the nightmare as he realized its horrific picture wasn’t reality, and he breathed hard, his pounding heart slowing down, the strange effects on his body fading away. Some blood was on his face from his mouth and eyes, and he burned it off. “What was that?” he thought, wondering how so many of his virus powers could function at such great power at the same time. He shrugged it off and decided to look and see if any clues had arrived. Indeed, one had. The clue was sitting right in the mail slot. Balto assumed the advance form that brought it must have come when he had inadvertently dozed off. It was another envelope. He opened it hurriedly, wondering what he would have to do next.

Mister Balto,

I have another challenge for you. Fine work completing the first, by the way. Three sled dog friends of yours are about to have a visitor. As to which one it is, here is a riddle: what is furry, four-legged, and lathered up on the face? If you said “a dog that’s shaving”, you’re wrong. Go quickly. My servant is on his way.

Regards,

Sorrow

“Oh, no!” Balto thought. “Sorrow isn’t just going to use Jenna! He’ll attack everyone to get to me!” He flung the letter down and raced off for Nome.

Nikki, Kaltag and Star were wandering through the alleys, bantering back and forth as they often did. Nikki was speaking. “Them talent shows is nice and all, but why have they got to serve such lousy food?” “Oh, yeah,” said Kaltag. “It is the most disgusting, the most nauseating, the most distasteful, the most…” Star spoke up. “It’s pretty darn bad.” Kaltag pounded Star on the head with an irate snarl, and he fell down, recovering after a few seconds. “Hey, guys,” he said, “let’s head to restaurant. There’s great food there, and maybe we can get control of the radio!” The others agreed heartily, and they began to head off. Kaltag, however, stopped abruptly and turned around. “What was that?” he said. “What’s what?” said Star. “I heard a noise. Listen.” There was a dull thump, and slight rattling. “I hears it, too,” said Nikki. “It’s coming from over…” Several boxes were scattered left and right from an alley as a large, roaring creature burst from it. It looked at them, growling low. Its skin was purple and leathery, glistening in the daylight, and its body was very solid and sturdy looking. Its eyes were bright orange, filled with a fire and madness unlike anything the trio had ever seen. Saliva dribbled in a steady stream from its mouth, and there was white froth on its chin and the sides of its face, clumps of which quivered on its lips as it spoke. “Are you Nikki, Kaltag, and Star?” “Y-y-yeah,” Nikki stammered. “Who are yous?” “I…” It hissed and twitched. “I am your worst nightmare.” They didn’t understand. “You are confused? I am a virus advance form, a mutant pathogenic monster.” It growled, and its eyes widened and rolled downward for a moment. “Now think hard about this: what is the one virus dogs fear more than any other?” It raised its voice to a high, mocking impression of a frightened human. “Mad dog! Mad dog!” The trio backed away, knowing now what stood before them. “It’s…it’s rabies!” Kaltag cried. The creature laughed maniacally, then hunched its shoulders and charged them.

