Chapter 5.
This is the fifth chapter. Hope you enjoy it.
That evening….
On the outskirts of Nome, as the cold night snow slightly. some men who were not on duty and couldn't sleep yet gathered to see the wagon team, with its men and horse all geared up and ready. On the outermost building, by the wagon, the Colonel light hand hung a lantern. "As long as there's hope, this lantern will be kept shining." The colonel said to those who had gathered. The chosen 7, counting Steele and his men were all in the wagon, Steele in the front holding the reins. They didn't have much except provisions, and blankets, to make room for the medicine. They have felt that despite Lille being close to the front lines, weapons wouldn't be needed, and it would be a waste of space. With a grin that expected a hero's welcome when he returned, Steele used the reins to make the horse's trot forward. As they went out beyond the town, Balto, who was out on sentry duty, saw the wagon head out of town. Knowing he should be there, and he wasn't, made a sad look form on his face, his open mouth giving off his breath due to the cold, snowy night.
Hours and days went by, till Steele and his wagon crew reached Lille, loaded the medicine crate, which arrived safely by train, on to the wagon, tying it down to keep it secure, then they rode off again. But the snow got much worse on the return journey.
The radio operator received a message in late night, and it wasn't good. After he'd given it to the colonel, he went into the ruins of a house, which had an intact roof and a small fire burning inside, which had some men inside, resting or trying to keep warm. "Terrible new, boys. Terrible. Captain Steele and his team are lost." He said as he sat down, the words shocking the men. "They never reached the second check point when they should've passed it. Their off the trail." He explained. "Can't they send another team?" The soldier closet to him asked. "With the worsening weather, it's too dangerous. Besides, Command only sent one crate of medicine. And the lost team has it." "The radio operator answered. "But what about the sick men?" The soldier asked again. "The team could be anywhere, it could be days, weeks before they find their way back. We're going to lose them." The radio operator answered sadly. In the far side of the house, Balto stood facing the wall as he heard the two talk. The last sentence made his face aghast. "Rosy." He muttered to himself in worry. Balto then walked out of the ruined house, walked over to the church window where Rosie could be seen, with Jenna by her bed. She was just getting worse and worse. His attention was then drawn to the house of a hammer from nearby. Following the sound, he walked the street to a small building and saw a man hammering wood. But then that man carried what he was hammering and placed it on the floor did Balto realise what it was: A little girl sized coffin! He then saw that it was placed by a dozen or so more bigger coffins! Hope was gone!
Less than an hour later, Balto was on the horse he used earlier in the race and headed towards the hospital, carrying his rifle, some ammunition, a small can of water, a small bag of biscuits, wearing his grey overcoat for warmth. Behind him was Boris, who was also in his overcoat, but had a rather pleading look on his face. "Balto, please. Don't do this. This is foolish! You will die like a dog! When you are nothing but ice, ill be staying, 'I told you do!'". He cried, before Muk and Luk suddenly barged into him from behind, Balto continuing forward. Luk then whispered something to Muk. "He asks..." Muk said, before Boris interrupted. "'Where's he going?' He going out in a blizzard to find a man who doesn't like him to bring medicine back to a town which hates him!" Boris answered loudly. His eyes suddenly then widened as he may have just answered what Luk asked. Luk just nodded his head, meaning Boris had answered his question without Muk even telling him. Balto, who had dismounted his horse, then suddenly dragged Boris onto his feet and dragged him on his feet all the way to the hospital. They stopped right before a window. Boris's face, which had been showing confusion as to why Balto was dragging like that suddenly went silent with shock. He could all the sick men with Diphtheria in the hospital, including Rosy. Seeing them suffer like this made him make up his mind. "All right, lets go get that medicine." He said before turning away from the window and started heading to the outskirts of town, Muk and Luk following behind. "Hey, wait, you don't have to come." Balto said, still standing by the window. "You think id let you go alone? Besides, facing bitter, facing wild animals, risking death from exposure? Its just like old country." Boris chuckled back, Balto getting on the horse, trotting (running) towards them and going forward with them. A few minutes later, Jenna (in her nursing clothes) came out of the church to get some air. She felt and looked very sad because of her sisters worsening condition. A tear began rolling down her check when she looked to the side of the church and saw 4 sets of footprints in the snow. She looked closer and saw a few pieces of hair lying in one of the footprints. She picked it up and looked closer. She the realised whose hair it was. "Balto." She said, staring in the direction of where the footprints were heading.
In the early hours of morning, the group was heading in the direction the team was supposed to come back by, as it seemed like the best direction to go. When they came by a tree, Balto dismounted the horse, brought out his bayonet and scratched the tree with it, tearing away bark and making three long scratch marks. "Good boy, Balto. Yu found the first tree to go by." Boris said sarcastically. "I'm marking the trail." Balto said back at him, before putting his bayonet away and continuing forward. As the day went by, they kept walking and walking. Only stopping at noon for a quick lunch of biscuits. As evening came, the snow began falling again.
In an unknown location…
Meanwhile, Steele and his team were struggling in the snow. The horses were having trouble walking in the snow, which was now falling fast and made visibility pretty much zero. "Steele we're going in circles!" Star half shouted over the loud wind. This made Steele snap his had around in anger. "What?!" He asked angrily. Star didn't answer and smiled nervously. Kaltag and Nikki came closer to them both. "can't believe I'm saying this, but he's right Sir, we should be back now, but we're not." Kaltag said, as Nikki nodded his head in agreement. "I know what I'm doing!" Steele cried before turning back to the front of the wagon, and using the reins, made the horses do a sharp turn to the left. They came upon a slope, and went up it. But when they got to the top, the horses suddenly began sliding down the other side of the slope. It was then that the wagon crew realised that this side was mush steeper and slipperier than the other side. It was impossible to change direction, and the wagon was now slipping to its side as the horses lost formation and kept frantically running around or near each other in their harnesses. The harness of one of the horses broke lose, and the now freed horse moved frantically out of the way, before running off in some random direction. The whole wagon crew screamed as the went down, the wagon hit two trees, damaging and weakening its wood. When they came to the bottom of the slope, in a small clearing in the wooded area, the wagon, still falling sideways, collided with a rock hidden in the snow, which caused it to snap into two with an ear-splitting CRACK! The entire crew was flown out of the shattering wagon, landing in the snow, which broke their falls. They all slowly got to their feet and look around. The wagon had busted into two, but fortunately the crate with the medicine in it was undamaged. Another good thing was that the remaining horses were still with them, their harness still attached to the front remains of the wagon. They were now stuck in a wooded bottom of a slope with a busted-up wagon, which meant they had nothing to carry their supplies in, and with that many supplies it would be hard for five horses to pull, and they had absolutely no idea where they were. They were well and truly lost!
And that's the fifth chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. If you don't know much about Horse's, "Trotting" is a Horse running. And the "Reins" are used to steer the horse left or right. By the way, I know this because I used to ride Horses for a couple of years. The next chapter will be out soon.