Chapter 7: Blood Army

Balto stood in a dark, quiet room of the fishing warehouse, which he and Jenna returned to when he decided it would be safer to stay there than at the shack. He had been able to use his virus powers to accelerate the healing of Jenna’s wounds so that they were almost completely better already, and he was now working on his own body. His eyes were closed, and random patches of glowing yellow appeared and disappeared on his fur as he took long, slow, relaxed breaths. One of the virus arms turned its head to look at the open door behind Balto, and made an affectionate growl. Jenna stood there, silhouetted in the door by the light behind her, hesitant to enter in the event that Balto was resting. “Come on in, baby,” Balto said gently, and Jenna walked in and came to his side. Balto opened his eyes, startling Jenna a little when she saw that they were glowing yellow, if only faintly. “Sorry to disturb you,” she said. “You didn’t,” Balto replied, and the yellow glow vanished. “I just wanted to thank you for saving my life,” said Jenna. “You threw yourself right at that monster for me, and you hurt yourself so much with your powers…” She choked up suddenly. “It makes me…feel so blessed that you love me that much. I love you.” She gave Balto a grateful kiss, and he returned it, whispering into Jenna’s ear. “I love you, too.” “Do you feel better?” “Much better. You know how you told me Sorrow regenerates? That’s what I was just doing. It worked pretty well.” His voice became a little softer as his eyes met Jenna’s. “I’m actually feeling…really good right now,” he said, a pleasant sensation rising inside him. Jenna felt a rush, a sweet, giddy leap of pleasure, and she smiled. “So am I.”

Balto went over to the radio he had found earlier and turned it on, finding a song with a deep, moody tone, and Jenna shut the door, sealing out all but the moonbeams coming through the single window. They walked to each other, meeting in the center of the room. They nuzzled each other softly, then began to dance slowly, moving about the room with their eyes locked, speaking with quiet voices. “It’s been a while since we’ve danced,” said Jenna. “I’ve missed it.” “Me, too,” said Balto. “When we don’t do that sort of thing for a while, it gets a lot more appealing.” “I know what you mean. Sometimes, I just need to be with you like this, to feel your love for me.” “Isn’t that amazing, what really being in love does? It makes it so you’re perfectly happy just to be with the one you love, just to dance like this, just to feel the other’s heart.” Jenna smiled and gave Balto a kiss. “You know,” she sighed, “I’m glad those virus tools didn’t change who you are inside. You’re still the Balto I know.” “Still, I think I can put them to use,” Balto said, moving closer to Jenna. He coiled the virus arms around her body slowly, lifting her gently off the ground, holding her up close in front of him as he continued to dance. They stared at each other, drinking in the warmth of passion. Jenna put her paws on Balto’s shoulders, caressing him, and he sighed, closing his eyes, savoring the sensation. He opened his eyes, moving Jenna close to him, and they let their lips touch tenderly, feeling like their pleasure and the tones of the song were combining to carry them both like waves. They held the kiss for a long time, turning around slowly, loving the sense that they could nearly taste love itself. After several moments, they released the kiss, staring into each other’s eyes again before Balto lowered Jenna, letting her feet touch the floor again. They began dancing together again, standing side by side, mimicking each other’s steps. “How incredible is this?” Jenna said. “Even in the middle of all this horror, all this death, we can still just kind of…shut it out and focus on our love?” “There’s another great thing about love. Nothing physical can ever harm it. No matter what happens to us, we still have that.” “And no one can steal it away.” “That’s right.” They smiled, nuzzling each other again, and Jenna looked out the window at the moon. “Why is moonlight so conductive to passion?” she asked. “I don’t know,” Balto replied. “Maybe it’s just one of those things, like the color red, or velvet, or a fire burning low in a fireplace.” “That sounds familiar…like back at home…” Jenna said, and they both broke into a grin, giggling as they kissed each other, intensifying their dance. “It’s great when music and feelings kind of…line up, you know?” “Adding to each other?” “Yeah, when each makes the other better.” “I love those times.” Balto wrapped the virus arms around Jenna again, lifting and tilting her so she was on her back, facing up at him, holding her body close as he kept moving to the beat. She licked his neck, and he shivered, kissing her head. After a short time of more kisses, Balto set Jenna back on her feet again, and they sat down, putting their paws around one another, breathing heavily from the pleasure. Balto drew one of his paws up and down Jenna’s ear, touching it with his claws, causing her to shudder and breathe harder. She leaned toward Balto, kissing his neck just above his shoulder, producing a similar reaction. These were what the pair called “sweet spots”, the places on their bodies that would incite pleasant feelings if the right contact was made. They looked at each other, gasping for breath, and Balto spoke. “I love you, Jenna,” he said. “I love you, too, Balto,” Jenna replied. “Now, why don’t we go to the window and look at the moon?” asked Balto. Jenna nodded. “Sounds good.” They went slowly to the window. Balto walked up behind Jenna and wrapped his paws around her body, and she took a step back, pressing against his chest. As the moonlight splashed over them, they carried each other away with the wings of euphoria…

