Surprising Truths
Nome, Alaska, 4 am;
Tina woke up. Everything seemed to be perfectly calm. She was sleeping in the shed behind Jenna's house, Jenna and Balto were sleeping inside the house. She couldn't understand why she woke up. She heard something outside, footsteps. She began to feel afraid. "Who's there? Balto?" she asked.
The door splintered and in walked Tina's worse nightmare, the Outsider. Tina couldn't run, she just backed away from the creature. It shot forwards and extended its claws. It drove its blades into the wall around Tina's head and kept them there, ensuring she had no escape. Hello, traitor. said a menacing voice but the Outsider's jaws didn't move.
"Did you talk?"
You could say that. the creature gave her a frightening smile. You cannot escape me, I'll always be there. I'll always be lurking in the shadows, waiting. You and this town have three days. In three days, this town's streets will run red with the blood of my victims and there is no way you can stop me. Now wake up. the voice said. The Outsider extended its other claws and launched them towards Tina's skull.
Tina snapped awake, breathing heavily. She looked around, everything was the way it should be, the door was still there, the Outsider wasn't. "Was that just a dream?" she asked, calming down.
No, it wasn't. Did you forget our link? I can enter your dreams when you are not concentrating on blocking me. I told you, you can't escape me…Three days til-
Tina blocked the monster's thoughts out. She was glad she could, she'd forgotten it was capable of doing that. She reconnected to the monster. "We will stop you, we will find a way to defeat you for good." she said in her mind before pulling out.
Jenna walked into the room, she looked scared, almost crying. "Tina, can I talk to you?" she asked.
"Yes, of course you can."
"Alright." Jenna walks into the shed. "I had a dream about that thing, the Outsider…"
"And?" Tina wondered if the Outsider had developed a way to get into Jenna's mind as well but it was unlikely.
"It…It killed Balto in my dream. It stabbed him in the chest and then threw him hard against a mountain side…then he just laid there, bleeding in the snow…It all seemed so real. It was terrifying." The last thing Jenna wanted was for her mate to die, she was always so afraid of losing him, she loved him so much.
"It was just a dream Jenna. I know it scared you but it was just a dream. You're afraid the Outsider might kill him so you had a nightmare. There is no reason to be scared of your dream. Theoretically the Outsider can't kill Balto because I would then never meet your descendent to learn about him, then I'd never of stopped at Balto's statue, it wouldn't of caught me and been struck by lightning and we wouldn't of came back and it couldn't kill him, it would cancel itself out in what's called a time paradox which is supposed to be impossible…Unless…"
"Unless what? If there is something tell me."
"Me and the Outsider changed the past just by coming back, it might be able to kill Balto without threatening itself and your dream might have been a premonition." she didn't want to say that but she didn't want to lie.
Jenna gasped. Just the thought of losing her mate terrified her. "So Balto might die?" she started crying.
"Jenna, there's a good chance that isn't the chase."
"But it could happen right?!" Jenna was upset.
Tina didn't want to answer but she had to. "Yes…it could."
Jenna was confused and upset. "I need to think for awhile." she said and dashed out of the shed.
"Jenna! Wait!" Tina yelled after her. Tina went into the house and nudged Balto. "Wake up, something's happened." she said.
Balto woke up and looked at her with a yawn. "What happened?" he asked.
"Jenna ran off."
"What? Why?"
"She was scared because she had a nightmare about the Outsider killing you and I tried to calm her down but I just made things worse." Tina started to cry. "If anything happened to her, its my fault."
"No, calm down. We have to find her."
"Your right. Where would she go?"
Balto looks out the window at the hill overlooking Nome, it was lit up with an aurora. "I think I know."
Tina nodded but then got a shocked look. "Oh no. The Outsider, its near there."
"Then we better get to her before it does."
Jenna looked at the beautiful aurora emanating from the broken bottles laying nearby with a lantern shining on them. Tears ran from her eyes and melted through the snow below her head. "Balto…" she said. So many things ran through her mind. The Outsider could kill her mate, she'd had a nightmare about that, dreams could show the future, she knew that. Part of her wanted to be mad at Tina for bringing that monster back but she knew Tina didn't deserve that, Tina wanted to stop that creature more than anyone. "You can't die Balto, you just can't." she said, crying. She couldn't bare to lose Balto, he meant everything to her. Without him what chance did they have to stop that beast? If he died, so would Nome and the family Jenna loved so much. She hadn't had pups but according to Tina she was supposed to…with Balto. If Balto died, those pups would never be born, there lives were on the line even if they hadn't gotten life yet. "I won't let this monster do that, I'll kill it myself if I have to." She heard something behind her. She looked but nothing was there. "W-who's there? Balto? Tina? Is that you?" She was getting frightened. Was it Steele? Was it…that monster? Both thoughts scared her. She looked all over the hill side, she couldn't find anything. She looked back to the aurora and calmed down a little. She felts the vibrations in the ground of something large landing behind her. She ran forwards and looked back. A look of terror went across her face.
The Outsider looked over the dog in front of it. It was aggravated, it had thought Jenna was Tina, it was incapable of pinpointing Tina's location as accurately as she could it and Tina and Jenna's similar appearance confused it. Still, it had began a hunt, it was programmed not to, back at the lab it was painfully shocked for doing that. It took a slow step forward, a clip proceeded its metal claws extending.
