sent him back to his kins. However we hadn’t and Balto was always going around here, trying to join any dogs party. But he was just a hybrid, all were feared him or drove him away in any opportunity. But somehow – I swear I had no idea how – he picked up my girl, Jenna.” Steele stopped and panted with anger. His ears raised and for short second I was sure he would ran instantly to avenge old harm he was recalling. Dog actually stood up, made a step towards street, but then stopped, lowered his ears, as if he heard something dreadful in silence of winter day. He returned to his bedding and continued with a bit less certain voice. “Poor Jenna… She was such a sweet girl… But now she’s gone.”

“She’s dead?” I asked.

“No, you idiot!” snorted Steele. “She is gone, because she’s lost to him. Since that winter she’s infected.”

“What the hell is that illness, you are talking about?”

“Don’t interrupt me.” Replied dog. “I must tell whole the story.” And indeed, he continued. “So when my team set off to Nenana, Balto and Jenna followed us. If I knew that, I would stayed and killed that savage, before he reunited with his kins. But we knew nothing. We got to Nenana, picked the cargo and set off in return way. Balto interfered in half a way. He attacked me from ambush…” his voice became a bit uncertain, as if he wasn’t saying everything. “…and took the sled over. Musher was out and my team accepted that stray as a leader. It was their grave mistake. Before I get back to Nome, Balto guided them there…” Steele paused his voice. I wasn’t sure if that was a purposeful cliff-hanger or he had serious problem with recalling those memories. “I not sure what happened there. I hoped that they were dead and I just returned to Nome. But they returned! In that blizzard and frost! That wasn’t natural. Of course, they had serums and thanks to that the epidemic was halted. But you know… almost all of us were infected with diphtheria bacteria. Some got sick some others resisted, but immunity of our bodies was seriously weakened. That why the pest that Balto brought here burst so easily.”

“What was that pest?” I asked, avid for any concrete. But Steele seemed be not interested in explaining anything. He just spat on the snow and exclaimed.

“Can’t you see? They all are rotten! Look in they eyes, look as they move, look at their coats and tails. Those aren’t dogs anymore. They aren’t wolves too. They are from there?” he pointed with muzzle on north.

“From where?” I was really tired of those stupid guesses.

“From…” dog hesitated for a moment, realising he didn’t know what to say. “Out of here. But that thing… is coming to us? Have you seen Jenna’s and Balto’s children? Some of them are normal, like Kodi or Saba. But rest? Aleu had to flee to forest, because she was even too odd for this den of oddity. I saw her few moths ago, she had nothing to do with our kind… Even her fur got lighter, as it was turning into that milky filth…” Then he looked on me and examined carefully. With smile mixed with confusion, he said. “You seems to be akin to them. Your coat… is like theirs.”

“I guess it’s nothing special for samoyed to be white.” I replied, but instinctively looked down on own paws. My nerves were so stretched that I really wondered if colour of my fur had changed in previous few days.

“It isn’t white… it’s… just washed out from any colour.” Said Steele, drawing back from me. “Don’t touch me! You are one of them! You caught it somewhere!”

He turned back and set off to run away, leaving me inside of ghost house with dirty bedding and two unfinished mackerels. I stayed for few minutes, trying to order that strange talk in my mind, but when I finally decided that old Steele was just an old maddog, pressed by his age and memories of past fame, I just walked back on main street.

I encountered odd looking husky with wolfish-look coat. I wanted to pass him by, but he stopped seeing my uncertainness and called with decisive voice.

“Hey, you! You’re one of that strangers.”

“Well, I am.” I replied, not slowing down.

“My father told you are sniffing around.” Snorted dog with angry voice. Then he added with confusion. “You talked with Steele!”

“I have to go. Sorry, bro!” I called back and sprang to run.

I didn’t look back, but I felt he was following me. So I ran as fast as I could to kennel building, slowing down just in last part of my way. In blurry light of dying day I saw tight semicircle of local dogs, surrounding my team, who still stood next to Boiler Room wall. In my first impulse I wanted to turn aside and run from those creatures too. But there were my companions, whom I couldn’t leave. And moreover – I understood it a bit later, but maybe my mind was subconsciously analysing that way – my only chance to get away from that town alive was to go with my team and musher. I had to protect them and sled until master Lucas was back. I sprang over line of dogs and landed inside of hostile semicircle.

