Chapter 3: The Game

After vacating the warehouse, Sorrow and his servants had proceeded immediately to another hideout, an abandoned explosives factory formerly used to make blasting equipment. Jenna saw that it was completely set up and waiting for them, and was surprised at how well coordinated Sorrow’s plan was. There were no chains here; Sorrow merely used a collar and cable. He was rather busy now compared to how he had been, looking intently over his plans and speaking to several advance forms. The ones he spoke to directly were strep throat and staph advance forms, but Jenna also saw a single entity of a new type that went unidentified. Often, Sorrow would cease what he was doing, close his eyes, and just stand for several moments in a trance-like state, telepathically communicating with other, unseen advance forms. One thing, however, he spent a great deal of time on. He had what appeared to be a map, along with a few diagrams that Jenna thought looked strange. One of these appeared to be a triangle with a smaller, inverted triangle inside it, and the inverted triangle had several terrace-like ridges on its two inner lower sides. Sorrow studied this with particular interest, usually with another advance form at his side. “Maybe that’s what he’s here looking for,” Jenna thought. “But then…what is it?” About the time she wondered this, Sorrow ceased to study the papers and began speaking to a strep throat advance form with enough volume that she was able to catch what they were saying. “The plan will allow me plenty of time. I am fairly certain it’s the mountain nearest the one I landed on. It will take at least a day to search properly, so Nemesis will be in charge. And if I hear bad reports about anyone, that ‘anyone’ will have to suffer. I don’t want the plan endangered just because I’m not here. The most important thing is to keep Jenna from escaping; this place is far less contained, so do not let her off that cable for any reason, unless you must do it to prevent her dying. We cannot have her killed or damaged; the part she must play is not yet complete. I was not thinking earlier today when I was going to injure her; I am glad Balto arrived before I got the chance. I still need to still have a guaranteed way to force him to play my game.” “Undamaged, you say? Her injury could be great motivation for her husband…” “I have instructed Nemesis to kill anyone who tries to harm her, and you are dangerously close to giving me some motivation…to kill you right now.” He punched the advance form, sending it flying into the wall. “Now do as I say, without questions. If I want your ideas, I’ll request them. Behave yourself, and there won’t be any trouble. I told a staph advance form to give Balto the next clue, and the next attacker has been ordered to begin its task, so we have nothing left that has to be done for now.” Sorrow went out the door, and the strep throat advance form watched him as he walked away through the snow. When Sorrow was well away, it turned around and looked at Jenna. She swallowed hard, not liking the look on its face; she could tell it was very angry. “I would love to hurt someone,” it said. “And you know what? You’re the only one around right now.” It shut the door. Turning around, it walked up to Jenna. It raised a hand, and she screamed…

Sunlight streamed through holes in the canopy of the thick trees, diffusing slightly as it struck hazy mist rising in patches near the ground. A small village sat among the trees, the buildings looking dismal in the mist. Balto had no idea of why or how he was in a jungle, and he looked around, curious to discover where exactly this was. Near his position, there was a dirty sign that read “KU-YUBAM”. He noticed that it was strangely quiet; there was none of the ambient sound one would expect jungle wildlife to produce. There was just an eerie silence hanging in the humid air. Balto licked his lips, nagging thirst bothering him, and decided to look for a source of water. He approached one of the buildings, a house, but as he did, a ghastly dread overtook him. He wasn’t sure what it came from, but he thought it might be a smell that his nose was picking up, a smell that wasn’t quite right, coming from the door of the structure. It was at this moment that the first sound came to his ears: running water. “I guess that’s a river,” he said to himself, leaving the building and walking through the thick undergrowth. The sound grew louder, letting Balto know he was getting close. He pushed through a final pair of bushes…and stopped dead in his tracks. Indeed, there was a river. A river of blood. Every drop was bright crimson, and the gory smell of it permeated every breath that Balto took. “What is this?” he said aloud. Then, something caught his eye to his left, a few feet away, and he swung his head to look. It was a monkey, lying twisted and dead in a pool of its own blood. He gasped and shrank back. Across the river, there was a man with a rifle and a skinning knife, lying on the ground in the same manner. There was an antelope as well, and a different monkey. Both of them were just lying there, covered with their own blood. Balto looked around at them all, horrified. “What on earth happened?” he shouted. “Welcome,” a voice said, and Balto turned to see the speaker. It was a strange mass of yellow worms squirming atop a rock. Gradually, it changed its shape until it looked exactly like Balto, then stepped off the rock and spoke again. “You know me now. I am Ebola.” “Where is this place?” “This is my home, my roots. What you see before you is the Ebola River. Did you not wonder why everything is dead?” “So…they’re all Ebola victims?” “Oh, yes. The body cannot kill me. That is why I am so deadly.” It paused and looked over Balto’s shoulder. “Ah. Look who it is.” Balto turned around, wondering who else could possibly have arrived mysteriously in the jungle with him. Then he recognized her. Jenna. She half-stumbled toward him, taking in raspy breaths. There was blood, so much blood. Her ears, her nose, her eyes, her gums…they all dripped with red. “Balto…” she gasped, “help me…please…” She gagged, a soupy red substance dripping from her mouth, and vomited a tremendous amount of blood, spotted with black chunks of half-liquid entrails, and collapsed, blood pouring from her open mouth and spreading out in a pool over the ground. Balto was shaking violently, unable to move from the shock. “Jenna?!?” he cried, terror in his face. “Ebola infects many species,” said the beast behind him. Balto spun around to face the Ebola creature, and it spoke again. “Few victims escape death.” It raised one of its front legs, morphing it into a weapon that resembled a scorpion pincer. “You shall not be one of them.” It swung at him, and he ducked, the claws snapping together where his head would have been. As the monster kept trying to hit him, a splashing sound came from the river, and several large yellow worms, which Balto assumed were Ebola viruses, emerged and began circling the two rapidly, forming a ring. Balto was driven back by the beast, and the living boundary moved until it was halfway in the river. The creature backed Balto up onto a rock protruding over the blood, and his hind foot slipped a little on the edge. “I wouldn’t touch the river if I were you,” the beast said, with a wicked smile. “It is fatally hot with Ebola. You will die.” It thrust its pincer again, and Balto jumped into the air, the pincer taking a chunk out of the rock below him. He came down and bashed the monster in the face with a paw, running past it to get back on solid ground. The monster altered its shape so it faced Balto without having to actually turn around. As Balto approached the edge of the living ring, one of the viruses bit at him, and he dodged, only to have to avoid another attack from the Ebola creature. He backed up in a different direction, and got in a position where he happened to see Jenna. There was so much of her blood around her on the ground it looked as if every drop in her body had been spilled. She was clearly dead. Balto’s grief and fear fused together and grew, becoming unimaginable rage. “You killed her!” he roared, charging at the creature. It fell back under his assault, unable to stand its ground even with its tremendous power, yelling as Balto tore into its body, sending spurts of blood shooting out. Balto looked behind it, and an idea came to him. He turned around quickly and kicked the beast in the jaw with his hind legs. It flew backwards, and one of the viruses in the ring turned, opening its mouth. The back of the monster’s head went right to it, and it clamped its jaws together, teeth piercing straight into the beast’s brain. Its eyes bulged, and it opened its mouth for a death shriek. Blood began spewing from its mouth and ears as if from a burst pipe, but the scream went unhindered until the blood stopped, at which point the noise trailed off, and the beast died, its blood falling and spattering Balto like a morbid red shower of rain for several seconds. He turned around, looking at Jenna. “Please…” he moaned. “Jenna, wake up! Please! PLEASE!” He could see the viruses that had overwhelmed her, squirming on her and through her…

