The exchange with the intruder, locked in the darkness of the frozen outpost; all felt like one, terrible nightmare. A dream Everest pleaded to awake from and escape the terror that chased her down. She woke up in her bed, gently opening her eyes as her mind awakened. The warm comfort of the cabin enveloped her, a small yawn climbing up her throat as she looked around. She was right in her room, and relief quickly washed over her. Perhaps it truly was just a horrible nightmare; an ease of relief relaxed her body, and she pushed herself out of bed.

A sharp, sudden pain pulled at her stomach, surprising her. It shot through her like a spark, a groaning ache sewing through the flesh of her stomach. Sucking air through her teeth, she carefully lowered herself onto her side, fearing what she would see below her. Bracing herself for the sight, Everest looked down at her stomach: Jagged red lines carved up her flesh, caking the surrounding fur in a sickly dried red. The exact place Everest had exposed to the shards of glass as she fled the outpost. The wounds themselves had closed, but an immense soreness lingered to remind her of the event forever.

It wasn't a dream.

The sound of a door opening snapped her attention, and she turned expecting to see Jake as a sting welled up in her eyes. Walking into the room wasn't her owner at all, it was a Great Dane with brown fur, carrying a basket of gauze and rubbing alcohol.

Taken aback by the new face, Everest flinched. "Who are you?"

"Hm?" The Dane stopped suddenly, scanning her with his brown eyes. Blinking for a moment, he sat the basket down and called over his shoulder. "Jake! She's up!"

Before she could ask another question, Everest could already hear running footsteps clearing the stairs and quickly approaching. Jake nearly exploded into the room, sliding on the floor for a split-second and had to grab a piece of furniture to stabilize himself. Desperation followed him, his expression almost that of pleading. "Everest, are you okay!?" He said, kneeling down to her. "What happened to you out there!?" A grey French bulldog followed curiously behind him, peeking into the room.

"I-" she stuttered, leaning back slightly as Jake took her paw. "I don't really know… how did you find me?"

"I saw your flare," her owner explained hastily. "You see that's-" he chuckled to put himself at ease. "That is exactly why I make you carry that thing. I was on the snowmobile, found you almost completely buried in the snow." He kept flinching his arms like he was about to envelop her in a massive hug, but restraining himself knowing how much pain the dog was likely in. "Seriously, what happened to you out there?"

Everest had already put too much effort into convincing herself it was all a nightmare, and recounting the events was causing the familiar feeling of panic to return to her. She could barely talk without even the faintest of shudders in her voice. "I… found a tablet, did it survive? It should've been on my back."

Jake nodded, remembering the device he peeled from her. "It did, took it off you earlier. Where did your pup pack go?"

"I left it behind in the… heat of the moment."

"What do you mean?" Jake tilted his head, narrowing his eyes slightly. "Everest, what happened at the outpost?"

She was being interrogated, lovely. Mere seconds after waking up from what could've been a coma and she was already being grilled with questions. "I honestly don't think you'd believe me if I told you. Who are these guys?" She gave the three new faces an uneasy glance."

"Hm?" Jake gave a puzzled look, then realized what she was referring to. "Oh! Everest, meet the Ruff Ruff Pack; Hubcap, Gasket, and Dwayne." He held up his arm at the three, smiling at their introduction. "They're technicians, I've hired them to help us out through the blizzard."

Dwayne gave a little bounce, panting happily. "Please t' meet ya!" He was the only one who spoke; as Hubcap said nothing, and Gasket was too busy side-eyeing Dwayne with a cringed expression. The group had an apathetic demeanor, stinking of gasoline and smoke as machine oil tracked in their pawsteps. Their eyes wandered and minds idled, Everest couldn't seem to place how she was feeling about this new group.

"You didn't answer me, though." Jake turned back to her. "What happened to you at the outpost?"

Tapping her claws on the ground in unease, Everest felt her heart sink a little. The pressure weighed onto her like a dragging coat, complete with the glaring of too many eyes in the room. All she wanted was to be free from this conversation, to end it in any way she could. "Nothing," she said absently. "I guess I just... saw things, and fell on some glass. That's all that happened."

Jake gave a skeptical expression, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"Yep!" Everest choked on her words a little, nervousness peeling through her tone.

Letting his arms fall to his sides, Jake leaned back a little and looked over his husky. His eyes faintly narrowed, scanning her up and down in silence. After a moment, he sighed and stood back up. "Alright... relax for a while, why don't you? We'll get those wounds dealt with, and the Ruff Ruff Pack can help me with the tower."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

All she wanted to do was forget about the terrible night. Parking herself before the calming fireplace, flickering brightly with its gentle words, Everest clenched a cup of hot vanilla to drown her fears away. A blissful few minutes passed as she was alone with her thoughts until the approaching sound of footsteps caught her attention. She glanced behind her, expecting to see Jake or the Great Dane she met earlier, but was instead met with another husky. Silent alarm trickled up her spine, a territorial instinct bubbling up her spine.

