Chapter 2: Dark Dawn

Thankfully, neither of the two had any more dreams that night; they needed sleep after the physical and emotional exertion of the night before. Even though they managed to sleep well, they woke up rather late. Jenna yawned and looked at the window, squinting. “What time do you think it is, Balto?” “Mmf. I don’t care. Let’s go back to sleep, Jenna.” Jenna lay down, smiling as Balto kissed her head. “But don’t we have someplace to go today?” she said softly. Balto thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, yes. Wanna go out to the canyon later and have the best kind of fun?” Jenna giggled, running her paws over Balto’s face and neck as he stroked her. “I’d love to, hot dog.”

It was mid-afternoon by the time Balto and Jenna actually left, but the shortness of the walk to the canyon made it not matter. The canyon was what the dogs called the split that ran through the rock hill near Nome, through which dog sled teams would run on the final leg of some races. Shortly before they reached it, they ran into Star, who looked tired. “Something wrong, Star?” said Balto. “I got lost, is all. I just came through the canyon; it helped me find my way back.” He noticed Balto and Jenna’s old collars hanging on Jenna’s bandana. “Are you giving those to Doc?” Jenna nodded. “Yeah, but we’ve got something to do first.” “Okay. See you later.” “Bye.” Balto and Jenna walked up the steep, snowy slopes on one side of the hill and were rewarded with a great view at the top. They smiled and kissed, putting their paws around one another. Jenna giggled as Balto ran a paw down her stomach, and she nuzzled him and licked one of his ears. He giggled and kissed Jenna’s neck, but as he tried to continue, she pulled back slowly. “Baby,” he said, “what’s…” He stopped when he saw her face, which had a look of complete horror. He turned around slowly, and his face took on the same look.

It was walking toward them on bent, unstable-looking legs, with the right foot deformed and rotten looking, causing a limp. Its body was seven feet tall, hunched but incredibly muscular, covered with green skin which was mottled with ugly patches and streaks, many of them as white as the snow on the ground. Some of it was peeling and hanging sickeningly, as if it were decaying away, and underneath these spots, other tissues could be seen, black and deadened. Its right hand was as normal as possible, with five shallow-curved dagger-like claws, but its left was twisted and frozen into a horrible shape and looked immovable, like it was paralyzed. Its right eye was greenish-yellow, with more green than yellow, and looked sinister. It would have seemed more alert, but the eyelid hung slightly, as if the muscles were tired. The other eye was whiter than the patches on the skin, and did not appear to be alive. The eyelid around it was rotten away, and all of the surrounding skin was white. The skin on its lips was decaying, but all the teeth remained hidden by them. The expression on the creature’s face was a terrifying mixture of pain and malevolence that caused almost as much fear as the rest of its appearance. The whole thing smelled faintly like death and rotting flesh. It said nothing, but merely walked a few more steps toward them and stopped. Balto managed to speak. “Who are you?” The creature glared, drawing back its lips and raising its right hand, the good one, flexing its clawed fingers, the skin of which slowly melted and peeled. “I am Sorrow, leprosy advance form.” Balto and Jenna were terror-stricken, and it showed in their faces. “What do you want?” Balto said, his voice volume rising with his fear. Sorrow leaned forward. “You.” He reached out his arm, rotten skin hanging off, extending his hand towards Balto, who shrank back when it came within two feet. “Get away!” he shouted. He and Jenna tried to back up, but their paws only touched air. Balto looked back and saw that the canyon was right behind them. Sorrow withdrew his extended arm, and with a strange hissing sound, his whole body began to emit a green, steam-like substance that smelled worse than carrion. The white patches turned even whiter, and some of it simply fell off, rotting after it hit the snow, burning into dust, then to nothing. He straightened up to full height and raised his arms threateningly. Balto and Jenna tensed, hoping to spring around him, but he guessed their thoughts. “Don’t. If I so much as brush your bodies now, you’re doomed.” His voice was a low, slightly rough noise. “There is no escape.” Balto looked back again, but not to see what was behind them; rather, to see what they were standing on. He saw what he was looking for, and turned back toward Sorrow. “Yes, there is,” he said. Before Sorrow could react, Balto yelled and smashed his back paws down on the snow as hard as he could. The loose rocks below his and Jenna’s hind legs dislodged, and they both plummeted into the canyon, Balto’s head striking an outcropping as the fell. They struck the ground, a swath of snow burying them.