Balto jumped up from the floor, coming out of his sleep screaming. He turned back and forth, uttering bloodcurdling yells as he smashed supports, walls, a table, some boxes; anything within reach was destroyed by some tremendous strength that was suddenly erupting from inside him. Suddenly, he heard a loud buzz in his ears, and a ghostly yellow light appeared at the top of his vision. Somehow, he knew a sheet of broken metal from the ceiling was falling at him. He leapt back with lightning speed, and the metal crashed to the floor where he had been standing. He pounded the floor three times with the virus arms, crushing holes into the concrete. “JENNA!” he screamed. Slowly, as he stood there, his mind recovered from the nightmare as he realized its horrific picture wasn’t reality, and he breathed hard, his pounding heart slowing down, the strange effects on his body fading away. Some blood was on his face from his mouth and eyes, and he burned it off. “What was that?” he thought, wondering how so many of his virus powers could function at such great power at the same time. He shrugged it off and decided to look and see if any clues had arrived. Indeed, one had. The clue was sitting right in the mail slot. Balto assumed the advance form that brought it must have come when he had inadvertently dozed off. It was another envelope. He opened it hurriedly, wondering what he would have to do next.

Mister Balto,

I have another challenge for you. Fine work completing the first, by the way. Three sled dog friends of yours are about to have a visitor. As to which one it is, here is a riddle: what is furry, four-legged, and lathered up on the face? If you said “a dog that’s shaving”, you’re wrong. Go quickly. My servant is on his way.

Regards,

Sorrow

“Oh, no!” Balto thought. “Sorrow isn’t just going to use Jenna! He’ll attack everyone to get to me!” He flung the letter down and raced off for Nome.

Nikki, Kaltag and Star were wandering through the alleys, bantering back and forth as they often did. Nikki was speaking. “Them talent shows is nice and all, but why have they got to serve such lousy food?” “Oh, yeah,” said Kaltag. “It is the most disgusting, the most nauseating, the most distasteful, the most…” Star spoke up. “It’s pretty darn bad.” Kaltag pounded Star on the head with an irate snarl, and he fell down, recovering after a few seconds. “Hey, guys,” he said, “let’s head to restaurant. There’s great food there, and maybe we can get control of the radio!” The others agreed heartily, and they began to head off. Kaltag, however, stopped abruptly and turned around. “What was that?” he said. “What’s what?” said Star. “I heard a noise. Listen.” There was a dull thump, and slight rattling. “I hears it, too,” said Nikki. “It’s coming from over…” Several boxes were scattered left and right from an alley as a large, roaring creature burst from it. It looked at them, growling low. Its skin was purple and leathery, glistening in the daylight, and its body was very solid and sturdy looking. Its eyes were bright orange, filled with a fire and madness unlike anything the trio had ever seen. Saliva dribbled in a steady stream from its mouth, and there was white froth on its chin and the sides of its face, clumps of which quivered on its lips as it spoke. “Are you Nikki, Kaltag, and Star?” “Y-y-yeah,” Nikki stammered. “Who are yous?” “I…” It hissed and twitched. “I am your worst nightmare.” They didn’t understand. “You are confused? I am a virus advance form, a mutant pathogenic monster.” It growled, and its eyes widened and rolled downward for a moment. “Now think hard about this: what is the one virus dogs fear more than any other?” It raised its voice to a high, mocking impression of a frightened human. “Mad dog! Mad dog!” The trio backed away, knowing now what stood before them. “It’s…it’s rabies!” Kaltag cried. The creature laughed maniacally, then hunched its shoulders and charged them.

