Canine Club
As night descends upon the land of Alaska, the people of the small town lock their doors and whish each other sweet dreams. The dogs, however, head towards the old lumber mill to engage in one of their social activities at night; discussing the future of sled teams.
As the dogs entered the lumber mill, they moved into whatever position their status had them at. If a human had been watching, he would have seen that the dogs were arranged as one would see in history books of a European council; nobles are on the higher platforms while the commoners are on the ground. The only difference is that there is one platform a little higher than the 'nobles'. This platform is a reserved spot for the town hero, a wolf/ Siberian husky hybrid with tan and grey fur and hazel eyes.
As the hero got to his position, the rest of the 'nobles' filed in and went to their respected positions while the commoners started to become exasperated as they watch the nobles climb to their platforms.
"Screw you! You don't deserve to be up there! You don't know what it's like to eat out of the garbage! You have no souls!"
The hero sighs and looks towards the stage and sees an old St. Bernard walk onto the stage.
"Greetings ladies and gentlemen. Today we begin our discussion about the sled team. Who would like to go first?"
All the commoners shout at once "Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto! Balto!"
In a booming voice, the St. Bernard shouts "Quiet!"
The crowd becomes silent once more, afraid that the St. Bernard would do something much worse.
The St. Bernard turns to Balto, the town hero, and smiles before asking, "Would you like to go first?"
Balto nods his head, but quickly asks, "What do I say? This is my first time and all."
The red and cream husky standing next to Balto chuckles before shouting "We need the sled teams for the winter so we can bring supplies and even letters for the humans in order for our community to grow. Without those sled teams, we wouldn't be having this meeting if it weren't for our boys who risk their lives doing the very thing they love."
All the commoners begin to chant "Jenna! Jenna! Jenna! Jenna!"
A noble, a grey and black Siberian husky, shakes his head. "Look, our sled teams are great and all, but at some point, they can be replaced. The humans have already found a way to fly, what makes you think they won't come up with some way to get across the snow faster? All I'm saying is that our sled teams will soon become obsolete. What will happen then? Will Nome be gone forever or will we figure out another way to build our community?"
The noble on the right of the grey and black husky, a red and grey Siberian husky, rolls his eyes. "Forget about arguing over the sled team. They will always remain important to us and that's all that matters. What we should be discussing what if something much worse comes our way? What will we do then? What if something comes and kills us all? How would we survive then?"
Balto turns to the red and grey husky and glares. "Look, what you're saying is that something is coming and it will kill us. My first question is how would you know? How would you know if something is coming Jackson? What if everything remains the same now as it has before?"
Jackson shakes his head. "No, nothing stays the same. Something is coming and it will kill us before we even have the chance to fight back!"
The grey and black husky shakes his head. "Jackson, you talk nonsense. Nothing like that bad coughing epidemic, diphtheria, will come here and destroy us. That's all fools talk. What we should be discussing is what we should do to Steele. He betrayed us by trying to kill the children. He is too prideful and that is what makes him dangerous… and a fool."
A grey and white husky, being a noble, is to the left of Balto and says, "We should banish him into the wilds. We'll see how long one can live on pride."
"Crystal, we can't just go banishing people without the proper handling procedures."
"Procedures? He tried to kill the children with his pride… my owner's little girl was in there. What do you think we should do Doc? Let him stay? He's a coward and a murderous snob! We should banish him so he can't kill anymore of us!"
The nobles who were talking currently were huskies, but some of the nobles were wolves or even hybrids that had decided to stay near or in Nome. They were invited to these meetings and loved to listen to them, but they never spoke.
"I say we should kill him," says a large black wolf.
The other wolves turn and look at him with surprise in their eyes, but emotionless expressions on their faces while the hybrids, who were on the other side, glared at the black wolf or even snarled at him.
"Why do you say that Del Forr?"
"He tried to kill you guys so doesn't he deserve to die? An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth."
There were possibly three wolf packs participating in the discussion and about twelve hybrids, excluding Balto, who were in the position of 'noble'.
A grey and tan hybrid with blue eyes sighs heavily. "Death and banishment; the only two choices you've given us. I say we should leave him to rot in the wilds. We blindfold his ass and we take him into the thickest part of the forest and leave him there. If he dies, that's his fault. If he lives, he sure as hell won't make the same choices he did before."
The other nobles start to squabble amongst each other, saying things like "I say we kill him" or "Banishment sounds fair" not to mention "Leave him in the wilds! He deserves to die like the ignorant pig he is!"
Balto is tearing up as he hears what these other dogs are saying. Not once have any of them said "You know what? Let's spare him because he deserves a chance. We can't judge him for one stupid mistake. We have to see past that," but instead, these dogs are considering killing Steele as if that would accomplish something.
"How about we spare him? We shouldn't judge him because of his one mistake. We have to see past that," says Balto.
All the dogs' eyes are instantly glued to Balto for what he had just said. It was as if Balto had just told the 'nobles' that he was going to murder children.
"What do you mean 'Spare him'," asks Brayden. "He's an ignorant pig. He deserves nothing from us. Sparing him would be giving him something. We cannot give him life after he made an attempt to take life. No, he must be punished for his actions. He must pay for his crimes with his blood."
The others start to agree with Brayden, but the room soon became split between Brayden and Balto. It was divided easily between the two. Both sides are hurling insult after insult at each other. But all in all, a third side was formed, creating a warring triangle. The first two sides were aligned with Balto and Brayden while the third side is watching the other two. They wanted to banish Steele for what he did.
The whole room is in an uproar. One side wants Steele to be banished while another side cries for Steele to die. The last side is begging for Steele to be spared.
The commoners are agreeing with whoever is shouting at that moment whether it was Balto, Brayden, or anyone else.