Jenna's eyes locked on the metal claws gleaming in the moonlight, she could see old bloodstains on the blades, she didn't want her blood to join them. She rushed in the opposite direction, through the aurora but she realized too late it was a dead-end. She looked at the creature for a second before closing her eyes. "I'm sorry Balto." she said, expecting to feel the monster's blades stabbing into her in a moment but nothing happened. She opened her eyes to see the Outsider looking across the hillside, looking for her despite being in plan sight. It couldn't see her for some reason. She thought about running but whatever was blocking her from view would very likely fade if she did. The monster growled angrily. It stepped forwards but the moment its head enter the aurora it leapt backwards out of it with a roar of pain. Jenna was intrigued by this, did the aurora hurt it somehow?
The Outsider rubbed its eyes for a second. It let out a furious roar. It knew its prey was there, it could smell Jenna, hear her heartbeat but it couldn't see her. It looked around before its eyes locked on the lantern. It walked over and picked it up. The aurora faded and Jenna became visible to it. It smiled. It knew most organisms would laugh at this time, it wondered if it could. It went through images it saw through Tina, it only knew what she saw when she wasn't blocking it out. It remembered a movie scene, from it it also reconized the dog before it.
Jenna gasped as the monster smiled. It opened its mouth, Jenna expected a roar but instead was greeted by a far more disturbing sound. The Outsider laughed but the laugh sounded…like Balto's only warped in a evil manner so that it was just so disturbing. Jenna ran as the monster crushed the lantern in its claws like tissue, she knew it could easily do that to her skull. She ran as fast as she could. She looked down at Nome, the place she normally felt safe in, she wanted to run into town but knew the monster could follow her and attack then, she'd be dooming her family. She ran into the wilderness.
Jenna ran for what she thought was hours, her paws hurt, she was breathing heavily but she kept running, she was so scared but more for her loved ones than herself, she couldn't imagine how Balto would react if that monster killed her. She finally stopped and collapsed, breathing hard. It was a few moments before she could stand. She looked around, she wasn't too far from Nome, she was on the end opposite of the place she started, she'd reach Balto's boat before Nome, that was fine with her. She started to walk back to Nome. Something grabbed her by the hind leg and took her into the air. To her terror, she looked into the Outsider's evil eyes. She couldn't read anything in those eyes but pure cruelty and evil. It let out another warped laugh that mocked her mate's and threw her. She slammed hard into a tree and let out a loud yelp. She landed on the ground as it approached. For a second she thought about playing dead before remembering what the monster did to its victims. She looked up at it as she heard the click as its claws extended. She whimpered as it lifted its weapon into the air and drove it forwards. She closed her eyes and awaited her death. When she didn't die she opened her eyes. The monster had stopped inches from her snout, she could smell the blood on them. It wasn't looking at her, she followed its gaze and found Tina standing nearby.
"Let her go Outsider! Its me you want." said Tina, hopping the monster would chase her.
The Outsider looked at Tina for a second. Its head snapped back to Jenna. Its claws retracted and it pointed to her before roaring in her face. It then turned and ran after Tina who ran off.
Jenna was still shocked, she was inches from dieing but it wanted a chance to kill Tina over taking her life. Its massage was clear though. It was saying 'You got lucky'. She knew now where the smell of rotten meat back in the cave came from, the monster's breath. Balto ran up to her, worry obvious on his face. He nuzzled her lovingly. "Are you alright?" he asked.
"I think so." she said. She tried to stand and walk but her front ankle gave out and she went face first into the snow. She tried again with the same result, this time with a little pain in her ankle. She growl. "Why does this keep happening to me?"
Balto would of laughed if it wasn't such a serious moment. He helped her up and let her lean on him. "Lets get you back to Nome."
"But what about Tina?"
"She'll be fine, she has more experience with this monster than we do. She'll meet us back at the boat." It was sunrise when they got within view of Balto's boat. "Do you want to rest on the boat for awhile?" he asks.
"Yes." replied Jenna, her ankle was hurting pretty bad.
Tina came running up, breathing hard. "Ok, I lost it in the woods and I'm guessing it headed back to its lair with the sun rising." she said once she caught her breath.
"Sorry for running out like that."
"I can't blame you for that. Its fine." Tina thought for a second. "I think its important for us to fully trust each other, there is something else I've been keeping from you but this a far more joyous thing."
"What is it?" asked Balto, hopping for some good news.
Tina walked back to where Balto and Jenna's prints lay in the snow. She put her paw between the two sets of prints, when she lifted it, what they saw shocked Balto and Jenna. Tina's paw print looked more like Balto's than Jenna's and was larger than Jenna's. Tina giggled. "Big paws run in my family."
Balto's eyes went wide when he heard that, he remember saying the same thing months ago to Jenna. "You're part wolf aren't you?"
Tina nodded with a smile. "Yes, I got it from my great, great, great grandfather and I got my looks from his mate."
Balto and Jenna looked at each other then at Tina, then they realized what she meant. "Balto, she has your eyes." said Jenna, still in a little shock.
Balto looked in a puddle nearby at his own eyes then at Tina's, sure enough they were the same. "We're your ancestors?" he asked.
Tina nodded and reared her head skywards before letting out a howl, not like the mocking howl Steele would sometimes do but a true wolf's howl…
Yes, Tina is related to Balto. Next time we have some fights. See you then!