his boot and caught her in the belly. She was lifted into the air and fell a few feet away. He stomped over to her. “You can fry,” he said as he jammed the end of the pole into the back of her neck and held it there. Aleu whined, jerked, and soon fell silent. “Put her back, and lock the cage this time,” the man said. The smell of burnt hair was strong in the room. Even the two men looked surprised at their boss’s behavior. The two men picked up Aleu’s limp body and carried it back to the cage. There they threw her into the cage, then they locked it. Kima looked at her friend. She hadn’t opened her eyes, she hadn’t moved. “Aleu?” she said. She walked over to Aleu. She was breathing, shallow, quick breaths. Kima layed down and went to sleep next to her.

Shadow was putting the kids to bed. He missed Aleu greatly at times like this. She always did things like this. It made him think even more about her. He worried about her constantly, even when she was here. He knew he shouldn’t, but she had such a knack for getting into situations she couldn’t quite handle. Dad,“where’s mommy,?” Lima asked. Shadow didn’t know what to tell them. Should he tell them the truth? He decided to tell them, they were almost a year old now. “Your mother… your mother is missing,” Shadow said. “Missing, why?” Sheik asked. “Some hunters came and shot mommy with a dart that put her to sleep. Then they… they took her away.” “Why daddy?” Lima asked. “Humans don’t like wolves much, we scare them. Some like these hunters even try to kill us. You must always, always be careful around humans.” “I miss mommy,” Lima said. “Yeah,” followed Sheik, “I miss her too.” “I know kids, I know.” Shadow said. “Believe me I do too.” “Are you looking for her?” Sheik said. “Yes,” Shadow said, “hopefully we’ll find her soon.” “Will we ever see her again?” Sheik asked. Leave it to him to ask the one question I don’t want to answer, Shadow thought. “I… I don’t know,” Shadow said. “She… She’s going to be all right isn’t she?” Lima said. “Mom’s always all right,” Sheik said, “nothing could ever happen to mommy, she wouldn’t leave us” “I’m scared daddy,” Lima said as she curled up beside Shadow. She started to cry. “I don’t want mommy to die.” “I know baby,” Shadow said, nuzzling his daughter, “don’t cry, I’m sure mommy’s just fine.” “She can’t die, can she?” Sheik asked. “Shadow just looked at his son, not knowing how to answer him. “”Son,” he said, “Sheik… everybody dies.” His son walked over and joined Lima. “It’s all right kids,” he said, “don’t worry I’m sure we’ll find her soon.  

Lika ran to the cave, she was almost within sight of it now. She’d been running almost the entire day. It was more than thirty miles away that she’d found the cabin She jumped over another log and tried not to think about the burning pain in her legs. She could see it now. The air was full of little snow-flakes that drifted slowly to the ground. It had begun to snow on her way back. It made it difficult to run, because the snow was wet. Her paws were freezing. Just a little further, she thought as she continued to run. She could see the sentry outside. “Who are you?” He said. “Dash?” Lika said as she slowed to a stop. “What are you doing out here?” “My part,” he said. She shrugged. “Lika, why are you back already? The hunt was supposed to last three days and you just left yesterday. You obviously didn’t get anything.” “Hey,” Lika said, “I almost did, if it hadn’t been for your sister that is.” “My sist… Aleu!” he said. “Yes,” said Lika. “Did you see her?” “Why don’t we go find Shadow, so I only have to tell this story once,” She said. “Okay,” Dash responded he turned his head to look back into the cave and yelled. “Hey Dema, come here.” What is it?” Dema asked. “Brakes over,” he said, “sorry. Lika heard something about Aleu.” “Alright,” Dema said, “thank you.” “Anytime,” said Dash as he ran into the cave

