Chapter fifty-five: Christmas Eve Rush!
Billy pulled the chest strap into its proper place, clinking chain links jiggling from the gentle shake that Chase couldn't resist, but at least it shimmied everything into a comfortable position that also happened to be correctly placed.
"Ok, just take your time alright?" Billy advised, even though Chase could tell he was still quite hesitant. "There could still be slick spots so don't compromise safety over speed. We need you back in one piece, you know."
"Don't worry.. I got it," Chase assured him, knowing just how much he needed it..
"You need us to clear a path for you?" Snowflake asked curiously.
"Nah, just cut me loose and watch for my return," Chase replied, shaking his head then shrugging.
"Sleigh's all rigged up," Maggie reported after securing him to it, then patted him on the back for good measure.
"Thanks," Chase smiled.
"Hey, before you go.." Billy spoke up, before the pup could take a step away. He turned to Ryder, who was grateful for Billy's interjection and the man's nod handed it over to him.
Taking out his pup pad, Ryder pushed a button and Chase's pup tag lit up.
"So we know what to look for," the boy said.
"And if you need backup.." Frank implied. "You can always open a channel to us.. for any reason you need.."
"Be careful out there, soldier." Rayla cautioned, though her tone would certainly send him off on a positive note. "We need you back in one piece."
"I will.." Chase nodded looking over the group, sensing others may have something to say.
"Let us know if you need any help," Melody reminded him.
"Chase, don't go!.." Kylie cried, whining as some of her fellow PUP Pals came alongside her. "Let one of us go with you."
"I'll be ok.. it'll be faster if I just go. I can only pull so much and having even the lightest pup on top of the carrier, and then the pup that goes in it, in this wind would just slow me down making things much more complicated if something goes wrong.. but I promise that as soon as something is off, I will call immediately."
Kylie and several others looked like they wanted to protest further, but their knowledge of time prevented further protest.
"Just go already!.." Skyler cried, unable to hold back her anxiety of the situation. "That little guy needs you."
"Setting the light to beacon mode," Ryder announced, pressing a button on his pup pad, which started the shepherd's pup tag flashing red.
"Ok, but I really gotta..-"
"Go!" The group's collective interjection instinctually rendered a response and he took off into the blizzard in a flash even though a sudden gust threw him slightly off balance. But since it didn't completely knock him off course, he kept running as the harness and sleigh clattered and scraped from the motion of speed.
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Even from a distance they could still see the soft pulsing glow of light even though it was moving away from them.
"He'll be able to make it.. won't he, Ryder?" Marshall asked.
"I'm sure he can.. but.. let's be ready in case he needs help," Ryder decided, trying not to sound too unsure.
"Ok but.. if something goes wrong, how are we gonna be able to help?" Chester wondered.
"I guess we'll just have to see," Ryder shrugged, which didn't really instill much assurance as they looked out into the swirling snow once again.
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Panting like it would help him run faster, he pumped each leg like his life depended on it. But when he realized how frantic it seemed to feel, he remembered his training and dialed it back.
If I go too hard now I won't have much left for the way back! He thought. And given the injury that he truly believed was healed again.. he didn't wanna repeat it all over again. He knew fatigue would certainly become a factor till his strength was to a point where he no longer struggled, which wasn't gonna be resolved all that day, so it was all the more crucial to pace himself knowing the struggle it would be later.
Turning off toward the bridge, he slid for a few seconds before hitting snow again and leveled off on speed. The cold air streamed by, snow and wetness soaking his gradually moistening face. The howl of wind in his ears almost drowned out the pound in his chest and the huff of his own breaths. All the white as he peered forward threw off his depth perception to the point of not even really knowing the path forward as well as he would otherwise. He couldn't refrain from squinting for fear of getting snowed in the eyes, but then a single bark lowered a visor that made him thankful they'd had their new ultimate winter rescue gear on today.
Please don't fall, please don't fall. He breathed to himself.
But then the slope started to ramp up.
Uh oh!..
The lower traction wheeled him forward, even falling into a spot of deep snow by the chest, but he struggled over it and found the footing he needed to hit the road again. Pausing for only a second left him open to a small slide, but angling up the road regained the friction he needed to press on. The sleigh rattled behind him with the carrier securely held onto it by some thick bungee cords they'd just gotten and tightly wrapped to be sure it was solid.