It was clearly another one of the bikers Jake had hired in. Her jacket had caught Everest's eye, her vision trailing up its brown leather. The biker seemed to realize quickly that she was being looked up and down, and her face twisted into an odd expression.

"Everest, right?" The new dog spoke, her voice apathetic and dismissive.

"Jake's one and only," Everest replied sharply. As soon as the phrase left her muzzle, her mind became puzzled. Why that? Why in the world had she said that of all things? The other dog had asked a simple question, not a trace of hostility in the admittedly cold tone, and her first response was to make her standing known.

"Gasket, you already met me." The dog introduced herself, putting her paw to her chest. A sliver of pride seemed to leak from her tongue, only to be quickly eaten by monotony. "Your owner wants me to stick by you while he works outside," she explained, her bored eyes trailing elsewhere. "Didn't know you needed a babysitter."

"A babysitter? Please," Everest said with a scoff, trying to match Gasket's personality. "It just sounds like he's trying to keep me from going outside again. He's no fun at all."

"In all honesty, you did almost die yesterday." The biker pointed out, walking over to Everest's side. "Staying inside for a bit is probably the better option for you. Especially given the injuries on your stomach."

Groaning at the statement, Everest turned back to the campfire with a pout. "But dogs like us need to be outside, to run and... well, run. Mostly running, but I do love snowboarding." She carefully laid on her stomach, putting her paws together as happy memories flickered in her head. "You get it, right?"

Gasket cocked her head with a confused glance. "Get what?"

"What I just said, about being outside and all. We're huskies, aren't we? Snow is our thing." She smiled, letting her tail wag a little.

She expected a united reply, for Gasket to finally smile back and hold out her paw for a handshake. Common ground was soon to be achieved between the two of them, and all it would take was a simple fact to pull them together. Her statement echoed in her ears while Everest looked at her paws, before realizing that Gasket wasn't smiling. Quite the opposite, the biker was staring at her with a deadpanned expression. "I'm... not a husky." She said flatly. "I'm an Alaskan Malamute."

Taken aback, Everest looked up in surprise. "Really? You look like a husky. And why else would you be up here in all this snow?"

"Okay, first of all;" Gasket held up her paw with a stern look. "That's racist. Secondly, I'm here because Jake requested someone with mechanical experience. I would've come up here alone if Dwayne and Hubcap didn't insist on being glued to me at all times. But enough about me, what happened to you up there?"

"What?"

"At the outpost," she said, pressing the subject as she sat down next to Everest. "You told Jake a bunch of lies, didn't you?" Putting her paws together, a smirk spread across her face.

Everest froze, her heart skipping a beat as her body stiffened. A low chuckle filled the air, Gasket crossing her paws. "I've heard of encounters like that; supposed shadows in the blizzards. I always liked little stories of the type, even if I never really believed them all that much."

The husky glanced to the side, pulling an awkward expression. "So... what are you trying to say to me?"

"I'm saying there's plausible evidence you saw something real," said the Malamute, leaning forward slightly. Her cheek was gently bathed in the orange light of the fire, deftly flickering along her fur. "And I love a good scary story."

"I didn't really see what it was." Everest pulled the blanket a little tighter around herself.

"It?"

"The thing that cornered me in the outpost. A dog... or at least it looked like a dog, I guess. But it had this weird face," a grimace spread along her cheeks as she remembered the event. "A really gross... smile. I remember my flashlight started acting weird once it was around, I really don't want to think about it anymore."

"Well, sounds like every other horror story I've ever heard." Gasket tapped her paw on the floor. "The tales of things that go bump at night; quite entertaining though. You sure your mind wasn't playing tricks on you? That tends to happen when you're out in blizzards, and especially in dark outposts."

"I could feel it breathing on me, Gasket."

"Hm." The Malamute stared off for a moment as if she was scanning the scratches on the floor. "Well then... I'm not really sure what that could've been then. Maybe some creep living in there?" Waving off the campfire tales, she stood up and looked down on her companion. "Look, I believe you in that you saw something, but I don't think it was anything more than just a freaky encounter. You are alive now, are you not?"

Hardening her gaze, Everest stood as well, standing her ground. "It was something. And there was also stuff on that tablet I found, you'll see it all if you get into it."

"The tablet's broken." Gasket waved her off. "But Jake's decrypting it on his computer as we speak, it could take minutes, or could take hours."

"He knows how to do that?"

"Humans always surprise me." Said the Malamute, looking off slightly. "One minute you think you have them figured out, then you don't. What did you see on there, anyway?"

Squinting her eyes, Everest struggled to search her memories, clawing through the fearful episode for finer details. "I remember some... names." She said, uncertainty in her voice. "A lot of weird names, nothing that made a whole lot of sense to me."

Gasket had no immediate response, looking off and nodding. Her mind drew a blank; she could only shrug as no further words could come to mind. "I wasn't there, so I guess there isn't a whole lot more I can say on this." She said apologetically, then made a motion for the door. "Maybe we should go see if Jake needs anything."

"You go ahead," Everest turned back to the fireplace. "I'd like to stay here and forget recent events."

"Suit yourself." Gasket turned away, walking out of the room.

