what Balto had done. He was still holding onto the arm, which still had the two-foot blade attached. Balto had given himself a weapon. He swung it to his right and decapitated the strep throat advance form, and pale gray blood gushed from its neck as it fell. He charged the advance forms, swinging the blade in wide arcs to keep them back. He whipped it around to his right and gashed the staph advance form’s stomach deeply. His virus sense suddenly told him there was an enemy attacking from behind, and that it was very, very close. He spun around and drove the blade forward and upward, punching it through the abdomen and out the back of the rabies advance form. It let out an agonized yell, slowly crumpling to the ground as its life bled away. Balto now no longer had a weapon, but the damage had been done; two more advance forms were dead. Now, only the staph and salmonella advance forms remained.

It seemed to Jenna that Sorrow had become rather uneasy very quickly. “My word,” he said, looking at the dead advance forms. “How?”

Balto knocked aside a furious attack by the staph advance form, which instead hit the salmonella advance form. It yelled with anger, and as it swung, Balto pushed the staph advance form into the path of the incoming blow. The staph advance form fell onto the other’s claws, letting out a cry of pain as its chest was pierced. Balto grabbed the salmonella advance form, pulling it away from its temporarily fallen comrade. It tried to shake him off, but its left arm, whose muscles had been badly damaged earlier, was too weak for the task, and it was forced to use only its right arm. Balto bit onto its wrist with a virus arm, exerting so much pressure that the bones of the creature’s hand snapped under the strain. With the other virus arm, he sliced into its neck, and it bled to death very quickly. For some reason, Balto hesitated for a moment, then ran at the last advance form, jumping clean over its head and landing behind it. He grabbed the back of its head and punched its neck, and its cervical vertebrae shattered. As its body tilted, beginning to fall, Balto lifted it up, holding each leg with one virus arm. He began to spin around, holding on to the dead body. On one turn, his eyes met Sorrow’s. Then, Sorrow knew.

“Oh, no,” he said slowly.

Balto let the advance form’s body go, and it flew right at Sorrow, barreling into his chest, drawing a yell from his lips and carrying him clean into the wall behind, which he was left sitting in, having crashed halfway through. Before he could begin to get up, a heavy chunk of brick fell from the wall above him, landing right on his face, shattering on impact, and he lay still. Balto ran to Jenna and picked her up with the virus arms, sprinting away in the opposite direction. They were headed right for another wall. “Are we going through that?” Jenna asked, sounding somewhat concerned. “No need,” Balto said. He jumped right before they hit the wall, and ran straight up it, his momentum and virus-induced strength allowing him to do so. In three vertical leaps, he cleared the top of the building, and coming down on the snow beyond, he took off full speed.

Sorrow slowly pushed the crumbled brick off his head and body, grunting as his dazed head cleared. He sat up, almost sliding out of the wall and falling to the ground. A staph advance form ran up to him. “What happened?” it asked. Sorrow panted slightly, sitting there. “He beat me,” he said, his voice a combination of bewilderment and disbelief. “I hardly even know how it happened, but…he beat me.” He shook his head, staring off into space. “What will we do now?” asked the staph advance form. Sorrow looked toward it slowly. “We will proceed. Balto has survived phase one, but we planned for that. We shall simply move him on…to phase two…”

