It was a freezing cold night in january when Balto rode into the small Alaskan town of Nome at the head of the sled, pulling the desperately needed antitoxin to the sick children and helpless doctor. As the sled moved down Front Street the townsfolk all ran behind the team screaming and crying in joy; their children were saved.
As the team pulled up to Dr. Welch's office, the dog team was unhooked, the unconscious musher attended to, and the medicine taken to be administered to the sick children inside. The most notable thing about the team was the fact that Alaska's number one sled dog, Steele, was no longer the dog leading the team, instead the town found Balto: the stray wolf dog that lived outside town in an old beached trawler. At first the people were not quite sure how to react; but a split second of thought was all it took for them to realize that what was important right now was that the children were saved, and it was all thanks to the wolf dog.
Balto was surrounded by people. The townsfolk simply couldn't get enough of him and were all fighting for a chance to offer their praise and pets. Balto had no idea how to react to all this sudden love and positive attention but he soon started to find a groove that worked for him, letting people pat him and say some kind words before pulling away to allow the next person to do the same.
Once the people had given Balto his praise, he was brought into the hospital by Rosy's father to see his healing daughter. Once the young girl gave him a hug and spoke some kind words to him, he went back outside to be with the town dogs who had all just ran out of one of the abandoned gold dredgers near the water. As Balto made his way out of the office, all the dogs sat just beyond the office porch all cheering for him, but the dog that caught his attention was the dog sitting on the porch, the town beauty herself, the dog that everyone in town wanted to mate with Steele, Jenna. Jenna had always been one of the nicest dogs in Balto's life, and seeing her smile and obvious appreciation for his deed made him feel on top of the world.
Jenna smiled at Balto as he walked up next to her. Balto's tail wagged fast in excitement as she nuzzled against him and thanked him for his bravery. It was clear to anyone looking at the two on the porch that they were a couple, no doubt about it. It was funny to most actually; they never once would have thought that Balto, the stray wolf dog, would be the mate of the one dog in town that had Steele head over heels crazy about her.
The past week had certainly been quite the shock to the humans and dogs alike so seeing the Balto and Jenna show their true feelings for one another was really quite fitting for the moment. As they nuzzled and danced around on the porch together in excitement, the town dogs all cheered and praised Balto for the things he'd done for them. They all knew very well that Balto was in no way obligated to help after the way the town treated him; and that's the reason why they were just so grateful for him. Balto was not the hero they thought they wanted, but now they wanted it no other way.
As the dogs all whooped and cheered for Balto as he and Jenna walked off the porch and into the crowd, another dog just outside the old gold dredger was standing there watching the festivities happen, only this dog was in no way happy with what he saw. Steele let out a low growl as Balto and Jenna became visible to him; not realizing that some other dogs in the crowd spotted the huge Siberian Husky staring menacingly at them.
"Hey look who decided to show his ugly face!" one of the dogs shouted making Steele's presence noticed by all.
The crowd all slowly stopped chattering and stared back at Steele angrily who was still glued to the spot just outside the door of the gold dredger. The most shocked and worried of the group though had to be Balto and Jenna who knew Steele was staring right at them; cold blue eyes looking straight through them. It was pretty well known throughout Nome that when Steele casted his piercing blue eyes at anyone, they were about to experience a lot of pain.
With the all the dogs sitting silently watching; Steele slowly started to walk towards the group, or more particularly: Balto and Jenna. As he made his way towards the group, Steele smiled darkly knowing that every dog around him was terrified of him; none of them dared step in his path. Once he reached the couple, Balto whispered to Jenna telling her to go towards Nikki and Kaltag who he knew were just about the only two dogs who were even close to Steele's strength. Once Jenna was at a safe distance, Balto looked back towards Steele who now was directly in front of him; staring down at him with icy blue eyes.
"What's the matter Bingo? Scared of big ol' Steele?" the husky stated in a mocking tone.
Balto just stared into Steele's eyes; he really was terrified and you couldn't blame him. Steele was a huge dog and dogs and humans alike regularly stated that they'd never seen a Husky quite as big as him.
As Balto stared; Steele chuckled and put his nose directly to Balto's. "BOO!" he yelled causing Balto to take quite a big step back.
"That's enough Steele!" Doc, a large St. Bernard, stated in a loud authoritative voice.
Steele glanced his eyes towards the St. Bernard who walked in between him and Balto. Steele growled at Doc who, even though as smaller, stared back at Steele unamused by his scare tactics.
"And just who's gonna stop me? You?" Steele laughed. He then leaned in towards Doc who was still unfazed by him. "C'mon old man, stop me. Stop me from wiping that disgrace off the face of the earth."