A wild wind blew up and something came with it, but when he looked it was too late to react. Something small, but heavy hit right across the front end of the sleigh and off his hip tipping them over with a defeating gust of wind.
Chase grunted and looked down to where the upset sleigh lay on its side. Groaning from the strain, he reached his back paws toward it and pushed on the edge of it to somehow get it to tip back onto its runners just as a shadow loomed over him and he got up to run just before the snow overhead came down on him.
"Wooph! That was too close!" Chase huffed, working his way up the rest of the winding road.
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Ryder's binoculars didn't pick up all that much because of the snow, but he really didn't have much else he could do.
"Any sign of him? Should we start clearing the snow for the journey back?" Snowflake asked the boy.
"Not yet.." the boy replied. "But he hasn't been gone long.. so I'm not sure he's even gotten there yet."
"Maybe clear the snow before the storm gets worse for everyone?" Brian added.
"I don't know.." Ryder continued, looking out again. "The snow's getting heavier.. And the wind is getting stronger making it hard to see.. We might have to all stay here until this storm lets up."
"What do you think Ryder?" Snowflake asked with slight concern.
"Pfffft. Come on, if Chase can go back to The Lookout to get the little pup, we can totally make it back with our vehicles and gear!" Brian commented nonchalantly.
"Ehhh, one pup with a streamlined sled and big multi-horsepower vehicles.. even snow-worthy ones.. are two very different things," Tiny pointed out a bit bluntly.
"I know, but at least we could get back since the vehicles are kinda built for snow. Right Ryder?" Brian commented to Tiny.
"In this blizzard?! I wouldn't chance it, Brian.." Melody cautioned.
"Thank you!" Snowflake and Ned exclaimed together, before looking at each other.
"Plus there's a lot of people we'd need to be helping get home and as good as we are, we're not that good," Rocky added.
"Let's just make sure we get Chase back, and see what Ryder says then, ok?" Chester decided.
"Right."
"Yeah."
"Ok."
"Good idea," some other pups supposed.
They all looked out, hoping they'd see something other than snow, even though they knew there wouldn't be much for a while.
XXXX
Just when it didn't seem like it could be any windier, coming up to the Lookout's grounds wafted him with a wall of opposing air. The arctic chill was starting to eat away at him even through his suit, which meant he was running out of time in a different way. And so was his pounding heart and panting breath, so he ran for the door as fast as the opposing wind would let him.
Falling through the door rather than walking he caught himself from the resistance that insistently went away once inside. He had to take a moment to recover, before looking up into the quiet lower level.
"Pup? Where are you!" A noise fumbled somewhere the near distance then barely moments later a fuzzy head nervously peered out at him from around the elevator.
"Hoh! Thank goodness!" Chase sighed, letting his visor go back up. "Come on, little guy! Let's get going, you have a Christmas wish to fulfill and a little boy to meet." The encouraged wag of the little shepherd's tail awakened more of his personality again, as he came out from hiding.
"Come on.." Chase coaxed sitting down to open the carrier with one paw. "Let's go for a ride." Excited by the word ride, the pup exploded with happiness and ran forward into the carrier and spoofed under the blanket with happy pants and semi-obvious tail wags.
"Hahaha, glad to be of service," Chase chuckled. "Now hold on tight.. cause we're going in."
Approaching the door again.. the sleigh barely tapped the back of his legs from when he stopped for a moment and he could tell just from that touch that the load was definitely a bit heavier. However, staring at the way forward he didn't feel deterred.
"Ok.. here.. we.. go!"
Running forward to activate the doors was met with harsh opposition when an instant wall of air pushed in on him and he had to brace himself from being blown over. Trudging forward he turned his head to the wind so it wasn't in his face directly. And even though the visor lowered, it didn't really seem to shield him as much as he'd like it to from the torturous bite of the arctic rush.
But as he came out from the shelter of the building and into the open, the wind suddenly changed directions blowing him forward, which released him to run forward down the hill.
Dashing through the snow rang that song in his head, which annoyed him cause it sounded like Ned singing it, but somehow it was enough of a distraction from the rage around him that it seemed to give him more speed, as he beelined it straight down the hill versus following the road like earlier.