Balto went along at a quick trot, carrying Jenna on his back. They went on, and on, for quite a long time. “Aren’t you getting tired?” Jenna asked once. “No, not really,” Balto said casually. Jenna was surprised that Balto could keep going this long while carrying her, but she was glad of it. She told Balto how to get to the factory, and he was glad to have such a valuable piece of information that Sorrow probably didn’t expect them to know. As the sun began to set beyond the snowy hills, they reached a small shack. Balto set Jenna down and dropped to the snow, panting hard, finally worn out enough that he couldn’t keep going without using too much virus power. “Are you alright?” Jenna asked, moving over to him. “Yeah,” he gasped, “just give me a second.” Before long, he had caught his breath, and he got to his feet again. “This place,” he said, “used to be a shelter for a hunter, until a bear killed him. My dad told me about it before my mom died in that blizzard and Boris found me. He said that he and she would come here now and then when they wanted to spend some time alone.” He walked up to the door and opened it after knocking away some ice that had frozen across the jamb. The two of them went in, glad to be out of the chilling wind. The inside of the cabin didn’t contain much; there was a gun rack with a rusted shotgun and a small container for food and bullets. There was also a generator, but it was for light, not heat. Balto picked Jenna up with the virus arms and laid her down on a rough bed, the only furniture in the shack. “Here you go,” he said, pulling a blanket over her, and she smiled at him. “Thanks, love,” she said. Balto smiled back and climbed into the bed, getting under the blanket with Jenna, who looked at the virus arms. “Those things are really something,” she said. “After what I just saw, I’m glad Equinox decided to help you.” “Believe me, I am too.” They smiled at each other. “I’ve worried a lot about you,” Balto said. “Ditto,” Jenna replied. “Every day, I had to listen to Sorrow talk about some new way he was going to try to kill you.” Balto sighed. “I’m so sorry, Jenna. I should’ve been strong enough to have kept him from taking you.” “That wasn’t your fault,” Jenna said. “I know you did your best. There was nothing you could have done. Besides, even when he had me, I didn’t feel hopeless.” She smiled softly at him. “I knew my man would never let me down.” Balto drew a paw over her cheek and muzzle. “I’ve missed you,” he said. “I’ve missed you, too,” she said. They gave each other a long, gentle kiss, and then put their paws around one another, sharing several more. When they finished, they nuzzled each other and smiled. “Are we going to sleep now?” Jenna asked. “Sure,” Balto replied. He held Jenna close, and she snuggled up to him. They shared one more kiss. “I love you,” Balto whispered. “I love you, too,” Jenna whispered back.

After waking up later on in the night, feeling restless, Balto looked around the shack inside and out, making sure everything was safe. He went back in, sighing; he was tired, but couldn’t sleep. His eyes caught Jenna’s sleeping form in the moonlight coming in from a window on the front of the shack, and he walked up to the bed, sitting down and watching her sleep. He smiled a little, thinking of how much he loved her, and caressed her face with one paw. His lip suddenly started quivering, and many, many tears began dripping down his cheeks. He began trembling uncontrollably, long, quiet, moaning sobs escaping his lips. Jenna heard him and woke up. “Balto? Sweetheart, what’s the matter?” She reached out and put a paw on his cheek, turning his face toward her. “Why are you crying?” she asked. Balto could barely speak. “It’s…sob…it’s just…the days he had you…sniff…I had…to wonder every minute of every day…whether you…sob…were still alive.” He began sobbing far harder. “You’re so precious…to me, Jenna. I love you…sob…so much…” For several seconds, he was unable to speak, and Jenna moved toward the edge of the bed, reaching out her paws. Balto moved forward, leaning on the side of the bed, letting Jenna pull him close. “I was so afraid I’d never see you again, and I felt like it was my fault…” “You know I don’t blame you or anything, right?” Balto nodded. “I’m just…sob…I’m so glad you’re okay.” Balto sobbed into Jenna’s chest as she stroked him gently. “Sshh,” she said softly, kissing his head and nuzzling him tenderly. “You’re alright. Easy. Don’t cry, love.” Balto looked up, his face covered with tears. “I love you,” he choked. Jenna smiled at him and licked his cheeks, wiping the tears away. “I love you, too,” she said. “I’ll stay awake until you fall asleep, okay?” “Thank you.” Balto got in the bed and crawled under the blanket, putting his paws around Jenna as she cuddled him, whispering loving words into his ear until he nodded off.

Sorrow was pacing back and forth across a room, speaking to another advance form. “I’m in a quandary right now. I don’t know where Balto decided to go after the last challenge. I sent an advance form to the warehouse, but he’s not there. I have no idea of how I’ll get further clues to him.” “Perhaps one of our kin could track him.” “That leaves the problem of finding a trail.” “Is there perhaps…someplace he will likely go?” Sorrow thought for a moment. “Actually, now that I think about it…there is. I shall write the next clue and have someone take it there.” “What is the plan?” Sorrow thought for a moment, then smiled. “Summon the dark one.” The other advance form’s face fell. “Um…” It shrank back a little. “Perhaps…it may be better if you were to do that.” Sorrow’s face took on a look of disgust, and he shook his head as he walked by the advance form. “Coward,” he said contemptuously. He walked to a door near the back of the building and opened it, looking down a staircase into the pitch-black basement. A pair of glowing eyes opened in the darkness. “It is your time,” said Sorrow. The eyes blinked, then another pair opened alongside. There was a rustling sound, and the owner of the eyes walked slowly up the staircase. Sorrow moved aside from the door, and the creature walked out, quietly