Balto: Hunters

Authored By: Pfc. Anthony E. Rotramel USMC

Pages: 50 Words: 9250

Time: 54 min. 18 sec. Date Started: 11/06/04

Date Finished:01/10/05

Please note that this is a fairly dark story based upon the way people really used to treat wolves, people really used to do things like this! So this is not only a FANFIC, but also a plea. Let’s do everything we can to ensure things like this never happen again!

Note: This story was inspired by Balto, (copyright 1995) and Balto 2: Wolf Quest (copyright 2000) by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. The character’s Shadow, Dash, Melody, Shasta, Max, Flash, Timbre, Sheik, Lima, Kima, Thunder, Lika, Kyla and the events of this story are copyright 2005 by Anthony Rotramel. The other characters are copyright by Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment.

Balto was standing outside of Aleu’s cave, yet again thinking. It was very cold outside and the wind was blowing. Shasta had just had her pups. That meant…Balto was a grandpa. He shuddered a little at that thought. Am I really that old? He thought to himself. He was happy for his son, but he felt old, and he didn’t want to. He wanted to be young forever, but he knew he couldn’t. As he was standing there thinking. He heard a crunch of snow. Someone was out there. He decided to investigate. He walked up to the tree line. He didn’t hear anything, and he couldn’t see anything for the snow. Just then a shot rang out and a chunk was blown out of the tree about two inches from Balto’s head. Hunters! Balto thought. He heard shot’s from the other side of the cave as well. He turned and ran for the entrance to the cave, seeing bullets impacting the snow around him as the hunter continued to fire. Balto made it into the cave unscathed and saw a group of wolves running down the passageway. “No good,” Balto said, “they’ve got that exit covered. We’re pretty much boxed in, where’s Aleu?” “We don’t know,” the leader of the group said, “we’re looking for her as well.” “If you find her, tell her to keep her head low,” Balto said. “Alright,” the wolf said, “but you know how she is, she never listens to anybody.” “I know,” Balto responded. Then he turned and resumed running down the corridor.

Outside the wolves were getting massacred. The hunter’s deadly rifle fire kept the wolves at a distance. Shadow was out there. A wolf to his right suddenly dropped. He looked down and saw that there was nothing anyone could do for him. “Stay low,” He yelled to all of the wolves in the clearing. Some listened, other’s didn’t. Another crack sounded and one of the ones that didn’t fell to the ground. Shadow couldn’t see the shooters. He was sure there was at least two of them. The swirling snow made it hard for him to see. He hoped Aleu was alright. He hadn’t been with her when the shooting started. She was in the main chamber, so maybe she would be safe. He ducked low behind a fallen log as another shot went off a little to his left.

Aleu was running down one of the many stone corridor’s leading from the main chamber. Four wolves ran alongside her, protecting their leader. A shot rang out and the lead left wolf dropped. Aleu glanced back to see the human kneeling down behind them. She turned into one of the chambers and slowed to a trot, then she froze. She was standing right in front of a man with a rifle. The man swung up the rifle and pointed it right at her face. Then, just as it went off, the other lead wolf leapt in front of her. He took the shot and fell to the ground, he didn’t move. One of the rear wolves jumped at the man and bit him on the arm, taking him down. Aleu and the other wolf ran out of the room. As they did they heard another gunshot. Aleu knew that Shadow had gone outside to check the front watch. She hoped he was still there. Please be okay Shadow, please, she thought to herself.

Shadow was indeed still there when Aleu burst out of the cave’s entrance closely followed by the only remaining guard. Shadow saw her running and then heard a shot, once again the wolf jumped forward and saved Aleu’s life at the expense of his own. Aleu stopped dead in her track’s then. She heard a sharp whistling noise and then felt a sharp pain in her side. She took a few steps and collapsed in a heap on the ground. “Aleu,” Shadow yelled. Then he too felt a prick. He looked down to see a small silver rod sticking out of his leg. He tried to take a step forward, but he fell, he didn’t even feel himself hit the ground. Everything went black.

