Saving a Hero
Alaskan Wilderness, midday;
The Outsider looked down on Balto's unconscious form as it prepare to end his life. It's claws drove downwards but stopped right before the entered Balto's skull. It snapped around to find Tina standing there. "Leave him alone!" she yelled, wanting more than anything to defend her hero. The Outsider looked back to Balto and roared just like it had at Jenna, pretty much saying 'you got lucky'. It turned back to Tina and let out a roar. It charged at her and tried to slash her with its claw. She leapt out of the way and got between it and Balto. The monster turned to look at her. It let out a massive roar. Suddenly there was a snapping sound, it turned around as a tree fell on it's head. It fell to the ground, knocked out and pinned under the tree.
Tina smiled, the Outsider's claw had cut through a tree as she'd planned. She turned to Balto and her smile vanished. He was battered and bleeding, she cried some. She had to get him back to Nome, she'd promised Jenna. She managed to get him onto her back and moved as fast as she could. She couldn't believe her hero had lost, she knew it had been likely but she'd had so much faith in Balto, that he'd be able to put an end to that genetic demon but he wasn't. "He lost…" she said softly, in disbelief somewhat.
Nome, 9:30 pm;
Jenna paced the shed floor back and forth. Before Tina left to help Balto, she'd told her that if Balto was alright, her and Balto would howl but if something was wrong, only Tina would. Jenna dreaded that she'd hear only one, so much that the pain from her hurt ankle didn't even register in her mind, only the pain in her heart did. "Please be alright Balto, you've got to be, I need you…" she said, worry going through her mind. If Balto was dead, what would she do? The Outsider would come to destroy Nome, her family would die, if that happened, she'd have nothing to live for. She tried to take her mind off it, thinking of the pups her and Balto were going to have, wondering what they'd be like, would they be brave like him? Her mind wondered back to the possibility Balto wasn't coming back, no matter how hard she tried her mind kept going back to that. She started crying, her heart ached, hoping her love would come back. Her ears perked as she heard something, a howl, it was Tina's. She listened hopefully for Balto's but heard nothing for a few minutes until Tina's howl once again broke the silence. Her heart sank. "Balto…" she said softly and ran out the door.
Tina struggled on but she was so tired. She looked back at Balto, he was still unconscious. Her joints were stiff from cold and fatigue, she knew Balto had to be freezing if he was still alive. She wiped the possibility he wasn't alive anymore out of her mind. "Hang on Balto, we're almost there." she said, more to reassure herself. They'd just past Balto's boat, they were almost in Nome, Tina hopped Jenna was coming to help.
Jenna ran through town, not even feeling her throbbing ankle through the agony her heart was going through. She finally reached Balto and Tina, her heart broke when she saw Balto. "No…" she said as tears surged into her eyes. She looked at her battered and beaten mate, crying hard. "What happened?" she asked, very upset.
Tina collapsed and panted hard for a few seconds, she was so tired her whole body ached. "He lost…" she said, disbelief still in her voice.
Jenna managed to pull herself together, she understood how terrible it had to be for Tina, she believed Balto could do anything, he was her hero, Jenna couldn't imagine how Tina must of felt, having her hopes and her hero crushed. "Is he…is he alive?" she managed to ask, dreading the answer would be no.
"I don't know…I'm too cold to feel his pulse. I managed to stop the Outsider from killing him but enough damage may of already been done." replied Tina shivering. She managed to get up and stagger towards Jenna house.
Jenna quickly put part of Balto's weight onto her own back, managing to help Tina support him and take some of her stress off her. She helped carry Balto through the streets. She glanced at his head, blood had stopped coming from his wound but his face was covered in it. She winced but didn't look away. "Please just survive..." she said quietly.
Steele walked up, an evil smile on his face. "Well, what happened? Half-breed get in a fight with a grizzly?" he asked jokingly.
Jenna looked over her shoulder with a deep snarl that made Steele back up a little bit. "This is the worst possible time. There is something very dangerous out there, Balto tried to stop it, he couldn't." she said, pinning her ears back and baring her teeth to Steele.
"Well then maybe I should put him out of his misery."
"Touch him and you'll regret it."
"Who's going to make me? You?" Steele let out a laugh.
"No, the Outsider will." said Tina.
"What's that? Another dog?"
"Worse, it's a monster and its what did this to Balto."
Steele would of laughed but he knew himself just how much it took to do that to Balto. "Well a monster huh? Well I guess this half-breed already proved he can't stop it so he isn't really useful anymore is he?"
Tina looked at Jenna. "Looks like he isn't backing off, I guess I'll have to take a page from your book." she whispered. She moved out from under Balto and looked at Steele, she batted her eyelids flirtatiously. "Now come on Steele, are you sure you won't reconsider? I might reconsider your earlier offer of a date if you do." she said, flirting to Steele and nudging him slightly, backing him up.
Jenna didn't understand until she saw where Tina was luring Steele, a sly smile crossed her face. Steele fell for it, he thought she was hitting on him. "Well I guess maybe I could." he said.
