VOICES:

-Ataneq: Jack Nicholson

-Buck: Mark Harmon (younger voice)

-Boss: Brian Blessed

-Kaya: Sasha Alexander

-Aniu: Glenn Close

“Buck?”

I opened my eyes but I wanted to sleep….to sleep forever. My grandfather, Ataneq, walked into the pack’s cave. I set my head down on the cold den floor.

“Buck, you have to eat something” Ataneq said earnestly.

I lazily lifted my head and gazed at the pile of dried meat that had built up since our return.

“I’m not hungry”, I mumbled.

I looked away and towards the back of the den that was once my family’s. Except it wasn’t my family’s anymore. Less then a week ago, both of my parents and younger brother had been killed, murdered by human hunters that wanted little more then or coats.

“Whenever you’re ready to talk the whole pack is here” Ataneq said, trying to be sympathetic. But that wasn’t enough for me.

 “Do you even care that your only daughter died? My dad? Balto?”

His eyes burned, at first and he started to move towards me. I tried to stand too but I was too weak. My legs shook and Ataneq’s eyes softened.

“Of course I do. But I have to be strong for the pack”

I plopped on the ground and jammed my eyes shut. Sleep never came easy anymore without the warm comfort of my parents or brother. The tears started to come again and I told myself to stop. This was all my fault and crying about it was never going to make what had happened undone. But I couldn’t keep one last sniffle from escaping before I started to dream again.

            The next morning, Ataneq thundered in. I wasn’t sure what had set him off, but he was really mad. As he swept in, snowflakes blew in along with a burst of cold air.

            “Get out of here now! We’ve all gone through enough! We don’t need to lose anyone else!”

I stood up boldly and walked out of the cave with my tail high in the air. I’d listen to him, but he wasn’t taking away my dignity. I stepped out into the snow and the air hit me like a brick wall. I gasped as the cold air filled my lungs. The pack, surrounding the opening to the cave, looked up, many of them still low spirited. Ataneq followed me back out of the cave.

            “We went through what you did and we don’t need you around to make things worse!”

If he had swatted me across the face, it would have stung less.

“Fine!” I screamed back at him. “You’ll never have to worry about me again!”

I whirled around, and took off. The snow falling down would cover my path and hide my scent. Even though I was weak from no food, I had the strength to cross the creek, leaping across the small ice floes onto the opposite bank. I was positive that this was not my territory, but I could have cared less. I knew very well that all of the other packs in the bordering territories were at a kind of war with us, but the only time I stopped was when a cramp stung my side. I stopped, panted and listened. Something was nearby. I panted a few more seconds, tongue hanging out of my mouth then broke into a run again. Meanwhile, the snow started to come down thicker and for the first time in my six month long life, I cursed it.

The snow coated my fur and was beginning to seep through; my breath started to freeze my whiskers. The flakes stung my eyes and I closed them for a few seconds. Bad idea. I crashed right into a tree and bounced back from it onto my back… wolves aren’t supposed to bounce back from trees.            

 “Hey! Hey! I think we got her Boss!”

In horror, I realized the tree was a wolf. It was a skimpy grey wolf, and I was a little more then half his size. I could probably take him. Then another grey, a bigger furrier wolf, formed in the snow. Going out on my own was looking like a bad idea now.

                        “That’s not her you idiots” came a cruel voice.

A third wolf, jet black and as big as the second grey, approached me, beady yellow eyes blazing. I hated him as soon as an ugly smile widened across his face. I tried to scoot backwards but the bigger grey picked me up by the scruff of my neck so that I was practically sitting up. I gritted my teeth and the black wolf got up in my face.

“I’m not afraid of you” I growled.

This made the black wolf frown. But something about me intrigued him. He took a whiff of me and his eyes lit up.

                        “Did you ever hear of wolf named Aniu?”

“She’s my mother” I spat irritably.

“Where’s your mommy and daddy?” he mocked.

“They’re dead”, I said through my teeth, anger rising.

No surprise, they all laughed.

            “Hey Boss! That guy can’t come after you if Aniu isn’t alive anymore!” the big grey yelled stupidly.

The black wolf stopped laughing. He attacked the big grey and the three started to argue. They started to argue and I dropped to the ground. I took off through the thick snow as fast as my feet would carry me.

                        “Knock it off brainless idiots! He got away!” Boss shrieked.

            “What about the girl?”

                        “Forget about her!”

I could hear them floundering after me in the snow. This time, I wasn’t running blindly: I found a cliff to run against. The sounds of the three stopped and I looked over my shoulder. As far as I could see, which wasn’t very far, and no one seemed to be there. I laughed to myself then smashed right into the cliff.

I saw dots, scrambled back to feet and shook my head. Stupid, I thought. Panic started to grip me as I examined what I ran into. The sheer rock wall boxed me in and it was too sheer to climb. How stupid could I get? I was out hearing distance of the pack, not in my territory and cornered in a blizzard. I dropped to my stomach and started to crawl. The snow might hide me.

                        “Alright kid we can smell you here. Now we’re gonna tell you what we told your mommy. If you run, we’ll catch you and kill you, if you come to us, well……at least you won’t die” Boss cackled.

Fury was building up in me. I needed to take my fury out on something. The bigger grey wolf passed within feet of me but didn’t see me. I lunged at him and sank my teeth into his back foot. He howled in pain and I took off again with a smirk on my face. I could see where the cliff ended and hope started to fill me. Suddenly, something gave me a glancing blow to the head. I tumbled and hit the ground hard. I stopped on my stomach and scrambled to my feet, not knowing where the blow had come from. I saw the paw coming the second time but it hit just as hard and I smashed down on the ground. One final time, I scrambled to my feet only to be hit in the head for the third time in the same place. This time I stayed lying down. My head was pounding and my left eye felt like it had closed on it’s own. I tasted blood where I had bitten the side of my cheek.

                        “You gonna try and get away again?! Cause this is kind of fun!” Boss sneered.

The other two laughed their heads off. I never had hated anyone so much as I did then.

“You don’t even know who I am! What do you want with me?!” I growled.

                        “Legend, power, heritage…” Boss stated. What was that supposed to mean?!

I backed up but the three followed me. Boss towered above me.

                        “Are you ready for this? If you’re good, this won’t hurt a bit!”

I snarled as fiercely as I could and the three wolves’ jaws dropped open. For a brief moment, I thought that they were afraid of me, but they stared right past me.

                        “You’re supposed to be……” Boss stuttered.

A resounding growl came from behind me. The three wolves yelped and ran with their tails tucked between their legs. I used the last of my strength to turn around. What I saw shocked me.

“Mom?”

The white figure moved toward me and Aniu’s welcome smile seemed to have a light of it’s own.

“Mom…. you’re alive?” I asked, dumbfounded.

            “Yes, in a way” she replied.

She walked