about we have a little… private discussion?” she smiled as she motioned to the trash can.

Henry’s knees immediately began to wobble as a stupid grin appeared on his face. His tongue lolled out of his mouth as he dumbly nodded his head. He gave a sudden sneeze, but that didn’t stop him from walking towards the can. She looked over and saw Dingo smiling. He knew exactly what she was planning to do. Jenna turned back to Henry and ran up behind him as he entered the can. She rolled the lid and covered the mouth of the trash can. It immediately jumped to life and the lid burst open with a snarling Henry at its entrance. But Jenna and Dingo were already on their way out of town, laughing in sheer delight.

“Ha ha! You fooled him but good Mom! I didn’t know you still had it in you!” Dingo cheered.

“Heh, neither did I!” She laughed.

Within an instant however, they both found themselves on the ground. Each had a set of growling teeth latched onto some part of their body. Henry strutted up to them, smirking.

“You didn’t think that I wouldn’t have come with back-up now, would you? Now I will have guards watching your homes to make sure that you don‘t break the rules.” He turned to the other dogs. “Now, would you please escort these two back to their respective homes?”

Jenna and Dingo were soon separated as they were dragged away back to their houses that would serve as their own prisons.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The sun, although nearly unnoticeable, set deep on the horizon. The clouds above began to darken as a goose and a wolf-dog walked home. The two were actually laughing and having a great time.

“Wow Boris, who knew that you were actually capable of fun?” Balto chuckled.

“Fun nothing! The whole time I vas defending myself from two oversized, slobbering polar bears!” Boris squawked.

The two made their way up the plank of their boat, but paused when they heard snoring. They looked around cautiously, and they found the source of the noise. Balto held a paw to his muzzle and shushed Boris.

“I’ll go check and see who it is. Grab my dog dish in case it’s not welcome company.”

“Vhat on Earth am I to be doing with slobber bowl?!”

Balto couldn’t stop himself from cracking a smile. He leaned down and whispered into Boris’ ear.

“Well, just be creative. I’m sure that out of all animals, you would be the one to find a way to hurt someone with a bowl.”

“That, you could be having point with,” Boris whispered back.

Boris went to grab up the dog dish and nearly dropped it. He looked inside and saw a block of ice inside and hit his wing to his forehead. Meanwhile, Balto was creeping up silently behind their visitor. He saw Boris walking over to him slowly as he struggled with the ‘slobber bowl’.

“Ready Boris?” Balto whispered.

The goose nodded. Balto leaned down and softly bit down on the blanket. Within an instant the blanket was airborne and Boris was already bringing the heavy bowl down.

“Wait! Wait Boris!”

The dog’s eyes suddenly snapped open and thankfully, Boris was able to stop the dog dish from knocking the dog out. Balto walked around in front of the dog and cocked his head.

“Doc… What’re you doing here?”

Doc coughed, stood up, and shook of the blanket that had landed back on top of him. He stretched out along the deck and gave quiet yawn, licking his chops right after.

“Well, I was trying to sleep whilst waiting for your return. I actually have both good and bad news to share. Which would you like to hear first?”

“Bad news. I want to get that out of the way as soon as possible.”

“Alright then.” Doc cleared his throat. “Last night, I was informed by Morris that the rabies infection has in fact returned, and could spread to Nome. The good news however, is that I have a plan of how to protect you, Jenna, and your children. I felt so terrible yesterday, that I’ve been thinking of this since. But here’s what we’ll do, and this is the good news. You’ll wait by the sign for Nome, after midnight preferably, and I’ll bring them. This way you’ll be able to take them into the forests to hide out for awhile. I’ll come and get you when the town is safe again.”

“Well, I hope it works. I’ve been dying to see them ever since.”

Doc nodded and turned away. “Alright, see you then. Take care. Good day.”

“Oh, and Doc.. Be careful. I know that you’re not supposed to be here.”

Doc smiled. “Don’t worry about me. I’m an old dog. They’ve already done everything they could to me. I’ll be fine.”