The trio turned around and ran through the alleys, taking many turns, although they all truly knew that they couldn’t escape. The mad monster crashed off of walls and through boxes and such things, disregarding any hazard of injury, growling and snapping its jaws the whole way. As they turned a corner, the trio was terrified to discover that a five-foot pile of junk was blocking their way. Star looked up it, trying to see if there was a way over. Then, he screamed out loud. Nikki and Kaltag looked to see what he had, and they screamed too. At the top of the pile, Balto was standing, two horrifying tentacles with heads growing out of his back. “Balto?!?” Kaltag said, so frightened he could barely speak. “Is…is that yous, Balto?” Nikki said. “Yeah, guys, it’s me!” Balto shouted. “What happened?” Star said. “You’re like…part monster!” “I don’t have time to explain right this minute! You have to trust me!” The rabies advance form came around the corner and halted when it saw Balto. “What are we gonna do?!?” Star screamed. Balto jumped down from the pile, landing between the advance form and his friends. “You guys just keep your heads down,” he said. He stared at the advance form, whose eyes were bulging with insanity. “Out of the way, fool,” it snarled, its slimy tongue throwing trails of foamy saliva as it spoke. “I’m staying right where I am,” Balto replied, his voice threatening. “Back off. Sorrow has it in for me, but that doesn’t mean others have to suffer.” “Oh yes, it does. As long as we are here, Sorrow figured we might as well have some fun. Your friends are doomed. And before long, both them and you will be decomposing.” “You’ll have to get through me to reach them.” “Then I’ll just tear right through you, fleabag. Rabies eats dogs for breakfast!” It laughed and looked up, orange light shooting from its eyes as it empowered itself with the rabies virus. It uttered a murderous scream and flung itself at Balto, who defensively raised a virus arm to deflect the first attack. The advance form hit the tensed arm with incredible force, knocking Balto down and sending him sliding backward through the snow. It jumped, intending to come down on him, but he rolled out of the way, and the beast landed face first on the ground, having fallen like a rock. Balto expected the creature to be injured, or at least stunned, but he was wrong; it merely lifted its head from the snow and got up, yelling and swinging at the air before reacquiring its target. It charged like a bull, head lowered and teeth bared. At the very last possible moment, Balto moved just a foot to his left, and as the monster ran by, unable to reverse its own momentum, he punched it in the side. It lost its balance and stumbled forward, its head crashing into a wall. It fell down, and for a moment, it lay still, but then, it stood up again, a little unsteady on its feet. It roared, and Balto thought that instead of injuring it, he might be merely making it angrier. The beast ran clean through a few barrels, smashing them to pieces, and as it approached, it grabbed a rock from the ground and threw it at Balto. He blocked the rock, but it distracted him long enough for the advance form to begin to attack him. The creature had little in the way of finesse, but its furious madness drove it to a state where it was deadly enough to compensate. Swinging violently over and over, it finally battered Balto’s virus arms out of its way, and lacerated his chest with its claws. He yelled with pain, and the monster drove its knee into his jaw, knocking him on his back. It jumped on him and opened its mouth, full of uneven teeth covered with foam, and tried to bite him in the face. Balto used his virus arms to hold the creature back just enough, its mouth opening and closing, maniacal growls coming from its throat as its teeth snapped shut with metallic clacks over and over. It spoke to him, its eyes rolling with insanity. “You will get the disease,” it said. “Then, you’ll get your little honey back, but not for long! It’ll take you over, get in your head. You’ll feel your control slipping away. Oh, yes…” It grinned. “You’ll want to bite her…and you will. You won’t be able to stop yourself. Then you can die, knowing a gun will kill her long before the disease can!” It began to laugh, but in doing so, it was distracted for just a moment…and Balto flung it off of him. He stood up, overcome with fury, and began attacking the advance form, the wrath fueled by his love becoming ten times as strong as the anger of his opponent. He smashed through its guard, then seized both its wrists and twisted sharply. The sound of snapping cartilage rang through the air. The advance form screeched, its forearms rendered useless, and buckled from the pain. Balto punched it in the chest, and it flew into a wall, its head whacking against the boards. It fell, and before it could stand again, Balto was beside it. He swung a virus arm down, striking the beast on the side of the head, and it cried out. Balto swung again, and again, and again, the blows yielding ugly crunching sounds as the advance form’s head gradually caved in. Before very long, it was no longer moving.

