Free Buried Alive! by Gloria Skurzynski Page A

alive and standing with Nicky’s arm around her shoulders like a vise. That arm again! Nicky’s hair stood from his head in snowy clumps, and his cheek had been scraped raw. Blood seeped out of the scrape and trickled down onto his parka in a thin, red ribbon. “Shhh,” he told Ashley in a hushed voice. “We’re alive. That’s all that matters.”
    The dogs’ barking became more urgent. Jack looked out at the field of white, its former glassy surface now mottled with chunks of snow. Broken branches, rocks, and tree trunks had been flung around like confetti on a sheet. They could have been killed. Easy.
    Rolling to his knees, he stood and took a few wobbling steps in the dogs’ direction. “We should help the dogs.”
    â€œYeah. At least some of them are alive,” Nicky agreed. “They’re really howling—I bet they’re still tied to the sled.”
    â€œWhat about Chaz?” Jack asked.
    â€œI thought of that. We’ll look to see if he’s digging up his dogs. If he is, we’ll turn and go the other way. If not, we’ll help the dogs. They don’t deserve this.”
    Jack shook his head to clear it. “No, that’s not what I meant. If Chaz got buried in the avalanche, he’s suffocating right now.”
    Nicky stiffened. “So? I say if he dies, it’s justice.”
    â€œI know, but…but can we really do that?”
    â€œWatch me,” he spat. “I can do it easy.”
    Ashley bit the edge of her lip. “Was Chaz a bad spy?”
    â€œYeah. Remember, I told you they were after me. You believed me, but Jack didn’t. Right, Jack?” He cocked his head. “You thought I was full of it. What do you think now?”
    Jack dropped his gaze. Of course it was true. He’d thought terrible things of Nicky, who had been telling the truth all along. It was hard to remember all those bad feelings, especially when Nicky was the one who’d pulled him from the snow. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you, Nicky,” he told him.
    With a curt nod, Nicky said, “Apology accepted,” and held out his hand for Jack to shake. That effectively removed the arm from Ashley’s shoulders, so with a smile, Jack shook hands.
    The dogs’ howls kept splitting the sky like sirens. “We gotta start digging,” Jack said, but when he tried to take a step his legs nearly buckled beneath him. He grabbed Ashley’s arm to steady himself.
    â€œYeah, digging to save the dogs,” Nicky said.
    â€œBut how can we save the dogs and not the man?”
    â€œThat Chaz is a waste of skin!” Nicky fumed. Pointing toward trees that were still standing, he cried, “What if he’s out there, watching, waiting for us?”
    â€œAnd what if he’s dying while we’re arguing?” Jack shuddered as he remembered his own tomb of snow. “Can you live with that?”
    â€œI can!” Nicky blazed. “Don’t be stupid, Jack.” Turning toward Ashley, he asked, “You think I’m right, don’t you? Don’t you?”
    â€œAshley, Chaz is still a human being,” Jack said weakly. “We can tie him up with the dog harness—whatever you think is right. I just can’t let a person suffocate in the snow.” But it was no use. From the look in Ashley’s eyes he could tell she would do whatever Nicky suggested. The alliance had shifted. Jack would have to go it alone.
    Turning on his heel, he headed toward the dogs’ crescendo of yaps and cries. He knew that in some ways what he was about to do didn’t make sense, and there was no doubt Nicky had every right to be vengeful. But at the end of the day, Jack would have to live with himself, so he had to try to save a life, even if it was an evil life. He paused as he tried to calculate the quickest path across the snowfield. Some of the snow was littered with debris, while other