The St. Bernard trotted away and Balto sat down smiling as he looked at Boris. Boris nodded to him and then grabbed his trusty mop and began to clean the deck of the falling snow.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

The icicles that hung from the gutters of the tall houses clattered together in symphony as the wind brushed along each individual so softly. A set of four black and white huskies made their way through the blustery, snow-packed streets. Lilith’s ribbon around her paw bounced as she tried to think… Oh where had he told her to go again? She was finding it so very difficult to remember. Her ears perked when she heard a faint creaking. She looked up to see the sign for the butcher’s swaying in the wind. Ah! Now she remembered! She trotted down the nearest alley, the little pups staying as close to her as they could. The wind whisked around her and through her long, coarse fur, but she didn’t mind the numbness that the wind brought, not anymore. She saw a stack of crates looming over her, and a small opening in them. She looked back over her shoulder and shuddered. She huffed in a deep breath and stepped through the whole, shutting her eyes tightly until the space opened up again. She heard a quiet grunting as a small light glimmered through the floorboards above.

“Ahh, Sister. I’m glad you could make it. I was beginning to think that you… wouldn’t show,” she heard a snicker.

“I’m sorry Hal, but we had to wait awhile before we could come… Can I please go home now? I really need my medicine.” Lilith pleaded.

Her brother grinned from the shadows, his teeth having a slight tint of yellow. He walked up to her and ran a paw under her chin and giggled.

“Now, now Sister. You don’t need that medicine, especially for my plans. We’ve got to have you as clean as possible.” Hal sneered.

Stevan peeked around Lilith’s front leg, his pale blue eyes squinting. He looked up at Hal and then back to the darkness.

“Uncle Hal? Is someone else in here?”

Hal grinned and patted the pup on the head. “Ah! I’m glad you asked! These are my new pupils in training.”

Hal led the four deeper into the darkness. For being the middle of winter, it was surprisingly humid down here. Probably from how warm the butcher kept his house this time of year. There was the sound of more moaning, and then it changed to a giggling.

“Hal, who’s here?… Why’re they here?” Lilith asked nervously.

Hal winked and chortled. “Well, if you must have names. This is Star, Nikki, and Kaltag,” he said, pointing each one out. “Our little giggler, Nikki, has kept this up for the past few hours, definitely passing with flying colors. Kaltag’s had the occasional chuckle, so he’s catching up… But poor, poor Star here is still fighting me, which I wouldn’t have suspected. So I’ve been paying special attention to him… And to your other question, you’ll just have to find out later.”

“Hal, don’t go playing games with me. If you don’t stop I’ll-”

“I would never dream of doing something like that!” Hal cut in, “Anyways. It is rather late, and you’ll all be getting up very early in the morning. Just… let me explain a few things. First of all, there is no leaving unless I tell you, or give you the permission to. Second, I will be providing the food and water. You’ll take what you eat, or you’ll go hungry. Understand?”

The four each nodded their heads. Hal laughed and began to twirl around until he was laying down and ready to sleep. He stared at them through wild, icy blue eyes.

“Do get your sleep though. Tomorrow, you four will be helping me break those three sled dog’s spirits… permanently..” He turned to Lilith. “Oh, and do watch your back. We’ve had some rather shady types lurking around her as of late...”

Lilith bit her lip and stole a look behind her. She shook her head suddenly and dragged a claw across her skin.

‘Get a hold of yourself! You’re doing exactly what he wants!’ she scolded herself fiercely.

Hal watched his sister with sheer delight. She was just as much a pawn as the other three sled dogs. Of course, he did have another puppet in his ranks, but he would save that one for later. Eventually, everything would come to past, and just as fate predicted, he would come out on top once more. Forever free of the strings that held him down.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

A clock ticked loudly in the Manson’s den. The blaze in the stone fireplace flickered delicately. A crimson and white husky laid in her whicker basket that she called her bed. She shuffled around on the blue cushion that lined the inside of the