Doc was tired of Steele trying to act tough. He knew that Steele was full of hot air and he wasn't about to let some big sled dog intimidate him; he'd seen far scarier things in the world, to him, Steele was nothing. As Steele pulled himself out of Doc's face and returned to an upright seating position, Doc leaned himself into Steele's face making their noses touch. "And just what are you gonna do to me Steele to make me back down? You think you scare me Steele? You're pathetic."
Steele snorted and raised his left paw ready to strike the old dog. The crowd of dogs gasped and were ready to act but were stopped by Doc's words.
"Do it Steele. Hit an old dog like me. See how far that gets you. Not like you have anything left to lose considering the things you've done." Doc said in a cold daring tone.
Steele lowered his paw stared down at the old dog. He was right; Steele couldn't bring himself to hit him, but why? What did Steele care? His thoughts were quickly broken into when Balto walked to Doc's side and spoke finally to the huge husky.
"You know Steele, you're certainly something aren't you. You not only tried to kill me for attempting to help you, but messed up the trail after you were beaten and lied to all your friends, for what? To save your oh so precious reputation? Or just to spite me? You can't be that thick Steele to think that somehow my help was gonna ruin your image; so you must have done all this just to spite me. Just because you hate me you felt the need to betray everybody and then have the nerve to think that you'd get away with it. You don't deserve the collar around your neck Steele, you never did. That collar is supposed to represent honor and pride for being a sled dog because you help people, you don't care about any of that, just the glory and good image it gives you. You Steele; are no sled dog." Balto stated in his most authoritative and passionate voice he could.
Steele stared down at Balto. "You think you can take this collar away from me? Any of you!? I was the one who ran to Nenana to get that medicine! I was the one who nearly froze to death! I was the one who trained ALL DAY as a puppy to get on a goddamn sled team and be the BEST at what I do! None of you have the right to take any of that from me!"
Steele then pushed Balto onto his side and ran past the crowd of dogs who all watched as he ran past an old trap door and lever that was used to drop coal into a lower part of the gold dredger to keep the old machines running. As steele ran past the lever however; his prized golden collar got snagged and pulled the lever open; he was now hanging by his collar over the open pit. Steele screamed in horror as he slipped out of the collar and fell into the pit with a thud; all the dogs could do was stand there and watch in pure horror.
As quickly as it happened, Balto ran up to the ledge and looked down, the town dogs gathered behind him. "Steele!" he yelled, hoping to get some sort of answer out of the husky.
In a panic, Balto turned towards the crowd after not getting an answer. "Guys we have to help him. We can't just leave him down there!"
The crowd all murmured to one another on what to do. Some of the dogs seemed onboard with Balto's intentions but many were against. Steele had betrayed them in a way they felt couldn't be forgiven and simply did not care what happened to Steele anymore.
Desperately, Balto looked towards Kaltag, Nikki, and Jenna who seemed on the fence about the whole thing. "Guys please, I know he did something horrible but we need to be the better dogs here, we need to see if we can help him please!"
Kaltag, Nikki, and Jenna looked at each other for a moment, and after a few a seconds stepped up to Balto. They knew Balto was right, they knew that being the better dog here was important and on top of that, Balto just selflessly saved an entire town that hated him, the least they could do was listen to him.
"Alright, tell us what to do boss." Nikki stated.
Balto sighed in relief and thanked them. He then quickly thought of an idea. "Alright Nikki, Kaltag, you two go get the vet. Jenna, get that lantern you used to make the northern lights on that hill, I'm gonna need it."
Quickly, all three dogs sprung into action. Jenna ran to the lantern and quickly returned as not to waste any time. Kaltag and Nikki went off into town and searched for the vet and their musher. Balto smiled at Jenna who dropped the lantern at his feet; the flame still burning bright.
"It was full of oil when I got it, you should have plenty of light to see." Jenna stated.
"Thanks Jen." Balto smiled and grabbed the lantern in his mouth.
"Be careful Balto." Jenna said as she nuzzled him.
Balto nodded and ran into the old building. From living as a stray his whole life Balto knew that there was an old staircase that led down into the basement section where Steele had fallen through the main building. Once he found the door that led to the stairs, he slid the hinge pin out of the hinges and pushed the door down and made his way down. The basement was dark and cold, the building hadn't been used since gold was discovered in Nome back in 1901. With a lantern in his mouth, Balto found it slightly difficult to get around the old machines that were down there but after some searching, he saw a shaft of light; that was the trapdoor Steele fell in.