Later on in the night, the two went to sleep, allowing Balto in particular some much-needed rest after the ordeal in the cavern. They still got up fairly early in the morning to see if there was a clue waiting, but it turned out, much to their surprise, that there was nothing. They went back to sleep for a couple more hours, and the rest of the day passed without incident. When night fell, they were planning on staying up and spending some time with each other, but the idea was cut short when Abaddon suddenly arrived. “Why are you here?” Balto asked urgently. “Did something happen to the others?” “No,” Abaddon said, with a strange dread in his voice. “I am here because I believe something will happen.” This didn’t exactly reassure Balto. “What?” he said. “The mountain of the leper caves,” said Abaddon. “I assume you destroyed it?” Balto was surprised that Abaddon knew about that. “Um…yes,” he replied. “How did you know?” asked Jenna. “That is what I wished to speak with you about. You see, the leprae swarm mutated decades ago, but none of them could mutate further into advance forms. One beast, the Dreadnaught, was a different sort of mutation. It knew that though its purpose was to herd the swarm, they would need a leprosy advance form to lead them, so they dug that cavern and began hibernating, waiting for the day when an advance form would arrive and lead them. According to the mythos surrounding the swarm, they knew that heavy snow or avalanches might seal the door, so they dug a second entrance, a tiny passage out the lower rear of the cavern. Now, during your escape…” “Where I had to kill the Dreadnaught.” “Correct. A number of the bacilli made an escape out this other entrance.” Now, Balto knew why Abaddon was disturbed. “How many?” “A little less than two hundred, out of the thousands that slept in there. I came to you because they are gathering outside the town. Even though the Dreadnaught, which was their ‘shepherd’, is dead, they still must satisfy their taste for blood. Tonight, they will attack the town.” Jenna looked at Balto. “What are we going to do?” Balto was thinking deeply, seeming to be focused on what he knew about his powers. He was looking for information about swarms, and he finally stumbled across something new. A look that resembled a cringe came to his face, and shortly after this, he headed for the door, with Jenna and Abaddon following him. “Where are we going?” Jenna asked. “To Seaman’s Sleep,” Balto replied grimly.

Seaman’s Sleep was a mass grave near the seashore outside of town, used as a burial site for sailors who met their end at sea. The walk there was slightly strenuous because of the distance, but none of the three cared. Abaddon went off to gather a report on the leprosy swarm, and Jenna stayed with Balto, who went onto the burial site. “What are we doing here, Balto?” asked Jenna. Balto began digging in the snow as he answered. “Since there’s no way I can fight hundreds of those bacteria by myself, I’m going to need some assistance.” His paws reached earth, and he continued digging. “Now, when I searched for information about swarms, I found out that new viruses are produced…” Here he hit something with his paws, and stuck the virus arms into the hole, “…from dead bodies.” He pulled a decomposing corpse from the hole, depositing it on the snow. “Isn’t this, um…irreverent?” Jenna asked, somewhat shocked by Balto unexpectedly digging up a dead body. “He’s not using it anymore,” said Balto. “Besides, I need to do this. The whole town’s at stake.” He took a deep breath, gathering up his courage, his face showing his resignation at what was about to happen. “This’ll be disgusting. Here we go…”

Balto manipulated the growth chemical excreted from the virus arm’s teeth inside the corpse for almost half an hour, testing different paths of progression, finding out what advanced the process, calibrating to the proper chemical configuration. Finally, he released the virus arm’s teeth, pulling them out of the body. “Now, we have to wait,” he said. “You’ll see what’s happening.” Over the space of fifteen minutes, the corpse seemed as it was at first, then slightly bloated. Soon, it began slowly disintegrating, coming to pieces that were gradually eaten away by an invisible consumer. Eventually, there was little left of the body; it was reduced to a disfigured mass of bones and mutilated skin. Then, the midsection of the body bulged and split open, most of the torso breaking to pieces at the same time. Out of the pile of flesh, a five-foot high, worm-like, skinny yellow monster rose, uncoiling from its tightly-wound position in the abdomen of the corpse from which it had grown, gradually digesting the body chemically to give it the energy needed for growth to full size. It turned around slowly, staring at Balto and Jenna with blood-red eyes that had no iris or pupils, taking vibrating breaths, balancing on a knotted section at the base of its body. Balto walked toward it, raising himself up off the ground with the virus arms, walking himself along with them so he could stare the beast in the eye. He stopped just in front of it, and it stared at him, not doing anything. “You know what this thing is, Jenna?” She shook her head, awed rather than afraid. “No. What is it?” “It’s an Ebola virus. It’s just like the small ones that cause the disease, only bigger and in the form of an organism. All it knows is ‘kill’, ‘eat’, and ‘spread’. It’ll do whatever I tell it; it sees me as an advance form, like Abaddon. Don’t worry, it won’t hurt me or anyone else unless I tell it to.” The virus bowed its head submissively, and Balto lowered himself to the ground, standing on his feet again. “I’ll help you dig up some bodies,” said Jenna. “Thanks,” said Balto. “We’re going to need a few more…”

