A Truly 'Howling' Commando

|1| Nightmares

The wind blew harshly through the frigid air on the open mountain. The expanse of rock and snow seldom dotted with patches of trees seeming to be devoid of life.

The howling of the wind was interrupted with my delicate pawsteps crunching through the snow. A single dark shape fighting through the deep snow on short legs, my throat just barely appearing above the ocean of white. Clouds billowed around my blunt muzzle as every breath seared my lungs. I flattened down my tiny ears as best I could as my short tail encircled around my hind legs, attempting to keep them warm. Snow landed on my pelt, creating white specks in the dark fur. My delicate and fuzzy pelt did a poor job of hindering the cold as it sliced straight through, seeming to bite into my bones with its unrelenting fangs.

I stopped on the exposed rock face that dropped abruptly in a sheer cliff, going down, down, down, beyond where my vision would allow. The cold white flecks stung my eyes and caught on my whiskers. I lowered my muzzle to the ground and licked at the cold powder, confusion filling my gaze as the substance shifted to water in my mouth. 'What is this stuff? It's water... but not at the same time...'

Raising my head from the ground, my gray-blue eyes trailed over the white and black expanse. 'Where..? Where am I?'

A loud mechanical roaring intruded my thoughts as a blaring horn assaulted my ears. Imperceptible voices and gunshots accompanied an odd energy-like sound that usually transpired after a shout. I saw a large metal plate fly past as an explosion sounded. I heard a cry, filled with terror as it quickly became fainter and fainter, as though swept off the edge by the wind. The blizzard and wind kicked up, cloaking everything in a dense blanket of white as it tugged relentlessly at my fur. Another voice hit my ears, filled with anguish and pain before everything went black.