Chapter 4

Thank you to all who have taken the time to read this, and a special thank you goes out to those of you who were kind enough to leave me a review. You know who you are.


Jenna lay asleep curled up into a comfy ball in front of the burning fire place, the heat radiating off of the dancing flames warming her coat pleasantly. She pitched over onto her stomach and began to come into waking, quite refreshed from her nap. She lifted her head and looked lazily about the room and found it empty except for her. Her humans must still be asleep; after all the trip to Nenena was a long one, especially with the cold wind sucking the life out of their bodies. She closed her eyes and laid her head back down on her paws, letting her ears fold flat onto her skull.

There was a small scratching sound and Jenna's ears pricked up without any movement anywhere else. The scratch was made again and Jenna opened her eyes, lifting her head up once again.

"Balto?"

There was no answer, just a third scratch on the door. Jenna smiled slyly and rose to her feet in an awkward fashion. Doing her best to be as silent as possible, Jenna slinked her way to the back of the house. She squeezed through her ever tightening doggy door and began to sneak her way around to the front of the house. Balto was messing with her and he was going to pay for it. Jenna peeked her head around the corner of the house and gazed out to the dog on the front porch. Too small to be Balto, in fact, it almost looked like…

"Harv?" Jenna called coming around the corner of the house.

The dog jumped and turned hurriedly to face Jenna.

"Oh, hi Jenna," Harv said halfheartedly, turning and moving down off of the porch.

He paused with a distance still between the two of them. What was he supposed to say? Jenna began to close the distance and Harv inconspicuously turned the beaten side of him away from her, closing his eyes at the same time.

"What's going on here," Jenna asked suspiciously.

"Harv sure is acting strange."

There was a drip of red from Harv's side and an alarm was sounded inside Jenna's head.

"Harv, you're bleeding! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Harv lied.

Truth be known the pain in his side was almost unbearable; and on top of that, his wounds had yet to properly seal. He was beginning to feel dizzy and it was hard for him to focus. He didn't know just how much more blood he could lose. All he did know was that he had to keep a promise he made to a friend. There was another drip of blood and Jenna ran her eyes up to the porch. There was a blood trail the whole way up.

"Harv, what happened?" Jenna pressed more urgently.

Harv knew that he couldn't keep this from her anymore. With a word he turned face and body so the wounds were clearly visible. Jenna gasped. There were similar wounds on Balto the day they fought that… oh no…

"Harv! Where's Balto!" Jenna asked hysterically.

Harv took in a long breath and pinched his eyes tightly together trying to find the best way to break the terrible news. He opened his eyes and locked them with Jenna's

"Balto… Is… no longer with us."

"Harv… what… what are you saying? Is Balto…"

A thin film of tears began to form under Harv's eyes.

"He… he valiantly gave his life to save mine."

Jenna's jaw dropped to the ground and she took a few steps backward until the weight of what she was just told made her collapse onto her haunches.

"Jenna I'm so sorry," Harv began with tears streaming down his face.

"No, no Harv! You're lying to me! You're lying!"

She forcefully shoved her way past him and stormed off in the direction Harv came. Having fulfilled his duty, Harv collapsed in the thinning snow with a soggy crunch.


- A large pack of wolves slid effortlessly along the forest in search for any game that could be found, but thus far there was none. This didn't dwindle their good spirits however. No humans had been spotted in their territory since yesterday and each day on the meat trail always had promise of a fruitful outcome. The group moved along as one unit, the two leaders with their noses to the wind trying to pick up a fresh scent.

The grey leader running the left halted abruptly causing the wolves running behind her to nearly ram her in the back. The tan leader running the right halted his squad and padded over to the grey.

"You have something," he asked hopefully.

"Oh it's something alright," she answered, "See what you can make of this. Point your nose due east and let the breeze bring it upon you."

The tan leader wafted the wind and the strangest of scents mixed together in his nostrils: Black powder, humans, dogs, bears, rot, and a lot of blood.

"What say you, Ceuni," the tan wolf asked the female leader.

Ceuni ran the options through her mind. The human, bear, and black powder sent off alarm bells, but at the same time the overwhelming scent of rot and blood suggested that there was much more to this than what they could smell. After a hard thought, she came to a decision.

"Let's go."

She started easily in the direction of the scents' origin being mindful of the potential dangers that lay ahead. The tan leader and the rest of the group started as well and soon joined Ceuni at her side.

They hadn't gone but maybe a quarter of a mile when the two leaders got low and slowed their pace to that of a cautious crawl. The other wolves followed suit and the group continued on for another hundred yards. Only one line of trees left to go. Ceuni and the tan leader halted the party and bellied their way through the trees, stopping just a few feet before they would be out in the open. From this position they peeked out at a site that they wouldn't soon forget. Without taking the time to fully observe he scene they called for the all clear and disappeared from the sight of the pack.

The pack soon strolled through the trees with high ambitions that were quickly dashed. They gazed morbidly at the horrid scene before them. There were the mauled and bloody bodies of six dogs scattered around an unattended sled, while the human musher lay dead a short distance from it. Mixed in the churned and dirty snow was what appeared to be buckets of blood soaked in all around the entire area, discharged shells from the broken rifle that fired them, and tuft upon tuft of mixed fur flung about the place. The twelve wolves gazed silently around them with one word left unspoken in their minds. Grizzly.

After a few moments spent in a silent gawk the wolves went about the pointless task of checking for survivors. Ceuni, the tan leader, and four other wolves dispersed to check for any signs of life. The tan leader and the four others had no trouble in determining the status of the dogs they inspected. Ceuni on the other hand had it different. As she approached her chosen dog she was better able to take in his features. She tool in the thinning brown and tan fur and large paws, the darker goggles around his closed eyes, but most incredible was the long lean build that this particular canine possessed. It much resembled that of her own, but was slightly different in a way. She found him devilishly handsome, and slightly dangerous due to his husky features, but with a gentle face that told of an easy going personality. Such a shame he had to go like this.

Although… he didn't have any major injuries that were visible to the naked eye. It was possible that he survived; but he lay perfectly still on his side, and who knows how long he'd been here. She moved around behind him and found the problem; she could clearly see that his back was broken just above his rear hips. She moved sadly around again to his front and took one last long…

Wait! What was that?

Ceuni watched more carefully this time and…

Yes, there it was again! Just the slightest rise in the hybrid's chest.

"We have a survivor."


A/N I really hope y'all liked this update. Bet from my previous history of totally screwing Balto you thought I was going to kill him off. NOPE! But where does that leave Jenna?