Chapter 8: The Epidemic's Toll

A/N: I guess you can consider this as my Thanksgiving gift :)

Back in the town of Nome, Jenna looked through a window from a lit building. It was a local hospital that had recently got a surge of new cases from another illness. An epidemic has been spreading around these past few days, and a lot of children have unfortunately caught this disease, including Rosy.

Jenna saw Rosy inside from the window, and she noticed that something was not right with her. Lots of children had a coughing fit, and it wasn't looking too good for her. A doctor was in the waiting room admitting all the patients who had fallen ill. Jenna barked to get her attention, and Rosy looked at the window, noticing her waiting outside.

"Jenna?" Rosy said happily.

She pressed her face against the window. It was her! Rosy called her name again and ran to the front door of the building. Jenna followed along as they both ran for the entrance.

"Hi, girl!" Rosy greeted as she opened the door.

She ran downstairs to meet up with an excited Jenna and was happy to see each other. They circled for a bit until Rosy stopped running and started to cough uncontrollably. Jenna looked at her with worried eyes and let out a little whine. She tried to comfort her and nuzzled her elbow with her snout. Rosy took notice and petted her head in return. At that moment, her father came to the door with her black coat.

"Rosy! Rosy, come on. You're gonna catch your death out here," her father called as he quickly wrapped her body with her coat.

"Okay dad," she said with a hoarse voice.

"Come on, honey. The doctor's waiting," he walked her back to the door.

They went back inside the hospital, and the door closed shut in her face. Jenna dashed to the same window in front of her and placed her forepaws on the windowsill. There was nothing but a room full of coughing kids in her view with none of her owners in sight. She stepped down and ran to the other window nearby. The room was also full of other sick kids but still no Rosy.

She tried the window next to it, and she finally discovered where Rosy was. She was joyful to find her there, but her smile slowly turned into a frown when she saw the doctor observing her. He felt around her throat, and from the looks of it, her health wasn't doing too good. Jenna had never seen Rosy in such critical condition and also had a concerned expression.

"Are you getting nervous?" Richard asked as they walked past more buildings.

"Yeah, kinda," Balto glanced around nervously.

"Oh, come on. It's not that bad," Richard said. "It's just as simple as saying hi."

They eventually found the only building left that was still lit up in town and went over there.

"She's gotta be here somewhere," Balto muttered until he found her standing on the windowsill close by.

"There she is," Richard pointed at her.

Just as Balto was about to approach Jenna, he saw an icy puddle nearby and looked at his reflection. There was a bundle of spiky fur on his head. He tried to flatten it out with his forepaw, but it sprang right back up in position. He rubbed it even harder, but his fur still wouldn't hold still.

"Here, let me try," Richard crouched low to his level.

He removed his glove and dipped his right hand in the puddle which he regretted immediately. He clenched his teeth as his hand went freezing numb, and his arm kept twitching. He gripped his wrist to stabilize his wet hand and placed it on Balto's head, rubbing his fur flat. Richard smiled proudly and nodded in approval from his great deed until the fur stuck up again, making him groan in frustration.

"I guess that'll have to do," Richard grumbled.

He then heard something faint in the distance. It sounded like...coughing? That was the last thing he wanted to hear from this town. Richard stepped to the bright building and took a closer look at a window while Balto stayed on the other side. What he saw made his skin ghostly pale. Lots of coughing and wheezing children were laying in hospital beds.

He became gravely worried about all those infected kids inside. Richard couldn't tell if this was the usual amount of patients inside or not. But, he didn't have time to worry about that. Balto had a date that he needed to catch. He waved for Balto to come over and he did. Richard gave him an encouraging thumbs-up before following behind Balto as he crept up behind Jenna.

"Jenna?" Balto called to her.

She turned around, surprised to see him, and greeted softly, "Balto. Hi."

Jenna also noticed that someone else was with him as well. She peered closely at Richard, making sure that her eyes didn't deceive her.

"Wait, isn't that the same kid we met earlier?" Jenna asked.

Balto forced out a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, he's a new friend of mine."

"Didn't he speak to me earlier that day?" Jenna asked with suspicion.

Richard did not speak a word to her and looked away, shuffling his feet in the snow nervously.

