A PRIVATE LITTLE WAR
THE SEQUEL TO "HOSTAGE SITUATION"
By Desert Eagle
The Characters Grunt, Frank, and John Anderson, and Broadsword are my characters and not to be used with out my permission
The Characters Band, Bitey, and Draco are copyright Jason Wolfman and are not to be used without his permission
The Characters Balto, Steele, Jenna, Star, Kaltag, Nikki, Dixie, and Sylvia are copyright Universal Studios
Band is back in hiding. Bitey has been accepted back into the community, although some of the dogs are still wary of him. Bitey has taken up the duty of patrolling the town, trying to follow in Bullet's footsteps.
CHAPTER I
Band is in a cave about a mile from Nome. The cave is about 20 feet long, in the side of a hill. Snow-covered trees hide the cave from view.
Band is mad because Bitey left him, yet sad at the same time; now he is really on his own. He is talking to himself, trying to figure out his next plan; he has not changed at all.
"First Draco leaves me," Band mutters to himself, "And now Bitey has left me. Now I am really alone." Band's face changes to an angry expression, as he thinks of how all his friends have abandoned him. "I'll get them back," Band growls, "Bitey and Draco will both pay. THEY WILL BOTH PAY!" Band yells in anger.
"Oh someone will pay all right, but that someone is you." Said a voice from the edge of the cave.
Band's ears perked up. Without Bitey standing guard, Band had no idea if someone was about to drop in on him. Band turns his head towards the entrance of the cave to see three canine figures. One of those figures was a large black wolf, with an extremely muscular build. There were also two other wolves beside the black wolf; they were also very large and were gray in color.
"Who are you, and what the devil do you want?" Band snapped, with a very angry expression on his face.
"Who we are is not important." The black wolf said, with an evil grin on his face. "But what we want is very important."
The black wolf moves in front of Band, while the two other wolves grab Band's front legs and restrain him.
"What we want," The black wolf continues, "Is to drive out all the flea-bitten dogs who are invading our territory."
Band has an angry look on his face, because he was being restrained. He struggled to get free, but the wolves were much stronger than he was. Not being able to get free, Band decided to retaliate verbally.
"You can't hurt me." Band growled.
The black wolf responds by striking band across the face twice; once on each eye. When band recovers from the blow, he has two black eyes. The black wolf continues his speech with an evil grin on his face.
"You are only the first victim." The black wolf continues, "Soon we will drive every mutt out of Nome." The black wolf grabs Band by the throat with his paws. "I could kill you right here," the black wolf growls, "But I want you to serve as a warning to your mongrel friends."
The black wolf then strikes band several times in the stomach. This makes Band groan in pain. The black wolf then strikes Band across the face with several heavy blows.
This was more than Band could withstand, and he lost consciousness. He slumped over, still in the wolves' restrained hold.
The black wolf had a sinister look on his face. "Perfect." The wolf said, and then laughed an evil laugh.
CHAPTER II
All the dogs in Nome have gathered in the Broiler Room. They are there to welcome travelers, and to find out about the new sledding trip. The room is full of the conversations and chattering of all the dogs. Balto is at the center of the crowd, conducting the meeting.
Balto clears his throat. "If I can have your attention, please." He asks.
All the dogs stop their conversations and look at Balto.
"First thing," Balto begins, "We shall greet a newcomer. Here he is."
A very large Irish Wolfhound (he is not really Irish) steps out from the crowd. He is very large, and has long, brown fur. He has a stern expression on his face, always speaks in a grumpy, grumbling voice.
All the dogs look at him in astonishment; they had never seen a dog of this size.
The Irish Wolfhound noticed that everyone was staring at him. "What are you looking at?" He grumbled. "My name is Grunt, and I would appreciate it if everyone would stop staring at me." He growled.
All the other dogs, who had just now realized that they were staring, immediately stopped.
Balto spoke up. "Sorry, Grunt." Balto apologized, "We have just never seen a dog of your size. We did not mean to be rude."
"Apology accepted." Grunt grumbled, "Just don't let it happen again."
Balto continued his speech. "Now that we have introduced the newcomers," Balto continued, "We shall go on with the newest details we have found out about the new sledding trip."
Balto had obviously got the attention of all the dogs; they were sitting alert with their ears perked up.
"The new sledding trip," Balto continues, "will consist of six dogs and no musher."
All the dogs in the room are surprised and begin to chatter among themselves.
