“I’m not sure, they’re all so interesting. Do you have a favorite?” Hestia asks, already digging for more information.
The communications radio crackles as a call comes through, cutting off my reply.
I reach into the truck and answer it.
“There’s a lost dog on the south side of Mount Pleohduff. That’s at the edge of your district, but based on your last assignment, you should be closer than the otherrescuer station. A storm is going to move in overnight, so we want to find him quickly. Are you able to take this call?” dispatch asks.
“We’ll take it. We can be there in about three hours,” I say, already planning the quickest route.
This will mean a long day for us, but that’s the job. It’s not unusual to trade calls with other stations.
My teammates are already getting in the trucks, ready to go.
“Check the radar again, see where that storm is,” I tell Henri while I pull up the location on our GPS.
“The storm is moving in faster than when I last looked, but it still shows it won’t hit until after midnight,” Henri says, watching the mass of precipitation swirl across the screen.
“You have the lures?” I ask Magnus, even though I know he does.
He nods. “I have ten of them, we can set up a few and carry the others on us.”
“Then let’s go.”
Hopefully the animal treats Magnus made will lure the dog back to its family quickly.
Chapter 25
Orion
I’m trying so hard to keep track of my teammates that I feel like I’m barely looking for Fenrir.
I do what I can to scan our surroundings, but with all this snow, I can’t afford to lose track of my team. We’re spaced out with about sixty feet between us, our usual search pattern, and their searchlights keep flickering in and out of view due to the heavy snowfall.
Despite the hours of searching, the only things illuminated in the moonlight are the dark figures of my teammates and Hestia’s pink hair whipping in the wind. We’ve seen no trace of Fenrir, the lost dog.
According to his owners, he’s large and has fluffy black fur, so at least he’ll stand out in all this snow.
We left a lure with Fenrir’s family and set up a few more around their location. They stayed by their car in the hope he would return to it, since that’s where he ran off from.
The lures should help, they’re a mixture of strongly scented foods that would appeal to any canine. As soon as Magnus broke the seal, the smell blasted us in the face.We’re carrying lures on us as well, though with all this wind, I can barely pick up the pungent scent.
We’ve been walking for close to an hour, and the snow is only getting heavier. It’s starting to feel like with every breath, I’m at risk of inhaling snow rather than air.
I have my teammates checking in every ten minutes via radio. So far, all reports have been the same: no sign of Fenrir.
I’m not sure how much longer we’ll be able to search. We might have to wait for the storm to pass and come back tomorrow.
Animals are smart enough to hunker down in bad weather. With his thick fur coat, Fenrir would be fine cocooned in the snow for a night. I don’t want to leave him out here, but I’m afraid we’re at risk of being buried ourselves.
“No signs here,” Charm says through the radio.
Has it been ten minutes already?
I check my watch. He’s right, it has been. The others sound off with the same report. I reply last, yelling into the radio to keep going for another ten minutes.
I’m losing track of time in the monotonous landscape, repeating the same motions, like driving on the highway on autopilot.
I set my watch to vibrate every ten minutes.
