final sigh, I stalked back over to the tattered blanket and threw myself on it. I fell asleep almost immediately.

 

 

            “Come on Buck. Time to get up”

I was in no mood to be woken up, much less woken up early enough to see the sun that was still rising. But Balto wasn’t in a mood to let me sleep.

            “It’s not good for you to just sit around” Balto said in a softer voice. “Doc said so”

I glared at him.

            “Just get up. We’re going into town”

I lazily lifted myself to my feet and followed reluctantly. I should have felt bad for him; his ears and tail were drooping. But his loss was nothing compared to mine. I followed him to the house closest to the abandoned ship. He jumped onto the porch and howled. The front door opened and a red husky, ears back stepped out. Balto must have told her about Nero last night after I had fallen asleep.

            “Buck, this is Jenna”

I nodded curtly. She tucked her ears back and her eyes shifted from Balto to me uneasily. I could already tell she didn’t like me. And so far, I didn’t like her much either.

            “Just stay here for a second Buck; Boris is going to be here in a second…”

“To babysit me?!” I spat angrily.

            “To watch you” Balto said quietly. “You’re still sick”

Before I could object, the huge bird I had almost eaten a few years ago landed with a crash on the front porch.

                        “Iz thes the kiddo?” he asked, pointing to me.

            “Yep. Good luck Boris, you’re gonna need it”

Boris stood up and brushed himself off. I watched in disgust. A week ago, I was the leader of the strongest pack in our mountain range. Now I was being babysat by a goose that was afraid to fly too far off the ground.

                        “So, how are you doing kiddo?” the goose asked in a thick accent.

I turned and walked off the porch.

                        “Guess you are no talker, eh?”

It was time to lose this bird…

Suddenly, I winced and fell on the ground, clutching my stomach and breathing hard. The goose flapped over almost immediately.

“Quick!” I gasped. “Go find Doc! I think I have wolf poisoning!”

                        “Oh, wolf poisoning, right!”

With a honk, the goose flew a few feet above the ground into the town. Once he was out of sight, I got back on my feet and shook off. While I was here, I might as well check out the town. I trotted toward the buildings and into the alleyways. I had to admit, it was a little fun trying to find my way through them. As I picked my way through, a delicious smell hit me. I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. I was a little hungry…

I followed my nose to another building, this one with strange food hanging everywhere. The only problem was that it was inside the building. I circled around and spotted an opening with meat hanging out of it. I looked around, jumped on a trashcan, then into the ledge of the opening. I snagged the meat and ran before anyone caught me.

In yet another alleyway, I laid down to enjoy my food.

            “Looks like we got us a thief”

From out of nowhere, a grey, black and white husky appeared with a few other dogs behind him. Keeping my eyes on him, I stood up.

“What are you going to do about it dog?” I said quietly.

Apparently, this dog wasn’t used to being talked to that way. It looked like someone slapped him across the face.

            “The name’s Klondike, wolf. And I’m the sheriff’s dog. And that makes me sheriff of the dogs of Nome” he stated proudly.

I had no idea what a sheriff was but I guessed it was something like an alpha. And no one was alpha over me.

“Alright Sheriff” I snorted. “How bout you get out of here and I’ll let you get away”

Klondike’s icy blue eyes widened in surprise. I turned back to my food.

            “Get ‘em boys”

Suddenly, I found myself in a wave of kicked up snow. I was angry, but what really got me mad was when a stray rock caught me between the eyes. The dogs stopped kicking up snow to see the affect it had on me. I opened my mouth and shook off the snow.

“I dare you… to do that one more time” I breathed.

Klondikesmiled, turned around and kicked a can at me. The can hit me square in the side. Not that it hurt at all…

“Big mistake” I growled.

Klondiketurned to his friends who complemented him. With a single jump I not only had Klondike pinned but I had knocked him out of the alleyway and onto the street. Other dogs came over from all directions to see what was going on.

“Now I told you not to do that” I said loudly with false kindness. “Now I can’t tell you that you’re a good dog”

The other dogs around us chuckled. I stepped off of Klondike and let him scramble to his feet.

“Ever get into a real fight before, Sheriff?” I said, swishing my tail as I circled him.

Klondikewatched me uneasily.

            “Yea”Klondike stammered. “I’m in charge around here after all”

“Well you got another one coming” I said, crouching.

                        “Buck!”

I whirled around. Balto, Boris and Jenna in tow, came running right up to me.

“You better have a good reason for interrupting” I growled.

Jenna gasped and stepped back. I glared at her. She was getting on my last nerve.

                        “Buck!” Balto repeated stepping in between us. “Wolf poisoning?!”

I couldn’t help but to grin again.

                        “And you can’t just fight! This is Nome! You can’t just get into a fight every time you have a problem! Humans will take you away!”

I turned back to Klondike.

“You got off easy this time… next time, pick a fight with someone you can handle”

Balto started to walk away and motioned for me to follow. He was still a little gloomy, but he seemed to be doing a little better.

                        “We’re going to go to the boiler room” Balto explained. “Doc and a few other dogs are there to meet you”

W walked for a little longer in silence. Finally, Balto sighed loudly.

                        “Alright, the boiler room is on the other side of town so I’m going to teach you a new way of getting around here”

We stepped into an alleyway and Balto surveyed what he had to work with. Then, in a flash, he jumped onto a trashcan, a fence and then the roof of a house.

                        “It’s not as easy as it looks” Balto chuckled. “So don’t get frustrated if-” I jumped from the trashcan, fence and landed next to Balto “-you can’t do it the first time….”

I grinned.

                        “Let’s just go” Balto grumbled.

I followed him across the rooftops, and I let a little gap spread so he got farther and farther ahead. Suddenly, a small sound reached my ears. I skit to a stop, almost sliding off the roof.

                        “Are you okay?!” Balto called.

“Yeah, I’ll meet you there”

                        “Okay” Balto said warily. “It’s the hut with a red glow coming out the door”

With that, I hopped off the roof, straining my ears. I could have sworn it was a pup yelping. I shook my head and looked around for a way to get back on the roof.

Another yip sounded, this time louder.

I spun around, slid off the roof and ran

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