Her face softened, and she spoke to him calmly, "Look, I know that you can talk to me. You responded to something I said before, right?"

Richard kept hesitating for a bit but finally confessed, "Yes, I did. I can speak to you."

Jenna's face lit up. "Cool! Sometimes, I wish that I could talk to humans. Rosy's such a sweet little girl."

He then looked through the window behind her and gasped when he saw that Rosy was in the hospital too!

"What's Rosy doing in the hospital?" Richard asked.

Her ears began to droop, and they all went back to the window to watch her examination. The doctor just pulled the thermometer out of her mouth, and she clenched her excruciatingly sore throat while still coughing.

"She feels warm. She has a terrible cough," Jenna explained.

"Oh, no. Poor Rosy," Richard whispered worriedly.

Jenna turned and looked at Balto's eyes with a distressed look. "Balto, what's wrong with her?"

Balto was just as clueless as her. "Uh, I'm not sure, but I know how to find out. Come on."

Before they walked over there, Jenna asked, "Sorry, I didn't get your name. What was it?"

"I'm Richard," he introduced himself.

Jenna nodded as they walked around to the back area where the boiler room was located. They arrived at the door which was closed off with a lock attached to a chain.

"The door's locked," Richard grabbed the chained-up lock.

"No worries. I have the keys to the city," Balto said confidently.

"What?" he mouthed silently.

Balto reared up to the top of the door, used his claws to remove each hinge from the door, and pushed the door open.

"After you," Balto gestured with his paw to let Jenna in first.

When Jenna was about to walk in, she stopped and caught herself staring at his raised paw.

"Balto," she said, taken aback by the sheer size of his paw.

Balto looked down at his paw and gave an embarrassed smile. He chuckled awkwardly and entered the room first.

"Big paws kinda run in my family," Balto clarified. "At least, uh, one side of my family."

Balto looked back as Jenna followed him inside, but Richard kept staring at the detached door with amazement.

Since when did dogs know how to open door hinges?

"You coming?" Balto asked Richard.

Richard got back to his senses and followed him into the boiler room. When he entered the room, he felt something that he hadn't felt since he arrived here: warmth. He let out a long sigh of relief and felt a warming sensation flow through his entire body. But, he didn't get to relax for long when he saw them go inside a crawl space underneath the hospital floor. Richard kneeled and looked through the pitch-black opening. It looked so dark and dreary inside, and he hesitated to go in.

"Balto! Wait up!" Richard shouted through the opening. "I'm afraid of the dark!"

They both looked back as he struggled to muster up the courage to follow them.

"It's okay," Balto assured him. "Just stay close."

Richard clenched his hands tightly into fists as he had to hurry up before they both disappeared in the dark space. Would he go in or would he not? Finally, he had no choice but to get down to all fours and go inside through the opening. He had to crawl his way through, but it didn't take too long to catch up to them. His palms became filthy and covered with soot from crawling on his hands, but it didn't matter as long as they got to know what's wrong with Rosy.

"It's so gloomy down here," Jenna spoke quietly. "Not that I'm scared or anything."

While she got distracted looking at her surroundings, she turned her head back and nearly walked into a spider web. She stopped and gasped with a look of disgust.

"Gloomy?" Balto flicked away the web with his tail. "You kiddin'?" It's the most beautiful spot in the world."

Richard looked at Balto with puzzlement. He can't be serious.

"Dogs travel for years just to be right here," Balto stated.

He went underneath through a hanging tarp and lifted his tail to let Jenna pass. He also waited for Richard to pass through as well.

Jenna crawled underneath, and a little piece of fabric got stuck on her nose. "Here? I can't see why."

Balto removed the cloth from her snout by using his paw. "That's 'cause you're looking at the bowl half empty."

Richard was soon pleased to see they reached a light that shined through a vent shaft right above their heads. Balto walked up a dirt mound and pushed some shards of colorful glass bottles right underneath the light.

"See this? It's the polar ice caps," Balto explained to her.

"Balto, those are broken bottles. "And they're not half empty, they're all empty," Jenna spoke with a shadow of doubt.

He looked up at the light source, which came from a small lamp, and smiled with anticipation.

"The sun," he whispered.

