watched as their owners wave good-bye to them. They were getting onto the boat to go the rest of the way to their destination.

 

“They’re leaving.” Rylie said.

 

“Yeah, but why?” Balto asked quickly.

 

“Rosie........wait...” Jenna said as she stared at Rosie.

 

The boat disappeared behind some pine trees, and continued on.

 

“What happened?” Decoy asked.

 

Banshee laid down. “They ditched us.” he mumbled.

 

Jenna immediately turned her head towards Banshee. “Banshee! How can you say that?” she yelled.

 

“Our humans would never do that.” said Rylie.

 

“It happens all the time.” Banshee explained.

 

Brendon looked at all the dogs. “Don’t listen to him. Our owners would never do that.” he looked back and Banshee, angrily.

 

“Oh yes they would, it’s happened before. To me.” Banshee replied.

 

Balto stood up and looked at Banshee. The dogs were silent, they looked at each other.

 

“That could be why Banshee’s always so mad.” Decoy whispered to Balto.

 

Banshee was the only dog who didn’t hear, he just laid there, quiet and still.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

 

A week later, the dogs were still at Deborah’s house. They had a pretty good time the past week, they played in the pond, and ran through the field, and chased her cats once in a while. But by now, they were very homesick, and missed their owner’s terribly. All except for Banshee, who was still convinced that their owner’s had left them for good.

 

Balto, Jenna, Rylie, Decoy, Brendon, and Banshee were laying down on the porch with their heads rested on the wood surface.

 

“I just don’t understand.” said Balto. “Why would they leave us for so long?”

 

“They had to go somewhere.” said Decoy as he chewed on a shoe.

 

Rylie lifted his head as he spoke. “But why would it be this long?” He raised his arm and it dropped back on the wooden floor, trying to encourage Balto to answer quickly.

 

“Ugh, wake up and smell the kibble, they dumped us!” said Banshee.

 

“That’s not true, they’d never leave us.” Brendon snapped as she looked at Banshee.

 

“If they were gonna come back, they would’ve done that by now. I don’t know of any dog owners that have been away this long.” Banshee said.

 

“I don’t know what it could be. But I’m sick of waiting” Balto said as he stood up.

 

“I am too.” Jenna said.

 

“What do you mean?” asked Decoy. He spit out the shoe lace and continued chewing on the shoe.

 

“I need to find out what’s really going on.” Balto explained.

 

“How?” Rylie asked.

 

“Ugh, you guys kill me! They’re not coming back! Banshee snapped. He just couldn’t believe that Balto was still so sure that he was NOT abandoned.

 

“No! It isn’t true!” yelled Balto as he paced.

 

Jenna stood up. “It cant be true, why would they leave Balto?” she asked.

 

“Who knows, why did my first owner leave me?” Banshee asked bitterly.

 

“Maybe because you’re a VICIOUS SPITEFUL MUT!” Decoy yelled as he stood up.

 

“I’m warning you, you pathetic little-” Banshee growled as he stood up.

 

“Both of you! That’s enough!” Balto scolded.

 

“Balto might be right, its been a long time.” Brendon said to the other dogs.

 

“If they’re not coming to us, then we have to go to them.” Balto demanded.

 

“What?” Rylie said as he lifted his head and looked at Balto.

 

“I’m going home!” Balto declared.

 

Scout and Sage heard the commotion and walked out onto the porch from inside the house.

 

“What’s going on?” Sage asked as she and Scout stood next to each other.

 

Balto turned his head towards them. “We have to go home.” he said.

 

Banshee stood up. “Balto, that’s enough!” he yelled.

 

Balto barked at Banshee.

 

Steele trotted out of the house and stood next to Sage. “What’s going on out here?” he asked.

 

“Balto, let’s think about this for a moment. If we go out there, we’ll be traveling 200 miles across a mountain range! We don’t know what’s out there!” Scout yelled.

 

“That mountain range isn’t 200 miles long. The boat ride was. If we go over the mountain, it wouldn’t take as long.” Balto said. But he was wrong, very wrong.