V.

When I hit the snow just in front of my companions, they sighed with fear. But a second after they again focused their stares on tight wall around us. Dogs of Nome were clearly keeping us imprisoned, without caring about pretence of hospitality. They didn’t growl nor bark on us but their bared teeth called about death. In the same time we formed a tight semicircle around our sled. We were in seven, while group of locals could count more than thirty. More and more Nomers appeared on street, coming to us with their odd, half-hobbling steps.

“It’s good to see you.” Said Emma, who was at my right side. Her voice was shivering and eventual joy could be barely heard. But most likely few moment earlier she was sure I was already dead.

“Let’s howl!” I gasped. “Local humans will notice and…”

“And?” asked Cyrus, pointing with muzzle on few human silhouettes on street.

Those men were passing us by, without any reaction. Their vacant stares stroked our trapped group but no one did anything to solve our problem. Just as if eventual slaughter of guest’s dogs was natural event in boring life of Nome. Seeing the same boredom on faces of our persecutors I came to conclusion it wasn’t impossible option.

“But master Lucas will hear.” I repeated and they all nodded their heads.

And then we saw a blood-freezing scene. On the other end of street, where light from houses barely were getting, we noticed two shadows, moving in twilight. One of them was surely Steele, who had run from me just few moments earlier. The second was someone I had no want to recall.

In general features she looked like wolf-bitch, but way of her moves told us she couldn’t be joined to any species known to science. Her paws were unnaturally long and each step resembles not a moving, but floating in the air. Her fur was brownish, just like Balto’s coat, but when I focused my eyes, I instantly regretted that. In short clarity of senses I saw as her silhouette was half transparent.

The other had to notice the same, because in that moment we started our howl. Our voices muffled yell of Steele, when misty wolfess pounced on dog. Malamute tried to attack and grab into his jaws paw of enemy, but his fangs hit only the air, or mist that was there. When my team and I reached the loudest point of our howling crescendo, mysterious being reached Steele’s neck and in one decisive press she broke his spine as if that was a thin stick. Then sounded shots.

In fact I had no idea if our call catalysed any events inside of hospital, but I think that master Lucas had to do it anyway. We saw flashes of light in one of dark windows of medical building then colts bangs exceeded even our howls. In next second mr. Marshal broke the glass of window and jumped on the street. Then turned back and shot eight times into dead window of hospital.

I never knew to what fired my owner, but according to terrorised expression locked on his face, when he was running back to us, horror he saw there was at least comparable to what we had witnessed. With no slowing down, master Lucas fire with two remaining rounds into crowd of dogs, without aiming. Burt because Nomers were standing so tightly, two bodies hit the snow.

With kicks and blows of revolvers butt-ends, he cleared his way to the sled. Then he reached for shotgun from under furs. Maybe because of surprise, our persecutors drew back in fear. Seeing my master raising his sawn-off shotgun with expression on face that suggested he was ready to shot even own mother, they retreated to the next corner. Seeing that mr. Marshal – still holding his gun – started to in-harness me.

Usually fear paralyses, but in some cases it gives us strength and decisiveness haven’t every day. Fortunately that time it worked in similar way. Musher instantly noticed that I was unharnessed and with few agile moves he fixed my belts. We also somehow acted like we had to – as soon I was in place, my companions started to pull. Without any guidance we set off to slide and turned north on main street. Meanwhile master Lucas was lying on sled, in panic-haze reloading his revolvers.

We speeded up to about ten miles per hour and pointed directly on edge of town. I yelled with fear, seeing kennels keeper, who crossed our path and raised his arms in gesture of stopping. But then my master let his revolvers loose – they were fortunately bound to his belt by leather straps – and grabbed shotgun he had reloaded in first place. Passing the local by, he fired from both guns, sending young local down to the street in rain of blood. I never thought I would be glad seeing unarmed human being killed, but seeing hateful stare on Nomer’s face I barked with triumph. It was necessary.

Meanwhile we were pulling still and master Lucas finished reloading his revolvers. He did it in good moment, because we heard behind us howls of dogs chase. I turned my muzzle back and even today I