Chapter 1

Escape!

    Jade sniffed the sky. "Yum!" She had smelled the hot dogs fresh on the barbeque. Jade sniffed the sky again, and she could smell the smell of the forest. Jade and her owners had gone camping in Yosemite, and now they were eating food under the stars.Jade whined and tugged at the rope that was tied to her collar to a metal rod in the ground.

    Jessie came over and said, "Here Jade, come here you little sheepdog!". Then Jessie grabbed Jades bowl and scooped some dog food in it. Jade quickly gulped up all of the food. Jade was feeling tired, so she put her head on her paws and gazed at the night sky. She licked her paws, and closed her eyes. All she could hear 

was the forest sounds. "Sam! Jessie!" Jade barked. Her bark echoed, but there was no sound of her family. Suddenly a ghostly sound echoed through the forest."It's just a wolf far away," Jade said to herself, but suddenly wolves where surrounding her, with bloody fangs.But as quick as they came, they were gone, but big fierce bears replaced them, advancing closer, and then they pounced on Jade.

        Jade woke up, panting heavily, and then she realized she was in the cabin with Sam and Jessie. She snuggled closer to their feet. The next morning Jade woke up, her scary dream still fresh in her mind."Come on Jade, let's go on a walk." Sam said, and he put Jade's leash on, not too tight. As they walked into the forest, Jade felt relaxed and calm. Squirrels chattered on top of trees and blue Jays screeched. The weather was nice and cool. It was now middle-day, and they were back at their cabin.

    Then Jessie and Sam decided to hike in the mountains. Sam brought a mini sleep dart because there are cougars in the mountain. Jade barked happily and running around the trail, sniffing the bushes and chasing squirrels. As they neared the real mountain trail, Sam clipped Jades leash on. 'Wait! Don't put my leash on! I want to run!I want to chase squirrels!" Jade thought, tugging on the leash.

    Jade climbed on the trail, getting steeper with every minute. Jade was panting, and Sam and Jessie where out of breath. There was a little cave at the side, so they decided to rest in the cave. Jade must have fell asleep, because one moment she was looking at the sun and the sky, the next she was laying on the ground.

    Jade woke up, and licked her paws. Sam and Jessie were looking at a piece of paper and talking. A weird smell began to fill Jades nose. 

The smell began to crowd Jade's nose with the other smells, and Jade had to sort out the smells to know what they were."Tree, fox, squirrel, Cougar, coyote-WAIT!COUGAR!" Jade began barking and growling, but she could not see the cougar. Sam and Jessie looked up and said, "Shhh Jade, be quiet!" but Jade began to fight against her leash.

    Realizing something was not right, Sam and Jessie stood up and looked at the cave opening. Jade heard a dull thud, and Jade saw a cougar at the opening of the cave. Jessie cried out in alarm, and Sam gasped. Jade let out a volley of barks and snarls. The cougar snarled, and paced back and forth, sizing them up.

    Sam reached in his pocket to take the sleeping dart, and aimed it. Pop! He blew the dart, but at that second the cougar darted right, so the dart missed it completely. The cougar, threatened by the pop sound, lunged forward to them. 

    Jade tried to get away, but the leash did not let her. The cougar turned midair and scratched Jade on the back. Driven with terror and pain, Jade began to furiously attack her collar and the cougar. Sam got  the next dart and shot it, but the needle broke mid air and when it touched the cougar, the cougar just yelped in pain. Finally Jade slipped out of the collar, and ran for her life away, because the cougar was chasing her.

    Using her medium size as an advantage, she raced between rocks and trees down the mountain to the forest. Her paws were full of small stones and the scratch from the cougar was bleeding. Using her last burst of speed, Jade raced under a couple tight together rocks.

    The cougar roared in anger as Jade escaped. But then the cougar saw a good looking deer, so it set off after the deer.  Jade licked and licked her scratch to make it stop bleeding.

Chapter 2

Where's Jade?

    After Sam and Jessie got to the cabin, their voices were tired of calling Jade, they called the local ranger station to keep an eye out for Jade, and to help them find her. The ranger station said they would keep and eye out, but they were busies, so they could not help find her.But, the lady who they talked to was kind, and knew what it felt like to lose a dog, so she said will pay the cabin so Sam and Jessie could stay longer to search.Jessie thanked her, and she hung up.

    "What now?" Jessie asked. "We will make posters." Sam said.They made a couple posters and hung them around the ranger station, camp sites, bathrooms, and anywhere else they could find.They had gone far away to put up posters, so they were tired when they got to the cabin."Let's look for Jade tomorrow." Sam said.Then they went to sleep.

    The next morning, Sam and Jessie woke up early.They gulped down their food and packed a backpack with snacks, lots of water, map, first aid kit, and Jade's leash.Then they started walking to the place where they last saw Jade.

     Since Jessie was a naturalist, and could identify tracks, they started following the paw prints made from Jade. They followed the tracks, but where Jade had raced into the two rocks, the fallen leaves and branches covered it.

    Jade woke up and yawned.Her scratch burned and her belly grumbled.She slipped out from the rocks using a different hole, and looked around. The morning sunshine was bright, and the air was damp.Jade padded around the rocks, wondering what to do.Suddenly her survival instincts started to kick in, and she began to feel a urge to find food.

    Jade walked toward a tree and looked up.There was a squirrel nibbling on a acorn.Jade barked happily and tried to get the squirrel, but Jade gave up quickly. Jade sniffed an acorn on the ground."What's this?" Jade thought.Jade picked the acorn and chewed it.Jade immediately spited the acorn out as a horrible taste filled her mouth. 

    Jade ran this way and that way, trying to get the taste out of her mouth.She finally found a river, and plunged her mouth in the water.The water was such a good temperature, that she started swimming.

    2 weeks past, of utter chaos. Sam and Jessie were all over the place looking for Jade, and Jade was trying to survive in the wilderness. Jade had been sleeping and living in the rock structure that she had hid in when the cougar came. The rocks formed a igloo like cave.

    Jessie sighed as another search mission failed. Sam looked out the window at the forest."Let's go for another search for Jade." Sam said. They walked around the forest."Look!" Jessie cried. There were fresh paw prints near the two rocks."Maybe it is Jade!" Sam said. Looking around, he saw more paw prints."Let's follow them." Said Jessie, and started jogging to where the paw prints led.Sam followed.But the paw prints ended in a river.They looked, but could not find any other paw prints.Disappointed, they walked back to the cabin.