Balto sat down, taking deep breaths for a moment, then walked over to where Nikki, Kaltag, and Star were huddled in a box. “It’s dead, guys,” he said. “Go ahead and come out.” They did, cautiously, staring with awe at the virus arms. “Holy smokes,” said Kaltag. “How did yous get those things?” Nikki asked. “Yeah, what are they?” Star added. “A creature gave them to me to keep Nome safe from those things,” Balto said, nodding towards the dead rabies advance form. “Things?” Star said. “You ain’t telling us there’s more than one of them?” said Kaltag. Balto nodded. “As if one wasn’t bad enough,” said Nikki. All three of them looked frightened, and Balto could tell that the virus arms still disturbed them. “Look, guys,” he said reassuringly, “I promise, I’m Balto. These things didn’t change me, but it’s a good thing I have them. The leader of these monsters is going to send one of them after everyone I know.” “So, what do we three do?” asked Kaltag. “You guys need to go and hide,” said Balto. “For now, you’re safe, but I don’t know if more of these things will come after you. Just stay in the boiler room for a while. Make sure to take some food when you go there so you won’t have to leave.” “How long do you think this’ll go on?” Star asked. Balto shook his head. “I don’t know. I’ll find a time to check on you later. Right now, you just need to stay hidden.” “Okay,” said Nikki. “Let’s go, guys. Thank for giving us a hand, Balto.” “Yeah,” said Kaltag, “thanks. We’d be dead meat if it weren’t for you.” “You saved our lives,” Star said. “Thanks.” Balto nodded. “You’re welcome, guys.” Nikki, Kaltag, and Star headed off hurriedly, and Balto went to the body of the dead rabies advance form. He extended one of the virus arms and used virus cleansing on the body. As he had hoped, the entire thing burned up, all of the remains gradually fading until there was nothing left but white snow. After it was gone, he headed back to the fishing warehouse, trying to think of where Jenna might be as he walked. It was quite obvious that Sorrow had more than one hideout, and Balto assumed the advance form had taken Jenna to a different one. Still, he didn’t know how many other hideouts Sorrow had, and even if he did, he wouldn’t know where they were. The frustration brought by being able to do nothing except wait was incredible, and after Balto got back to the warehouse, he spent a great deal of time thinking, but without any success. He sighed and sat down in front of a window, looking out at Nome and the sunset, wishing more than anything that Jenna were there with him, so he could hold her and keep the advance forms from hurting her. “I love you, baby,” he said out loud, closing his eyes and sighing. “Just hang in there.”

Jenna lay curled up in a corner, breathing hard with fear, hoping that the strep throat advance form wouldn’t decide to begin attacking her again. She had managed to avoid most of its blows, but not all, and when she hadn’t, it had hurt quite badly; the advance form made sure it was enough to make her scream. At least she wasn’t injured, but she knew that was mostly a matter of luck, and that if the advance form attacked again, she wouldn’t be that lucky. She shuddered at the stark memory of its snarling face as it had swung at her, and she curled up tighter. The advance form, which had been going about its business in relative calm, suddenly looked at her, meeting her eyes with a look that made Jenna know for sure that she would not be so fortunate this time. It walked toward her slowly, holding one blade out to the side, ready to slice. Jenna began shaking uncontrollably, almost able to feel the blade tearing at her body. “Please…” she said, desperate fear in her voice. “Please, no…” The advance form continued, showing no signs of stopping. “No…no, please! Don’t hurt me!” Her voice volume increased with her fear as the advance form approached. “No! I’m begging you! Don’t hurt me, please! NO!” It drew its arm back, and Jenna’s pleas turned into one long scream of terror…just as the door opened. The advance form turned around to see Sorrow standing in the doorway, and it straightened up, the look on its face saying that it knew it was in grave trouble. Sorrow crossed the room to the advance form, stopping right in its face. “So…” he said, “what have we been doing?” He was silent for a moment, then, without warning, rammed his claws into the advance form’s chest. It cried out and didn’t cease. Jenna watched in horror as the advance form’s body turned white, the skin peeling and sloughing off hideously. Sorrow lifted the advance form into the air, still impaling it on his claws, sending a flood of leprosy bacilli into its body. The rotten smell filled the air, the advance form’s now-white body disintegrating and vaporizing, its face and limbs rotting to nothing, eventually leaving a decayed, shapeless white mass that looked like a wad of melted mozzarella. Sorrow let what was left of the body drop to the floor, and Jenna turned her eyes away from the ghastly sight. “Are you hurt?” Sorrow asked, facing her. Jenna shook her head, swallowing hard. “Very well,” said Sorrow. “I will bring you your food.” Jenna looked at the dead half-body, wondering how she could possibly eat anything. Even as she wondered, however, the body gradually dissolved until nothing remained, consumed by the leprosy bacilli. Fortunately, the sickening stench was gone by the time Sorrow arrived with the food.

As she ate, Jenna listened to a conversation Sorrow began with a staph advance form. “Did you find it?” asked the advance form. “No,” Sorrow replied. “I believe I was close, but…I can’t be certain. I started an avalanche by mistake; after that, I left.” “Are you going to go back tomorrow?” “There is no point. If I can destroy Balto, I will be able to search at my leisure. Order the next attacker to begin his task. It is already at the staging hideout. I will see to it that Balto receives the next clue.” “How do we know the rabies advance form has failed?” “It would have been back by now had it succeeded. Go on.” The staph advance form left the room, and Sorrow looked at Jenna. “Balto has some talent, apparently. My second challenge did not overcome him. We’ll see how he handles the next, eh?” Jenna shook her head. “You’re underestimating Balto. He has more strength than you think, and he loves me more than anything. I guarantee you, because you’ve taken me like this, he’s going to punish you for it when he finds you. Whatever he has to do, he’ll do it to get me back, and after he does, there’ll be nothing to make him cooperate with you. He’s going to hurt you.” Sorrow laughed, and Jenna spoke again. “I’m not just trying to intimidate you or something; I’m giving you a warning. Balto pays back harm done to me tenfold. But if you let me go, and I go back to him, I’ll tell him you let me go, and he’ll leave you alone.” “We’ve discussed this,” Sorrow replied. “You are the bait, and in that position you will remain.” He swung his hand suddenly, backhanding Jenna’s jaw, but she gritted her teeth, not making a sound or shedding a tear. “I would caution you not to threaten me,” he growled. “Be careful, or I may change my mind about you going uninjured. Have a nice day.”