"Of course but there's something else you could do for me…" said Tina, keeping Steele under her spell.
"What is it?"
Tina looked behind Steele and got ready. "You can…have a nice fall!" she said and pushed her weight up into Steele chest. Steele hadn't noticed Tina had backed him onto a rather high porch, which he now fell off of. There was loud crash as he landed on an overturned trash can, his mass crunching it. He let out a howl of pain as his ribs were still injured from the fall from Balto's boat and suffered worse injury. Tina looked down, anger in her eyes. "I'm going to warn you Steele, I know this monster better than anyone. If we stand any chance of stopping it we need Balto alive or its going to get to town and it will show no mercy to anyone, everyone will die. If you can't leave him alone for that, do it for the only thing you really care about, yourself! I'm going to tell you something about this monster, it has claws that can tear clean through six inches of solid metal like its tissue paper, can you imagine what they'd do to flesh and bone!" she warned. She went back to Jenna and helped her carry Balto while Steele tried to dislodge himself.
"Good thing Steele is too stupid to realize it was a trap, again." said Jenna before looking back to Balto, wondering if he was still able to fight that monster.
Meanwhile in Balto's mind, he'd given up hope. His mental plane resembled the last time he'd lost the will to go on, the bottom of that cliff. He didn't know whether or not he was still alive or dead, even if he was awake or asleep, he just laid in the snow, his paw over his eyes, crying. "I'm sorry Jenna, Rosy, I couldn't stop it, I let you all down and now Nome is doomed." he said, depressed. He wanted to get up and somehow get back to Nome but he just couldn't muster up the willpower to. His ears perked, he heard something. He removed his paw from his eyes and looked up. Standing in front of him was the same white wolf from before. She pointed her head skywards and let out a long, majestic howl and looked at him, expecting a howl in return. This time Balto didn't hastate, he got up, shook the snow off, and let out a long howl of his own.
Aniu looked proudly at her son and let out a howl along with him. She couldn't tell him she was his mother, it wasn't time for that yet. She looked at him. "Hello do you remember me?" she asked.
Balto nodded. "Yes I do, thank you for helping me so much…am I still…" he asked, wondering if he was still alive.
"Alive? Yes you are but unconscious." Aniu replied, she understood why Balto thought he might have been dead.
Balto smiled slightly. "That's a relief." he said but then lowered his head. "I can't stop that monster, I did everything I could but I just couldn't beat it."
Aniu shook her head. "Do you remember what your friend told you before you headed out on your own that night?"
Balto looked surprised. "You know about Boris?"
"I know many things."
"Alright. He told me 'A dog cannot make this journey alone but maybe a wolf can.'" he quoted.
Aniu nodded. "Yes, that was true for that journey but not this one. Nether part of you is strong enough to beat this creature, you will need help this time. Now awake, you need to get back to the ones that care for you." she said and let out a howl.
Balto groaned as he regained consciousness. He expected to see the frozen wilderness he fought the Outsider in and feel pain and cold but instead saw a lit fireplace, he was warm. He felt a weight on top of him, he looked over to see that his mate was partly laying on him, warming him with her own body as she did before. She saw him and her face lit up. "Balto! You're alive!" she said and nuzzled him repeatedly. "You almost gave me a heart attack, thank goodness you're alive."
Jenna got off him and Balto tried to sit up but pain shot through his injured ribs and he felt dizzy. He looked at his ribs, they were taped up. "What happened? How'd I get back here?" he asked.
"Tina saved you, she carried you all the way back to Nome."
Balto looked at Tina who set a little bit away from him. "Thank you, you're stronger than you look." he said.
Tina blushed slightly. "I guess we're even huh?" she asked.
"Even…Tina can the Outsider talk?"
Tina cocked her head. "Well its able to talk but it doesn't know how."
"Yes it does, during our fight, it asked me 'Why won't you die?' it was hard to understand but I got the message."
Tina looked shocked. "This isn't good, its learning."
"Learning? It can do that?" asked Jenna.
"Yes, its designed to absorb information from any source, to better itself."
"Like it wasn't tough enough." said Balto, managing to sit up with a slight whimper.
"It gets worse, the longer its alive outside the enclosed laboratory, the more it grows, if we don't stop it soon, it will metamorphosis."
"What?"
"It will transform into a more powerful form."
Jenna's eyes went wide. "More powerful?! That monster could already wipe the whole town off the map."
"I know, it shouldn't evolve before it attacks, we have to stop it before then." said Tina, a serious expression on her face.
"We will win, but I can't do this alone." said Balto, his normal smile on his face.
"Well before we make up a plan to stop the Outsider, there's a family in the other room that is very worried." said Jenna. "Rosy and her parents helped bandage you up but Rosy cried the whole time, it broke her heart seeing you so beat up, same with me." said Jenna, nuzzling Balto before the two of them went into the next room to be with Rosy.
Well there you go, the Outsider is getting more powerful but our heroes need a plan to stop it. See you next time!