Chapter 4: In the Army Now
Fortunate son by C.C.R it is just a good song for this chapter, this chapter borrows heavily from a few movies, try to see if you can guess which ones in the comments.
The truck travelled for 2 straight days, stopping only to let the dogs out to eat or to go to the bathroom, until they arrived at the Juneau airport. From there they were flown to a military base outside San Francisco.
"Finally some fresh air, and im glad im off that piece of shit plane" an annoyed Kaltag exclaimed,
"I was quite comfortable, to tell you guys the truth" Star said before receiving a nice smack on the head from Kaltag, "Of course you were you little rat now let's find out where we have to go" Steele explained. Some humans in green fatigues with leashes came over to them and led them to a tent where a man with an apron was waiting for them with shears in hand, he quickly shaved all their thick shaggy fur coats off, which none of them really complained about considering how hot it was there compared to frigid Alaska.
Next they had new thick leather collars with dog tags that had their names on them issued to them. They were then taken to a large dog kennel, Steele and his gang was taken to the left and Balto was taken to the right. When Balto entered his kennel he saw that there were an additional four spots 'great im going to have company, hopefully they don't have the same hate towards me like Steele does' he thought to himself.
"Hey you must be new!" a happy German Shepard said from behind, "Yeah I just got here this afternoon, do you live in here too?" Balto asked.
"Yep, the names Vinny"
"Nice to meet you Vinny, my names Balto" Balto said extending his paw out, which Vinny shook.
"Do you know who are the other guys that will be staying with us are?" Balto asked.
"Yeah they were just behind me" Vinny said as he looked behind him to see three other figures entering into the large dog house. "Ahhh here they are…guys I want you to meet our new Kennel mate, Balto"
"Nice to meet ya" they all said in unison "this big guy here is Wes" Wes was a large Doberman, next Vinny came up next to a medium sized white and black Pit Bull "this tough guy is Brooklyn, and you'll never guess where he is from" Vinny stated sarcastically.
"uhhh New York?" Balto answered
"Congratulations, you want a treat?" Brooklyn fired back.
"Easy there killer" a grey Husky said
"Oh and last but not least is Kodi"
"Nice to meet you" Balto said
"The pleasures all mine" Kodi replied. Wes then came up behind Balto, "you can clearly see what all of our different breeds are but, I'm having some trouble tryin to figure you out."
"what do you mean?" Balto asked, hoping to God that they would find out his secret. "Well you strike me as a husky, like Kodi over dere but most huskies I've met have silver blue eyes, yours are yellow and I know I aint ever seen one with paws as big as yours, you almost look like a wol…." He was interrupted by a loud whistle and a dog outside screaming.
"ALL RIGHT YOU PUKES, EVERYONE GET OUT HERE NOW!"
"Oh shit! It's the drill sergeant" Kodi said, and with that all the dogs were out of their house as fast as they could go. When they got out there they got in line with the rest of the dogs in the Kennel, there they could see a large Rottweiler walking down the pavement inspecting each of the dogs.
"STAND AT ATTENTION YOU SLOBBS" he stated. They all quickly puffed out their chests and sucked in their guts, he then began to pace back and forth up and down the line. "That's better, I am Drill Sergeant Fitch, and am going to be your worst nightmare for the next 2 months, from now on you will only speak when spoken too and the only words out of your filthy traps will be the words 'sir yes sir' do you all understand?"
"SIR YES SIR" they all replied.
"In my outfit there is no pedigree requirement I do not look down on lobos, half breeds, mutts howlers, or rats, because to me you are all equally worthless! Do you maggots understand that?"
"sir yes sir" they replied.
"BULLSHIT I CANT HERE YOU!"
"SIR YES SIR!" they replied again.
He stopped in front of Balto, "what's your name scumbag?"
"Sir Pvt. Balto sir!"
"What the hell kind of fucked up breed are you?"
'Dammit' he thought to himself, he knew if he lied to the drill sergeant Steele would just tell on him and get him in trouble.
"Sir I'm half wolf Sir!" this caused a small gasp to come up from the other dogs
"SHUT THE FUCK UP" Fitch ordered, the dogs all complied.
"Do you think your better than the rest of us because your half wolf?"
"Sir No Sir"
"Well I can guarantee one thing private, if I catch you howlin at the damn moon I will run you till your damn lungs explode, do you understand?"
"Sir yes Sir"
"Awooo" Steele let out a small howl which caused some of the dogs around him to start laughing.
"WHO DID THAT?, WHO THE FUCK JUST DID THAT?" Fitch said as he started walking down the line towards Steele, "WHOS THE SCUM FUCKING COMEDIAN WHO JUST SIGNED HIS OWN GODDAMN DEATH WARRANT!" nobody spoke up. "Well nobody ehh, Ill run you guys so goddamned hard you'll be drinking water through your asses!"