Balto stood silently at a window the next morning, watching an advance form approach the warehouse. He could see the next clue in its hand, which it dropped at the threshold. Balto jumped down from the window, landing behind the advance form, and it whirled around, teeth and claws at the ready. “Okay,” Balto said, with a hostile voice, “you’re going to answer a question for me. Where’s the hideout Sorrow’s using now?” The advance form shook its head. “If I tell you, he will kill me, and if I don’t, you will kill me.” Balto extended the virus arms’ teeth slowly. “Believe me,” he said, “you’d rather have Sorrow killing you than me.” The advance form smiled and shook its head again. “You will gain nothing from me,” it said. It raised a hand…and slashed its own throat, falling dead instantly. Balto sighed with frustration and picked up the letter, opening it.

Mister Balto,

I trust you had fun with rabies? I thought the whole idea was rather funny. Now then, Act II involves two of Jenna’s friends and one of mine. This unfortunate pair meets my friend for a chicken dinner, but afterwards, they fall very, very ill. Free theater tickets if you can guess the deus ex machina. I highly recommend you see this one for yourself.

Regards,

Sorrow

“You’re saying Nikki, Kaltag, and Star disappeared yesterday?” Dixie and Sylvie were walking down an alley just off the main street of Nome, chatting idly. Sylvie had just spoken. “Yeah,” Dixie replied. “They didn’t come to the restaurant, even though they said they would.”

Several yards behind them, a creature was kneeling behind several crates, watching them.

“You know what?” Sylvie said. “Balto and Jenna have been gone for days! Nobody knows where they are.” “Maybe they’re on a second honeymoon or something.”

The creature got up silently and climbed up the side of a building, extending long, loose arms to reach the edges of the buildings on each side of the alley, allowing it to move stealthily above the ground.

“They’d tell us about that, though…don’t you think?” “Yeah, but if they don’t, I guess that’s their business.”

The creature drew near to them, making its way along above the alley, approaching with the patience and silence of a lethal predator. It was nearly right above them.

“I just find it really strange that they’re all gone at once.” They stopped. “Now that you mention it, yeah…it’s weird, but it’s got to just be a coincidence or something.”

Directly above them, the beast perched, ready to attack. Suddenly, a trail of dark orange blood from its throat ran down over its lip. A single drop collected at the tip of one snaggletooth…and began to fall. The creature bit at the drop, trying desperately to catch the blood in its mouth and prevent it from dropping, but it missed, and the drop plunged to the snow, spattering orange across the white.

As they were about to go on, Dixie happened to look down in front of her, and at first thought her eyes were playing tricks on her. Yet as she looked on, she discovered that there was, in fact, a gooey-looking orange splotch on the snow. “Huh?” she said. “Where did that…” She and Sylvie both looked up…and found themselves staring right into the eyes of the monster. They both screamed, and it took a swing at them. They dodged, and the creature missed, cutting trenches in the snow with its flagellum-like clawed fingers. Dixie and Sylvie darted out from underneath it, but were too frightened to flee. The beast dropped, letting its legs fall before its upper body, so it could drop a short distance onto its feet. It had blue skin that looked rubbery and glossy, and this skin had to stretch over a pair of arms and legs of rather disproportionate length, and a bent-over body. The arms and legs looked loose, like tentacles, almost as if they had no solid internal structure. Its fingers were clearly tentacles, long floppy digits, each tipped with a straight blade of several inches that resembled an epee. It face was a fright to behold, with its eyes that continually rolled around and its multiple buckteeth. A trail of saliva, laced with traces of blood, continually dripped from its mouth. “What a shame,” it said, with a low voice. “I like it so much better when I can make silent kills.” “Kills?!?” Sylvie shrieked. “Leave us alone!” Dixie cried. The beast shook its head. “It is against my very nature to merely ‘leave things alone’. I cannot survive otherwise. I should have liked to have been sent for your best friend’s husband’s goose friend instead, but…oh, well.” “What are you?” Dixie whispered. The beast began walking towards them, and they cowered in terror as it drew near. “What does it…” There was a wet thwack, and the beast screamed horribly with pain, grabbing a metal bar that was now protruding from its abdomen. Dixie and Sylvie gasped at the sight, wondering what was responsible for skewering their attacker. Clenching its teeth, the monster turned around slowly to see Balto standing several yards behind it. He had thrown the bar, sending it somersaulting through the air to impale the advance form. “Just…in…time,” it growled. It pulled the bloodied bar from its body, but only held it for a minute before suddenly hurling it at Balto like a javelin. Balto jumped into the air, spinning around slowly, and as the bar passed harmlessly under him, he caught it before landing. He shook his head. “That was a very stupid thing to do,” he said. “Dixie, Sylvie, get down!” They hid behind the back stairs of a house, trembling with fright as they watched Balto and the advance form standing, facing each other. “I’d like to repeat her question,” said Balto. “What are you?” “I am merely one of many forms of pestilence brought by food. Most people would consider me to be not such a terrible illness, not compared with Sorrow, at any rate. Yet, everyone knows me.” “Would I have heard of you?” “Possibly. You have a friend, a goose. I am the reason humans don’t like to eat his fellow fowl without cooking them. Of course, I am suffering far more poignant effects, since my whole body is made of the bacteria…” “Wait…” Balto said. “I think I know you. You’re the bogey everyone talks about with raw eggs.” “But of course,” it said. “Salmonella. Would you like to try some?” “I don’t think so.” “Your wife’s friends here, I fear, shall be unable to choose.” “I’ve chosen for them. If you want to choose their fate, you’ll have to factor me in!”

