The sounds of men shouting, dogs barking, and his paws pounding on the ground as he ran pushed Balto even harder than he has ever in his life. Rushing through the brush, making quick turns here and there, trying to lose the hunters and dogs on his trail. It was just a normal day for the wolfdog, he was just about to go hunting with a small group in his pack, and all of a sudden there was a loud bang. The next thing Balto knew, one of the wolves with him collapsed to the ground and was bleeding.

What he did next made him angry, instead of holding off the humans from the mothers and their pups, he ran. Balto ran like a coward.

earlier that day=

The wolfdog grunted as he rose from the bedding in his den and yawned. Yet another day to get through. Most of the wolves in the pack didn't exactly like Balto when he was a pup at first, the thought of taking care of something with a dog's blood flowing through his veins, put a sour taste in the mouths of many of the wolves in the pack. Luckily for Balto, over the years the same wolves took a liking to him.

Some would tease him every now and then about being a dog, but would still treat Balto as if he were family at the end of the day. The wolfdog took the day's first steps out of his den. "Good morning Balto!" a female wolf padded up to him and greeted him with a lick on the cheek, this was how the pack often greeted each other. "Good morning Sae,' Balto licked her cheek to return the greeting.

"So, did you want something this morning?" the she-wolf shook her head. "No, not at all," the two started walking towards the center of their densite. "I just wanted to accompany you, you haven't changed dens after all this time, and your den's pretty far from everyone else's," Sae said. The wolfdog shrugged. "I never really thought about it, since until about a year ago, the rest of the wolves didn't really like me…" Balto paused for a second.

"Including you," he said with a grin. The wolf looked at the ground after Balto had said this. "Oh c'mon Sae, we can't change what happened as the alpha says. So don't worry about how you treated me," he said with a smile. Sae lifted her head up and gave him a mischievous grin. "Oh please, you're the one who brought it up!" the wolfdog laughed to himself as the two joined the rest of the wolves.

"Hey Balto," a huge wolf gave the hybrid a friendly grin. "Hey Hiro," Balto greeted. The two licked each other on the cheek. "Ready for today's hunt?" Hiro asked. "You bet I am!" Balto was far from the best hunter in the pack, but he was one of the most rounded hunters. If he was needed to, he could make a kill, track, and corner a prey. Thanks to his agility, he is also occasionally sent off to catch rabbits and other smaller prey.

Before the hunting groups would go off into the outer regions of the territory, all the wolves in the pack gathered up in the center of their densite, and greet each other. The pack's bond was key to their survival, and as such, it was like one great big family.everyone got along with each other, some more than others. Luckily for Balto, a lot of the wolves, after warming up to him, all got along well with him.

Hiro placed a paw on the wolfdog's shoulder. "Glad that you're coming along for this one. After we get ourselves a couple caribou, we're gonna have you get some rabbits for the mothers stuck in their dens." Balto gave a wolfish grin, or rather, doggish grin. "It'd be my pleasure to lend a paw."

Als the wolves slowly started dispersing into either hunting groups, or off into guards. Hiro and Balto walked over to their hunting group and greeted the other wolves in it. "You guys ready to catch a bull moose?" Balto joked. The group laughed, going after a bull moose was such a stupid move that not even the wolfdog himself made it when he was younger.

Bang

The group snapped up, all except for Hiro who collapsed on the ground. Balto was the first to notice and was in shock. One moment he was alive and well, and now he was lying on the ground, gasping for air. There was a small wound in his chest, but it was spewing a lot of blood. A few moments after he stopped, he was dead. Balto couldn't hear anything else over the screaming.

What was going to be a normal morning, turned into the second worst day in the wolf dog's life, second only to the day he was separated from his parents. Balto didn't know what he had done next, he just ran, and ran, and ran as far as he could. Away from the hunters, away from their dogs, away from his home.

The sounds of dogs barking behind the hybrid told him wasn't slowing down any time soon. Suddenly a dog jumped out in front of Balto and was growling at him. "Look at the dumb look on its face!" another dog said behind him. "L-listen, I don't want any trouble, just let me go," Balto tried to reason. "You think we're letting one of you wolves go?" The two dogs jumped out at the hybrid, only to collide with each other. Balto had jumped clear over both of them.

"Listen, if we were to fight now, you two won't be leaving alive, trust me on this one," Balto warned. The dogs started laughing as they started approaching him, the wolfdog then very quickly rammed his head into the largest dog, which knocked him out cold, and started running. "Hey! Get back here you damn lobo!"

Balto hit in a cave just as night began to fall, it seemed like the dogs and their humans had finally let up on him. "Those damn mutts." not long after reaching the end of the cave, Balto collapsed from exhaustion.