Jenna scoffed and shook her head, thinking he was messing with her. "Balto."

"And...to the north," Balto made the final adjustments to the glass bottles.

He stepped out of the way, and to everyone's amazement, the light shined through the glass, revealing a myriad of different rainbow colors that illuminated a radiant glow against the wall. Jenna gasped, captivated by the enchanting view, and couldn't believe her eyes. It looked like an exact replica of...

"The Northern Lights," Jenna cried, excitedly. She took a closer look and sighed, "Oh, Balto you're right. It's beautiful."

It didn't seem like there was any way to top this off.

"Yeah. Beautif-" Balto whispered before he paused when he noticed something awe-inspiring.

The beaming light began to spread out and widen up to the rest of the walls surrounding them. Before they knew it, they were surrounded by a panoramic, expanded view of the Northern Lights. All the walls were flooded with many vibrant colors of light, and the brightness even got too overbearing for them. They turned around and saw that Richard held his crystal in front of the broken bottles, smiling proudly at his new achievement. The light refracted from all sides of the crystal, projecting onto the entire area. This wasn't part of Balto's plan, but he was grateful for his additional support.

Balto and Jenna looked at each other once more, and their snouts began to get closer and closer, nearly touching each other. But, they suddenly heard footsteps above, and the blinding light vanished in an instant. Balto, Jenna, and Richard all looked back at the vent, quickly walked up the mound, and got as close as possible for the best view, eavesdropping on updates from Rosy.

"Good night, Rosy," the doctor said.

"I'm so cold," Rosy shivered with a weak voice.

"Well, I have another blanket for you right here. You stay warm and get some rest," he instructed.

Rosy kept coughing hard as he walked out of her hospital room. Her father followed the doctor too, both stepping over the vent shaft they were watching from. They saw that they were getting out of sight, but luckily for them, there was another vent right underneath where the footsteps were heading. They went over to the adjacent vent and watched as they listened to what the doctor had to say.

"Doctor, how is she?" her father asked, worried.

"Exhausted from coughing. Her fever's getting worse," the doctor answered.

Jenna gasped, Balto's ears drooped, and Richard's eyes watered with worry.

"Looks like diphtheria," he revealed to them.

"Diphtheria? That doesn't sound good," Richard muttered, uneasy.

The doctor reached for a spot in his medicine cabinet labeled "Diphtheria Anti-toxin", the vaccine for the cure, but it was empty. He sighed with disappointment and reached for a different spot labeled "Salicylic Acid", grabbing a bottle of aspirin instead.

"She's the 18th case this week," the doctor placed the bottle on his desk and sat on his chair, sighing with despair. "And I'm out of antitoxin."

This tragic event was too much for Jenna to handle. She trembled shakily, devastated with the dread of Rosy dying. Balto looked left and right but she wasn't there. He turned around and saw her rushing out to exit the crawl space.

"Jenna," Balto called to her. "Jenna, I'm sorry."

He and Richard quickly followed her back out to the boiler room and caught up with her.

"I-I didn't mean to upset you. I shouldn't have taken you down there," Balto said regretfully.

"No, I'm glad you did," Jenna said gratefully.

Then, a loud CRASH was heard from outside the door. They all looked outside and saw that it was from Steele, who held a string of stolen sausage links in his mouth. He was caught under some planks of wood, but he shook them off his back and began to strut towards them.

"Steele," Jenna said quietly, surprised by his sudden presence.

"Oh, great. Not that stupid mutt again," Richard muttered under his breath.

"Well, well. What's wrong with this picture?" Steele approached her. "Jenna, join me for dinner."

He wrapped the sausage link around her neck like a rodeo and yanked her closer.

"You start at one end, you start at the other. When we get to the middle, well…you tell me," Steele chuckled.

Balto and Richard looked at Steele with disgust. They knew it wouldn't end well for Jenna if he crashed Balto's date. Something had to be done.

"You keep your paws off her!" Richard demanded.

That was the first time Richard ever stood up to Steele.

Steele paused and glared intensely at Richard. "What did you say?"

Richard felt a huge lump in his throat and swallowed. His voice quivered and he said, "Stay..away...from her?"