Reaching the bottom of the slope where the land opened flat became his new start line cause once he hit it, he didn't hold back as he lengthened his stride with so much more extension that he felt like he was a flying reindeer.
Almost there! He thought, as he approached the bridge. A wind gust somehow blew them off course, but the lateral slide didn't deter him for long and he returned back to a sprint.
By now he was starting to feel the pressure weigh more heavily on him. Even the constant speed he'd set himself at was starting to wear him down. His muscles felt heavy and he knew that soon he wouldn't be able to create enough tension on them to keep going for long. His lungs heaved rather than panted and his nose and the tips of the ears were probably frozen at this point.
He couldn't draw breath unless it was with an open mouth, and the pump of his legs kept snapping the harness straps against his back and shoulders which were getting to be on the verge of breakdown.
The jingling chains clattered, while the runners creaked.
The perfect setup.. Chase vaguely thought. Then he looked up and started to see a light in the distance.
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"Anything?" Rayla asked, pausing from pacing.
Ryder and Skye taking a look with their own visual devices.
"Nothing yet," Ryder decided, bringing his binoculars down after a mere moment of searching.
"Wait!" Skye adjusted herself where she hung over the back of the boy's shoulder and zeroed in on a distinct glow fading back in from the swirling winds of snow. "I see him!"
Ryder lifted his binoculars to look again and at first he couldn't tell where she was looking till the flashing red light grabbed onto his attention.
"You're right, Skye." The boy gasped. "I see the tracking light!"
"Yes!" Frank
"That's our boy!" Billy jeered, high fiving his sister.
"Wahoo, go, Chase!" The pups cheered.
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The wind carried their voices over to him and it gave him just the boost he needed to gather whatever strength he still had on reserve to push forward. Town Hall was almost in full detail when something hard and fast slammed him across the shoulder and slid him off course into a snowball directly across from his destination.
"Let's go!" Rayla called to Snowflake before running out into the storm toward him.
"I'm coming with you!" Chester called, diving after them with visor down and suit zipped up tight.
"Be right there!" Snowflake responded before she ran to her rescue van. Getting her vest, helmet, and pup pack on, she pressed her pup tag and a button on her blue helmet to light the way before following Rayla.
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Chase shook off some snow that had sifted onto him from the snow bank. Pulling forward only resulted in tension, as he tried to displace the snowed-in sleigh.
"You ok back there, little guy?" Chase asked, and all he got back was a nervous whine.
"Don't worry," Chase told him, turning up to see a light coming his way slightly to his right. "Help is on the way."
"Are you ok?" Snowflake asked.
"What was that?" Chase wondered looking off to his right where the object had flown off.
"An old weather vane," Rayla answered without missing a beat. "Looks like it gotcha good..-"
"I'm fine, we're just a little snowed in at the moment," Chase interjected before she could really assess him too closely.
"Need a paw or two?" Chester asked, as the three pups surrounded him at three different points.
"Just get us out of here," Chase called through the wailing winds. "It's getting hard to move.. and even harder to see."
Rayla, Chester, and Snowflake started digging down till the runners were visible.. then repositioning so Rayla and Snowflake were directly behind the sleigh and Chester standing up by Chase, the lab and husky pushed while Chester pulled on the front and side of the harness to help his brother pull. They all almost fell forward when the runners finally came free, but none of them waited more than a moment to recover so they could run into the shelter of the open Town Hall doors which were muscled closed by the Prescott siblings and Ryder as soon as they were inside.
Chase shook vigorously, heavily breathing as was to be expected, but standing there couldn't be more difficult so keeping his head down was the best way for him not to just keel over where he stood. He shuddered and tried to shake again.
"Thanks," he breathed.
Hey guys, sooo a day late but here's the next chapter. Sorry about that, between my Teacher Appreciation project and preparing a new book for publication it happened to slip my mind that we needed to get this thing up. But we're here now and all that's left to do is to enjoy and come on back next week for the.. Final.. Chapter.. Finally! And hopefully on time this time. ;D XD
Hope you enjoy this next addition, can't wait to hear your thoughts, as always, and we'll see you again when this thing is over! Thx!