Aleu & Scarlett: Terror in Alaska

Chapter 1: Curiosity & Earthquakes

It was early on the morning of June 20th, 1932 as the glow of the sun slowly made itself known in the Alaskan town of Nome. It had been 6 and a half years since the heroic journey of Balto in the winter of 1925, and the town had come to accept him as a true hero. His story had also spread to the rest of Alaska and had even extended into the mainland United States to a point. In the few years since the famous run, Nome had grown exponentially from about 500 residents to close to 4,000 as well as a good many new structures. The town had also obtained its own dock for small-scale ships to come in. Needless to say, Nome had changed quite a lot since that infamous trip. And recently, Balto's happiness had reached new heights. 3 months prior, he had quite the shock when his long-gone daughter Aleu returned from the wilderness. She had explained that the wolf pack she had been commanding since she left in 1927 got a new leader to take her position, and she was allowed to leave in order to return back to Nome via the next ice bridge event. She had successfully crossed with no issues and ran the many miles to get back to Nome, exhausted by the time she finally saw the town come into view. Aleu also explained that while she was no longer part of the pack, she did intend to still go to visit them as they were now kind of like a second family to her. Balto had respected this decision, and since her return, Aleu had found a human that would take her in, and was now comfortable in Nome once again. 

However, in the 3 months that Aleu had been in Nome, the human that had adopted Aleu, named Alexander, had taken a strange interest in a certain type of creature that had been extinct for at least 5 millennia. Apparently the species had predominantly thrived in forest regions like the Denali forest, or the Rocky Mountains in the mainland US. However, no known individuals had survived a mass attack on the species by a rival monster. Aleu had also grown curious of this study that Alexander had begun to look at, but hadn't gotten the chance to look at his research due to him putting it somewhere she couldn't reach when he was done with it. This infuriated the cream-colored canine, as she really wanted to see what he was doing when he wasn't observing her. However, she was allowed to roam around the town a good deal when he was doing this research, and often played with the sled dogs that lived in Nome, especially with her new best friend Dusty, who was on the team with Aleu's brother Kodi. When the mail wasn't going, they would normally run around in the field outside the town as they tried to tag each other, or they would go to the nearby forest to have games of hide and seek, sometimes allowing the polar bear brothers Muk and Luk to join in. However, due to their large size compared to the dogs, the duo would often be the first to be found. One time, Luk had actually attempted to hide in a pond and almost drowned due to lack of air, forcing him to pop his head up to take a breath and getting spotted by Dusty. After that, the pond was declared off limits due to this issue, but one spot that Muk had found was actually working for him. A slab of white rock close to the pond, made of andesite stone, was providing the smaller bear a great hiding spot as he blended in with it. They all had great fun with these games, but all the same, Aleu's curiosity still gave her the urge to figure out what her owner was studying. 

This curiosity finally came to a head on this day, June 20th. Alexander had gone away to take care of business in the town of White Mountain, the town that most often traded mail with Nome. He would be gone for around 2 days, giving Aleu the perfect opportunity to finally read through his study work. Fortunately, before he left, Alexander had remembered to give her enough food to last her for the time he'd be gone, so Aleu wasn't worried in the slightest. However, she needed a plan to get up on the shelf where the research was stored. 

"Hmmmm.....how can I get up there? I can't jump that high. Even if I could, I'd break the shelf instantly", she mumbled to herself. Aleu had been weighed the week prior and she was 84 pounds, about the average weight for a canine of her size. She glanced around the room and noticed the table in the corner. "Maybe the table could work, it does look tall enough", she said to herself before running to the table and pushing one of the legs with her head. For some reason, Aleu usually pushed objects with her forehead and not her front legs, which often lead to her getting head pains later on. But in this one moment, it didn't really matter as she really wanted to see what her human was researching. Once the table was in position, she jumped up on it, barely clearing her back feet from the edge. However, when she looked at the shelf where the research was situated, she still couldn't reach even if she stood on her back legs. "Oh for the love of the Arctic Circle...", she mumbled when she realized this. "Looks like I need more objects than just this table." With that, she went into the different rooms looking for other objects to stack on the table in order to reach the shelf. 

Outside the house, Kodi and Dusty were debating whether to go inside through the hatch in the door built for dogs to get through so they could see Aleu. She hadn't left the house for 5 days and the duo were starting to get worried. 