Once Balto made it to the open area where the trapdoor opened up to, he found a bin that was placed under the door to catch falling coal as it was passed down and then wheeled off to power one of the many machines in the building. After examining around the cart, Balto knew that Steele had to be in it. Slowly Balto balanced himself on his rear legs and leaned against the cart with his front ones. When he peeked his head over the lip of the cart he was greeted by a half filled cart of coal- and Steele.
Steele was breathing shallowly and erratically, like he was struggling to do so. Upon closer examination, it was clear that both his rear legs were badly broken and his front left leg was bent backwards at the elbow joint and he was covered in coal dust; he was a wreck. Balto was in shock upon seeing the state his rival was in, he had no idea what he should do to get him out of here without hurting him.
As Balto was thinking of ways to help, Jenna called down to him from the trapdoor. "Balto! Are you alright down there?"
Balto looked up to the opening. "Yeah I'm fine! But Steele's gonna need a human to get him out of here, he's in bad shape."
"Just hold on! Nikki and Kaltag should be back soon with the vet!" Jenna yelled back.
Balto was all set to yell something back but something stopped him. When he looked back at Steele he saw that his eyes were starting to open and he was making a whining puppy sound. Joyed that he was coming to, Balto climbed fully into the cart being careful to not touch Steele in his injured state. As his eyes adjusted, Steele shifted his gaze to look at his surroundings.
"Hel… Hello? Wh… Where am I?" Steele said barely above a whisper.
Balto leaned close to Steele. "Shh Steele, you're hurt don't move. You'll be alright."
Steele winced and moved his head slightly to look at his body. "My legs…"
Balto then looked up towards the opening. "Jenna! Where are they!?"
"They still aren't here Balto please just hang on!" Jenna yelled, her voice full of panic and desperation.
Balto then looked back at Steele who was trying to curl himself into a ball but instantly stopped and cried out in pain.
"Steele please, just try not to move; help is on the way." Balto said as he nuzzled Steele slightly.
"Ba… Balto..?" Steele squeaked out.
"Yes Steele it's me." Balto said, happy that he was becoming more responsive.
Steele coughed and whined some more, his eyes were droopy and he clearly was in a lot of pain and needed to see a doctor as quickly as possible. Balto felt horrible for him. He knew that Steele was probably the meanest dog he'd ever met but it still hurt him to see someone in so much pain, even it was his worst enemy.
"Steele I know it hurts just stay with me, don't close your eyes." Balto said calmly.
Steele coughed again and slowly, tears started to form around his eyes and he quietly started sob. Seeing this, Balto thought quickly, he needed to keep Steele alert and focused on something else besides the pain.
"C'mon Steele you're strong. You said it yourself, you trained everyday as a puppy to be the sled dog you are today, don't let a little fall get you down!" Balto said in the most upbeat voice he could pull off.
Steele sniffled and nodded his head slightly; he was alert. Balto knew he needed to keep it going, he needed to find a way to get Steele to talk back to him, keep his energy up.
"Steele you ran all the way to Nenana and back! You traversed a storm no dog would dare go in, that was way worse than this! Don't let this be the thing that ends you!" Balto said cheerily.
Steele then looked up at Balto, this time though, his cold blue eyes took on a completely new facade. Those eyes that not twenty minutes ago put the fear of god into him, were now full of sadness, pain, and despair. As Balto stared into Steele's crystal blue eyes, he slowly opened his mouth to speak.
"P… please Balto… Don't… Don't let me… Please don't let me die here…." Steele pushed out in a hushed whisper.
"I'm not gonna let you die here Steele, I'm gonna get you out of here." Balto gently licked Steele's nose; a canine showing of compassion.
Both dogs then looked towards the door on the opposite side of the room where Balto originally came in. Though Steele couldn't see it, Balto was able to rear up on his hind legs and see that the vet and another man was coming into the room with flashlights. Balto wagged his tail excitedly and barked for the men to hear. Upon hearing Balto, the men quickly ran over to the cart and examined Steele.
"Alright Mr. Kaasan, help me get him out of here, he's gonna need medical attention fast." The vet spoke as he gently pet Steele who was whimpering quietly.
The two men secured Steele with the vet's medical coat, and carried the injured husky up and out of the dredger in their makeshift coat stretcher with Balto following quickly behind them. As they passed Jenna, Kaltag, and Nikki, Balto motioned for them to follow suit and shortly after his rescue, the four dogs were sitting patiently in the vet's waiting room. Just beyond a door that read "Urgent Care", Steele was being wrapped in casts and given plenty of water to rehydrate the wounded dog. In the waiting room, Balto, Jenna, Kaltag, and Nikki sat and waited to hear news about Steele's condition.
