he loved his job and wouldn't have missed a single day of it for the world. Still…
'What about Dusty? Who's going to look after her while we're gone?' another part of his mind argued, and Kodi was torn between the two. He wanted to work, to run, to feel the snow crunching underfoot and to taste the fresh air as he sucked in breath after breath as he and the others pulled. Equally as strong was his desire – hell, almost his need – to stay and take care of Dusty.
A split second later his sled-dog instinct took control, insisting that he was being stupid, that Dusty was a big, strong dog and could look after herself and she didn't need Kodi watching over her all the time like some overprotective parent. Kodi agreed with this statement, yet he felt…
"Forget how you feel!" he suddenly snapped at himself. "You're a sled dog, darn it! And when your Master suits you up and tells you to mush, than you'll mush!" His lips stretched in a determined smile and he stood up, walking into the other room where the rest of his team had already been roused and was getting ready to be fitted to the harness by the Master. At his appearance, a chorus of greetings arose from the assembled dogs. Kirby walked up to him, usually calm yet eager face now carrying a hint of nervousness and anxiety. He surveyed Kodi with eyes that were shiny with anxious anticipation.
"How's Dusty? Is she gonna' be okay?" he asked with eyes that seemed to demand an affirmative answer from the still-not-completely-awake dog before him.
Kodi gave the clearly worried dog a comforting smile. "She's gone now, probably had to use the bathroom, but she slept like a baby the rest of the night." There was an almost audible sigh as the nervous stench reeking from the assembled canines instantly faded. "She's got a couple dings and scratches, but other than that she's fine." Kirby breathed a sigh of relief. Kodi gave him a slight tap on the top of his head with his long bush of a tail, and Kirby snapped back to reality just as the Master opened the front door and called the team out into the yard, where the bright burst of sunlight temporarily blinded them.
A few minutes later, the team was all ready to be suited up. The only thing that remained was for the master to actually strap them in their respective places in the line. They would be arranged in their usual formation…save for the fact that Dusty's traces would remain empty for the time being. The Master, having already though of a temporary solution for this problem, had walked a big albino Husky out and deposited him in Dusty's place. Kodi was a bit nervous, but determined to make the best of this, if only for the sake of his Team.
He turned his head and barked a greeting to the new dog replacement. "Hi! I'm Kodi!"
The albino canine only stared at him, acidic green eyes seeming almost to be searching Kodi's face...in truth, he almost seemed to be looking at Kodi as though he were a bug he wanted to squish.
In response to this, Kodi's face fell a bit. 'Oh no.' he mentally sighed. 'Looks like we've drafted a real friendly dog.' "So…what's your name?"
"Forest." He replied automatically. Kodi's heart sank even lower.
Yet, despite this, he tried to act cheerful. "Well Forest, you're probably wondering why you're here…"
"My Master brought me here, that's all I need to know." He said shortly, in a tone colder than an icy blast of winter air.
Ralph spoke up; "Well, you see Forest, our friend Dusty was attacked by a bunch of wolves or wolf-dogs or something and we needed an extra set of helping paws while she's busy getting better." He offered Forest a kindly smile that the other did not return.
'Oh crap.' Kodi mentally growled, brow furrowing the slightest bit. 'Why is it that whenever we need a replacement, they're always a big bully…'
"So, your friend got beaten up did she?" he asked.
"Yeah," Kirby replied, eyes downcast. "I feel real sorry for her. After all she–"
"She must not be very strong if she was beaten by only one or two dogs at once." Forest interrupted with a slight sneer. "Maybe she should retire and become a house pet instead. Leave the work to those who –"
Kodi snapped.
"Shut up about Dusty!" he suddenly fumed, molten anger seeming to congeal throughout his entire body. "For your information, she was ambushed while she was out for a walk in the middle of the night! The scumbags who did it beat her up and would've raped her if I hadn't come along! If she's strong enough to survive something like that then she's more than capable of pulling a SLED in my book! So just shut your trap and –"
"You've got a big mouth, Kodi." Forest growled, baring his fangs. "I don't appreciate being talked to like that, so if I were you, I'd try not to do it again…"
"Is that a threat?" Kodi asked, baring his own teeth. He was usually renowned for his refusal to fight with any of the other dogs on his team, but this time was a little different.
