Katherine looked at the sign again. “WILLOW!” she screamed, running to her “Look at this sign! It’s a signup for going to the tundra to study animals! You know you love animals! This is our chance!” Willow looked at the sign, her eyes sparkling. “You know,” she said slowly “this will be THE funnest time of our life! But it will be really cold! The average temperature is -40 degrees at nightime!” 

“What are we waiting for? Let's go sign up!” Katherine declared. After waiting in the Waiting Room for what felt like forever, they were told to wait as she was getting ready.

“Hello, my name is Rachel.” the scientist smiled as she walked in. “I am a scientist here in Charlotte. You guys want to sign up to go to the tundra?” 

“Oh yes, more than anything!” Katherine exclaimed, jumping up and down. 

A couple hours later, they were in the Tundra! After jumping off the plane, they ran outside. The tundra was a big white blanket of glistening snow!

“Woahhh! Look at all of this snow! It looks just like my dog's tail, it's so fluffy!” Willow exclaimed. She began walking around observing everything. After a couple of breathtaking minutes of exploring, Katherine found something.

“HEY,” Katherine shouted, “there’s a polar bear baby over there!”

“What? Wait, where?” Willow called back.

“Over by all that broken ice! You know how the tundra loses 13% of ice each decade!” Katherine worried. “We have to help it!” They both ran to the broken ice and polar bear.

“I know what we can do! Someone can jump from ice to ice to help the baby!” Katherine cried.

“Perfect. Let’s do it!” Willow said quietly.

As Katherine jumped from broken ice to broken ice, Willow looked around nervously.

What if she falls in? I know how deep and freezing it is in there! Willow thought. The polar bear floated farther and farther away until Katherine managed to give his ice a big shove! Thankfully, the shove pushed the ice to land, and he gingerly got off.

“Woo Katherine!” Willow cheered.

“That was so hard, it was like herding CATS!” Katherine smiled.

As they looked around again, they didn’t see the frosty white polar bear creeping toward them. When it got close, ROAR!

“AUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!” screamed Willow

“Run!” called Katherine

“Yeah, as if I don’t know to! Polar bears can run up to 25 mph!” Willow yelled back.

And so they ran until they couldn't anymore. They plopped on the ground, taking in deep breaths. Willow produced a granola bar from her pack, and Katherine copied her. Once they were both finished, they quickly took another look around. It was silent. Suddenly, CRACK. Both of them gasped, and slowly turned around.