Terror

He opened a window to see if he could hear it further off but silence had come to the frozen lake again. They have been in the hut for at least a couple hours and the sun had shown brightly all that time.

They had to get out of there quickly! David whistled to Molly, grabbed his pack, opened the door, and stepped out carefully. He hadn't forgotten to move slowly but now had to watch out for moose as he grabbed the rope that was tied to the hut and worked to get to shore. He was halfway there when Molly got so close to him that he almost stepped on her. David looked down. Molly was whimpering now. Why?!

He looked around but saw nothing. What would make a brave dog like Molly whimper instead of bark and growl as she had before? Maybe her throat was bugging her after all the barking earlier. As he began to move again David saw that Molly had stopped and was whimpering at the ice beneath their feet. Taking a cautious look to make sure he was safe, David knelt down and brushed the snow by Molly's muzzle. She was trying to paw at it as well. Together they began to clear the snow off the ice underneath.

"Holy …..!" David's voice shot out and stopped when he saw it.

There was a face. Under the ice! Someone was trapped yet still alive! Their hand kept moving up and hitting softly at the ice from beneath. David grabbed the ax he kept on the side of his pack and began trying to decide where to strike. His heart was pumping fast and he wanted to help but if he made the wrong choice he might end up trapped under the ice as well. David found the spot he felt was best and began to work furiously. Molly kept trying to help and he had to shove her away several times.

Work seemed slow although David was going as fast as he could. The face stayed in the same spot though, which was a miracle. The hole deepened and finally, David's ax pierced the ice and then began to widen the hole. If he could at least get the hole wide enough for the person's head to fit through and get air, they might stand a chance. The hole had almost gotten wide enough when Dave heard it.

CRACK!

The sound was as loud as a gunshot and, to Dave's horror, he saw a crack in the ice spreading out and around where he knelt. As he grew up, his father had said hundreds and maybe thousands of times that, if this ever happened, he should lay flat and try to spread his weight out. David did that now. It seemed to work for a moment but then the ice started to break up into smaller pieces. David looked down at the person beneath the ice and moved his hand to try to reach in and grab their hand. It was at this moment that several things seemed to happen at once.

The person beneath the ic at that very moment the person beneath reached up out of the water and gripped his hand fiercely. There was a loud, bloodcurdling scream, Molly began barking again, and David felt his body plunge into the frigid water beneath the ice.

As the ice numbing water swirled around him David realized that this was not what he had intended to have happened.

'Why didn't I take my brother with me today? You're always supposed to have a partner with you when you do big jobs like this' David thought angrily. Now he was alone and probably going to die and the person he had tried to save would die for sure!

David looked around frantically for that person as he tried to keep his own head and body in the hole made by breaking through the ice. Were they still close by? All he could see was flashes of sky and water.

David needed to save himself first. He had managed to hold onto his axe and he used it now to chop into the ice and hold on so that he didn't slide back under. Then he began to try to pull himself out. That was when he realized that someone was beside him. He looked down, expecting to see Molly or the face of the person he'd been trying to recue and saw … two muzzles! They were snarling and biting.

David realized one was Molly's. She had jumped in to try to help him but had turned and begun attacking what looked like a wolf under the water. She had seen it coming for him and rushed to protect. David tried to reach back for her but she was sinking fast into the gloomy depths. The wolf was pulling her down. Molly was saving him by giving up her life. David's body was growing numb, soon he wouldn't be able to get himself up on the ice and out of the water. If he tried to go after Molly, he'd be dead too. His lungs were screaming for air. David's mind was getting fuzzy.

David turned, pulling with all his might, he lifted himself up through the hole and half onto the ice at the edge. A little of it broke off but he was still out. He lifted the axe and hurriedly lifted and chopped further. Then pulled his body even more out of the hole. David was gasping, his sight darkening, and his hands going numb. He wasn't sure he'd be able to get all the way out when he thought he heard a shout.

Then he heard is again and understood the words this time.

"Mom, he's falling through the ice!"

"Be careful Jim! I don't want you falling in too!

"Use the rope."

"There, now careful!"

He felt a rope hit his head and he realized he just been thrown a lassoed end of the rope he'd been using before. The voices belonged to his mother and his brother. They had come just in time! David might just survive this ordeal.

But even as his heart leapt in joy, David thought of Molly. She was his best friend. He just couldn't lose her and now, he might have a chance to save her. Quickly, without thinking it through very much, David slipped the lasso over his head and arms and then turned and dived into the dark water.

It got colder as he swam down. The pale blue light behind him that illuminated the lake was very eerie. There was no sound. David knew he had very little time before they tried to pull him up or he passed out from the cold and so he looked around frantically; searching for Molly. She was nowhere in sight. She was gone. She'd disappeared with whatever had grabbed and pulled him under. He was alive because of her but she was dead.

With a half sob lodged in his throat, David turned and started to try to swim up to the surface. His lungs where screaming and he couldn't quite feel his arms anymore. The hole was somewhere up there but he wasn't sure where. He had to get up there. Molly had given him a chance to live by dying and he didn't want to waste it so he kept going.

He felt something pull at his arms and chest. But that's all he could feel now. Was this what it was like to die beneath the ice? Would he die the same way his great-grandfather had? That was Dave's last conscious thought as he felt his arms and legs stop moving. He was just driftwood now, numb driftwood that couldn't move. Would he die alone in the cold dark water as Molly had?

No! David could feel the tug, stronger now and it was pulling him up and out of the water. There was a splashing sound and David realized his eyes were closed. He tried to open them but saw only stars as his lungs forced him to take a coughing breath of air. The last thought Dave had was that he was alive.