Fitch then got nose to nose with Star, "Was it you, you mangy little mutt?" "Sir, no Sir" a terrified Star replied "YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT YOU LOOK LIKE A FUCKING RAT, I BET IT WAS YOU"
"Sir no Sir" Star replied.
Steele didn't mind letting others take the fall for him, but he knew in this environment that if he let Star take the fall for this one somebody would get him back with something a lot worse.
"Sir I said it sir" Steele said, this earned him a disbelieved look from Star.
Fitch looked at him and slowly made his way to him until he was nose to nose with him.
"What's your name Private?"
"Sir Steele Sir!"
"Quite the jokester ehh. I admire your honesty, hell I like you; you can come over to my house and fuck my wife" Fitch then punched Steele right in the face, which knocked him down. "YOU LITTLE SHIT I GOT YOUR NUMBER, I GOT YOUR ASS, YOU WILL NOT CRY AND YOU WILL NOT QUIT, IF YOU PULL ANOTHER STUNT LIKE THAT I'LL MAKE YOUR LIFE HERE A LIVING HELL."
Steele quickly got up, and quickly glanced at Fitch, "are you eyeing me with those baby blue eyes, Steele? Are you in love with me?"
"Sir no Sir"
"So you don't think I look good with my fur shaved down?"
"Sir you look fine Sir"
"Oh so your gay and you love me?"
"SIR NO SIR" Steele replied
"You look like the kind of guy that would fuck a dog in the asshole and not even have the goddamn common courtesy to give him a reach around, I'll be watching you!"
Sgt. Fitch continued to pace down the line until he came to Nikki.
"What's your name fatboy?"
"Sir, Private Nikki Sir!"
"You're so damn ugly you could be a modern art masterpiece!"
"Sir yes Sir!"
"Do you suck dick Pvt?"
"no sir" Nikki replied
"Bullshit, I bet you could suck a golf ball through a garden hose"
He continued to walk down the line until he came to Kodi.
"Where are you from Private?"
"Sir, Alaska Sir" Kodi replied
"HOLY FUCK NUGGETS ALASKA!, ONLY MOOSES AND QUEERS COME FROM ALASKA and you don't look like a moose so I guess that kinda narrows it down."
"Sir yes Sir"
"Nikki and Steele are from Alaska Pvt and they seem pretty well acquainted with each other, makes me think I may have something to this whole queer thing…Do you agree?"
"Sir no Sir"
Seeing that he wasn't getting the fun he wanted out of Kodi he continued to proceed with the days training regimen.
"All right you slobs now that the fun is outta the way, I've noticed that you all have been sitting for quite some time and I have just the exercise to cure that, you will all start running until I say stop."
This earned a collective groan from the entire company
"DID I FUCKING STUTTER….. NOW GET MOVING THAT'S AN ORDER!"
They all took off with Balto, Steele, Nikki, Kaltag, Star and Kodi taking a huge lead over the others, with their sled training taking over, they all naturally blocked out the pain of continuous running. While many of the other dogs struggled to even keep up a medium pace, the sled dogs were actually getting faster.
"HA..these morons don't know who their messing with." Steele let out
"Yeah it will take a lot more than a little run to make us tired!" Kaltag exclaimed
They seriously underestimated Drill Sgt. Fitch and the weather
4 hours later…
5 dead tired dogs walked into their house and laid down on their mats
"That Fitch…..is a fucking dick" Brooklyn said between gasps for air
"Your tellin me" Wes replied
"Seriously….4 hours of straight…..running….on the first day" an exhausted Vinny let out.
"Not to mention it was hot as shit out there" Brooklyn said
"Yeah and we have obstacle course training with our handlers first thing in the morning." Kodi added in
"I don't know who is worse, Fitch…or Hitler" Wes joked in between breaths.
This earned a collected laugh from the whole group, except Balto. Kodi noticed this and was quick to confront him about it.
"Balto what's wrong with you?"
"you guys know that I'm half wolf and you're not trying to rip me apart…why?"
"Why would we do that?"
"Yeah your our friend" Wes added in
"it's just…that …. In my old town I was an…no…The outcast, any time I would come into town the other dogs led by Steele would chase me out of town"
"Just for being half wolf?" Vinny asked
"I knew that Steele guy was trouble, I could just tell by that shit eating grin he always has on his face." Brooklyn interjected.
"Don't worry Balto, you're our squad mate and we won't let that bastard or any of his cronies get you without at least having us there to back you up." Wes said
Balto was awestruck, his whole life he looked for dogs who would accept him for who he was, and not what he was, and he had finally found them. He was sure of it now, he may not take a bullet for Nome, but he knew he could take one for these guys.
"Come on guys let's get some sleep, we've got a busy day tomorrow" Balto said
Day 1…