"Yes you heard right," Balto continues, "No musher. The mushers want to see if they can make a sled dog team operate without a musher. They want to see if we can operate without constant instruction."
"But we already know that we can do that." Steele remarks. "Remember the antitoxin run?"
"Yes." Balto replies. "We know that, but they don't know that. They believe that the dog teams could travel faster without the added weight of the musher."
"Have they already selected he dogs then?" Steele asks, wanting to lead the team (as usual).
"Yes." Balto answers. "The lead dog will be me. The other dogs will be; Steele, Grunt, Star, Kaltag, and Nikki. We will leave tomorrow, and will begin the four mile round trip to mile marker two. Their will be a musher or two at mile marker two to make sure we know where we are going."
All the dogs begin chattering again, and Balto speaks up again.
"In closing this meeting," Balto says, "Everybody get some sleep, we have a big day tomorrow."
All the dogs are about to leave, when suddenly a black wolf and two gray wolves appear at the door.
"I believe that this belongs to you." The black wolf says, as the two other wolves throw a white malamute on the floor. The malamute was Band, and he was covered with cuts and bruises.
"Thanks for the favor," Steele replies, "We have been looking for this for a long time."
"Favor?" the black wolf replies, "This is a warning. This is just a sample of what will happen to the rest of you if you do not leave our territory. You have one week."
And with that, the three wolves left just as suddenly as they had appeared
Balto walks up to Band, who was lying on the floor, unable to get up.
"Go ahead, wolfdog." Band struggled to say. "Kill me."
"As appealing as that sounds," Balto replied, "I must decline."
This reply made Steele very angry. "But it is the same he would do to you!" Steele bursts out. "It his way! It is our way!"
"But it is not my way. I will not kill in cold blood." Balto replied. "Besides, in the shape he is in now, he can not cause us any trouble. And if he does, then we can kill him." Balto looks at Star. "You better go get the vet, Star"
"Okay." Star replied, and went off to go get the vet.
"Look on the bright side," Balto said, "It could not have happened to a nicer dog."
Everybody (except Band) laughs.
"But on the more serious side," Balto continues, "We have a big problem."
All the dogs began walking out the Broiler Room door. As Balto walks out, he passes Bitey, who was standing guard outside the building.
"We have trouble." Bitey informs Balto.
"I know." Balto replies.
"Is Band dead?" Bitey asks Balto.
"Unfortunately, no." Balto answers.
"He need Band-Aid?" Bitey Jokes.
Balto laughs. "Hey, that was a good one, Bitey." Balto answers. "He will probably be at the vet several weeks. Then he will be back to his self, unfortunately."
"You kill him?" Bitey asks.
"No, we can't." Balto answers. "It would be wrong to kill him in cold blood, especially when he can't defend himself. All though that is giving him more mercy than he deserves, it is the right thing to do.But if he recovers and continues to hurt other dogs, we will confront him and fight him."
Bitey then gets back to the more important issues. "We have big trouble." Bitey says, "Wolf pack."
"How many wolves are their in that pack?" Balto asks Bitey (as town watchdog, Bitey keeps track of things like this).
"Thirty." Bitey answers.
"That is not good." Balto says. "You wouldn't happen to know why this pack is being so aggressive?"
"Leader is rabid. And power hungry." Bitey answers.
"That would make anyone angry." Balto says. "Tell me if you find out anything else." Balto asks.
"Understood." Bitey replies.
CHAPTER III
It is mid-morning, the next day, in Nome. Two men stand outside the Butcher Shop. One of them is Frank, the butcher. He is talking to another man; who is about 6' 9", weights about 290 pounds, and has a long, black mustache. The other man's name is John Anderson. He is the local Marshall. He wears a long, brown coat, and a black, western style hat.
"I don't know, John." Frank said, "Several pieces of meat have been missing from outside the shop. From the looks of it, the damage to the outside of the shop had to have been done by a large animal."
"Looks like wolves." Answered John. "I have talked to several people who have had similar problems, and it has to be wolves."
"But what are we going to do about it?" Frank asked John.
John looked at Frank. John then put his hand in his coat, and pulled out a German Luger. He handed the gun to Frank. "We will shoot them."
Frank looked at the gun, and shook his head. "No, that's your gun." Frank said. "I couldn't take that from you."
John looked at the gun. "This thing?" He replied. "I got this thing, and several others, out of an abandoned German bunker in World War I. I was in the trenches during World War I. I have nine more of them, and plenty of ammo. I also have many other guns as well."
