Chapter 1

Author's Note: I don't own any Balto movie characters they belong to Universal.

Walking through the covered ground of snow, leading to a line of rusty old trains on the side. After traveling for many miles, I finally made to Nome. Very few people live around there like it was a ghost town. I moved to Anchorage to find work in 1929, but due to the crash, I had to start my life over. At first, I thought about moving to California to only become part of group of farmers for grapes, but I was given a suggestion to work in the Alaskan Territory further west.

As I walked into town only few people were going on about their lives and short number of T-mobile automobiles were able to drive in town. I reached into my pocket that contains the place I could try to work. However, the place there was an opening was at store that sold meat. My timing was bad because I didn't have enough time to bring something warm and look presentable, due to low amounts of money I obtain. I entered in and the butcher acquainted with me, as we went through the interview process.

"I must say, you're very lucky to find a job here at Nome." he complimented.
"Only because I was being suggested to work here by my previous manager." I replied as he was still looking through my resume and qualifications that I have.
"Kid... seems to me there is no point about not hiring you so you could travel back south." he added. "Tomorrow you'll start in the morning and I'll give you more details on what you'll be doing."

We came into conclusion of the interview and I was hired. The only problem now is trying to find a decent place to sleep at night. The skies started to turn dark and I found myself to be at a alley. My lungs closed tight as I cough. My body shivers from the cold, I could only use empty, broken down boxes to use to sleep on, a rugged blanket I used to cover from the cold, and a hat to lie on my head. Since I left from the states, I carried a guitar to play music to help me sleep. Most songs were lullaby's, but I never thought of singing. While strumming the guitar, my eyes slightly closes, until dose into sleep.

After falling into sleep, somehow I ended up being in a hospital. I realized that I was back in the states and I was on a hospital bed. A doctor gave me a check up and told me that I only had a few days to live. I started to cough, until I couldn't be able to breathe and I died frozen like ice on the floor, as the doctor simply stares aimlessly at me.

Waking from a reality dream into reality, I remembered that I only had days to live from pneumonia. Without a certain medicine, I surely accept my fate and decided to die slowly until I pass on. Grabbing my remaining belongings, I started to head towards the butcher shop to start my first day. The morning sun was still on the rising where a small plane flew by the sun. The shop was closed when I arrived, however the butcher owner was inside preparing for the day. I pushed the door gently only to notice it was unlocked, I caught his attention when the bell rings as the door opened.

"Well son... you start today. The only things you'll be doing is hunting and/or fishing." he instructed the tasks to me. "You hunt and/or fish?"

"Back at home. I used to fish with my family at lakes and sometimes do little hunting at the woods near our pasture." I replied.

"Then you won't be having a problem of handling a rifle." he said as he handed me gear and tools. "You'll just find some animals you could find and try to fish if you could find any. Good luck." He walked off to start cutting meat over at the table. I knew I would be doing, so I decided to head off without any questions.

I opened the door to exit until the butcher's voice stopped me. "One more thing: don't be late and don't hunt the part-wolf." he warned.

Simply, I knew when to be back, however I left as I didn't understood about hunting a part-wolf animal. I carried the gears on my shoulder and had my guitar on my hands and started to sing Big Rock Candy Mountain, as I journeyed into the woods.

One evening when the sun went down

And the jungle fire was burning

down the track came a hoboe hikin'

And he said: "Boy's I'm not turning.

I'm heading for a land that's far away

beside the crystal fountains.

So come with me and go see the

big rock candy mountains.

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains

there's a land that's fare and bright

where the handguns grow on bushes

and you sleep out every night.

Where the boxcars all are empty

and the sun shines everyday!

On the birds and the bees and cigarette trees

the lemonade springs where the bluebird sings

In the Big Rock Candy Mountains."

By this time I stopped singing, I was in the woods surrounded with trees covered with frosty snow, and water streams slightly stream towards a frozen lake. At first, I made a small encampment and started hunting. Without any sight of animal, until I found a moose. As I prepared to fire the moose ran off quickly and I lost my chance to gain meat. Next, I decided to enter the lake where it was covered with ice. I curved a small circle with a knife and started to throw heavy rocks at the ice until it was loose. I was only about a few kilometers from land in effort to have better chance to catch fish from the shallow end. I set up my fishing pole and started ice fishing. Minutes go by... no bite has been made. I decided to head back to camp to grab my guitar and try to strum guitar strings to sing a song. As I started to head back, a cracking noise faintly made me halt. I looked around and no one was here and looked on the ground to see no ice break.

I decided to think there were thick ice else where. I shrugged my shoulders and continued to head back until I the ice break and I fell in! I couldn't be able to swim back up as the current was pulling me down. I looked up only to see more parts of the ice field crack. My breathe becomes narrow that I was running out of air, I could only try to do was to suck the ice so I could try to gain some air, but it wasn't helpful. I felt that I stopped breathing and I blacked out still underwater.