They leapt at each other, punching each other in midair and falling. The advance form got to one knee and stabbed Balto’s shoulder, drawing a cry of pain from his lips. However, he was quick to reciprocate. He extended one of the virus arms’ teeth and slashed the advance form’s chest, leaving long, ugly lacerations. The advance form growled and jumped to its feet, kicking Balto in the jaw, sending him tumbling backwards. Balto sat up, watching the advance form approach, bloody drool falling from its teeth. “This must be a really ramped-up version of salmonella,” Balto thought. He hopped up to all fours and ducked a swing, then charged in close and swung the metal bar, gaining a solid hit on the advance form’s gut. He swung the bar up and around, striking the advance form on the shoulder. It fell to it knees, but was by no means incapacitated; it punched Balto square in the chest, and he flew into a wall, falling to the snow immediately after, stunned. The advance form wasn’t sure whether it would be safe to approach, but after several seconds of Balto merely stirring slightly, it decided to attack. As it came towards him, Balto gradually regained his senses, becoming fully alert just as one of its feet dug into the snow right before his face. He drove the teeth of one of the virus arms into the advance form’s foot, and it yelled, trying to back away. Desperate to break free, it tried to impale Balto, but he moved out of the way, and the creature hit nothing but snow. Balto struck the side of the advance form’s knee area with the bar, and although nothing broke, his assailant crumpled. He got up and whacked it across the face, and it stood up and stumbled backward. Balto began to strike the creature with the bar, over and over and over. With each crunch of cartilage, the creature weakened, buckling to the ground with blood pouring from its mouth as Balto smashed its body to pieces on the inside. Eventually, it was reduced to merely squirming and groaning, and Balto drove the bar into the back of the creature’s head, ending its misery. He left the bar where it was and tried to approach Dixie and Sylvie, but they shrank away from him. “No! Stay away!” Dixie cried. “You look like Balto…” Sylvie said shakily, “but…” “It’s me,” Balto said. “I haven’t turned into a monster or anything. These things are just tools. I promise, it’s safe.” The two others cautiously left their cover, walking toward Balto slowly. “Oh, man…” Sylvie gasped. “Where the heck did those things come from?” asked Dixie. “I’m going to have to explain later,” Balto said. “One thing I can tell you is you’re going to need to hide so you won’t get attacked again. Just go to the boiler room. Nikki, Kaltag and Star are there already.” “So that’s where they went,” said Dixie. “Did something happen to Jenna?” asked Sylvie. Balto was going to answer right away, but he became so emotional he couldn’t speak. “Um…” In a few moments he regained his composure. “I…I’m sorry. Yes, something…did happen. The leader of a group of monsters, like this one, kidnapped her. He’s trying to kill me, and he’s using her, and anybody I know, to force me to fight his soldiers. This was just one of them.” He sighed. “I need to go and wait for him to give me another clue. Just get to the boiler room and stay there, okay? I’ll come when I can.” “First thing’s first,” Sylvie said, and she and Dixie walked up and nuzzled Balto. “Thank you,” Sylvie said. “You saved our lives.” “Yeah. Thank you very much,” Dixie said. Balto smiled. “It’s nothing. You should go, for your sakes.” Dixie and Sylvie ran off, and Balto destroyed what was left of the salmonella advance form. He wondered how many times Sorrow would make him do this before something would change. “I guess I can just keep killing these things,” he thought, “but Sorrow’s going to do something different eventually if these sub-plans of his keep failing.” He went back to the warehouse, trying hard to figure out a way to discover where Sorrow’s other hideouts were. So far, there hadn’t been any way to trace advance forms back to them, and none of the clues had suggested anything. Even if they had, Balto knew it would be quite dangerous to leave and risk not reading a clue until it would be too late for the prey. He hoped Sorrow would soon give him a clue that would lead him to Jenna; he was desperate to see her again, and find out if she was alright. He took a quick trip back to Rosy’s house to get food, then returned to the warehouse. Night fell, and Balto forced his mind to shut down so he could get some much-needed sleep. “I’m sorry I can’t be there with you,” he whispered to the darkness as it closed over him.

Jenna thought Sorrow seemed annoyed and uneasy that night. Although she couldn’t be sure, she suspected Balto had thwarted another attempt on his life by the advance form’s servants. It frightened her to be in his presence while he was like this, but fortunately, he left before long. Being alone was almost as frightening, though; the building was as dismal as a crypt. Going to a window and looking at the moon provided her some comfort, but there was a short limit to how long it worked. Sorrow had provided her with a few blankets, and these she had made into a bed. This was where she was spending most of her time, in order to keep warm. She tugged the blanket closer to herself, breathing slowly and deeply, trying to keep calm. “I wish you were here to sing to me,” she said softly, her fear permeating every word. Often, when she felt bad or upset, Balto would sing to her to cheer her up or calm her down. This was one instance where she particularly wanted it. She closed her eyes and laid her head down, thinking back to a few nights before. She’d had a bad day, and Balto had cuddled her, and sung her favorite song, ‘Truly Madly Deeply’. Right now, she could hear him singing it to her softly, and feel his loving embrace. She smiled, feeling like he was right there beside her, and suddenly, it didn’t seem quite so cold anymore. She curled up, tranquility washing over her heart. “I love you, my man,” she whispered.

Balto tried once again to interrogate the unfortunate advance form that brought him the clue the next morning, but it fought back so viciously he had no choice but to kill it. At least it was becoming painfully clear that Sorrow was willing to take every possible measure, including killing his own soldiers, to protect himself and advance the plan. “He’s going to suffer when I catch up,” he thought as he opened the next clue.