Steele smirked and let out a maniacal chuckle, the sausages still hanging in his mouth. "A little pipsqueak like you? Telling me what to do? You wish."

Before any more trouble occurred, he settled down when Jenna smiled and tickled his chin with her tail. She giggled and seemed to enjoy his company. Steele chuckled with satisfaction thinking he finally got the girl. The others looked at them, bewildered at Jenna's sudden acceptance of Steele. While Steele wasn't looking, Jenna stopped smiling and gestured with her head to the flaming hot boiler next to them. They both looked at the boiler, realizing what Jenna had in mind, and looked at each other with conniving smirks.

"Gee, Steele, I have to admit your offer is very tempting," Jenna lied, flirtatiously swaying her body.

"It is?" Steele chuckled with approval.

Jenna kept walking forward as Steele walked backward, luring his rear end closer to the boiler. Balto and Richard stood there with devilish smiles, waiting for that big moment.

"But these days I prefer my meat...cooked," Jenna said softly.

Soon, smoke started to erupt from the boiler, and Steele sniffed the air. He heard sizzling behind him and felt something burning. He realized what was cooking and jumped in the air, howling in pain.

"Come on, let's go!" Balto began to run out the door.

Jenna and Richard hurriedly followed him with Steele chasing them from behind, and Richard closed the door shut on the way out. Steele then crashed through the door, shattering it into many pieces, and landed on top of them, forming a dog pile.

"Ow!" Richard grimaced from being pushed down by Steele's heavy weight.

"What's all that noise?" a man asked.

They all turned to the right where the voice in the distance came from, and they saw a beam of light appear from around the corner.

"I think it's over here," another man called.

Richard instantly recognized that voice. It was coming from Rosy's father!

"Oh, this is bad," Richard said to himself.

"Guys, come on," Balto whispered to them.

Jenna and Richard followed along as they were about to sneak out. Steele though was the most worried about being spotted by them. As the light inched closer, Steele had to come up with something quick. He glanced back at the escaping group and quickly tossed away the sausages right before the light shined on him and stood still looking all innocent.

The sausages landed at Balto's feet, and he tripped over, getting his paws tangled in them. Richard turned around when he heard Balto tripped and saw him entangled on the ground. Before he could free Balto from the sausages, he froze when he saw the light shine on Balto, getting caught red-handed. Richard then walked back a great distance to hide from their sight and avoid getting caught. He watched as Balto got apprehended by the two men.

"Looks like Balto's found your way into your meat locker," Rosy's father said to a bearded man with a large knife

"It's a good thing Steele was here," the butcher picked up the sausages, handing them to Steele as a reward.

"No, he didn't. He was framed," Richard whispered to himself, still viewing their investigation.

There was nothing Richard could do to change that, but it wasn't fair.

"Good boy, Steele. You've earned these," the butcher congratulated him. "Besides, I can't do anything with them after that wild animal's touched 'em."

Steele gave Balto a devious grin as he kept chewing on his slobbered sausages.

"Go on, get out of here, you thief!" Rosy's father shouted.

He kicked snow at Balto, and he ran out of there, fleeing from them. Jenna tried to chase after him, but her owner grabbed her by her bandana.

"Come on, Jenna, let's go home," he said as she was unwillingly dragged away.

Richard watched as Jenna and the others left the scene, and he was now the only one left. He was left speechless as he tried to wrap his head around what had just happened. Then, he looked straight at the big hole from the meat locker where Steele had broken through earlier. He looked inside and found lots of different types of meat hanging on metal hooks. He stuck his head inside taking a closer observation at what the butcher had to offer and found many pounds of large bacon strips hanging from the ceiling.

This was what the end goal was supposed to be but instead, he had a sick, worried feeling in the pit of his stomach. He had officially lost his appetite and decided not to grab any food. It was a painful reminder of what Steele did anyway. He then decided to look for Balto next. Richard walked away from the boiler room and went back to the other side of the hospital where the entrance was. Something then caught his eye when he saw a sign on the front door with big red letters that read "QUARANTINE".

"Oh, that's not good," Richard said nervously after seeing the sign.

And just out sheer luck, Balto happened to show up not too long after. Richard got to his knees and reached out with open arms. Balto ran to Richard and fell in his warm embrace.

