Chapter 6

The sun shine gleamed overhead warming the soft sand of the beach. Waves lapped on the shore, and a warm breeze came from the south. Water, from melting snow that was hidden where the sun couldn't get it, melted and trickled down through the small streams and ditches. But still, a lot of the water simply flowed along under the bright green grass, little rivers that couldn't be seen from above.

Kodi opened his eyes and could hear the sound of seagulls cawing and squawking. He looked straight up at the sky and watched as two large seagulls flew over. They were lined under a large blue sky, with white fluffy clouds that resembled cotton balls floating.

Kodi rolled his head to the side, and could see water trickling down off a grassy embankment onto the soft sand of the beach. Wait, this was a beach. He remembered back to his last thoughts, and could clearly see the hate filled eyes of the wolf, the blood. He moved a paw up to his neck where the gash would be, and found nothing. He had to be dead, and this was heaven.

He stood up letting the warm sand cake off his back, and looked around. Kodi looked out across the grass towards Nome. It stood nearly a mile down the beach from himself; he could see the steeple of the church, and the boiler room where all the dogs would hang around. He could see several seagulls standing in the grass watching him. They were resting from there long flight out to sea to find shellfish.

For a brief moment he thought that maybe it had all been a dream. That maybe this was the real world and that everything before had been nothing but a dream. But if he was dead, he never expected heaven to be, well, this. He had to know for sure.

Kodi turned and began to run down the beach. He had to know if all his friends and family were still there. He had to know if it was just a dream. He ran as fast as he could, and found that running seemed much easier to him. There seemed to be no restrictions to his running. There was no wind to restrict his running. He pushed himself harder, and felt as thought he were running on a cloud. There was no pain, and he felt great, but he was also afraid. He was afraid that this only proved that he was dead.

Kodi was thinking too much about his death, and how horribly it had ended. That he didn't notice the figure moving up on his right. It was a red and white blur, almost a cloud with feet. Kodi didn't notice the figure until it bumped up against his shoulder. Out of shock he bolted away out into the ocean. He didn't even slow when it happened, but once he knew what it was he moved slowly back next to it. Once he got close, he realized who it was. It was clover.

She slowed up, and rubbed against his shoulder. Her eyes held more love then he could ever hope to have, and a friendly smile crossed her face. Feeling like being a little bit silly, he jumped up into the air and rapped his paws around her neck. He then fell down on his shoulder, being sure that she would land on top of him. She landed on his belly, and they slid to a stop. She rolled over until they were chest to chest, kodi on the bottom.

She held her head high, smiling at him. Kodi stared into her eyes and felt as if he could melt. Then her eyes changed, the love went away from her eyes, as did the smile. Instead her eyes were filled with fear. She cried and sobbed, screaming his name.

"Kodi!"

Kodi jolted awake. He looked around but could only see the darkness. He could hear the wind blowing through the trees, and could feel the snow blowing across the ground.

Kodi felt so tired. He wanted so much to just lie back down and go to sleep. He had never felt a level of this tired before. Kodi closed his eyes and laid his head down. His joints ached and his muscles were sore. But he found that when he closed his eyes, he no longer hurt. The pain seemed to just go away. He knew death was close, and that if he fell asleep again he would die. He knew that if he kept his eyes closed to long it would happen. He couldn't end it like this, he had to get up and fight.

Kodi tried to move his front legs, but found them sore and stiff. They would half to be warmed. He moved them slowly until they were under his body. He warmed them the best he could with what little body heat was left, and after several minutes of fighting sleep he was ready to make a try.

He put them up under himself in a way that he would be able to stand. He pushed as hard as he could and managed to get his body up off the ground. But the pain in his joints was too much, so he lay back down in the snow, discouraged by his failure.

He felt extremely tired again; his attempt must have exhausted him. But once again he had to stand, there was no other alternative. He put his legs back up to his sides, and pushed as hard as he could. This time he managed to get to a full standing position, but did so with tears freezing in his eyes. It had felt as if someone had stabbed him in the legs. But after several tense seconds he was fine.

The harness was still wrapped around his midsection. It had somehow ripped off of his shoulders, and froze up around his waste. It wouldn't be hard to escape this; it was loose enough that he could simply walk out of it. He moved his right front foot forward, and then he moved his rear left foot. He then moved his left front foot, then his back left, when he realized it. His foot was frozen.

He looked at it and wanted to cry, even if he could make it back to Nome he would be put down in an instant. There was no cure for a frozen foot. Even if the humans didn't put him down, he would never be able to pull a sled again. But this was his life, if he couldn't run; he might as well be dead.

He looked once more at the frozen limb under his body. He moved to go and lick it, when he felt a sharp painful stiffness in his neck. The wound in his neck, he had forgotten about it. He should have been dead anyway, he had lost so much blood, but how could it be that he was still alive. It must have frozen solid, it being so cold it would of happened within seconds. He knew the wound was there, but didn't move to feel it, less he fall down and hurt himself more.

But the leg, he had to pay more attention to it. It was a life threatening wound. The wound on his neck would heal, but the leg may never heal. He moved his head slowly back, forcing himself through the pain, and licked the leg. His leg was frozen up to about four inches below his thigh. Even though he had expected the wound to be much worse, he still felt as though his world was over.

He lay over on the frozen leg. There was no use in fighting to get back when he would simply be killed on. What use was it? He laid his head back in the snow to simply die. He felt real comfortable in the fact that death was coming to get him.

As he began to drift back into that sleep, the sleep where he would permanently reside. He began to have a vision; it started with a white and red cloud. Then it formed into a face, it was clovers. She was weeping, she was weeping like she was in his dream. Then kodi realized what he had to do. Even if he would be put down the second he got back, He had to see her face one more time; he had to tell her that he loved her, just one more time.

His eyes snapped open again, and he looked out at the river. It was no longer and option if he went or not. It was a command to try. He rolled back up on his belly, and got his legs ready to stand. He pushed hard, and with a grunt, was standing. He stepped forward, each step being excruciatingly painful, but yet felt good. Because each step he took, was one step closer to her.