Scarlett felt a rush even before she’d started moving. The chariot stood much higher off the ground than her usual sled, and she’d been able to wear a cute warm weather outfit instead of her usual layers upon layers to keep the cold out. Even with a light jacket on, she felt overdressed in the balmy fifty degree spring air. Yup, she’d definitely toughened up over the last month with Lauren and Shane. She was a real Alaskan now, and a real musher, too.
She waited as Ben Benjamin signaled the start for each individual team. The first to pull away hit a huge puddle directly, which shot a spray of mud toward the waiting teams.
Shane was right. This was going to get dirty.
Henry started before her, and she silently cursed her bad luck. If he started before her, he’d probably finish before her and could very well be gone by the time she finished… So much for finally getting to talk to him again.
Before she had too much time to wallow in self-pity, Mr. Benjamin gave her the signal to start.
“Hike!” she cried, then hung on for dear life.
The team was in top form today, rushing the track like they’d been waiting for this forever and a day. She wondered if they still felt Nome in their bones, if they longed for another big race like the one Lauren had taken them on for the Iditarod.
Almost a mile into the track now, the dogs had become more mud than fur, happy little golems charging forth like Shakespeare’s proverbial dogs of war. Scarlett hazarded a glance down at herself and found that she herself had become a mermaid of mud. What a sight they must be!
“Haw!” Scarlett called as they reached their first turn, then she whistled and clicked like a crazed bird.
Her wheel dogs were her favorites, and she knew just how to get them to perform for her. Wendy liked when she would occasionally say their name and click her tongue. Fred enjoyed a quick whistle. Seeing the bond Scarlett had formed with them already, Lauren had insisted Scarlett use them as the basis for creating her own team. She’d said she could easily pick two more dogs to balance her team, but Scarlett needed to find at least sixteen, which would be much harder.
If only Fantine and her puppies would be ready, that would be another seven right there. But the idea was ludicrous, of course. Fantine would never be strong enough, and her puppies needed more time to grow and train—along with some time to enjoy being puppies, of course. And Scarlett had already decided that, no matter what happened with her future as a musher, she’d be adopting both Fantine and her runt, Cosette, and giving them a forever home.
Her team continued to fly across the track, and soon another musher came into her sights ahead. Oh, this was new. How did she pass? She’d never done this before.
With all the practice and grace of a newborn moose, she held on harder and tried to remember the proper command for overtaking another sled. She had to figure it out fast, too.
“Umm, keep going?” she called, barely above a whisper.
Her Malamute Fred looked back, seemingly disappointed in her.
“I’m new, buddy, I don’t remember what to say to get you guys to go on by the— Right! On by! On by!” she shouted out and was pleased when Fred pick up his pace. His pink flapping tongue hung out from the side of his mouth. She’d made him proud, or at least she liked to think so.
As they passed the other teamed, she glanced over to offer a friendly smile, only to see it was Henry who would soon be eating her dust… or rather mud.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she called.
“Come here often?” he called back.
“Nooo.” She laughed, almost losing her hold on the chariot as she did. “Whoah.”
Her team responded to the unintentional command and began to slow.
“No, no, I didn’t mean that!” she argued, but Henry was pulling ahead again.
“Faster, please?” she asked Fred. “Hike like you’ve never hiked before!”
The dogs complied, and it didn’t take long for her to catch sight of Henry’s team again.
This was it, the home stretch. Now it was just a matter of—
Clank.
Once again, Scarlett nearly fell from the chariot. Only this time, it wasn’t an easy correction to stay onboard. Hazarding a glance behind her, she saw one of her wheels zooming off into the Alaskan wilderness on its own. She quickly jumped over to the side of the chariot that still had its hind wheel in place and tried to balance as best she could.
The finish line grew visible in the distance. They were so close. She could still finish this thing more or less in one piece.
Thwack!
The chariot hit a stray bit of branch that had fallen onto the track. It was enough to toss her from her precarious position and into the mud below.
She sat there in her own personal puddle, completely shook and watching helplessly as her dogs forged on and finished the race without her.