A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR

 

By Noblewolf

 

Band is back in hiding. Bitey has been accepted back into the community, although some of the dogs are still wary of him. Bitey has taken up the duty of patrolling the town, trying to follow in Bullet's footsteps.

 

CHAPTER I

 

Band is in a cave about a mile from Nome. The cave is about 20 feet long, in the side of a hill. Snow-covered trees hide the cave from view.

 

Band is mad because Bitey left him, yet sad at the same time; now he is really on his own. He is talking to himself, trying to figure out his next plan; he has not changed at all.

 

"First Draco leaves me," Band mutters to himself, "And now Bitey has left me. Now I am really alone." Band's face changes to an angry expression, as he thinks of how all his friends have abandoned him. "I'll get them back," Band growls, "Bitey and Draco will both pay. THEY WILL BOTH PAY!" Band yells in anger.

 

"Oh someone will pay all right, but that someone is you." Said a voice from the edge of the cave.

 

Band's ears perked up. Without Bitey standing guard, Band had no idea if someone was about to drop in on him. Band turns his head towards the entrance of the cave to see three canine figures. One of those figures was a large black wolf, with an extremely muscular build. There were also two other wolves beside the black wolf; they were also very large and were gray in color.

 

"Who are you, and what the devil do you want?" Band snapped, with a very angry expression on his face.

 

"Who we are is not important." The black wolf said, with an evil grin on his face. "But what we want is very important."

 

The black wolf moves in front of Band, while the two other wolves grab Band's front legs and restrain him.

 

"What we want," The black wolf continues, "Is to drive out all the flea-bitten dogs who are invading our territory."

 

Band has an angry look on his face, because he was being restrained. He struggled to get free, but the wolves were much stronger than he was. Not being able to get free, Band decided to retaliate verbally.

 

"You can't hurt me." Band growled.

 

The black wolf responds by striking band across the face twice; once on each eye. When band recovers from the blow, he has two black eyes. The black wolf continues his speech with an evil grin on his face.

 

"You are only the first victim." The black wolf continues, "Soon we will drive every mutt out of Nome." The black wolf grabs Band by the throat with his paws. "I could kill you right here," the black wolf growls, "But I want you to serve as a warning to your mongrel friends."

 

The black wolf then strikes band several times in the stomach. This makes Band groan in pain. The black wolf then strikes Band across the face with several heavy blows.

 

This was more than Band could withstand, and he lost consciousness. He slumped over, still in the wolves' restrained hold.

 

The black wolf had a sinister look on his face. "Perfect." The wolf said, and then laughed an evil laugh.

 

CHAPTER II

 

All the dogs in Nome have gathered in the Broiler Room. They are there to welcome travelers, and to find out about the new sledding trip. The room is full of the conversations and chattering of all the dogs. Balto is at the center of the crowd, conducting the meeting.

 

Balto clears his throat. "If I can have your attention, please." He asks.

 

All the dogs stop their conversations and look at Balto.

 

"First thing," Balto begins, "We shall greet a newcomer. Here he is."

 

A very large Irish Wolfhound (he is not really Irish) steps out from the crowd. He is very large, and has long, brown fur. He has a stern expression on his face, always speaks in a grumpy, grumbling voice.

 

All the dogs look at him in astonishment; they had never seen a dog of this size.

 

The Irish Wolfhound noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What are you looking at?" He grumbled. "My name is Grunt, and I would appreciate it if everyone would stop staring at me." He growled.

 

All the other dogs, who had just now realized that they were staring, immediately stopped.

 

Balto spoke up. "Sorry, Grunt." Balto apologized, "We have just never seen a dog of your size. We did not mean to be rude."

 

"Apology accepted." Grunt grumbled, "Just don't let it happen again."

 

Balto continued his speech. "Now that we have introduced the newcomers," Balto continued, "We shall go on with the newest details we have found out about the new sledding trip."

 

Balto had obviously got the attention of all the dogs; they were sitting alert with their ears perked up.

 

"The new sledding trip," Balto continues, "will consist of six dogs and no musher."

 

All the dogs in the room are surprised and begin to chatter among themselves.

