I screamed.

My throat hurt and my head pounded but I didn’t care. I just wanted my family. I was angry. Angry and lonely and confused. Why had I kept running the day before? Why hadn’t I turned back to be with my family? Stupid instincts! I shouldn’t have listened to them at all – they had caused me to become separated and all alone. I was so angry at myself.

I screamed even louder this time.

A few birds flew out of the trees and suddenly I saw something strange.

A flash of golden-yellow in the undergrowth.

A furry something. An animal? I stopped short.

At first I thought I was imagining it. Then I saw it again.

What was it? A rabbit? No, it seemed bigger than a rabbit.

Slowly, I crept towards the moving shape.

And then I saw her. All of her.

She was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life. A puppy, golden as a sunrise, with eyes a brilliant turquoise. She had a black patch in the shape of a diamond on her forehead.

She turned to look at me.

We froze and gazed into each other’s eyes. Her eyes were so bright that for a moment I felt myself stop breathing.

Then she ran off.

I ran after her.

As I ran I felt a strange excitement. I forgot my aches and pains, I forgot I’d lost my locket, I even forgot the worry of not knowing where my family was.

She was fast, and I was exhausted, but every flash of golden fur ahead gave me energy to keep running.

I was getting closer, too. Sometimes she would stop and I would almost catch her, but then she would take off again.

Finally, she stopped completely, and with some effort I caught up to her, puffing and panting.

‘Hi there,’ I managed to gasp, out of breath from our chase.

I was still leaning over, trying to catch my breath, in fact, when I realised she’d led me to a fast-flowing river!

I hurried down to the water’s edge and drank and drank, scooping all I could into my mouth. As if imitating me, the puppy started drinking too.

‘Puppy!’ I spluttered, between mouthfuls of water.

She looked at me curiously.

‘Puppy! Thank you!’

She put her head down and wagged her tail. I started walking over to her, and she turned and walked away. Then slowly, slowly she let me get closer.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a half-eaten hunk of cheese.

‘Here you go.’

She crept over and sniffed it.

‘You don’t like cheese?’ I asked. ‘Okay, let’s try something else . . .’

I reached further into the bag and pulled out some dried beef. Immediately her tongue flopped out of her mouth.

She walked right up to me and snatched a whole stick out of my hand.

and it was gone.

‘Wow, you eat fast!’

She stood there looking at me, her tail wagging slightly more now.

It was a good thing Mum had packed a lot of dried beef!

‘Alright, puppy.’

I pulled out another dried beef stick and held it out to her. The jerky disappeared in seconds.

‘Whoa, slow down, girl!’ I said. ‘Haven’t you heard about chewing your food?’

She could probably have eaten all the dried beef I had in one go if I’d let her. She was obviously very hungry. Maybe she was lost like me?

‘No more jerky for you right now,’ I said, zipping up my bag. It was hard to resist the look of disappointment on her puppy face, but I stayed strong.

‘We have to make this last . . . At least until I find Mum and Dad.’