The two of them found Shadow with Shasta, Jenna and Balto. “Hey,” Shasta said, “thought you were going to releive Dema tonight?” “I was,” Dash said; “did, but Lika heard something about Aleu!” Shadow perked up at this. “What?” he asked. “Yes tell us,” Jenna said. “Okay,” Lika started, “I was out hunting and wondered a long way from home, about twenty miles or so When a found this deer. I thought I could bring it down, so I took off after it. However as I jumped at it, I smelled something familiar. I..I missed the deer,” she added sheepishly. “But I found Aleu’s trail! It led me to a cabin with a large barn attached to it. The trail ended there.” “Did you see her?” Shadow asked. “No,” Lika admitted, “but her scent was very strong.” Shadow thought about this for a moment. “We need to establish that Aleu is there, before we mount a rescue mission. “Balto, Dash, Timbre and Flash, you four go check it out. Lika will take you there, but,” he said looking Lika in the eyes, “she will stay outside while you verify Aleu’s location.” “Oh come on Shadow,” Lika said, “I’m almost..” Shadow interrupted her. “I told your mother that I would watch over you, now you’re too young and inexperienced to take something like this on. Just lead them there, that’s all, understand?” “Yes,” Lika said, disappointedly. “Alright,” Shadow said, turning to Balto. “I’m putting you in charge of this little group, good luck.”

It took Lika about seven hours to lead Balto, Flash, Dash and Timbre back to the cabin, by this time it was very early in the morning. Balto looked down the hill at the cabin. “Flash,” Balto said, “I want you to stay here and make sure Lika is safe.” “Alright Balto,” Flash replied. “Just find someplace to hide,” Dash said, “we’ll find you when we’re done. “Let’s go Lika,” Flash said Lika reluctantly obeyed. “Now guys,” Balto said turning to Timbre and Dash. “Be prepared for anything, humans are bitterly cruel sometimes, especially to wolves. I don’t know what their motive for taking Aleu was, but it can’t be a good thing. If these are the same humans that took her, then they’ve probably got guns. Be careful, let’s go.” With that they set off toward the cabin. Balto and his team made it to the side of the cabin and walked over to the barn connected to it. “Timbre,” Balto said, “go check all the doors, Dash look for another way in. I’ll stand here and wait for you both.” Timbre started sneaking around the left side of the barn, while Dash took the right. In a few minutes both of them were back. “Well?” Balto said quietly. “All of the doors are shut and probably locked,” Timbre said. “Dash?” Balto asked. “I found a window we may be able to get through, at the top of the barn. I also saw a human walk out of the cabin, he had a gun.” “Well at least we know we’re at the right place, said Balto, “Dash, show me this window.”

In a few moments, Balto was standing at the left side of the barn looking up at an open window, about twenty feet above him. He looked behind him at the cabin. “Follow me guys,” he said. Then he started creeping around the cabin. “Bingo,” he whispered as he saw a large pile of crates. He ran and jumped up onto the crates and then onto the roof. Tango and Dash followed him. “Now we go through that window,” he said. The other two looked at him skeptically. It was a long jump. Balto took off running across the roof and, when he reached it’s peak he jumped. He flew about ten feet through the air, right towards the wall! He reached out and grabbed onto the windowsill. He hit the wall a little hard, and nearly fell, but he was alright. He scrabbled up into the window and stood in what appeared to be a loft. Dash and then Timbre followed Balto and soon all three of them were standing in the loft. “Let’s see what’s downstairs,” Dash said as he walked over to the ladder that led down to the bottom floor. He jumped through the hole in the floor, landed as quietly as he could, and looked around. “It’s clear,” he whispered. Timbre and then Balto followed him down. Balto noticed what was all around him. “Wolves,” he said, “all kinds of wolves.” “They were in cages all around him. “Dash walked up to one of the cages. “Hey,” could you tell us if a wolf named Aleu is here?” He asked. The wolf just growled. It was a low, deep, threatening growl. His eyes were only half open. “Look,” Dash started, but the wolf leapt at him, hitting the cage. Sparks flew from the wire, electrocuting the wolf. Dash jumped back in surprise. The wolf didn’t seem to notice the electricity arcing across its body. It just kept trying to