“”Shadow, are you alright?” Shadow’s vision slowly focused on Jenna’s face. She was standing over him. “Hello, look who’s awake,” she said. She turned and yelled, “guys he’s awake.” Balto, Max, Flash, Dash, Melody and Shasta all crowded around him. He groaned, “my head is pounding,” he said, “what happened?” The cave was attacked by a group of hunters,” Dash said. “More like Murderer’s,” Jenna said quietly. Shadow rolled over and sat up. He shook his head. “How bad is it? He asked.” Dash responded, “so far the count is twenty dead and who knows how many wounded. We haven’t got an exact count, also…. “ Dash didn’t finish his sentence. “Also what, Dash?” Shadow asked. Aleu is among the missing.” Said Dash. “Oh no,” Shadow said, “where were her guards?” “Dead,” Dash said, “apparently they did their job’s well. “I saw Aleu,” Shasta said. “I was hiding under a rock and saw her go down, but I didn’t hear a shot. She was just running and then the next minute she just dropped. One of the hunters picked her up and carried her away.” “Dash organize a search party, look for those hunters, be careful.” “Alright Shadow,” Dash said, “Shasta?” He turned and walked from the room, Shasta followed him. “What happened to me?” asked Shadow. “I think you were hit with some kind of dart.” Balto said. But I’ve never seen one like that before.” “So maybe Aleu got hit with the same thing” Shadow said, hopefully. “I hope so,” Balto said, “I hope so..”

Aleu slowly opened her eyes. The last thing she remembered was hearing the gun fire and then a sharp prick. “Must have been some kind of dart,” she said aloud. She couldn’t see much, as it was extremely dark. She shook her head in an attempt to calm the raging headache she was feeling. However this only made her lose her balance and fall to the floor once again. She stayed still for a moment, then slowly she stood up. Aleu moved to the side of the cage that she was in. “It’s no use trying to escape kiddo,” a female voice said from behind her. She turned to see a white wolf. “No one has escaped yet. Oh sure the cage is easy enough, but the guards out there have guns. No ones made it past them.” “Well I will,” Aleu said. “You’ve got a lot of spirit kiddo, what’s your name?” The wolf said. ”My name is Aleu, what’s yours?” “I’m Kima,” the wolf said, “nice to meet you.” “Kima, where are we?” Aleu asked. “Somewhere near Nome,” Kima answered,” but I don’t know exactly.” “Dang!” Aleu yelled slamming her paws against the side of the cage. “I hate this!” “You’re going to hate this even more,” Kima said. “What?” Aleu asked. Then she felt a net fall over her head. A string was tightened around her throat and she was drug roughly from the cage and dropped to the floor. She tried to run away and was hit with something, she didn’t see what it was, but it hurt! A man picked up her back legs and she kicked at him, only to be hit again. “Watch her Bert,” one of the men said. “This one’s quite spirited.” “How’s this for spirited,” one of the men said. Aleu heard a humming sound and then she felt a jolt in the back of her head. Pain washed through her, and she stopped resisting. “That’s better,” the man said. He was holding a long pole with a blue glow on top of it. Aleu was drug into another room. And then the men let go of her. She backed into a corner and heard that same steady hum. She looked up at the men, now all three of them had the poles. She backed into the corner as far as she could. The men advanced on her. The first one hit her with the end of the pole, then another and another and another. Aleu curled up into a little ball, unable to stand, and screamed, finally she passed out.

Back at the cave, Balto, Jenna, Melody, Flash and Max were all watching Shasta’s new pups. They were starting to explore their world a little more. Their eyes weren’t open, so they were blind. They crawled over each other and their mother. Already they knew her, and they were learning their environment. They didn’t know what to think of Dash yet. A few of them growled at him, and a few of them wouldn’t leave him alone. Balto assured him that it would only be a mater of time before they all knew and loved him. Balto and Dash looked up as Shadow entered the room. Balto walked over to him. “Any