Tapeesa's only sister was gone missing, local police and Kaktovik Native Forum had been searching the area for 12 hours. Her sister told the police that she had gone fishing past the polar bears' territory in the morning.
The extreme cold had grasped the village, the snow had filled every piece of the land up to 4 feet, gushing winds and unstoppable snowfall had made rescue operations be called off, and the darkness ruled over the remote areas.
Officer Paul and Forum leader Kavi came to Tapeesa to comfort her, "We are here to inform you that weather is not allowing us to venture further into remote areas, we'll start over again when the weather settles down."
"No, please, do something, I know Kaya my sister very well, she was trained to survive in the harshest of weather and deal with the wild animals." Kaya responded in an angered tone.
"Understand the situation Tapeesa, we can barely see and walk out there, and I don't want to endanger anyone's life in this crazy weather." Officer Paul stated his concern gently.
"You guys have no balls to find my sister, I'll go out myself and get her back home." Tapeesa's eyes turned red hot in anger and desperation, "you can leave my home now, I don't want to see your faces."
"Just stay at home Tapeesa, let's see what we can do right away, and promise us you'll not leave your home." Kavi softly requested her.
"Huh, whatever, don't throw your sympathies on me, just leave." Tapeesa frowned in anger.
Officer Paul and Kavi left her house after warning her of doing anything crazy.
Tapeesa went out to the kennel hut, she unchained her two malamutes namely Ila and Uki, she kneeled and grabbed Ila's face "Look into my eyes, today Kaya is in danger, and she saved you from bear attacks when you were pups and raised you both with love and care, now is the time to return the favor." She kissed them both and said "let's go."
She hooked up the dog carrier with the snowmobile and equipped her with two guns, spare bullets, and some food & water. Ila and Uki jumped into the carrier as they know what to do next. She started the snowmobile and rushed to the fishing site.
The dogs were keenly observing the surroundings and were growling whenever they feel any danger up close. Tapeesa had no fear but worry for her missing sister, she was shouting "Kaya if you hear me, give us any signal, Kaya can you hear us." The wind was so powerful and noisy, that even the engine noise was suppressed in the wind.
Tapeesa along with the dogs reached the fishing site, "Ila, Uki smell and tell me the direction of the scent." she said pointing to some almost vanished footprints. Uki started digging the snow and finally found the fishing rod and a half-eaten fish carcass.
"They must be wolves, from a nearby vegetation," she murmured after recognizing the teeth marks on the fish. Suddenly, Ila howled and started to bark incessantly, Uki was also growling as they felt something is close by.
Tapeesa removed the gun from the holster, she was holding the torch with her left hand and the gun with her right hand, she slowly circled to see any sign of wild animals, but nothing could be seen except the thick snowflakes.
Uki was whimpering as if something was about to happen, suddenly two wolves appeared behind Tapeesa and one of them leaped toward her and bit into her backpack, while another wolf lunged at Ila.
Uki jumped over the wolf who attacked Tapeesa, and nailed his sharp teeth on the wolf's ear, then pulled the wolf's ear with a shear force and ripped it apart from his skin, the wolf growled with intense pain and fled away towards the vegetation leaving his companion in peril.
Tapeesa did not realize that the attack would happen so fast, but she grasped her senses and yelled "Uki save Ila, hurry." Uki ran toward Ila's rescue, the brown wolf had fixed her jaws around Ila's neck, she was a pushing him with her paws but all went useless, Uki then bit into wolf's back and hurled him in the air, he was like 6 foot above in the air.
Brown wolf fell on the snow and therefore did not get any injury, he again rushed to Ila, but this time Tapeesa roared "Enough!", a gunshot was heard, and the bullet pierced into brown wolf's rear leg, which caused him to drop on the ground, but he managed to stand on his 3 legs.
"Uki, no attack, stop!" Uki who was trying to attack the wolf did not move an inch after hearing Tapeesa's words. Brown wolf limped away from the scene.
Tapeesa immediately lifted Ila and put her into the dog carrier, she tried to stand but she had lost a lot of blood and felt very weak and lethargic. She rolled up her scarf around her neck to stop the bleeding, then she gave her some water and food to restore her energy.
"Sorry, my beautiful Ila, I led you to this destiny," she said to Ila as she was moaning with pain, and continued talking "I did not know that it could be that dangerous, just stay awake sweety.", and then she hugged Uki "We are all alive because of you my brave Uki, thank you so much." she was crying and pampering both dogs.
"Woof, woof!" Uki attended to Ila and lick her neck as if he was encouraging her to become bold and strong.
As the wind slowed down, Uki's felt a known scent coming from across the vegetation stream, he stood in front of Tapeesa, wagged his tail, and started purring. Tapeesa knew the meaning of it, she smiled and asked him to go ahead in that direction of the scent.
She jumped on the snowmobile and started following him, not far from the fishing site, they reached the vegetation stream, Uki stopped over a small opening that seemed like a big hole deep in the ground, as he dug into the hole, he struck with the fur coat Kaya had worn before leaving for the fishing site.
As Tapeesa grabbed and tried to pull up the fur quote, Kaya drew her hand up and touched her arm, "Kaya, Kaya you are alive, grab my hands, I pull you out.", Kaya drew her second hand up, and Tapeesa laid on the ground and helped her to get out of the ditch.
Tapeesa cuddled and surrounded her with the fur coat to give her some warmth and to save her from hypothermia.
"Kaya, say something, my lovely sister, can you hear me." She talked to her sister while warming her up to restore his senses.
"Tapee, go home" Kaya was finally able to talk, "Yes! honey, let's go home, I am so happy you are alive and fine." Tapeesa kissed her on the head.
The next day, Ila was buried in a canine graveyard to rest in peace forever as she could not survive due to blood loss and cold weather.
Kaya came back home from the hospital after recovering from hypothermia and other physical complications.
Uki often seemed silently weeping during nights due to losing Ila.
Tapeesa was happy about her sister's return, but she had guilt inside for not saving Ila's life.
Disclaimer:
This is a work of fiction. The story, places, characters, and anything mentioned here are all fictitious. Anything presented in this story is wholly imaginary.
Image Credits:
Malamute Pixabay
Divider Clipart Pixabay
Signature Card is made with Canva.com
