The Wounds We Heal

Chapter twenty-nine: Snow Tracks

Vehicle engines roared to a grumbling stop as the tires crunched the snow. Three sets of paws dashed the snow in their landing, as another ran to meet them.

"Good morning, pups!" Everest greeted. "Ready to go on that animal scavenger hunt, Snowflake? Heh heh, that's what I like to call safety-checking all the critters on the mountain."

"Yes. I'm ready!" Snowflake replied happily.

"Ok, while you pups do that, let's go hit the slopes!" Rubble said, turning his attention to Chester mid-sentence.

"See ya!" the two pups called, racing off again.

"Bye," Snowflake and Everest called back.

"Ok,.. Jake will be around if we need him,.." Everest began. "Otherwise we can get started. Come on!" Then leading the way, she turned off onto another trail that led away from the cabin. The markings of red flags along both sides of the path showed them the way to go.

"All the trails are marked with different colors.." Everest explained. "Currently, we only have four trails,.. But are planning on adding more.. We just haven't plotted them out yet.. We'll start with the hiking and snowshoeing trails first,.. then we'll check the surrounding areas around the ski slopes. Maybe we'll even get to go down them a time or two after."

"That sounds good. So we just check on the critters as we mark the trails?" Snowflake asked, trying to better understand their goal.

"More like tracking the animals to make sure they're not making their homes too close to the trails or slopes where they could be startled by the noisy skiers and cause accidents.. once.. We invited Ryder and the PAW Patrol up here for a Snow day,.. And it ended up going wrong in one of two ways.. But that's why we periodically track all the animals down, so we can make sure they don't wander into the path of danger.. for anyone, I mean."

"Okay. That makes sense. We can talk while we track," Snowflake suggested.

"Right.." lowering their noses to the ground they began to sniff along the marked path, waiting to see how long it would be before detecting a scent that didn't belong.

As Snowflake sniffed, she smelled nothing but dirt. After a minute though, she thought she smelled something.

"Uh, is it good or bad if I smell an animal?" the husky pup asked for clarification.

"Uhh, depends on how strong it is, why?" Everest replied, pausing from tracking to look her way.

"Do you smell that?" Snowflake replied as she kept walking forwards, following the scent.

Everest drew closer and as soon as her nose lowered she caught the scent immediately.

"Rabbit?" she said, looking up at her in slight confusion.

"Yes, it smells close!" Snowflake said as she kept sniffing and walking, this time with her head up.

"Then let's follow it and see where it leads." Everest decided and the two began tracking the scent further down the path a ways.

The two pups kept walking until Snowflake stopped.

"Everest, there!" Snowflake whispered, looking to the rabbit that was about a foot in front of them.

"Hey I know that bunny,.. It's Terry.. Hi Terry!" as soon as Everest called out to it the bunny turned their way and sniffled a clickety noise and came hopping over.

"Don't see you all the way over here.." The mountain pup said. "What are you doing here, little friend?" As if understanding her question, the little rabbit took off,.. pausing at the edge of the trees to look at them.