Chapter III

The fox

I wake up when our train comes to a stop again, and I soon realize that the sun has just risen. We may have traveled and slept all night long, but I sure don't feel rested. Instead, I feel hungry and tired, and I really need to go to the bathroom.

Charlie is laying down on his seat, all crumpled and bracing himself. His legs are folded up against his chest and he's hugging his legs; his jacket over him like a blanket.

I lick his fingers that are hanging off the seat to wake him up, and soon enough, he blinks his eyes open. It's when I notice the dark circles under his eyes and I know that he didn't sleep any better than I did.

"Hey boy," His voice is drowsy and his eyes are barely open. He sits up on his seat and looks out the window as he stretches his body, letting out a huge sigh that seems to mix relief and annoyance.

I sit up and wait for him as he reaches up for his bag that he'd left on the shelf, and that's how I know that we've reached our destination – which I still don't know what is.

Charles' bag is small, it's the one he uses for short trips. However, I remember that he spent a few days packing those things before we left for the train station – clothes, a few pills, books, my food bowl; things he'd need to have for a long trip. Wherever we're going, I don't think we'll be going home any time soon.

He throws his bag over his shoulder and grabs my leash, taking us out of us cabinet and out of the train. We get out to a station where I'd never been before, but like the one back home, most of the people around us in here are crying human cubs.

I don't have much time to analyze our surroundings though, as Charlie hastens us out of the station and into the streets.

This seems to be small town, and it's nice enough. Unlike London, it has small streets with small buildings and a lot of green amongst the houses and stores. The sun has just risen, and there aren't many people on the streets yet.

We stop near a small wasteland.

"Balto," Charlie calls, and I look up at him with my tail wagging. He knees down and reaches for my leash, taking it off and letting me free, "Don't take too long, alright? I'll get us some food."

I wait for him to walk in a store from which comes a nice smell of bread and coffee before I run to the wasteland. I know he'll be worried if I'm not outside waiting for him when he's done, so I rush to do my necessities.

It's when my nose picks up a different smell, one that I hadn't felt in a while: the smell of another animal.

I pick up its track, and I can tell that it's a canine's smell. However, it doesn't seem to be that of a dog's, nor of a wolf's. It's somewhat sweeter and less strong than those.

I know I should go back to Charlie, but the smell gets my attention and suddenly, I just need to know what it is. I go further into the wasteland and distance myself from the street where civilization – and Charlie – is.

What are you?

Asks a voice without an owner; and I jump up in alert.

What are you?

The question is made again, and I swirl around trying to find who that voice belongs to; but I find nothing. It's a female voice, and it sounds scared yet curious.

I'm Balto, I reply anyway, hoping that that will get the mysterious voice owner to show herself

I didn't ask who you are, but what you are, she says, sounding annoyed this time; your appearance says wolf, the collar around your neck says dog. You smell of humans yet you look like the wild.

I'm a dog! I tell her, and now I'm the one that sounds annoyed, who is there? Show yourself!

A dog that looks like a wolf, that's interesting. Or perhaps you're a wolf that lives like a dog?

I hear a giggle and turn around to where the voice comes from. It's when I see who's been talking to me: a small, grey female fox comes out of the empty, dead trunk of an old fallen tree where she's been hiding.

Who are you? I ask her.

I'm a fox, isn't that rather obvious?

I asked you who you are, not what you are, I say, almost quoting her previous words.

Well, you must really be a tamed dog, if you expect me to have a name. The forest doesn't require names, Balto, that is something the humans created. Only those weird creatures would think of giving someone a random word to identify themselves.

Humans aren't weird. I say, and it's only after the words have left my mouth that I realize that that isn't completely true. I must say, humans are quite weird, that's part of who they are. However, she used the word as an insult to the humans.

And nobody insults Charlie.

No? Well, maybe living with them has changed your perception; or left you completely blind to their weirdness. Tell me, what another creature would spend their lives isolating themselves from the wild in those caves made of steel, only to then complain about the cities they build themselves? What creature would sacrifice their health working for the God they call money, and then spend the money to recover the health they lost for it?

I sit still and think of her words.

But the weirdest ones aren't the humans, Balto. The weirdest ones are the dogs they call their own. The dogs such as yourself.

Excuse me?

You must be a weird creature to devote your life to a human, and to continue loving them even after they've abandoned you…

Charlie has not abandoned me! I bare my teeth at her. It angers me much whenever someone insults my boy, especially complete strangers. Who does this fox think she is?

Pardon me! She says and lets out a cry, I just assumed that, since you're here in the wasteland with us wild critters.

I'm just taking some fresh air. Now, if you excuse me, I need to go back to my boy. I say as I turn around to leave the wasteland.

Careful with the war, she tells me, and I stop on my tracks.

War? I try to find her to ask her what she meant, but when I look to where she was, I see that the fox is gone.