Chapter 4: Gladiator
Balto ran as fast as he possibly could, using his virus power to help his legs move more quickly. The time it took to reach the spot seemed to be just as long as the aggregate days he had been waiting to receive exactly this kind of clue. Only one thought ran through his mind: getting to Jenna. “Hang on, baby!” he called out loud. “I’m coming!” He ran into town via a back street. The place Sorrow wanted him to go turned out to be a spot where the townsfolk would put things they didn’t need or couldn’t use, like scrap metal. These things would be picked up and used by people who could find a purpose for them. Recently, the area had been cleared out, leaving it mostly bare, and when Balto arrived, he saw that the scant leftovers had been moved off to the sides. He stood there, waiting anxiously for a few minutes. Then, he heard someone approach from up ahead, and his ears pricked up as he came to full attention. Sorrow walked out of an alley, and at his side…was Jenna, her scruff in his hand. Balto almost broke out in tears at seeing her alive, and the same thing happened to Jenna. “Jenna!” Balto choked. “Balto!” Jenna gasped. “Are you okay?” Balto asked urgently. “I’m fine,” Jenna said, bravely keeping herself together. “What about you? Are you hurt?” “No, I’m doing alright.” They both smiled, joy and relief taking over their emotions. “It’s going to be okay, Jenna,” Balto said. “I promise. You’ll be alright.” “I know,” Jenna replied. “I believe you.” “Not so fast,” Sorrow said. “Don’t get all happy just yet. We are far from done here. I didn’t bring Jenna here to benefit you in any way, Balto. I brought her because I knew her presence would make you come.” “Yeah, well, why don’t we just cut the chitchat? Have you forgotten that I took out everything you threw at me? Do your worst, slime.” “Strange you should mention the previous advance forms…one of them is here right now. But that’s not all. I was thinking what to do next, and then, the most fabulous inspiration hit me: what if you had to fight…all three at once?” From other alleys, a rabies advance form, a salmonella advance form, and a tetanus advance form appeared, surrounding Balto in a wide-spaced circle. Sorrow continued speaking. “But after that, I thought, why not put every card on the table?” Sorrow laughed as a strep throat advance form and a staph advance form appeared. “I just love difficult odds,” Sorrow said. “Let us stand back and watch, Jenna.” He looked around at the advance forms. “Kill him.”
Balto stood still as the advance forms all came at him in unison. When the first one swung, he jumped high into the air, and three of them barreled into each other, knocking each other flat. As Balto came down, he swung each virus arm at the same time, punching the two that were left standing in the face. The salmonella advance form tried to grab him, and he punched it in the chest, producing the noise of cracking ribs. It fell to the ground, temporarily incapacitated, but Balto didn’t have time to finish it off; the rabies advance form charged at him, and he rolled out of the way, leaving the tetanus advance form to get run over. Balto attacked the staph advance form, starting a high-speed duel, each swinging and blocking in a seamless flurry of motion. The strep throat advance form ran up behind Balto and prepared to swing at him, but he whipped one virus arm around with lightning speed, first knocking the blade aside, then cutting open its thigh, causing it to nearly fall down. Balto was using what the virus arms saw to tell where he had to swing, and it allowed him to fight off multiple assailants. However, when the rabies advance form charged him again, he decided that three was too many to be fending off all at once. The rabies advance form leapt at him, and he sidestepped. The staph advance form’s claws, which had been swinging at Balto’s head, barely missed tearing into the flying advance form’s back, and it pulled back instinctively. Balto used this chance to knock it off balance, sending it crashing down to the ground. The tetanus advance form took a mighty swing at him, and he redirected the blow with a virus arm. However, he wasn’t quick enough to deflect its next attack, a kick in the chest that sent him flying into the air. He fell to the ground, hard, but got up quickly. The salmonella advance form swung one long arm, extending just far enough that its claws slashed Balto’s shoulder. He yelled, stumbling a little as he tried to move forward. The tetanus advance form came at him again, swinging it arm blades over and over.
