A Wolf's Pack

Back to the Present

"Avalanche, wake up."
Then, he poked me in the side with his left forepaw and I woke up. When I opened my eyes, I could see nothing out of the ordinary, but we were still in the truck. Abby was perfectly fine, fully alive, with zero bullet holes in her head. I breathed a sigh of relief as she drove the truck. We were still on our way to the vet's office with Chase in the truck bed with me. Chase looked at me and asked,
"Avalanche, are you okay? You were sleeping and you kept screaming, no, no, and then I started to worry about you, so I woke you up."
I shook my head, trying to clear it of the terrible dream. I sat up from where I was laying and explained to him my dream.
"There was Abby, but she was dead in the driver's seat. Then, you were on the street just sitting on the side of it crying loudly. And the truck was on fire, it hit a power line and the hood was destroyed. But, thank God it was all a dream."
Chase looked at me with an expression of horror written on his face,
"My God, why?"
I answered,
"I don't know why I had that dream, I just did. Being out here's got me on edge and I keep thinking we're gonna crash. I really hope it wasn't a premonition dream. Chase rared back,
"Of course not! Look, you're safe with her, she's never wrecked once since she started driving."
I answered,
"Oh, that's good."
The truck pulled in a parking spot and Abby got out. She walked to the back of the tailgate and put it down. She pet me and called Chase over to her.
Chase and I proceeded over to Abby as she took a brown paper bag out of the left pocket of her camouflage shorts. Yay, treats! Chase and I started to wag our tails enthusiastically as she held two dog biscuits out to us. Chase and I immediately took them from her hand.
"Some dream you had earlier!" I heard Chase almost laugh.
I groveled,
"It ain't funny. It felt so realistic that I thought it was real."
He felt bad,
"Sorry..."
I said,
"It's okay."
After she had given us the treats, we went in the building, both of us on leashes. Once we were inside, I recognized the place immediately. It was the vet's office, the same place I'd gotten my checkup a few months ago. Now, it was Chase who'd be stuck with the vet. I thought out loud,
"Chase's gonna be fine" because I was a little bit worried. He limped over to me and laughed,
"Avalanche, I'll be fine. It's just a hurt paw, I'm a retired K9 officer. I've had worse. Lord have mercy, you worry too much."
I laughed, but still couldn't shake the feeling he was not gonna like what was about to happen. Chase wagged his tail slightly as Abby looked at him and smiled.
She brought us over to the reception desk and we sat down when we stopped moving. Abby asked,
"Hello, anyone here?"
I got up and put my paws on the counter, the chair was empty. Huh, weird. Where was the receptionist? She should be in the chair doing her job!
Two minutes later, she went back to her station. She said,
"I'm so sorry, ma'am. I ain't never seen a rush like that. So many pets! So many injuries! Lordy, that was crazy. 'It's the season for insane winter problems!"
Abby chuckled,
"Yeah, I know how that feels. Animals just keep on getting hurt. Like Chase here."
She pointed to Chase, who was standing on three legs. The receptionist cast a glance down to where he was and said,
"Oh, poor boy. Let's get your paw fixed, baby."
When we got done checking Chase in, and Abby took us both over to the waiting area. The sunlight shining through warmed my fur as I sat on my haunches on the floor. Chase was right beside me and laid down. Once he was down, we were called. I growled softly as I was roused to my feet by Abby. But, I listened diligently. I had to push my nose into Chase's fur and he had to lean on me to even get up.