Mister Balto,

It is becoming interesting to observe your survival. I wonder how much longer you can keep playing my game. Anyway, the next one you’ll have to save…what will happen is uncertain. I don’t know if you want to save him; a grudge may prevent you, perhaps. But if you don’t save him, you can add ‘stiff-necked’ to his list of faults.

Regards,

Sorrow

Steele was glad that he at least still got opportunities to have his picture taken for newspapers. His loss of fame after Balto’s return with the diphtheria antitoxin had been far from complete, but it was still of great magnitude. He had also been fortunate in that in general, the dogs of town had decided to forgive him for his dreadful lies. At the moment, he was walking down a street, on his way home after a photo shoot, when he thought he heard something coming from behind a building. He went there to investigate, but saw nothing…until he caught a smell of blood and followed it. The scent led him to a yellow splotch on a board. He stared at it, wondering why it gave him such a feeling of déjà vu. Then, he remembered: the night when all the dogs went up on the mountain, there had been some yellow blood on the snow… He looked up, and saw Balto standing a few yards in front of him. The blood had fallen from the mouth of one of the virus arms. Steele cried out in fear. “No…” he gasped, taking a step backwards. “Steele,” Balto said, approaching him, “relax. Don’t panic. Just let me…” “No! No!” Steele was backing up quickly, but he ran into a corner, and began shaking uncontrollably. “Look, I know I was wrong! I shouldn’t have treated you the way I did! I’m sorry, alright? Please don’t kill me!” “I’m not here to kill you, Steele!” Steele jumped up and darted past Balto in order to give himself some room to move back. “I don’t know how you got those things, but…just don’t hurt me, please! I’ve learned my lesson!” “I’m not going to hurt you! I’m here to protect you!” Steele was confused. “From what?” Balto looked up suddenly. “From that!” he shouted.

Steele turned around and saw a massive brown-colored monster, with a body packed with muscle, raise one arm. Two long, curved blades sprang out from hidden slits in the skin of the forearm, and it roared and swung at him. Steele cried out and jumped into the air, the blades sending snow flying as they struck the ground beneath him. He came down, and the monster shot a pair of blades out of its other arm. Steele was sure he was dead; the beast snarled at him, its black eyes narrowed and unsympathetic as it swung down. Suddenly, a flash of yellow crossed Steele’s vision, and a metallic clack rang out as the blade collided with the extended teeth of one of Balto’s virus arms. This was followed by a punch from the other virus arm that knocked the advance form back. Steele got up and moved quickly off to the side, staring with fright at his would-be killer. It was a hulking beast that looked like it could crash through brick walls without flinching, and it stood somewhat awkwardly, staring at Balto. “So now it is my turn,” it said. “Sorrow truly didn’t know whether or not you would bother to save this one, considering your past.” “Well, then, it sounds like Sorrow didn’t do enough research to find out I’m not like that. I’m continually taking him to be less and less intelligent. Is he just going to keep sending you all out one by one like this?” “I doubt it, but I’m glad he is now. I have been looking forward…” The advance form’s right arm twisted and stiffened suddenly, and its breath was strangled at the same time. It stood there, mouth open as if it were trying to scream, and after a few moments, it suddenly returned to normal, gasping for breath. “Pity I am so strong, yet plagued by this constant paralysis.” “Is that part of your disease?” “Naturally. When you die of me, it is because your very lungs are rendered useless for breathing. I do not create a death so easy as some, and this is your day to feel it. To feel…tetanus.” “I think I’ll pass on that.” “Fine. I could just infect him instead.” The advance form gestured toward Steele. “Would you even stop me? Would you truly care? Perhaps you would actually enjoy watching him spasm and choke. Well? What is your choice?” Balto looked at Steele. He was breathing hard, and Balto could see in his eyes that Steele was afraid Balto would let the advance form kill him. He pleaded to Balto silently with his eyes…but Balto’s mind was already made up. So, without waiting any longer, he leapt into the air and struck the advance form’s jaw with a mighty blow. The beast staggered backwards, but only a few steps. This unnerved Balto; the blow would have knocked any other advance form on its back, but this one stayed standing. Then, it regained its balance and attacked back. Balto ducked under its first swing, and its arm blades tore clean through a thick wooden beam, collapsing the small back porch of the building they were behind. Balto punched the advance form, but it had frighteningly little effect. The beast lashed out with its leg, planting its knee in Balto’s jaw and sending him flying away. Balto extended the virus arms out to either side of his body and caught the corners of two buildings, stopping his uncontrolled backwards flight. The advance form came at him, rushing like a bull, blades extended forward. At the very last moment, Balto propelled himself upward, keeping one virus arm tensed at the advance form’s neck height. The beast ran right into the virus arm, taking itself clean off its feet and landing on its back, stunned as its head hit the ground. Balto came down on his feet and tried to punch the advance form, but it grabbed the incoming virus arm, having recovered very quickly. It stood up, wrapping its other arm around Balto’s body. With a mighty roar, it slammed him into the ground with incredible force. Balto let out a strangled groan as the air was crushed from his lungs, and he found himself unable to get up. The advance form picked him up and threw him, his body tumbling through the shallow snow. When he stopped tumbling, the advance form began walking toward him again. As Balto tried to gather his wits about him, he noticed a loose brick on the ground next to him. The advance form stopped next to him and reached down to pick him up again…and then Balto rolled over and smashed the brick into its face. It shrieked, silver-colored blood from its mouth spattering on a nearby wall, and it jumped up, backing away. Balto threw the brick into its shin, causing it to stumble, and he got up and jumped, swinging a virus arm upward to smash into the monster’s solar plexus. It yelled, flying into the air and coming down on its stomach, hard. It got up as Balto landed and extended its arm blades, swinging them like axes. Balto dodged blow after blow easily, being much quicker than the sluggish creature. He did not attack back; he was waiting for a particular moment, which suddenly came. The tetanus bacteria struck the creature’s body again, and it froze stiff, its arms twisting horribly. Balto went around behind it and punched it in the back of the head, causing it to fall to the snow. He stood on its back and wrapped one virus arm around its neck, the other around its temples. He pulled back, gradually, but powerfully. The advance form began screaming and struggling, but it couldn’t reach Balto. Small cracks started to emanate from its neck as it bent further and further backward, and it yelled with pain, trying desperately to get up. Balto just kept pulling, and the cracks got louder and louder, becoming awful wet splitting noises. Eventually, he gave a hard yank, and there was a sharper snap, after which the beast finally died.

