Frappe stood still, her eyes burning and her nose feeling like it was about to fall off. "eh, Cobald, I cand breef. It sdinks!" Frappe lifted her paw up and covered her eyes an attempted to cover her nose at the same time, resulting in the aussie to topple over. "Cobald! I cand smell or see! Where are you?!"

"Is there anything more annoying than a waffler?" Sha snorted.<br /><br />"Hush, Sha," Dinah chided.<br /><br />"Well, there's not!"

Sheena paced a little. "Umm, nothing to worry about now, Dinah." Why did she just lie to Dinah. It hurt her to lie to someone that she trusts, but she just can't tell her yet. It's a lot of bad memories and scary thoughts that come with it. <br><br /><br />"You can sleep. I'll just go look for a creek too. It'll do me good to have a little alone time." She wanders off in the opposite direction as the others to get away. She sits for a little and ponders things.

"Wazzat, Sheena?" Dinah murmured. The other border collie was obviously jumpy and it was making it hard for Dinah to sleep.<br /><br />That and the horrible stench coming from the woods, but Dinah ignored that-- she'd been skunked before. You got used to the smell.

As Dinah took Hecubus under her watch. Sheena relaxed a little. She had been tense the whole walk. When would Lebur finally come looking for her? What would happen if he knew that she was with them. She shuttered at the thought but then she heard a noise and her heart skipped a few beats. She mumbled, "Please don't let that be him." At that time a skunk popped out of the bushes and she watched as Frappe got hit. <br /><br> "Dinah I need to tell you something," she said softly but Dinah was out and so was Hecubus. "Well I guess it'll have to wait...its important and you're the only one I trust right now."

---

"WHOAWHOA!" Cobalt whipped around to avoid the skunk, in the process running into a tree hard enough to almost knock him out. "What's your problem, buddy? I never... even... touched you..." he wobbled, nearly tripped over the skunk and ducked behind Frappe, the skunk butt swiveling to follow him the whole way. Frappe yelped and tried to scramble out of the way, but it was too late. There was a burst of nose-searing stench and then Cobalt blacked out.

Frappe finally snapped back to reality, it seemed like the whole day had gone by in a blur. It seemed that if they didn't make much progress today, they would be in a lot more trouble tomorrow. She sighed and then began to walk a little bit faster after Cobalt. She didn't feel like she needed to run, if she ran out of too much energy now, there wouldn't be much left for later. <br /><br />It was then that she heard a twig snap to her right. Insticts immediately kicking in, her ears and fur raised. She stood still for a whole minute before taking a cautious step away from the sound. Now wasn't the time to be curious, there could be a bear out there for all she knew.<br /><br />Frappe took a few more steps before trotting over to Cobalt. "Hey, hey!" she called to him, but not before she saw something white and black pop out of the bush and right behind the male aussie. Cobalt turned right before Frappe barked and the skunk raised its rear in his face.

Dinah grinned at the tired puppy. Her own Rolo was still tripping along happily-- she remembered sleepless nights because of that pup's constant moving-- but Hecubus was obviously tired. "Come here, puppy," she said. "Nap while we can."

Hecubus sat gratefully with a small groan. His pads hurt. He began licking first one paw, then the other as he snuck glances at the group. He had tried to sit and rest once, but the one they call "Dusk" had just nuzzled him along. He really wanted to go see the golden squirrel with Kineta, but that girl was fast! And his feet hurt.

"Oho, is that a challenge?" Cobalt growled. He turned to Frappe, who was closest, and grinned. "Race you to wherever that nutty pup is going!" Without looking to see if she followed, he took off after the surprisingly speedy Shepherd pup.<br /><br />Sha laughed and tried not to wince when he did so. Dinah licked his ear consolingly and turned to Kendra. "I don't remember the drive being this long. Do you think we'll be there soon? I want to see my baby and Chi." She could tell her heartsickness was showing in her voice but she couldn't temper it.<br /><br />"Chi's taking care of him, Dinah," Sha wheezed. "She's too tough to die even if the kennels didn't stand... and she'll take care of your pup till you get back." He hoped it was true. Chi was his best friend and if anything happened to her OR Dinah's pup....