"You know Balto, you really are quite the hero. You know that right?" Kaltag said; breaking the silence.
Balto shrugged and looked at Kaltag. "I feel like a real hero would've been able to save Steele before he lost his mind completely."
"Balto he was never the type to learn through words, he's gotta learn stuff the hard way and I think you know that. You can't beat yourself up for it." Jenna said.
"You did everything you could boss, more than what you needed to. You may not think it but this whole town sees you as a hero and nothing less." Nikki stated with a smile.
Balto smiled and let his friends, and girlfriend's, words sink in. They really thought of him as a genuine hero, he felt extremely touched by this. Balto's thoughts were broken into by the sound of the vet opening the door from the urgent care section of his office.
The doctor looked tired; he had clearly spent a good deal of time on Steele. He walked over to a counter where Gunnar Kaasan, Steele's owner, was standing. He explained to Mr. Kaasan that Steele was in rough shape and most likely at the end of his sled pulling days. He told him that he wanted to keep Steele overnight and to come back tomorrow around noon to pick him up so he could recover at home. Gunnar sighed and thanked the doctor for his hard work, paid him, and left the building with Nikki and Kaltag (he owned them as well). Once he had left, the doctor started to file some papers behind the counter.
Balto turned to Jenna who was clearly very tired. "Jen, why don't you go get some sleep. I wanna stay here and see if I can see Steele before I do the same."
Jenna looked at Balto and nuzzled him. "Alright Balto. I'm gonna go be with Rosy, be careful; you know where to find me." She smiled, licked Balto's nose and went out the small doggy door leaving only Balto and the vet in the office.
The Doctor was still filing papers when Balto walked over to the counter a whined; getting the doctor to turn to him.
"What's up boy?" The vet spoke in a sweet tone.
Balto walked to the door where Steele was and padded at it.
"You wanna see Steele huh? I think he'd like that, come on in." The vet said with a smile. The vet then walked to the door and opened it for Balto, allowing him entrance to a hallway. The vet directed Balto to the third room on the left and then went back to his filing.
Balto walked into the small room where he saw the large Siberian Husky sleeping on a medical table. Upon closer inspection, Balto could see that the vet had repositioned Steele's front left leg back to its' proper placement and placed a thick white cast over it, and his two rear legs had been wrapped in the same white casts. Balto leaned his front paws on the edge of the table to balance on his rear legs. Once he was in a comfortable position; Balto gently nudged Steele's muscley shoulder causing the husky to open his eyes.
For the third time that night, Steele looked at Balto and conveyed a completely different message through those icy blue orbs. This time when Balto looked into his eyes, he saw compassion, caring, and guilt; Steele was clearly different after this ordeal. Balto's thoughts were broken into by Steele's booming low baritone voice.
"Balto… you came." Steele said. His eyes still on the wolf dog.
"Yeah Steele… I wanted to make sure you were ok after all that…" Balto said, grimacing slightly at the thought of those earlier events.
"But why? I… I did so much horrible stuff to you… what do you care if I live or die?" Steele asked, his voice full of genuine questioning.
Balto sighed. He tried thinking of a good way to word his response but he felt like it might anger the husky. Still though, it was worth a shot right? "Because Steele… you may be a jerk, but I couldn't just stand by and watch you die. That's not right. No one deserves that… not even you."
Steele shifted his gaze as a small tear formed under his eyes, this was the second time Balto saw Steele cry. "Balto I… I'm so sorry…. I… I… don't know what I was thinking… You were right… I'm no sled dog… I'm a failure…" He started to sob more.
Balto nuzzled Steele gently. "I forgive you Steele."
Steele then turned his head and buried his face into Balto's shoulder and sobbed. For the first time in his life; Steele was honest with himself. He realized that he never deserved the admiration and praise he always got because he truly cared about no one. He spent his entire life bullying the one dog who would come to stand by him; and he wasn't about to let himself make another mistake like that. Slowly, Steele took his head out of Balto's shoulder and looked him the eye, every ounce of hate in his eyes was gone.
"Don't leave me Balto… Please don't leave me here alone… I don't care if anybody in this town ever talks to me again or not… just as long as I get to call you my… my friend." Steele choked out through his tears.
Balto gently licked Steele's nose again. "I'd be honored to call you my friend."
Steele then cried harder than he'd ever let himself do before. He buried his face back into Balto who had climbed fully on the table to allow the injured husky to snuggle up to him. All the while Balto gently nuzzled Steele until the two finally drifted asleep, both dogs overjoyed to have made a new friend in one another; friends no one ever thought would be possible.