With Jenna’s help, Balto was able to create more Ebola base forms very quickly, now getting two out of each body. About half an hour later, Abaddon returned, telling them that the leprosy swarm had gathered some distance from the north side of town. After doing so, he went back to town to guard the others, and Balto and Jenna walked to the north of Nome, accompanied by their own swarm, a horde of about one hundred and fifty Ebola viruses that followed behind them, snarling and growling, each one virtually identical in appearance. The lights of the town could be seen on their left, going out one by one. According to Abaddon’s directions, the leprosy swarm had gathered dead ahead. Balto nodded towards a hill to their right, speaking to Jenna. “You should go over there,” he said. “It won’t be safe down there.” Jenna nodded, even though it was clear in her eyes that she wanted to stay with Balto. He saw this and nuzzled her. “I’m coming back. I promise.” Jenna smiled and nuzzled Balto, then walked away toward the hill. Balto continued ahead, telepathically ordering the Ebola viruses to form up into an arrow shape behind him.

Down on the snowy ground below, the swarm of leprosy bacteria sat idly, waiting as their formerly installed knowledge prompted them. They were to wait a certain amount of time for either the Dreadnaught or Sorrow to come and assume the role of their leader. If neither came, they would attack Nome on their own, driven simply by hunger. That time was drawing near, and the swarm became increasingly angry as their lust for blood intensified. Then, suddenly, an unearthly scream tore across the snowdrifts, causing the bacilli to raise their flagella defensively and look around, knowing that whatever it was had come for them, but not knowing what it was or where. One of them looked up at a hill of snow to the west, quickly uttering an alarmed growl to the rest of them. Up on the hill, Balto was extending his virus arms skyward, and though he and the virus arms were yelling a bloody war cry, the force of it came from the Ebola swarm that were uttering it simultaneously. The Ebola viruses came up directly behind him, ready for battle, and the leprosy swarm turned their attention toward the hill, gathering together in preparation. “CHARGE!” Balto roared, and he took off down the hill, followed by the flood of Ebola viruses. A screech rolled across the leprosy swarm, and they charged at Balto and the Ebola swarm. The two armies closed the distance in seconds, the first ones on each side jumping as they came within yards, rising and crashing into each other like tsunamis. A mass of pathogens twisted around each other as they collided, biting and tearing flesh with the fury of enraged predators. Yellow and green blood washed the snow, riddled with chunks of tissue, staining the white away. Balto stayed in approximately the center of the battle instead of running with one of the stream-like Ebola groups that remained together as they charged back and forth, biting and slashing at any bacilli that approached him. He jumped with a backflip, shredding a bacillus in the process, then grabbed its body, using it as a huge blunt weapon when he came down, scattering leprosy bacilli like they weighed nothing. He punched one in the side, crushing it, then picked up another and threw it forward with a spin, clearing away many more.

From her vantage point on the hill, Jenna couldn’t tell which way the battle was turning. The Ebola viruses were less scattered, staying partially in large groups that moved about, slaughtering as they went, but since the leprosy bacilli were so spread out, they could make kills anywhere. However, Jenna wasn’t nearly as concerned about them as she was about Balto; she watched him, observing how he was keeping himself safe by having a small number of Ebola viruses with him at all times. But then, as she watched, a surge of leprosy bacilli began circling Balto’s group, taking down his helpers one by one, until before long, he was alone and surrounded. “BALTO!” she screamed, sprinting down the hill. The other Ebola viruses couldn’t help Balto; they were struggling to keep the leprosy swarm from grouping up. Jenna ran into the fray, ducking under flying corpses, dodging shrieking pathogens that still lived, ripping each other apart. A leprosy bacillus jumped on Jenna’s back, and she screamed as it tried to take her to the ground, expecting to die immediately. However, almost the instant the bacillus was on her back, an Ebola virus jumped and bit, taking it off of her so cleanly she didn’t even lose her balance. As it fell, the Ebola virus drove its head into the bacillus’ body, sending a spout of green blood shooting out as it writhed in death. Jenna ran on, making her way through the battle.