Once again; Everest was left alone with no one but herself, and the gentle crackling of the fire. She rested on her side and let her eyes close, her mind wandering away as her body fell still. Sleep beckoned for her, always seeming just out of reach until a faint feeling came over her. In her mind she saw Jake with Gasket, with Dwyane and Hubcap. She saw herself injured and sequestered in the back room, unable to see action as her wounds chained her still. Heat boiled under her skin as she saw Jake with three new dogs, celebrating their success until Everest -the original- was just a memory.

Injuries be damned. Everest opened her eyes and grabbed the blanket in her teeth, ripping the fabric off her in one clean motion. Ignoring the lingering scratch of her wounds, she raced after the biker, quick to rejoin her owner.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

The air outside was different. Everest picked up a chill in her fur once she stepped outside, freezing in her step as if the ice had taken her in a millisecond. Looking down, her paw seemingly stared back up at her as frost sparkled on it. Her breathing started to quicken, and her ears drew back from the biting wind. Objects in the environment appeared unfamiliar to her, her mind unable to place herself as dread groped up her legs.

"Oh good, you're here!" Jake's voice sounded ahead, cracking in the wind as he trudged through the snow. "We only have a couple minutes to fix this thing before the storm picks up again!"

Everest blinked, her confusion fading as her mind realized itself. Gasket and Dwayne passed her by at each side, slightly stepping out of the way as they followed Jake. Taking a small step back, Everest frowned as she tried to understand the feeling that had clouded her. Looking up, she realized Gasket was looking back at her. "You alright, kiddo?" The biker tilted her head, raising an eyebrow at the husky's state.

"Yeah, fine." Everest said, trying to play it off. She wasn't about to reveal to a dog she barely knew how unsafe she felt in her own front yard. The wind in her vision seemed to take shapes, writhing in their cold, crystalized forms. It circled her with an erratic dance, and Everest pushed through it as she followed Gasket. It wasn't real, she told herself. It didn't happen, it was all a hallucination. Yes, that had to have been it: a hallucination.

Hallucinations don't breathe.

"Where's Hubcap?" Gasket asked Jake as they approached him, standing underneath a tower that had been damaged.

Jake had his hands shoved in the electric box of the tower, deep behind enemy lines as he wrangled live circuits and wiring. "I sent him out into the west side of the mountain to set up a beacon." He grumbled, flinching as his fingers cut along the machinery. "I was gonna send Everest at first, but after yesterday, I decided against it." A chuckle punctuated his sentence, as he tried to lighten Everest's fears with a little joke. It did little to ease the husky's paranoia, evident by her flashing him an annoyed expression.

"Is he going to be okay out there?" Gasket said with a twinge of concern.

Jake merely shrugged. "He should have enough time to get back here after he's done. At least I hope so, after he spent a few minutes rambling about some crash site."

Everest picked her ears up, facing her owner in the snow. "Crash site?"

"Get this; Hubcap stumbled across some burned-up helicopter out in the snow." Jake grunted as his hands briefly got stuck under the electric metals. "There wasn't anything intact we could use to identify it to anyone. Whole thing was leveled, and then he started making up stories of some dog watching him from a distance. I stopped listening after that." Pulling his hands free from the tower's inner workings, he looked up at the satellites above. "Okay, the electric grid's fixed, now we just need to realign the dishes."

"Ugh," Everest hung her head in exasperation. "I guess that's why we're out here, huh?"

Gasket's eyes widened as she stared up at the structure. "Wait, we have to go up there? How?"

The husky beside her was already leaning in with a smirk. "Ever climbed a utility pole? Welcome to tower work."

"Climb?" Dwayne said, a twist of discomfort on his face. "But I... I'm not good with heights."

"Then don't try it, idiot." Gasket flicked him with her tail. "I'll go, just stay down here and do whatever Jake says."

A hand was stuck between them, separating the dogs. "Hey, be nice," Jake said sternly. "This is our mountain and we're going to be civil up here. Besides; I need Dwayne inside to monitor the tower systems."

"What do you need me to do?" The Great Dane looked up at him.

"Just watch the screens, and radio me if anything starts looking unstable. I'll fill you in on more details in a second, just go inside."

As Dwayne raced inside, swiftly fueled by a desire to get out of the cold, Gasket and Everest were left outside with the towers. Pulling out pieces of equipment, Jake began filling them on how to use them, but his words were lost in Everest. Her attention had drifted away from her owner, veering off onto the white horizon. An unnatural chill went down her spine, as the wind in the distance carried a cloud of frost through that land. It faded into nothing, crystalized sleet raining around a distant shadow. Everest's eyes narrowed, trying to focus on -what her mind told her was- something standing in the far distance. It stood motionless as if it was watching their every move. Fidgeting her paws nervously, Everest looked away for a split second, only to look back and see nothing. The shadow was gone, left without a trace like it had never been there to begin with.

"Just... in my mind," Everest told herself, her voice beginning to shake. "All... in my head." She turned back to Jake, trying to slow her panicked heartbeat. The wind continued to mockingly dance around her, painting her fur white with frost and freezing her paws.