Chapter 135

“Okay, I’m going to get you out of there…”

I quickly found the levers to open the jaws of the device and moved them until the teeth were separated enough for me to stick my fingers in and open it. Laika yelped and howled again; all the movement hurt her more. I had to stop and wait. I tried again, and it didn’t take much effort to apply the necessary force to open the trap and get it off the dog; the safety chain wasn’t even anchored to the ground.

I didn’t stop to think about it because Laika kept bleeding to death. I threw the damn trap away from us and took off my backpack again, to use one of the spare shirts as a makeshift bandage.

***

The veterinary doctor was not one of “ours,” but she was the only one still attending at the time we arrived in the center of Krasnoyarsk. She finished working with the puppy at around ten at night. Laika’s leg was useless, and according to the doctor she was lucky that the cut did not sever her brachial artery; she had a