The trio turned around and ran through the alleys, taking many turns, although they all truly knew that they couldn’t escape. The mad monster crashed off of walls and through boxes and such things, disregarding any hazard of injury, growling and snapping its jaws the whole way. As they turned a corner, the trio was terrified to discover that a five-foot pile of junk was blocking their way. Star looked up it, trying to see if there was a way over. Then, he screamed out loud. Nikki and Kaltag looked to see what he had, and they screamed too. At the top of the pile, Balto was standing, two horrifying tentacles with heads growing out of his back. “Balto?!?” Kaltag said, so frightened he could barely speak. “Is…is that yous, Balto?” Nikki said. “Yeah, guys, it’s me!” Balto shouted. “What happened?” Star said. “You’re like…part monster!” “I don’t have time to explain right this minute! You have to trust me!” The rabies advance form came around the corner and halted when it saw Balto. “What are we gonna do?!?” Star screamed. Balto jumped down from the pile, landing between the advance form and his friends. “You guys just keep your heads down,” he said. He stared at the advance form, whose eyes were bulging with insanity. “Out of the way, fool,” it snarled, its slimy tongue throwing trails of foamy saliva as it spoke. “I’m staying right where I am,” Balto replied, his voice threatening. “Back off. Sorrow has it in for me, but that doesn’t mean others have to suffer.” “Oh yes, it does. As long as we are here, Sorrow figured we might as well have some fun. Your friends are doomed. And before long, both them and you will be decomposing.” “You’ll have to get through me to reach them.” “Then I’ll just tear right through you, fleabag. Rabies eats dogs for breakfast!” It laughed and looked up, orange light shooting from its eyes as it empowered itself with the rabies virus. It uttered a murderous scream and flung itself at Balto, who defensively raised a virus arm to deflect the first attack. The advance form hit the tensed arm with incredible force, knocking Balto down and sending him sliding backward through the snow. It jumped, intending to come down on him, but he rolled out of the way, and the beast landed face first on the ground, having fallen like a rock. Balto expected the creature to be injured, or at least stunned, but he was wrong; it merely lifted its head from the snow and got up, yelling and swinging at the air before reacquiring its target. It charged like a bull, head lowered and teeth bared. At the very last possible moment, Balto moved just a foot to his left, and as the monster ran by, unable to reverse its own momentum, he punched it in the side. It lost its balance and stumbled forward, its head crashing into a wall. It fell down, and for a moment, it lay still, but then, it stood up again, a little unsteady on its feet. It roared, and Balto thought that instead of injuring it, he might be merely making it angrier. The beast ran clean through a few barrels, smashing them to pieces, and as it approached, it grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at Balto. He blocked the rock, but it distracted him long enough for the advance form to begin to attack him. The creature had little in the way of finesse, but its furious madness drove it to a state where it was deadly enough to compensate. Swinging violently over and over, it finally battered Balto’s virus arms out of its way, and lacerated his chest with its claws. He yelled with pain, and the monster drove its knee into his jaw, knocking him on his back. It jumped on him and opened its mouth, full of uneven teeth covered with foam, and tried to bite him in the face. Balto used his virus arms to hold the creature back just enough, its mouth opening and closing, maniacal growls coming from its throat as its teeth snapped shut with metallic clacks over and over. It spoke to him, its eyes rolling with insanity. “You will get the disease,” it said. “Then, you’ll get your little honey back, but not for long! It’ll take you over, get in your head. You’ll feel your control slipping away. Oh, yes…” It grinned. “You’ll want to bite her…and you will. You won’t be able to stop yourself. Then you can die, knowing a gun will kill her long before the disease can!” It began to laugh, but in doing so, it was distracted for just a moment…and Balto flung it off of him. He stood up, overcome with fury, and began attacking the advance form, the wrath fueled by his love becoming ten times as strong as the anger of his opponent. He smashed through its guard, then seized both its wrists and twisted sharply. The sound of snapping cartilage rang through the air. The advance form screeched, its forearms rendered useless, and buckled from the pain. Balto punched it in the chest, and it flew into a wall, its head whacking against the boards. It fell, and before it could stand again, Balto was beside it. He swung a virus arm down, striking the beast on the side of the head, and it cried out. Balto swung again, and again, and again, the blows yielding ugly crunching sounds as the advance form’s head gradually caved in. Before very long, it was no longer moving.

Balto sat down, taking deep breaths for a moment, then walked over to where Nikki, Kaltag, and Star were huddled in a box. “It’s dead, guys,” he said. “Go ahead and come out.” They did, cautiously, staring with awe at the virus arms. “Holy smokes,” said Kaltag. “How did yous get those things?” Nikki asked. “Yeah, what are they?” Star added. “A creature gave them to me to keep Nome safe from those things,” Balto said, nodding towards the dead rabies advance form. “Things?” Star said. “You ain’t telling us there’s more than one of them?” said Kaltag. Balto nodded. “As if one wasn’t bad enough,” said Nikki. All three of them looked frightened, and Balto could tell that the virus arms still disturbed them. “Look, guys,” he said reassuringly, “I promise, I’m Balto. These things didn’t change me, but it’s a good thing I have them. The leader of these monsters is going to send one of them after everyone I know.” “So, what do we three do?” asked Kaltag. “You guys need to go and hide,” said Balto. “For now, you’re safe, but I don’t know if more of these things will come after you. Just stay in the boiler room for a while. Make sure to take some food when you go there so you won’t have to leave.” “How long do you think this’ll go on?” Star asked. Balto shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll find a time to check on you later. Right now, you just need to stay hidden.” “Okay,” said Nikki. “Let’s go, guys. Thank for giving us a hand, Balto.” “Yeah,” said Kaltag, “thanks. We’d be dead meat if it weren’t for you.” “You saved our lives,” Star said. “Thanks.” Balto nodded. “You’re welcome,