Balto was blocking the blows, but it took great effort because of the beast’s strength. He was driven back, little by little, as the advance form kept attacking, and soon, his tail hit a wall. The advance form attacked with an upward diagonal swing, which would have taken Balto’s head clean off if he hadn’t dodged to his left. However, with no room to back up, he wouldn’t be able to dodge forever, and the advance form knew that. It swung sideways, and Balto flattened his back against the wall to avoid the strike. The advance form took aim and went forth with its strongest swing yet. Balto ducked just in time, and the advance form’s blades struck the wall. But then, there was no further attack. Balto looked up and saw that the advance form had swung so hard its blades were embedded in the wall, preventing it from attacking. It growled and thrashed, trying to break free, and Balto knew that if he wanted to kill the beast, he would have to do it before the other advance forms, who were hanging back to stay out of the way, realized what was happening and intervened. He extended a virus arms’ teeth and ripped up the advance form’s face, destroying one of its eyes. It yelled with rage and heaved, tearing a section of wall out as it finally broke loose. Balto backed off, and the other advance forms went to move in on him, but the tetanus advance form charged him, swinging. The other advance forms knew that their half-blind comrade would pose just as much danger to them as to Balto, so they reconsidered their idea and moved back, forming a half-circle, intending to attack Balto if he backed up too far. Balto had no intention of backing up; he knew he was in a much better position if he stood his ground. The advance form, insane with rage, swung back and forth again and again, but since one eye was gone, it could hardly see what it was doing. Balto stayed on its blind side, carefully blocking its wild, inaccurate attacks. He lashed out after one attack, punching the beast in the jaw. It moved back a step, then shook its head and came at Balto again. He ducked an attack and punched the advance form in the stomach, and as it bent down, he smashed it in the face again. It grunted and straightened up, preparing to swing again. When it attacked, Balto smacked its arm aside and punched it in the chest twice. These blows were merely in preparation, though; he yelled and swung as hard as he could, once, twice, dealing bone-shattering blows to the advance form’s head. It groaned and took a couple of steps backward. This time, Balto didn’t wait for it to attack him again. He stepped up to it, punching left, right, left, right, hitting the beast over and over, striking harder and harder, faster and faster. Blood began spilling from the creature’s mouth, and it tried desperately to stay on its feet. Balto empowered himself with Ebola, drew a deep breath, and let it out in a mighty roar as he began punching the beast so rapidly the virus arms were in a blur. Crunching and squishing noises began to sound, and blood sprayed from the beast’s mouth in a steady stream as the attacks kept landing. Balto drew one virus arm far back, and then shot it forward with titanic force, sending the advance form crashing into a wall. It fell to the snow, and took only a few more choking breaths before dying.
“Go, Balto!” Jenna shouted. Sorrow smirked. “One down? I wouldn’t be inclined to start the celebration.”
Every advance form attacked Balto. He dodged a swing from the strep throat advance form and punched it in the back, causing it to sprawl facedown in the snow. The rabies and salmonella advance forms swung at him in unison, and he jumped into the air, somersaulting, deflecting their blows and hitting back before he hit the ground. He grabbed the staph advance form and shoved it into the rabies advance form, giving himself a short moment of time to avoid the strep throat advance form, which had gotten to its feet and was attacking him again. He gave it a one-two punch to the stomach, knocking it away, and turned back to face the salmonella advance form. It swung both arms at once, and Balto ran forward, underneath its attack, reaching up with a virus arm and shredding the muscles of its left arm. It shrieked, and Balto knocked it over. The staph advance form attacked him, cutting his back and one of the virus arms while he was distracted. Balto jumped up, spun around in midair, and gave the advance form a devastating left hook to the face. As he came down, the rabies advance form leapt at him, and Balto jumped up again, grabbing the beast in midair and smashing its head into the ground as it fell. The salmonella advance form reached out and cut at Balto’s ribs, and he screamed with pain. It pulled back and tried to stab him, but he ran at it and punched both of its legs, causing it to fall. The strep throat advance form tried to skewer his head, but he ducked and grabbed its arm, at the same time breaking the other. Then, he got an idea. He drove the teeth of one virus arm into the soft inside of the elbow of the arm he was holding onto. The beast cried out, struggling with Balto, who was twisting and pulling. The struggle did not save the advance form, which uttered a bloodcurdling scream as Balto twisted hard and yanked, severing its arm at the elbow. The other advance forms halted their attack suddenly as they saw 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 observing the advance forms that drew back nervously as he passed…