"Yes it is…" Forest replied. His green eyes suddenly flashed in an unsettling way. "If I didn't know any better…I'd say you've got a thing for little miss 'I-got-beat-up-by-a-bunch-of-stupid-mutts'…" he sneered, lips curving in a rotten little smirk.
"Shut up you." Kirby suddenly growled, anger sparking. "I'm warning you…I don't like it when someone talks about my friends like that…"
"What are you and 'Lover-Boy' over there gonna' do if I don't, huh?" Forest shot back, hackles rising slightly as the hair on both Kodi and Kirby's backs stood up in response, growls of warning issuing from the two.
A vicious fight would have no doubt broken out among the three dogs had Dusty herself not come limping around the side of the house to see what all the fuss was about.
((()-()))
Dusty mumbled and opened her eyes, the fragmentary bad dreams fading away to merciful nothingness. Not that she cared at the moment, as her chief concern was getting outside and doing her business out there and NOT in the house. She tried to move her legs and winced as a dull pain shot through her entire body. She gritted her teeth however, and with a sense of grim determination all her own, forced her tired, achy body to an upright position and managed to coax her shaky legs into supporting her weight.
The actual process of movement was a bit more difficult, seeing as her legs wanted to collapse with every new step she took. By the time she had managed to maneuver around Kodi, slip into the next room, make her way stealthily past her running mates and finally out the door and into the back yard, she was breathing heavily and both her chest and lungs were burning. A normal house-pet type of dog would've sank to the ground under these circumstances, but Dusty was not the only female sled-dog on the team for nothing; Thanks to her constant training in endurance by the harsh climate, her muscles were stronger than the normal dogs' and she felt she might be able to last a little longer…though how much longer she wasn't exactly sure…
She hastily did her business, making sure to cover up the more solid portion with pile of snow with one strong sweep of one of her back legs, the feat nearly costing her to lose her balance. 'See girl, you're tougher than you look.' she said, her self-confidence building with every word. 'You made it all the way out here, even with all these injuries, and still managed not to wake anyone up!' Her heart swelled, a small flame of pride burning inside of her, giving her a bit more strength.
An instant later that little flame sputtered and died as she heard her Master get up and come down the stairs, preparing to summon her teammates from their sleep to once again brave harsh winds and blistering cold to…deliver the mail. 'You know, it kind of sounds lame when you say it like that.' She thought, a small, amused smile playing across her face. 'Better not tell Kodi that!' She giggled slightly and then stopped after almost losing her balance and tumbling to the snow.
'Okay, time to head back inside before you fall over and have to wait for Kodi or Kirby or one of the others to come and find you lying here like some old mutt.' She told herself and started off on her slow, shaky journey to the back door. Halfway there she heard voices. Fist Kodi asking, in a polite and kind tone, for someone's name. 'Oh no!' Dusty thought miserably. 'I got replaced' Everyone knew it was a sled-dog's greatest shame to be placed on the sidelines while the rest merely shot by pulling the sled in their wake.
Her self-induced pity-party was interrupted as she heard a strangely familiar voice reply "She must not be very strong if she was beaten up by only one or two dogs at once." The voice paused and she could hear the sneer embedded in it like a chunk of glass in a marshmallow when it spoke again. The voice…she knew it from somewhere, but it rang a bell to faint to distinguish. "Maybe she should retire and become a house-pet instead." Anger burned in her mind as she heard this. She didn't know whom the heck this dog though he was, but she knew she wouldn't stand to be degraded like this, no sir! The voice continued "Leave the work o those who– "
Kodi's voice, loud and dripping with outrage, cut in sharply; "Shut up about Dusty!" he yelled, and the canine in question shrunk back a bit; hearing Kodi talk like that was…well…a little scary… She stiffened slightly as she heard his next words.