"Balto! There you are. I was worried sick about you," Richard exclaimed, burying his face into his furry neck.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," Balto assured him.

"No, you're not," Richard argued defensively. "It's not fair! Rosy's now in quarantine, and look what they did to you."

"I'm sorry, but that's just how it is."

"I know, but you're too pure to be treated like this. Isn't there a way to get people to treat you better?"

Balto shook his head. "No, people have shunned me for my entire life, and it doesn't look like it'll change anytime soon."

Richard sighed in defeat. There was no point in continuing this debate. "All right, then let's go home."

They both began to make their long trip back to the boat. They didn't say one word on the way back home.

When they arrived back at the boat, Boris was waiting for them at the front entrance with a wide grin on his face.

"Welcome back, fellas. How did the date go?" Boris greeted them.

"Horrible. Stupid Steele has to ruin everything," Richard responded glumly.

"Oh," Boris replied in understanding, his face turning into a frown.

It wasn't surprising that this was Steele's doing once again. Balto went to his blanket and laid down, feeling hurt from his ruined chance. Richard stared at him and saw the loneliness in his eyes, so he went next to Balto and sat down. He also saw that Muk and Luk were already sleeping since it was after dark. He rubbed his temple, figuring out how to get Balto to talk again. He then decided to find out more about Balto.

Richard shuffled his feet back and forth and asked, "Do you remember what your parents looked like?"

Balto shook his head sharply. "Nope, I don't have a single memory of who they were or what they looked like. I can't even remember who was either the wolf or the dog. The earliest memories I can remember were the ones with Boris."

"Has your entire life always been like this?" Richard asked.

"Unfortunately, yes," Balto answered, breathing out through his nose. "Ever since I was little, people have always feared me. Nobody wanted to be near me. No one wanted to pet me. The kids that wanted to were always stopped by their parents before they could do so. It seemed like Boris was the only one who cared about me. Everyone else just considered me a threat."

Richard nodded as he learned more information about Balto's past. Balto sighed and continued speaking, feeling his inner demons come back to haunt him.

"I thought that people avoiding me was bad enough. But, that all changed when Steele arrived in town. He was always considered top dog, and when he met me, he saw me as a weakling and coward when he was also one himself. He was just too stubborn to admit it. He would always find every opportunity to torment, attack, humiliate, and mock me at whatever chance he got. I can't even begin to describe all the horrible things he and his gang had done to me over these years all because I was a half-breed."

Richard then noticed that Balto was shedding a small tear that dropped on the ground.

"I thought there was no hope for me. That I would be forever known as the dangerous outcast of Nome. Neither wild wolves nor the local town would accept me. That was until Jenna and her owners moved to this town. When I first met them, of course, her parents and I didn't get along very well. However, there was something different about Rosy. She was the first human to actually care about me. Whenever I came to town, she would always welcome me or be nice to me as much as she could. At least when her parents weren't watching. Jenna was also one of the most gorgeous dogs I ever got to meet. They were both like a bright light that shined in the dark void that I was stuck in."

Balto looked at Richard with a smile and said, "And you are now part of that shining light too."

Richard smiled back and thanked him for that statement along with all that rambling.

"Okay, fellas," Boris interrupted their conversation. "It's getting late and I think it's perfect time to get good sleep."

They followed his orders and laid down on the wooden floor. As Richard laid down, Balto nudged his blanket and offered it to him. Richard gratefully took the blanket and wrapped it around his body. Also, as a token of gratitude, Balto gave him a wet lick which made his cheek warm for a second before becoming the coldest part of his face. He stuck out his hand and rapidly rubbed his cheek to warm it up again.

They stared at each other and Balto said, "I'm glad you decided to come."

As they were about to close their eyes, Richard asked Balto with worry, "You think Rosy will be okay?"

"I hope so. She didn't sound too good back there," Balto replied.

"Well, then good night."

"Good night."

Everyone started to fall asleep, but Richard realized the blanket was not thick enough to keep him warm, and he started to shiver. Balto heard his shivering and scooted closer to him until their bodies touched each other. Richard smiled from Balto's body heat, and he wrapped one arm around Balto as everyone on the boat fell into a deep sleep.