Balto burned the body and turned to face Steele. “What the heck…” said the sled dog, staring at the virus arms. “They’re for fighting things like that monster,” Balto said. “I got them from a stranger. Listen, you should go hide in the boiler room so no more of these things will find you.” “More? Why are they after me?” “They aren’t after you; they’re after me. They attacked you so I would come to save you, and the thing attacking you would have a chance to kill me.” “So…you came here to save me, even though it could’ve meant you getting killed?” “Yes.” “Gee…” Steele looked down at the snow. “I feel kind of ashamed. I mean…after everything that I did to you, that you would still do this for me? I sure don’t deserve it.” “You don’t have to deserve it, Steele. I don’t hate you, and I don’t hold grudges.” “Wow…that’s cool, Balto. Um…thank you.” “No problem. Go and hide, quickly. I’ll explain better when I get the chance.” Steele nodded and ran off for the boiler room, and Balto took a rest, hoping the pain from the advance form’s successful attacks would soon go away. He didn’t want to think about what he would have to do next, but he couldn’t help thinking of Jenna. He longed to caress her lips with his in a gentle kiss, or to feel her soft fur as he nuzzled her tenderly, if only just once more. He shook his head, feeling drained, wondering how he could go on further. Then, he realized that he could go on, and he had to go on. As long as there was a hope of getting Jenna back, he would keep fighting until he had her safely in his protection again. If that turned out to be impossible, then he would die trying. That thought didn’t frighten him; Jenna was all that mattered to him. He remembered what he had told her a few nights ago: “No matter the cost or the danger, I would do it. If the world got between us, I would smash it out of the way.” He was fully prepared to do just that for her sake. His strength and resolve restored, he headed for the warehouse again, ready to face another test in the continuing game of death.

Jenna was rudely awakened as Sorrow stormed into the room, kicking various items about the place, obviously venting pent-up anger. Rather than frightening her, this actually gave her more hope. If Sorrow was this angry, it must have been because Balto was still alive, still foiling the advance form’s plans. A strep throat advance form came to the door. “Excuse me, Sorrow, but the others are wondering what happens now? Our initial plans have all failed.” Sorrow had begun pacing, thinking about what to do next, but now stopped. A smile crept onto his face, and he turned and looked at Jenna, responding to the question. “Get some more rest…because we’re going out tomorrow. I’ve just had an idea for another challenge. I’ll write the clue today and give you instructions for the other advance forms. We’re playing this part by ear, since it wasn’t in my original plans, but I think it has a much higher chance of proceeding in our favor.” He chuckled. “Oh, yes. This will be amusing indeed.” He sat down to write the clue, and Jenna went over to a window and looked out. In the distance, she could see Nome, and the ocean off to the right. Something caught her attention near the ocean, and she squinted. Light was reflecting off of some sort of structure…no, wait, it was Balto’s boat, the one he had lived on before he became her husband. Suddenly, she realized; if she could see the boat from there, she could tell Balto how to get to the hideout if he was able to save her. She left the window, not wanting Sorrow to discover what she was looking at, and lay down again, finding it easy to fall back to sleep, even with the disturbing thoughts of what Sorrow might be considering for Balto’s next challenge.

Regardless of his previous failures, Balto didn’t give up trying to figure out how to figure out where Sorrow would have taken Jenna. He tried to feel her with his virus powers, without success, and then went back to previous battle sites to see if he could trace the advance form’s trails back to their points of origin, but that was also to no avail. He kept thinking of her, trying not to become angry from the frustration that just kept building and building. Looking around for something to do, he struck gold; there was a radio in a room deep within the building. He brought it back to the large room just inside the entrance and switched it on, scanning until he found some soft sounds. He let the music wash over him, and began moving about the room, pretending he was dancing with Jenna. He continued this long into the night, until finally he was soothed enough that he felt he could sleep. Leaving the radio on, he drifted off at last, talking to Jenna in his sleep, waking up several hours later, in the afternoon. He spied on the advance form that brought him the clue, and he noticed that it seemed nervous, which gave him confidence. “Maybe I’m starting to make an impression on Sorrow.” When he opened the clue, it was apparent that he had; what was written was exactly what he had been waiting to hear for the past several days.

Mister Balto,

I see you took the philanthropic approach with your old enemy. No matter. That merely opens the door for an unplanned bit of fun. Come to the spot of town I have marked on the map on the back of this letter today. I will tell you nothing else, other than if you wish to see your wife, now is your chance.

Regards,

Sorrow