Short Story: The Old Man Of Sulphur Creek

This was too much, and again he ran wildly along the trail. The dog, wearily, ran beside him. The man was unaware of where he was going; he had been hoping that maybe the dog could guide him to a camp, but the dog failed to ever take the lead. The man, exhausted, fell to his knees weak, the dog pausing and looking back at the man. The dog was hesitant, unsure of whether or not it should leave the man behind. Following its instincts, the dog sauntered away. The man slowly raised his head to see the dog off in the distance. His mind wandered back to the old man of Sulphur Creek. How right he was. The man sighed defeated; he could feel the drowsiness starting to overcome him. His eyes began to close, and his ears were beginning to ring. The ringing …show more content…
The man couldn’t imagine what the dog was barking at, and he couldn’t fathom why the dog would come back for him, but yet it filled the man with hope. The man was frozen, it was a miracle he could still move like he was, even the dog showed more comfort than before. The man was dying, slowly but surely, and yet somehow he still managed to reach the dog. The dog still barking and howling at the snow, but it wasn’t long until the man understood. Footprints. One after the other. The man was astounded, he looked up at the sky thanking the Lord, he knew he had just been giving one last chance at survival. The man sighed heavily, trying to fill his lungs with air. Step by step the man followed the footprints directly, they were fresh he could tell, not yet a day old. They had been traveling for an hour, and when the spotted the soft glow, the weight had fallen off his shoulders. A small smile broke out on his face, hardly recognizable due to the ice that still surrounded his lips. The dog sprinted toward the camp and the man did the same. He had been so close to death, and he probably would be had the dog not come back for