 

"Yes you heard right," Balto continues, "No musher. The mushers want to see if they can make a sled dog team operate without a musher. They want to see if we can operate without constant instruction."

 

"But we already know that we can do that." Steele remarks. "Remember the antitoxin run?"

 

"Yes." Balto replies. "We know that, but they don't know that. They believe that the dog teams could travel faster without the added weight of the musher."

 

"Have they already selected he dogs then?" Steele asks, wanting to lead the team (as usual).

 

"Yes." Balto answers. "The lead dog will be me. The other dogs will be; Steele, Grunt, Star, Kaltag, and Nikki. We will leave tomorrow, and will begin the four mile round trip to mile marker two. Their will be a musher or two at mile marker two to make sure we know where we are going."

 

All the dogs begin chattering again, and Balto speaks up again.

 

"In closing this meeting," Balto says, "Everybody get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow."

 

All the dogs are about to leave, when suddenly a black wolf and two gray wolves appear at the door.

 

"I believe that this belongs to you." The black wolf says, as the two other wolves throw a white malamute on the floor. The malamute was Band, and he was covered with cuts and bruises.

 

"Thanks for the favor," Steele replies, "We have been looking for this for a long time."

 

"Favor?" the black wolf replies, "This is a warning. This is just a sample of what will happen to the rest of you if you do not leave our territory. You have one week."

 

And with that, the three wolves left just as suddenly as they had appeared

 

Balto walks up to Band, who was lying on the floor, unable to get up.

 

"Go ahead, wolfdog." Band struggled to say. "Kill me."

 

"As appealing as that sounds," Balto replied, "I must decline."

 

This reply made Steele very angry. "But it is the same he would do to you!" Steele bursts out. "It his way! It is our way!"

 

"But it is not my way. I will not kill in cold blood." Balto replied. "Besides, in the shape he is in now, he can not cause us any trouble. And if he does, then we can kill him." Balto looks at Star. "You better go get the vet, Star"

 

"Okay." Star replied, and went off to go get the vet.

 

"Look on the bright side," Balto said, "It could not have happened to a nicer dog."

 

Everybody (except Band) laughs.

 

"But on the more serious side," Balto continues, "We have a big problem."

 

All the dogs began walking out the Broiler Room door. As Balto walks out, he passes Bitey, who was standing guard outside the building.

 

"We have trouble." Bitey informs Balto.

 

"I know." Balto replies.

 

"Is Band dead?" Bitey asks Balto.

 

"Unfortunately, no." Balto answers.

 

"He need Band-Aid?" Bitey Jokes.

 

Balto laughs. "Hey, that was a good one, Bitey." Balto answers. "He will probably be at the vet several weeks. Then he will be back to his self, unfortunately."

 

"You kill him?" Bitey asks.

 

"No, we can't." Balto answers. "It would be wrong to kill him in cold blood, especially when he can't defend himself. All though that is giving him more mercy than he deserves, it is the right thing to do.But if he recovers and continues to hurt other dogs, we will confront him and fight him."

 

Bitey then gets back to the more important issues. "We have big trouble." Bitey says, "Wolf pack."

 

"How many wolves are their in that pack?" Balto asks Bitey (as town watchdog, Bitey keeps track of things like this).

 

"Thirty." Bitey answers.

 

"That is not good." Balto says. "You wouldn't happen to know why this pack is being so aggressive?"

 

"Leader is rabid. And power hungry." Bitey answers.

 

"That would make anyone angry." Balto says. "Tell me if you find out anything else." Balto asks.

 

"Understood." Bitey replies.

 

CHAPTER III

 

It is mid-morning, the next day, in Nome. Two men stand outside the Butcher Shop. One of them is Frank, the butcher. He is talking to another man; who is about 6' 9", weights about 290 pounds, and has a long, black mustache. The other man's name is John Anderson. He is the local Marshall. He wears a long, brown coat, and a black, western style hat.

 

"I don't know, John." Frank said, "Several pieces of meat have been missing from outside the shop. From the looks of it, the damage to the

1 2 3

Next page