Cherry and Atticus Meet Balto

chapter 6

Balto followed the path out, but he grew wary as soon as he saw several trees had marks all over them and he wasn't sure where to go now.

"Which way, Balto?" Star asked. "Which way? Which way?"

Akito gulped. "Um, Balto, which way?" He asked, unsure himself.

Balto wasn't sure himself, but didn't want everyone to know that for his sake. "Um... This way!"

The dogs followed by Akito's commands and they kept going. All the trees looked the same and the snow was coming down fast as another blizzard was coming.

After a while, Kaltag had enough. "Balto, why are you takin' us in circles?"

"He isn't, you guys, it's just...Oh, no, it's Steele." Akito said out of realization of what this all meant.

"Maybe we was better off with him dere." Kaltag scoffed.

"No, come on!" Balto told them and waited for Akito to tell them to mush so they could properly move on.

"Mush! Mush!" Akito called out.

Balto and the dogs then went on. The wolf-dog was really going fast this time, faster than Steele had ever been. Star begged him to slow down, but Balto wouldn't listen. Balto kept going and realized that one tree was over a cliff and he tried to brake his paws to keep them from going over it. The musher had fallen out against the snow and the dogs were close to the edge and the sled nearly tipped the medicine over, but Balto grabbed it with his teeth by the rope.

"Whew, great catch, Balto." Akito said.

Balto smiled at him gently, concentrating on not letting it fall. He was about to pull it back, however, Balto screamed as there was a large chunk of snow taking him down off the cliff, much to the horror of the dogs as the medicine was also getting away.

"Oh, no, Balto!" Akito called out.

Balto had fallen, was he alive or dead? No one knew.

Meanwhile, Felicity sat in the abandoned factory with the other dogs as Boris, Muk, and Luk were outside and she sat beside Jenna. The girl and dog had told the other dogs all about what had happened before they came back to Nome.

"I don't get it," one dog said. "How can Balto hope to find Steele and his team? They were off the trail!"

"He is tracking them..." Felicity explained.

Jenna nodded in agreement. The dogs didn't believe them. The big dog beside Jenna and Felicity seemed to be the only one who actually cared and possibly believed them. The door kicked open suddenly and a dog had come over in ice cold water.

"Balto?" Felicity and Jenna hoped.

But it wasn't Balto, it was Steele. Felicity and Jenna were instantly disappointed as the other dogs crowded and voiced concern for Steele. One dog even gave up his juicy bone for the athletic dog, who in return, gobbled it up instantly, breaking it in halves. He was then asked about what happened to the others. And where he began to make up the story.

"Well, one by one, they fell," Steele made up an act as he went along to impress the others. "Frozen... Barely alive..." he shook his icicles off. "I pulled four onto the sled, three more on my back, and I walked, and I walked, but it was too late! They were-"

"What about the medicine?" the big dog who was wise known as Doc asked.

Steele glared at them, but continued. "I went on... Dragging the medicine alone... All alone, then suddenly, that wolf-dog and that evil boy appeared. Balto and Akito! They demanded I let Balto take the medicine, you know me, he just wanted to be a hero in your eyes," he looked to Jenna and Felicity. "And they grabbed the crate, but they couldn't... Handle it... They couldn't see the patch of ice, the snow, the wind, and then the log..." He pretended to be choked up and cry, then threw out Jenna's bandanna to make it seem like Balto and Akito were now deceased.