Chapter 8

Balto was taken to the boiler room, somewhere he never dared to go, as it was the place where all the dogs would gather. Luckily he was thrown into a space next to said boiler, a grate being slammed in his face and effectively trapping him in the small, dusty, dirty area. He could hear the dogs outside talking quietly, and tried to listen in.

"Hello." Balto whirled around so fast he surprised himself. The shadowy figure of a dog stepped into the light and Balto had to hold in a surprised gasp. Before him was the dog Jenna had described. Dark grey fur, blue eyes…

"Wh-who are you?" he stammered.

"The one who saved you."

"I know that, my friend told me you left me at her door… but why did you even help me?"

The grey dog looked away, sadness in his eyes. "Because… because I can't stand to see dogs torment you just because you're different. That Steele, to say I'd like to kill him is a big understatement." The dog growled.

"But why would you even care, what do I even matter to you?"

You matter to me more than you know, Storm thought. Instead of answering the question though, he turned and retreated back into the shadows. Balto limped after him, flicking his ears to clear them of the cobwebs collected there. The place was an absolute mess, all sorts of random junk littering the ground underneath what Balto recognized as the doctor's office. The dog stopped at another grate in the floor above them, bring white light from a lamp shining down and lighting the whole area.

"See this?" The dog held his right paw over a pile of broken glass.

"Don't step on it."

The dog rolled his eyes and pointed at the wall behind Balto.

"Look there."

With that, the dog moved the bits of broken glass into the light of the lamp just right and the whole wall lit up, flashing a rainbow of brilliant colors all from the simple pieces of glass and light from the lamp.

"Your own mini aurora."

"Amazing…" Balto breathed, it was just like he imagined the aurora to look! If this was so amazing, he couldn't wait to see the real aurora. Balto looked over to the dog and was immediately entranced in the deep blue eyes. He saw directly into the dog's soul. These lights held memories of great significance. There was a lot this grey husky could tell him, Balto felt it. His eyes clouded over before Balto could tell anything more, and the dog turned away.

"Who are you?" Balto asked again, this time with a lot more force.

"I can't tell you that, if I did… well I wouldn't even go there. It doesn't matter right now anyway, what's done is done. You'll figure out who I am, all in good time Balto."

"What kind of answer is that?" Balto cried, suddenly frustrated, "You know something, I can feel it!"

The dog looked away again. Footsteps sounded on the floor above and Balto quickly realized his mistake. The doctor, who was finishing up some work, heard something of a growl come from below and bent down to peer into the darkness beneath the grate. The aurora vanished instantly, the grey dog putting it out. The doctor gasped in shock when he realized who was down there.

"Balto! What on earth are you doing down there? Hang on a minute, I'll get you out."

The good man got some sort of little tool and used it to pry the heavy metal grate out of its position. Balto looked over to where the grey husky had been, about to ask if he was going to come out too, but the dog was gone. He frowned, but couldn't do much else as the doctor pulled him out, replacing the grate once Balto was out. He then led the wolf dog to a small containment room for sick animals and put him in a kennel. He had already heard about Balto's growling at William, and just wanted to be safe. Only one other dog, a female husky about his age of eight months was in there.

The doctor left him inside. He could feel the female's gaze on him so he turned to look back. She was quite pretty, with sparkling green eyes. She had a light grey and white coat that seemed to shine in the light of the room.

"You're Balto aren't you?" she asked curiously, no hostility in her tone.

"I am," Balto answered.

She squinted at him and peeked through the bars on her kennel, trying to get a better look.

"You don't look like the ferocious killer they make you out to be, in fact, you look kind of nice."

"Oh, thank you." Balto said, not sure of how else to reply.

"Oh, excuse my manners, my name is Nova! It's nice to meet you Balto!"

"Nice to meet you too."

Balto spent the next amount of time chatting quietly with Nova. She was a young sled dog in training, and had broken her leg as well. She was fully healed now though, and was simply waiting for her master to come and pick her up. She was a kind young dog, but was probably not afraid because she hadn't heard about Balto's 'growl' at William. Balto could only wonder what kind of rumors were floating around now.