 

“We can’t stay here for ever, we have to get back home. Our friends and pups are back there!” Balto said.

 

Brendon stood up. “He’s right, we have to go.”

 

“Forget it! We’re not going!” Banshee shouted.

 

“We have to.” Rylie said as he stood up. “How else are we supposed to get home?” he asked.

 

“Our owners will come get us. I’m not leaving.” said Steele as he backed away a few steps.

 

“Me neither.” said Sage.

 

“I’m not going either, we’ll get killed.” said Scout. She walked inside the house, Sage, Steele, and Banshee followed.

 

Balto, Jenna, Brendon, and Rylie joined Decoy by laying down on the porch.

 

Balto thought for a moment. He couldn’t think of why their owner’s hadn’t come, he couldn’t think of any reason why.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Day 1 (the day that they leave)

 

Very early, the next morning, Balto nudged Steele and Scout until they woke up.

 

“What’s going on?” Scout asked.

 

“We’re going home.” Balto explained.

 

“Are our owners back?” Steele asked.

 

“No, we’re going home ourselves.” Balto replied.

 

“You said what, now?” Scout yelled as she quickly stood up.

 

“All of you guys are going?” Steele asked as he looked behind Balto, at Rylie, Jenna, , Brendon, Sage, and Decoy.

 

“You guys?” Scout asked.

 

“And you.” said Balto.

 

“And me?!” Scout yelled, very surprised.

 

“Both of you.” said Brendon.

 

“Now hold on, who agreed to this?” Scout asked as she stood. 

Banshee was laying down behind Steele and Scout. “I’m not going, this is crazy. So our owners haven’t come back yet, so what? Maybe they’re not.” Banshee said.

“I don’t think we should go, it’s too dangerous.” said Steele.

 

“We have to go, we can’t just stay here. I’m going home.” said Sage.

 

“Sage, I thought you didn’t want to go.” Banshee said, puzzled.

 

“I don’t.” Sage replied.

 

“I’m definitely going, I know I can make it. I’m a mountain dog.” Brendon said.

 

Scout immediately looked to Brendon. “Aw come on! That doesn’t mean anything!”

 

“It can’t be that dangerous, the mountain range isn’t that big.” Balto explained.

 

Scout stood. “What makes you think that? It took us forever to get here.”

 

“That was the long way, going over the mountain will take no time at all.” Balto said with a smile.

 

“Well what are we waiting for, let’s go!” Decoy yelled as he ran out the door.

 

The rest of the dogs followed. It was summer now, a beautiful day, it was warm, and you could see all grass, and barely any snow.

 

They all stopped in front of the fence in the front yard.

 

“Now what?” Decoy asked.

 

Balto was standing on the porch, and he found a way to get to the other side of the fence. He ran towards a rock that was up against the fence. He jumped on the rock, and then put his two front paws on the metal rim at the top of the fence and pulled himself forward. He lifted his paws off the rim as his two back paws landed on the top of the fence. Finally, he pushed himself off the fence and gracefully landed on the grass on the other side.

 

“Whoa.” Decoy said in amazement.

 

Balto turned towards the rest of the dogs. “Come on you guys.” he said.

 

“What?” Steele said as Rylie trotted back to the porch.

 

Rylie ran up to the rock as fast as he could and jumped the fence, same as Balto did before.

 

Then Sage, Brendon, Decoy, and Steele both hopped the fence as Scout and Banshee dug a hole under the fence and crawled under it.

 

and then they all ran towards the trees at the foot of the mountain as fast as they could. Balto ran past Decoy and took the lead as the other dogs caught up.

 

“I can’t believe we’re doing this!” Steele said.

 

“I know, but still, that Balto has got a lot of courage.” Rylie pointed out as he ran along side Steele.

 

“Hurry up you guys!” Jenna yelled with excitement.

 

Hahaha, I’ll race you to the trees.” Brendon said with exhilaration.

 

When the pack of dogs made it, they slowed to a quick trot.

 

“So, how are we going to find our way home?” Rylie asked as he cantered up to the right side of Balto.

 

“Just follow this mountain

Previous Page

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

Next page