Balto was overwhelmed, and he knew it; there were simply too many bacteria around him to hold back. As he was distracted killing a pair, a single one came up behind him, ready to pounce and bite into his neck. However, as it opened its mouth, Jenna’s jaws clamed onto one of its flagella, and as she pulled, she exerted enough force to pop the fragile tentacle clean off. The beast roared in pain, sharply feeling the destruction of the sensitive organ, and Balto whirled around. “Jenna?!?” he shouted. The bacillus that was now missing a flagellum turned its rage toward Jenna, nearly catching her throat as it lunged and she jumped back. Balto yelled and seized the bacillus, holding it up in the air with both virus arms, pulling, pulling…until its body severed, ripped in half, spilling blood and entrails. Balto dropped the dead bacillus, turning toward Jenna. “Thank you,” he said. “I owe you one.” Several bacilli came at them, and Balto jumped between Jenna and the attackers, fighting like a maniac, biting their faces and ramming the virus arms through their bodies, butchering over a dozen in seconds. He called two Ebola viruses and told Jenna to go with them. “Make sure she stays alive,” he said to the escorts, and they headed off quickly out of the hot spot with Jenna. Balto was finally able to rally more Ebola viruses to him, and he waded into the thickest part of the battle with them, plowing through the leprosy bacilli until he reached one of the unified Ebola streams, leading it through areas that the other streams weren’t reaching. His stream split up when they reached one such area, and he dove into the leprosy bacteria, peeling one’s skin as he leapt over it, then grabbing its flagella and throwing it over his shoulder, crushing it on the ground. One dove at him, and he caught it, spinning around and releasing it, allowing a pair of Ebola viruses to jump and tear into it in midair. He gave another one an uppercut, stunning it, then disemboweled it with both virus arms, kicking its body away. As he looked around, he saw that the Ebola viruses were winning. Ahead of him, most of the remaining leprosy bacilli formed a disorganized group, obviously intending to charge again. Balto gathered two Ebola streams behind him, merging them into one, and ran at the gathering, smashing it to pieces and slaughtering the bacteria. All over the hills, the Ebola viruses were taking down the remnants of the now-outnumbered leprosy bacteria. Balto climbed a small hill, looking at the sleeping town nearby. “You’re still safe,” he thought, and the virus arms uttered a cry of victory.

The Ebola viruses gathered the bacilli’s bodies that were a certain distance from the center of the battle closer in, depositing them in gory piles that dripped blood and fragments of torn skin. Balto walked around the battlefield, making sure that no leprosy bacilli were left alive, then went to find Jenna. She was lying in the snow, her fur matted with blood from the Ebola and leprosy pathogens alike, waiting for him. He stopped in front of her, looking into her eyes. She looked around at the horrific sight, her face showing the aftereffects of terror and extreme stress. Balto caressed her face, and as she looked at him, it was obvious that she was emotionally drained. “Please. Take me away from this,” her eyes read. Balto leaned forward and kissed her, and she returned it, closing her eyes and reaching up to put her paws around him. Balto used virus cleansing on her body, eliminating the blood, and wrapped the virus arms around her, putting her on his back and holding her close to him. As Balto began walking, the area around them erupted into deep yellow flame, and Jenna looked around, watching the effects of Balto’s virus cleansing on the mostly-intact bodies of the bacteria and viruses, seeing how they ignited and burned away like tinder. The whole battlefield, drenched in blood, covered with dead bodies, burned under the cleansing, lighting up the drifts like a caldera volcano. The still-living Ebola viruses slithered into the flames, killing themselves voluntarily to erase all presence of Ebola from the area, and it looked almost like a strange, arcane death ritual. Balto’s eyes glowed yellow brightly from the intensity of the power, and continued to do so until the very last of the flame went out. Aside from various patterns in the snow from the creatures that had just been moving over it, not a trace was left of the battle; not a drop of blood, not a shred of flesh remained. Balto carried Jenna silently all the way to the warehouse, where he made a bed for her and laid her down on it. He lay on her, stretching his body out over hers, resting his head on the side of her neck, letting one of his paws sit on her muzzle, making her feel completely enshrouded by his touch. Safe in this cloak of comfort, Jenna still was nervous, and Balto could feel her trembling. He brought his mouth up to her ear, kissing it gently. “Don’t be afraid, baby,” he whispered. “Nothing on this earth but me will touch you tonight.” He nuzzled Jenna, beginning to sing “Truly Madly Deeply” for her. Now, soothed by his voice, she drifted off quickly, and Balto didn’t sleep until she did. As he went to sleep, he raised the virus arms and turned them towards the door, keeping them vigilant throughout the night.