Frank was still in disagreement. "But I have not shot in a long time." He said.
John aimed the Luger at a broken barrel 50 feet away on the outskirts of town. Making sure nobody was in that direction, John put three rounds in the center of the barrel. "Now you try it." John said, handing the gun to Frank.
Frank took the gun with reluctance, and aimed it at the barrel. He pulled the trigger five times, putting five shots in the barrel. Then the receiver popped up.
"It is empty." John said. "Let me show you how to reload it."
"Okay." Frank replied.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Draco was standing outside of the Broiler Room. Jenna passes by.
"Good morning, Jenna." Draco greets Jenna with a smile.
"Yes, it is a good morning." Jenna answers, smiling back. "Oh, I got to go. See you later, Draco." Jenna says as she walks on.
"Okay." Draco answers. "I will see you later as well."
Bitey walks in Draco's direction. Draco sees him, and goes to greet him.
"Good morning, Bitey." Draco says with a smile.
"Good morning." Bitey answers back.
"How have you been lately?" Draco asks.
"Good." Bitey answers, with a slight smile.
"What have you been doing lately?" Draco asks.
"Protect town." Bitey answers.
Draco smiles. "I see that you really take your job seriously." Draco comments.
"Yes." Bitey answers.
"Tell me if you see anything interesting." Draco says to Bitey.
"Understood." Bitey answers. Bitey realizes what time it is. "Must go." Bitey says to Draco.
"Okay." Draco replies. "I will see you later."
Bitey walks off. Then Grunt comes walking down the path. He has a frown on his face.
Draco sees him, and turns to greet him.
"Good morning, Grunt." Draco says with a smile.
Grunt looks at Draco, and throwns. "What's so good about it?" He growls, in his usual grumpy mood. Grunt then continues walking down the path, mumbling to himself.
"He is sure in a good mood." Draco says sarcastically.
Grunt continues walking down to the main road of town, where they are hooking up the dogs for the sled trip. Balto sees Grunt coming.
"Good, you're here." Balto says.
Grunt looks at him. "Let's get on with it." He growls.
The mushers begin hooking up the dogs to the sled, which is loaded with rocks; to give it weight. When they are done are done, they step back.
"I hope they make it to the four mile marker, since they will have no musher." One of the mushers says
"Don't worry." One of the other mushers answers. "I'm sure they will."
And with that, one of the men fires a starting pistol, and the dogs begin on their way to the four mile marker.
CHAPTER IV
Balto and the sled team have been mushing for about an hour. They have come to a narrow ledge winding along the side of a mountain.
Balto begins to lead the dog team on the narrow ledge. About halfway across, a rumbling sound is heard; the ledge is beginning to break.
Balto and the rest of the team run at full speed across the ledge, with the ledge breaking away behind them. They finally get to the end of the ledge, but the sled becomes stuck. It is stuck on some rocks, with half of the sled sticking off the steep ledge.
Balto and the team pull as hard as they can, but the sled would not budge.
Balto looks at the sled, and then sighs. "Great, we're stuck." He says.
At that moment, Grunt un-hooks himself from the harness and begins walking towards he sled. He is mumbling to himself. "When you want something done, you have to do it yourself." He mumbles under his breath.
Grunt walks up alongside the sled, and climbs down the ledge so he can position himself under the part of the sled that is sticking off the ledge. Now under the sled, he uses his head to push he end of the sled up, and then forward. This frees the sled from the rocks it was wedged in, and the sled slides back in the snow, safely away from the edge of the ledge.
When grunt climbs back up on top of the ledge, he notices hat everyone is staring at him, in surprise, again. This causes Grunt to become annoyed.
"As you were!" Grunt growls, as he walks towards his position on the dog team.
Everybody immediately gets back into their ready position, while Grunt re-attaches is harness.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Grunt growls, now in his ready position.
"Okay. Mush!" Balto says, ready to go as well.
The dogs soon arrive at the four mile marker, where a musher is waiting there to greet them.
The dog team arrives, and the musher attaches a small flag to the sled (to indicate that they arrived at the marker).
The dogs were then on their way back to Nome.
CHAPTER V
Bitey was hiding in some foliage in a remote part of the woods. He had found the den of the black wolf's pack, and was eavesdropping in on their conversation. The large, black wolf, whose name was Broadsword, was telling his plans to the rest of the pack.
"We can not let those mongrels in Nome, that dare to call themselves canines, invade our territory any longer." Broadsword dictated.