"For your information, she was ambushed while she was out for a walk in the middle of the night! The scumbags who did it beat her up and would've raped her if I hadn't come along! If she's strong enough to survive something like that, than she's more than capable of pulling a SLED in my book!" Dusty's heart swelled again, the small flame of pride that had shank to nothing more than a guttering spark blazed into something akin to a bonfire. 'I never knew he cared so much…' Her gratitude towards him grew as she continued to listen. "So just shut your trap –"
Kodi was cut off yet again by the strangely familiar, yet cold voice saying. "You've got a big mouth Kodi. I don't like being talked to like that, so if I were you, I'd try not to do it again…" Dusty shivered slightly at the presence of the low growl in the stranger's voice. She didn't like where this was headed…
When she heard Kodi's voice reply "Is that a threat?" she decided it was time to put a stop to this before somebody got hurt…or worse. She limped with all the speed she could manage, which wasn't much, due to her injuries, mind set on keeping a fight from breaking out between her friends and her replacement (ugh, how she hated the word). Her pace quickened as she heard Kirby growl out "I'm warning you…I don't like it when someone talks about my friends like that…" and became faster still as she heard Forest – or so she'd heard Kodi call him a few seconds before – reply: "What're you and 'Lover-Boy' gonna' do if I don't, huh?"
From the tone of menacing challenge in his voice, Dusty judged it very fortunate for everyone that her appearance from around the corner of the house at that exact moment was timed just right. She could tell from one glance that she hadn't been a second too soon; had she not caused a momentary ripple in this stream of rapidly unfolding events, it would've been very likely that their Master would've found three angry, ferociously fighting dogs when he returned with what supplies he needed for their journey. As it was, upon seeing Dusty – the very dog around which the commotion was centered – any and all hostile activity ceased and they just looked at her with astounded surprise. Dusty felt a maddening urge to suddenly burst out laughing; with all of their mouths hanging open like that, they reminded her of a bunch of newborns.
She suppressed it with only the great force of her not-inconsiderable willpower and gave them a look. Her mouth turned down in a frown, her eyes narrowed slightly, and her brows knitted together. It is the sort of look an irritated mother wears when she discovers her pups squabbling over something not even worth the energy of the argument. It is the sort of look that asks, 'Alright-just- what-the-heck-is-going-on-here?'
"What's all this fuss about?" she asked, panting slightly. Now that she had stopped moving, her aggravated body finally had time to notice the red-hot band of pain that ran up and down her left side. She looked at them, head cocked, her appearance of a disapproving mother confronting her pups only strengthened by this.
Finally, Kodi broke the stunned silence. "Dusty…what're you doing out here? You should be inside…"
Dusty waved this notion away as if it were an annoying bug. "Oh, c'mon guys! Give me a break! Look, I know you were talking about me and– "
Forest's voice interrupted, it's icy blast stabbing through her calm, gentle, yet slightly insistent tone like a jagged set of teeth cutting through bone. "So, you're the weak little sled doggie who got beat up by a bunch of mutts, how sad." He said, voice dripping with sarcasm. He snickered derisively.
Dusty's head turned abruptly to regard Forest, that cocky and obnoxious albino Husky. Her upper lip curled involuntarily, exposing her white teeth. The words might as well have been a paw-slap to the face; they had the same effect. Dull, impersonal anger pulsed through her and she glowered at Forest, who looked slightly taken-aback, yet regained his composure so quickly that you wouldn't have known it was there, even for an instant. "Shut up, you." She growled. "You've got no idea what it was like, what I went through last night." Tears formed in her eyes and trickled slowly down her cheeks, she seemingly unaware of them as the streamed down her face, darkening her beautiful coat and staining it a darker gray as a mark of their passage.
"How would you know…? How could you understand…? You…" Her anger suddenly strengthened and in a sudden rush of emotion, she strode briskly forward, all pain temporarily forgotten, until she was almost nose-to-nose with the now thoroughly surprised Forest. She raised her right paw, drew it back, and brought it crashing across the stunned Husky's face with all the strength she could muster.
Forest blinked in amazement; never, in all his life, had a female ever dared to do such a thing to him. It was unprecedented. His cheek was already starting to throb and swell where she had hit him. Yet, for the moment, his shock held sway over all, and he swung his head to look at the now 'no-longer-so-angry' Dusty, who still had tears streaming slowly down her furry face to drip onto the snow where they instantly turned into small particles of ice.
"…You…you selfish pig…" Dusty breathed, narrowed eyes still boring holes into Forest's unprotected face.
Yet Forest – not unlike a certain albino Malamute who had once been involved with Jenna in a similar situation, only it the Broiler Room – was, as I think I've sad before, not at all used to having a female slap him in the face and his shock was rapidly turning to anger. Then rage. "Nobody…Slaps…Me…NOBODY!" he snarled, causing Dusty to back up a few steps and allowing him to take a few menacing ones forward. "You're gonna' be sorry you did that…" he growled.