At that moment Nova's master, a big man with a black jacket on entered the room. Balto could see the fear in her eyes when he went to put the leash around her.

"Maybe I'll see you around Balto." Was all she had time to say before the door was slammed, and Balto was left alone once again.

…

The last three weeks were the worst. He'd thought the first week was bad. That was heaven compared to this. He sat almost all day, cramped up in that little room. He could feel the strength that he'd worked so hard to build up seeming to just pour out of him each day. After night the doctor would let him out and take him on short walks, and that helped, but it wasn't enough. Balto was itching to run. His physical health wasn't the only thing taking a toll though. His mental health was taking a dip as well.

All of this was because of Steele. If that malamute hadn't stepped on my foot, Balto thought, then I wouldn't even be cramped up in here and I'd still be having fun with Jenna and Rosy.

He wondered what they thought of him now, if they were just weary or down right scared of him. When he thought about this it only enraged him more, and Balto wanted so much to just find him and return even just a fraction of the pain that had been bestowed upon him at the hands of that dog. Balto was slowly turning, letting the beast inside of him take over. It was the product of his bored self, and each day the images became a lot more vivid.

At first he had resisted the images, but as time had gone on, with nothing to do but sit there he'd progressively allowed more and more to come into his mind, until on the last day he was ready to simply go out, tackle Steele and kill him with everyone watching. Balto knew it was wrong, and he half hoped that once he was free again he would stop thinking like this. Maybe he could regain Jenna and Rosy's trust.

On the final day the doctor took him out and cut his cast off. The man ran his hands up and down Balto's leg, feeling for any abnormalities. It was healed perfectly, all Balto needed now was some exercise.

The people in the town had also made the doctor promise that he would release Balto back into the wild once he was better. No one wanted to see him again, and he would probably be shot if he was seen again. So the doctor led him to the edge of town, before releasing him. Balto simply sat for a while, before taking off towards the old boat. He just had to see Boris again and let the goose know he was alright. Despite being out of shape, Balto was still able to run fairly decently, and his leg wasn't as bad as he'd thought. It'd take a few weeks before he was back to normal, but he was very okay with that.

It was about a three mile jog from where the doctor had left him to the boat on the shore, and Balto couldn't have enjoyed it more. The winter was on its way, the fields around him all dying, and the sun going further south. Where the fields ended and the sand started was Balto's favorite part, the sand working its way beneath his paws. The old wooden plank he used to climb onto the boat felt good as well, and Balto excitedly leapt up onto it, taking it in one stride.

The snow goose on the boat whirled around in terror, and he raised his wings defensively. Boris lowered them promptly upon realizing who was standing before them, and he threw his appendages around the wolf dog's neck.

"Balto! I didn't think I'd see you again!" Boris took a step backwards, noticing the difference in Balto's two legs; he cocked his head to one side. "What happened to you Balto?"

"It was broken. After I ran that night, Steele chased me into town and cornered me. He broke my leg and would've killed me had… had that grey husky not shown up. The dog left me at someone's doorstep. They took me to the doctor and he fixed me up." Balto proceeded to tell Boris the rest of the story, leaving out the parts about his bad thoughts towards Steele. He had been right, now that he was free, the thoughts were disappearing rapidly. He only hoped it would stay that way.

.

I almost forgot about the mini aurora thing there, but I guess that's what youtube is for. There are a couple things I'd like to say, and the second might come as a surprise.

The first is about the seemingly random character, Nova, I put into that little part. She and another character of mine were the first OC's I'd ever made, and were part of the first story I've ever written. They've had at least seven different stories since then, some twisting with 'Balto', and some not. She will become an important character in future stories, when the other OC enters as well. Just wanted to introduce her.

The second thing is, after much consideration and writing today in study hall, I've decided the next chapter will be the last. This is probably a surprise, it certainly was to me. I just think that the ending of that chapter is a great way to end this story. It's all ready to be posted, but I'm gonna wait until tomorrow, give y'all something to (hopefully) look forward to.

Hope this was enjoyable to read, I had fun makin' it.

ANonymouS