"Where's mom, Jack?" Mandy walks a few steps behind, sniffing the floor. I can tell she's really tired, but it's not in our nature to give up. So she keeps going, as much as I do, even if we can't find mom's track anywhere.

"I don't know, Mandy. Probably at home." I say, frustrated, because this is probably the millionth time she's asked the same thing. "We'll find her, I promise."

"Do you think she's looking for us, too?" This she also asked like a thousand times. But this time her voice is wavering. Our trip through this unknown road has been endless, and it's finally taking a toll on her. If I let her fall in it any deeper, we're doomed. We need to find mom no matter what. Up until yesterday, we had a bowl near the fridge which was always full of food. But we are not at home right now. There's no food bowl anywhere on sight. And we have been walking most of the day on an empty belly.

"She definitely is." I say, but it's a lie. Mom definitely loves us, but the few times we were allowed to go outside, it was on a leash. She can't be looking for us if she's not allowed to leave the house. "Look! There's a puddle up ahead, let's go!" I say, making a mad dash for it. Mandy follows suit, she's just as thirsty as I am. Except this isn't the usual faucet water. It's dirty, it tastes like mud, and does very little to comfort us. It's still the first thing we get into our tummies since this morning, which sounds like ages ago. Mandy is still slurping mud as I take my surroundings for the hundredth time already. It changed nothing since we started walking, and it makes me wonder if we really made any progress at all. We're still in the same road that doesn't seem to end, surrounded by trees on both sides. A few cars passed by, but none of them was the same one that brought us here, and none of them stopped. Maybe it would be a good idea to catch their attention. Maybe someone could give us a ride home. Or at least give us something to eat, the same way the human cub at home used to feed us chips. Dog, I could eat some chips right now. So I inch my way to the road and sit there, hoping for someone to pass by.

"What are you doing, Jack?" Mandy asks. Her tummy is full of puddle water, and we lost our pace when we stopped. She lays flat on her belly next to a tree. I'm tempted to join her.

"Hoping for a miracle?" I admit, too tired to keep her hopes up. But my heart does a little leap, because I can see a car coming our way. I run in circles in the road, using the little energy I have left, trying to get the drivers attention. But it doesn't seem like they've seen me. It's not slowing down. Not at all. And it's getting so close now. Panic gets the best of me so I'm now running out of the way, perhaps a bit too late because this car is already on me now, the screech of the tires against the asphalt numbing my ears.