All the wolves agreed in unison.
"The time is just about here to attack their town." Broadsword continued. "They will not expect us for another five days; giving us the element of surprise when we attack tomorrow. Victory is ours!"
All the wolves agreed, rallying behind Broadsword.
Hearing all of this from his hidden position, Bitey decides he better get back to Nome and warn the other dogs. He carefully begins moving back towards town.
He had only traveled about 400 feet when he ran into a snarling wolf.
Knowing that the wolf was not going to let him by, he sank his teeth in the wolf's back leg and began shaking his head violently. This made the wolf howl in pain.
Bitey knew what that meant; there would be many more wolves after him very soon. Bitey took off running. He got away from the howling wolf, but not without receiving several scratches and bites.
Running as fast as he could, and dodging rocks and trees, Bitey ran towards Nome. He could hear the sounds of angry wolves as close as 100 feet behind him. Knowing what would happen if they caught up to him, Bitey decided to risk running over a frozen lake with thin ice.
Hoping the ice would hold, Bitey ran over the ice. He made it safely to the other side, and continued to run towards Nome. The wolves did not follow.
Back at Nome, Balto and his team had arrived a few hours ago. After coming home to some very excited mushers, the dogs had all gathered together in the Broiler Room.
Suddenly, Bitey comes running in through the door, panting heavily. Balto notices that he had several cuts and bites on him.
"Where have you been, Bitey?" Balto asks, having no idea what had just happened.
"Recon." Bitey answers, still trying to catch his breath.
"Where?" Balto asks, still confused.
Bitey manages to catch his breath so he can answer. "Wolf pack attacks tomorrow." Bitey answers.
"You went alone?" Balto asks, growing concerned. "You could have been killed."
"Had to be done." Bitey answers.
"Did you find out anything else?" Balto asks.
"Leaders name is Broadsword." Bitey replies.
Balto stops to think for a minute, and then turns towards the rest of the dogs. "We have a big problem now." He announces, looking worried. He recognized that the attack could happen at anytime tomorrow, so the town would have to be alert the entire day.
CHAPTER VI
The very next day, Balto advises all the other dogs to stay indoors, so they would not get hurt when the invaders come. Balto, Steele, Nikki, Kaltag, Bitey, and Grunt stay outside to guard the town. Draco has also reluctantly decided to join them. They are all alert for any possible attack.
A little distance from Nome, shielded behind the trees, Broadsword stands on top of a hill, with his troops behind him. He has an evil look on his face, and a lust for blood look in his eyes.
"The time has come." Broadsword commanded. "ATTACK!!!"
Immediately, all the wolves in Broadsword's pack begin to charge down the hill to the little town of Nome.
One of the larger wolves, who was ahead of the rest of the pack, spotted Draco and started to attack him.
Draco knew that he could not overpower his attacker, so he cried for help to the nearest dog to him. "Grunt! Help me!" Draco cried.
Grunt looked over at him, and started towards him. The entire run there, he was mumbling. "Do I have to do everything myself?" Grunt mumbled.
When he arrived there, Grunt immediately grabbed the wolf by the neck with his jaws, and through the wolf through the air. The wolf was hurled into a barrel, breaking the barrel, and knocking the wolf unconscious.
"Thanks, Grunt!" Draco exclaimed, happy that he did not end up as the wolf's next meal.
"Why don't you learn how to fight?" Grunt growled, as he went off to defend against the other attackers.
"Sheesh! I was only trying to thank him." Draco remarked.
A few blocks away, Kaltag and Nikki gang up on a wolf, but are surprised at what a fight it puts up.
Steele is defending against an attacking wolf.
"Finally, a worthy opponent!" Steele exclaims as they start fighting He may have boasted to soon, because the attacking wolf belts him across the face so hard that Steele falls to the ground.
On the next block, Bitey is clamping his teeth into the leg of a wolf, who is three times the size of the samoyed. The wolf howls in pain as Bitey shakes his head violently.
About a block away, Balto runs face to face with Broadsword.
"You are a traitor!" Broadsword yells at Balto, closing in on him. "You dare to call yourself half wolf?"
Broadswords rams Balto in the side, causing him to fall backwards. Balto ends up running into a barrel, and getting tangled in some rope. He tries to get up, but can't, because he is tangled in the rope.
"This just keeps getting better and better." Broadsword chuckles, as he gets ready to deal the deathblow to Balto.