Kodi had been watching all of this quietly, but intently, form the sidelines, and had given Dusty her rightful chance to handle this her way. But now, with Forest's anger clearly rising – not to mention his rapidly crumbling restraint – Kodi decided it was time to intercede.
"Back off, Forest," he said, moving forward to block Dusty and positioning himself between the two of them. "I'm warning you…if you try anything…" He growled to finish the rest of his implied statement.
"Get outta my way, Lover-Boy." Forest snarled in reply, lips writhing back to expose his teeth.
In response to this, Kirby, Ralph and the others gathered to either side of Dusty, all of them sending an all too clear message; 'Go ahead…try it. We'd be happy to royally bust you up…It'd give us a chance to blow off some of this collective anger…' In spite of this obvious show of superior force and numbers, Forest looked like he just might be angry enough to go ahead and try anyway, just to be able to get a shot at Dusty.
It certainly would've gotten bloody and somebody – maybe 3 or 4 somebodies – would've ended up needing medical attention had their Master not finished loading up the sled and now called all his dogs over to him to be fitted to the traces. With a growl of frustration, Forest stalked over to where Kodi's Master waited, pausing only briefly to shoot a single, furious glance back over his shoulder at both Dusty and Kodi, the latter returning the look. His soon-to-be widely known dislike of Dusty made Kodi distrust him, but the over-all vibe of bad, uncontrollable and unreasonable temperament radiating from the dog only served to deepen his mistrust and dislike.
As most of the others wished Dusty a speedy recovery – most of them going something like 'I don't like this guy. Hurry up and get better so we can drop his sorry butt and make this job fun again' – and hurriedly trotted over to the sled to be fixed into their place in line, Kodi lingered for a moment to turn and regard Dusty, who was looking at him with a sort of half-gratified-relief and half-disapproval. "Thanks for your support back there," she said, smiling at him. "But I could've taken care of him."
Kodi returned the smile. "I know you could've probably taken him with one paw tied behind you, but you know," he shrugged one powerful shoulder. "Never hurts to be safe, right?"
"Oh go away, you big fuzzball!" she giggled, and then abruptly stopped as a sudden spell of nausea overwhelmed her and she teetered precariously on her feet. She would've crashed down sideways into the snow had Kodi not – once again – cushioned her fall with his body. She looked up at him, smiling benignly. "Whoa…deja-vu…" she said, mentally giggling at the slight blush that had tinted Kodi's cheeks.
"Come on," he said, "Let's get you inside, you've been out here too long as it is…" He helped her into the house, supporting her with his shoulder and helped her as much as he could to get comfortable in her little basket once inside.
"How's that?" he asked after he seizing the blanket in his teeth, draping it over Dusty and tucking any extra material into the basket with his nose.
"Really comfy, thanks." She replied, looking gratefully up at him. "I wish I could go with you guys…" Her smile grew wistful. "I hate having to just lie here while you're out there, doing all the work and having to put up with that obnoxious jerk-wad Forest…"
Kodi nudged her with the tip of his nose. "Hey, it's just as important that you stay here." He smiled. "The faster you get better, then the faster we can dump Forest and get life back to the way it was…" His smile broke into a broad grin. "Besides," he said, "somebody's gotta' stay here and protect our food…"
They both laughed at that.
Finally Kodi turned to go, having been prompted by the anxious calls of his Master. When he had almost reached the door that led from the back room to their sleeping quarters, Dusty called out; "Kodi?"
"Yeah?" he replied, turning to her.
She smiled. "Make sure you come back safe."
"You bet!" Kodi replied, choosing to take the statement in the plural form, meaning bring the Team back safely, and to ignore a slightly more convincing voice that whispered that Dusty's words had been directed only to him.
With that, Kodi walked outside, where his Master strapped him to his rightful place as Lead Dog. His Master, after a final check to make sure all was well, jumped on the runners and called out "HIKE!" whereupon all the dogs shot forward, Kodi in the lead.
As his feet began to pound out that old familiar rhythm and he entered his 'zone', his thoughts drifted helplessly back to Dusty, lying at home in her basket with her blanket tucked around her, snug as could be.
'Get well soon Dusty,' he thought as he upped their pace a bit. 'For…for my sake if not for your own…'