"Come on Kodi, go in to find out where she is. She's been in there too long", Dusty spoke defiantly, urging Kodi to enter the house. "No Dusty, ladies first. You go in", Kodi interjected with a stern tone. "The rule for me is always ladies first." Dusty respected Kodi's modest behavior, but this was a moment where she didn't want to give up on the debate. Eventually, Kodi entered through the hatch and looked around the house. "Where are you sis?!" he called, as the sound echoed off the walls. Aleu heard him and instantly gulped as what felt like a weight formed in the pit of her stomach out of nervousness. She didn't want her brother to see her like this, as her curiosity often turned into embarrassment among the others. But she couldn't ghost her favorite sibling, so she gave in and answered him. "Living room, Kodi...", she said in response to his call. Kodi motioned for Dusty to enter, and bounded into the living room where he found his sister standing on her two back legs and her front paws grabbing the shelf. Kodi's face changed to confusion when he saw this. "Uhhhh....what are you doing, little sis?", he questioned while tilting his head to the side. "Alexander has been researching some sort of creature and I want to know what it is. Since he's out of town, I decided to sneak his research and look at it to see what he's doing when I'm not watching him", she answered while trying not to fall from her position, as doing so would definitely earn her a broken bone. "Do you possibly need help in getting them down?", Kodi asked in an offer. "Yes, can you give me a boost?", Aleu asked, accepting the offer. Within moments, Aleu was standing on her back paws on top of Kodi's shoulders. With his help, she managed to get a great deal of the information off the shelf before Kodi couldn't hold her up anymore and she had to jump down. But she had the research now, and began to read through the info books. "Didn't this kind of creature go extinct thousands of years ago? There's no known trace of these things being around right now", Kodi stated as Aleu read through the books. "They did go extinct, though Alexander seemed to take interest in these things and began to study them", she answered as she looked at illustrations of what the creatures possibly looked like back when they were alive. Kodi eyed the drawings with wide eyes, his curiosity also hitting the roof like Aleu's had. "It kind of looks like us, but evolved like crazy. A hyper-evolution of normal dogs like us", he murmured as he read through the information on the species. "Scientific name: Canis Lupus Giganteus", he stated when he found the creature's name. "Translation: Giant Gray Wolf", Aleu added. When they looked at the stats of the beast, the height stunned them. Multiple individuals had been documented, ranging from 250 feet to almost 400 feet in height. The females normally reached about 350 feet at maturity, while the tallest male was measured at 420 feet. 

A few members had also been named. One was called Razon, another named Kishai, and another named Isamashi. "Not only has he identified multiple individuals of this kind, he's named them too", Aleu spoke quietly. By this point Dusty had joined in and was reading the info. When they had finished reading the research, Aleu closed up all the books and put them back on the shelf with the help of Dusty, and then they put everything Aleu had stacked back into their places. However, that did little to cover up the slide marks in the carpet that Aleu had made with the table. "Well....that's just tops. Alexander is so going to see that", Aleu said as she folded her ears back, knowing her owner would not be pleased with seeing this and knowing she had read through his research. Dusty stepped up beside her and attempted to lighten the mood. "We were going to meet up in the woods for the ultimate hide and seek, would you care to join us since your owner's away?", she offered. Aleu looked up at her best friend with a slight grin, knowing that she could trust them. With a nod, she ran outside with Kodi and Dusty as they made a beeline for the woods, where everyone else was waiting. To add to the excitement, Balto had decided to join in on the festivities. Even though he wasn't much of a runner anymore due to his age, he was a wise sage when it came to hiding spots. The few times he did play with the group, he was often the last one to be found. Only Muk was in on the game this time, as Luk was still sleeping back at the old boat where Balto used to reside. One of the other members of the sled team, Ralph, was designated as seeker for the first round. Everyone took off as soon as he turned to a tree to count, and Aleu knew where to go. She made her way to a gulley up and over a hill, passing under the now-broken seesaw made of a tree trunk that Muk and Luk used to play on. She took her hiding spot in between two large boulders that shadowed her outline, keeping her perfectly hidden. "I'd like to see Ralph find me here", she said to herself while giggling under her breath. After a few minutes, she heard Kodi yelp in the distance, signaling he was found. "Welp, better luck next time big brother", she snickered. As time went on, she heard Dusty scream, Muk shout as Kodi pounced on him, and Balto jumped in fright after being jumpscared by Dusty. Pretty soon, Aleu was the only one who hadn't been found, and was trying desperately not to laugh and give her position away. "I can't believe I'm the last one still hiding, this is actually getting hilarious", she whispered to herself. However, as she continued to hide in the rocks, the strangest and scariest thing happened. The ground randomly shook beneath her, as if an earthquake was beginning. However, it wasn't a jagged and raging shake like an earthquake would do. It was a repeating shake, almost like something pounding on the ground from beneath the dirt. Aleu looked around in fright, not knowing what to do as the shaking got more intense with each thump. Then, as soon as it had started, it seemed to stop just like that. "What in the name of Denali was that?....", she mumbled to herself once it had stopped. "Well, whatever it was, I think it's sto-" She was then cut off by a massive shaking as the ground in a nearby clearing seemed to split right in half, along with multiple trees falling over and rocks crumbling. The crack in the ground then branched out into several smaller ones, with one headed straight for her. Aleu squeezed herself out of the rocks and bounded to the side just as one of them fell into the widening gap. It was at this moment that the others ran up over the hill in a panic. "What in the world is happening?!?!", Dusty screamed as everything continued to rattle like they were in a snow globe. After retrieving Aleu from her perilous situation, the group ran out of the forest and didn't stop until they reached the safety of the warehouse where they often hung out when not playing. Balto and Ralph had both been injured by falling rocks while searching for Aleu and were tending to their wounds, while Aleu, Dusty and Kodi discussed the sudden quake that had happened. "Do you think.....that the quake was caused by whatever we saw? Like, in those books....", Dusty asked as she pinned her ears back in fright. "It can't be, those creatures have been extinct for years. If one was still around today, it probably can barely move given its age", Kodi said as he turned to Dusty. Balto then looked up and interjected into the conversation they were having. "Given the way the ground shook in a repetitive way like it did in the forest, whatever caused that shaking was NOT an earthquake. It must have been caused by something else....", he said nervously. The others could only nod in agreement. No earthquake created repeating shakes like that, and certainly not random ones. Something strange was going on, and they didn't know what. But in the back of her square wolf head, Aleu had the bad and haunting feeling that maybe, just maybe, one member of that titan species......had survived.