Balto watches helplessly as Broadsword leaps toward him. Balto closes his eyes, and waits for the lethal blow to come.
BANG!!!!
Balto hears a shot, and feels something warm splatter on him. He knew it was blood, but soon discovers that it is not his blood. He opens his eyes, and sees black fur floating around, and the mutilated corpse of a large, black wolf.
Balto looks behind him to see Marshall John Anderson standing on a porch (about 50 feet away), with his double barrel 10 Gauge (for those who do not know, that is a very large caliber shotgun), with both barrels smoking. John had shot Broadsword with both barrels at once, insuring a quick, painful death for the wolf.
John tips his hat at Balto. He then sees a wolf attacking Draco (again), about 150 feet away.
"That wolf is out of range of the shotgun, I better use the Winchester." John says to himself. He then picks up his Winchester, a .44 Magnum, lever action rifle, and aims it at the wolf.
BANG!!!
The bullet hits the wolf in the chest area, causing the wolf to be knocked off his feet, and fall to the ground dead.
John then picks off the wolves that are attacking Steele, Kaltag, and Nikki, hitting each wolf with the first shot.
Near the butcher shop, Grunt is fighting with a rather large wolf. All of the sudden, Frank comes running out of the butcher shop with his Luger.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Frank put three shots in the wolf, killing it.
At about that time, the remaining wolves discover that their leader is dead: and decided to retreat.
Balto watches the wolves run for heir lives. At that moment, Draco walks up beside Balto.
Balto looks at Draco, and smiles "I don't think that they will be bothering us for a while." Balto says to Draco.
Draco smiles back. "I agree with you there." Draco replies.
At that moment, Steele, Nikki, Kaltag, Bitey, and Grunt join Balto and Draco.
"But what I do not understand," Draco exclaims, "Is why they would do something like this. Why would they attack us."
Grunt steps forward. "There are always people in this world who are hungry for power." Grunt explains. "Their quest for power is greater than their moral standards. This is what causes war." Grunt steps forward and turns towards the other dogs. "There are no winners in war; there are losses on both sides. In war, everybody loses"
All the dogs agree with Grunt.
CHAPTER VII
While Balto and all the other dogs are in the Broiler Room, Star comes running in. He runs to Balto.
"Balto!" He exclaims, looking tired from the run over there.
Balto turns towards Star. "Yes?"
"Band is at the vets, and he is well enough to stand now!" Star exclaims. "He is demanding to see you, Bitey, Draco, and Jenna!"
"This can only mean trouble," Balto replies, "But I have a plan."
Balto turns towards Bitey and Draco "Hey guys!" He says, "Come here; I have a plan."
About ten minutes later, Balto, Bitey, and Draco arrive at the vets, without Jenna. Band had been impatiently pacing around.
Band looks at the three dogs, and gets angry. "WHAT?" He roars. "How dare you keep Jenna from me!"
"We have something better for you." Balto replies.
"Oh, and what could that be?" Band sarcastically mocks Balto.
Draco turns towards Bitey. "Bitey, now!" he yells.
At that moment, Bitey runs forward and grabs Band's front left leg. He bites down hard, and begins to shake his head violently.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Band screams in pain.
After fracturing the leg in several places, Bitey backs off.
Band is breathing heavily, and is clearly angry. "WHY?" He roars at Bitey.
"For your own good." Bitey replies.
"WHAT?" Band yells . "What do you mean?"
Draco speaks up. "He means you can not hurt anyone if you are crippled. That will keep you out of trouble." He explains.
"How dare you!" Band roars at him. "If this ever heals, I will get you back!"
"You should be grateful." Balto replies. "If you are not, we may have to break the other three legs for you."
Band starts to grumble, and the other three dogs leave.
CHAPTER IX
All the dogs (with the exception of Band of course), are gathered in the Broiler Room. Balto is speaking.
"You should all be glad to know," He announces, "That I do not think that Band will be bothering anyone for a while. In fact, you could go to the vet's and belt him across the face; he won't be able to do anything about it."
All the dogs cheered.
"I would also like to give special notice to Grunt, who saved the sled team, and saved Draco during the attacks." Balto continues. "I would also like to thank Marshall Anderson, although he would not understand me. If it was not for his marksmanship, I would not be here now."
All the dogs cheer again.
"I am happy to say," Balto continues, "That everything is peaceful again in Nome."
And Balto was right; everything was peaceful in Nome (for now).
THE END