A minute or two later, Jenna struggled out of the snow. She looked around and, not seeing Balto, began digging in the fresh pile of snow she was standing on. The smell struck her, the rotten smell. She turned around, and there was Sorrow, walking toward her with a purpose. She tried to back away, but she tripped in the thick snow, and Sorrow picked her up by her scruff, looking around for Balto. His eyes fell on dog tracks leading out of the canyon towards the town. “Looks like your precious husband decided he liked himself better than you.” He began walking, and Jenna struggled hard. “Don’t touch me!” she yelled in fear. Sorrow stopped and looked at her. “Oh, are you afraid of ending up like this?” he said, ripping up a section of his skin like it was wet tissue paper. Jenna began shaking with horror and revulsion. Sorrow shoved the peeled, bloody skin toward Jenna’s face, and she cried out and turned away, closing her eyes tightly. He laughed out loud with sick amusement, and kept walking with her. “Don’t worry. You won’t get the disease if I don’t want you to. I certainly hope your husband decides to be a little gutsier. Perhaps he doesn’t love you…” “NO!” Jenna screamed, kicking Sorrow’s leg, nearly spraining one of his muscles. He snarled at her, forcing her to look into his horrible face. “I would advise you not to make me want to,” he growled, “or your husband will get to see you looking just like me. Is that clear?” Jenna nodded, trying to hold herself together. “Good. Now shut your mouth; you’re bothering me.” He suddenly performed a very long jump, about a hundred feet. They continued on, to a destination only Sorrow knew.

Balto pushed himself up through the snow, moaning. He was dazed from hitting his head, and his vision was blurry. The latter cleared up in a few seconds, and he looked for Jenna. He didn’t see her around, but his eyes did settle on a hole in the snow next to him. “Well,” he thought, “she must be around…” He then saw a trail of large, heavy footprints leading to the hole, then away from it. He began gasping with fright. “Jenna? Jenna! No!” He stumbled after the tracks, but they ended before too long, and he ran back to the hole. He leaned against the rocky cliff, trying not to panic. At least he was able to keep his mind going. “But why didn’t Sorrow take me?” he thought out loud. “He would’ve dug, I’m sure.” He looked around a little longer, and then decided to go back into town to search. He asked everyone if they had seen Jenna, but no one had, so he asked that if anyone saw her, they would tell him immediately. He spent the whole day looking for traces of Jenna or Sorrow, and even went back to the alley that evening to see if Equinox was there, but he had no success at all. He went into the dog’s restaurant and sat down at a table, hanging his head. Sylvie walked over to him. “Hey, chum, don’t worry about Jenna. Wherever she is, she can take care of herself. Sheesh, what am I saying, don’t worry? You’re her husband; of course you’re going to worry. Ah, well. Do you want anything to eat?” As Balto looked at her, she became blurry for a moment. He squeezed his eyes shut and reopened them, which fixed the problem, but not completely. “Tired?” she said. “Um…yeah,” he said. He felt incredibly hot, and wondered why he hadn’t a few seconds ago. “I’ll…have some cold canned beef. Really cold, please. And some ice water.” Sylvie looked at him curiously. “Are you warm?” Balto nodded and began panting. He looked bad to her. “Okay, I’ll get ‘em quick. Hang on.” She returned in less than a minute. Balto was panting hard, and he looked woozy. “Here,” she said, “go ahead.” Balto drank the water greedily, slurping it up with incredible speed, even eating the ice cubes. He gasped for breath at the end of it, and began eating the canned food. “Do you need more water?” Sylvie asked, concerned. “You don’t look good.” Balto raised his head from the food, looking worse than he had. “I feel really sick,” he breathed. “Water would be nice.” He looked nauseous, and swayed in his seat. “Easy, Balto,” said Sylvie. “I’ll get some water.” She got another one, actually two more. One, she let Balto drink, and the other she used with a cloth held in her mouth to bathe his head. “Golly, you’re burning up,” she said. “Are you gonna be alright?” Balto finished the second water. “Yeah,” he said, breathing hard. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry; I just need to go home and lie down.” He stood up slowly and walked shakily out of the restaurant.

By the time he got home, Balto was feeling very, very sick. He stumbled into the house, everything in a blurry haze, feeling like his body was on fire from the inside. He had a terrible headache, which pounded his skull in rhythm with his pulse. Something trickled from his eye, and he wiped it with his paw, which he then looked at. His vision cleared for a brief moment, and he saw a red smear of blood. “Wha…?” He lowered his paw and went to the