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- --- Iron Anon: Prologue ---
- >Your name is Anon Stoneman
- >Though you were known to your country as Iron Anon
- >It had been almost 4 months since Mr. J W Harper’s Carnival Derby
- >You’d never forget that race
- >You were only 17 (a boy) when you entered to compete
- >The family farm sinking into debt didn’t help much to advert your eyes from the $10,000 dollar reward
- >It was a lot of money, enough to settle the farm’s debts AND pay for college
- >Your father always wanted you to go to college
- >He wanted you to have more than just some old farm in the rurals of South Dakota
- >If only he could see you now…
- >In the derby, you and your sled dog team were pinned against a dozen of the world’s most experienced and toughest mushers
- >People from across the globe that did this for a living, as their past-down family trade
- >You were just some poor farmer’s boy from America
- >But you did have something the rest didn’t,
- >A NEED to win
- >Everyone at the farm was counting on you
- >You also had your youth, which in the end had given you the edge over the others’ decades of mushing experience
- >In that ten day long race, you had only slept 34 hours
- >You just kept going…
- >Needless to say when you crossed that finish line, you immediately collapsed onto your sled and nearly died from exhaustion
- >When you had woken up days later, you found $10,000 waiting for you
- >But it wasn’t just that
- >Being one of the only two Americans in the race, the newspapers were buzzing about you
- >Mr. Kingsley, a reporter for Kane’s newspaper, had made sure of that
- >He had be the one who stepped in and bought your $10 late admission ticket when all you could muster up was $2
- >Kingsley had turned your sorry ass into an American Hero
- >Even had the audacity to give the nickname of ‘Iron Anon’
- >And did the public eat it up
- >As soon as you had stepped out of the hospital, you were swarmed by your newfound adorning fans, all waving miniature American Flags
- >Banners all over town read “Iron Anon: America’s Hope”
- >Men, women, and children would push and shove through the crowds to just simply look at you
- >That kind of an attention can get to a teenager’s head sometimes
- >However, Ned was there to snap you back to reality
- >As soon as you had gotten back home, he directed you straight to the barn
- >Ned had been around since you could remember, working the farm with your father
- >He was Cheyenne Native American so you could assume he wasn’t a blood relative
- >But you still considered him the closet thing you ever had to an uncle
- >You also owed him for him training you for the race, so you put up with the intense farm labor
- >Soon enough, days turned to weeks, weeks to months
- >Your name slowly faded from the papers, replaced by the bold black ink of “WORLD WAR IS OVER”
- >Still, whenever you walked into town, you always got cheerful greetings and smiles
- >It was nice to be popular
- >Mr. Burton, your boss (well old boss) still asked you to do small favors at the post-office
- >Nothing like having you and the dogs transport mail across towns as you had done for years before
- >Just a few odd jobs, here and there, nothing big
- >You and the dogs had earned some well deserved rest….
- >So if you deserved you rest, why were you working?
- >You think you wouldn’t need a few bucks from Burton when you had nearly $10,000 dollars to your name
- >Well… you’d be right
- >You didn’t need the money.
- >But working around the post office was one of those things that made you feel truly at home
- >You needed that more than ever
- >Seeing how you would be leaving for South Dakota State University in less than 4 days
- >It was your dream after all
- >Your father’s dream
- >You knew very well you wouldn’t be seeing this place for quite awhile…
- >???:“You daydreaming again, Anon?”
- >Startled in mid thought, you jerk your head up
- >Just in time as a slushy snowball flattens across your face
- >You were already as cold as it is
- >….
- “God dammit, Ward”
- >Sure enough, after wiping off your face with your wool glove, there he was
- >Standing about 15 feet away was Ward, another snowball already armed
- >His face was plastered with an eerie grin, no doubt taking joy in numbifying your face
- >Ward had been your friend since 3rd grade
- >When you had left for the derby, he said you were crazy
- >Sometimes you’d take joy in imagining how he reacted when word of your victory had reached town
- “Was that really necessary? I’m already freezing my ass off!”
- >Ward: “Wouldn’t have to if you actually did my dad’s work and stopped being a welcher”
- >Oh, Ward was also your boss’s son
- >That… could be interesting at times
- >What were you doing again?
- >Oh yeah, loading the rest of the newspaper bundles onto the loading dock
- >Since you had ‘retired’ from your mail delivering business, the local train had pretty much taken over
- >It was a bit slower getting the mail out to the other towns than the dogs but only by a few hours
- >You were about to load the last one when you got lost in thought
- >Normally, you saved the biggest one for last
- >That was so you were forced to give your all at the end
- >You weren’t trying to become the next Al Treloar
- >You just liked to stay in shape…
- >But this one was REALLY heavy
- >You can take a break once in awhile, right?
- “How ‘bout you stop acting like a child and help me lift this thing?”
- >Ward: “Nah, I think I’m fine right here”
- >Snowball incoming
- >-Evading-
- >The snowball sails over your ducked head and hitting the dock behind you
- >Its surprising loud, rattling the old wooden planks
- >Your quick to notice that the noise had gained the attention of something directly behind Ward, about 20 yards away
- >It was about 3 feet tall, walked on all fours and was as white as the snow around it
- >A smirk comes across your face
- *whistle*
- >The creature’s ears instantly perk-up and begins sprinting towards you, straight through Ward
- >Ward spins around as he hears the beast’s approach, only to have it ram right into his chest, toppling him to the ground
- >The white canine stands on Ward’s chest for a few moments before walking off towards you
- “Good boy, Gus… you just earned yourself some jerky when we get home”
- >Gus had been your father’s treasured possession, the team’s lead dog
- >His mother was a husky while his father had been a grey wolf
- >Naturally, half-breeds are more powerful than the average mutt but have an uncanny tendency to run off and live in the wild
- >But your father had somehow completely domesticated and trained Gus from an early age into obeying every whim of his musher
- >When you had taken over the team, Ned helped in the transition of you becoming the new master
- >Gus had been the worst of the lot
- >He’d go out of his way, even cause himself pain, just to try to take a chunk out of you
- >Eventually you got so frustrated and ended up biting him back to get even
- >Funny thing is, it actually worked
- >That, and your father’s whistle
- >Just those few notes and you could have Gus and the other dogs at your side within seconds
- >During the derby, the whistle had become your own trade mark
- >They began calling it “Anon’s Tune”, even though it was really your father’s
- >Even now, you can hear the occasional child trying to recreate it
- >No matter how close they may get, the dogs never seem to take notice
- >Refusing to even acknowledge an imitation of the real thing
- >Only you could control the dogs now
- >You give a quick pat on Gus’ head before going over to help Ward up
- >You and Gus nearly died on the trail to St. Paul
- >You both had kept each other alive at one point or another
- >Stuff like that tends to bring people close, human or animal
- “Need a hand?”
- >Ward: “Yeah -ta- that be nice”
- >You offer a hand and pull him up
- >He quickly brushes the snow off himself
- >You’re still not in the mood to lift that huge bundle
- “So seeing how I so kindly gave you hand…”
- >You gesture to the overly sized bundle
- >He shrugs with a light sigh and heads over
- >Even with the two of you, it’s a burden
- “And…ERGGH…That does it”
- >Ward: “Jesus, that thing was heavy”
- >You both lean on the bundle to catch your breath
- >Ward: “…How many days again?”
- >You don’t need him to explain what he means
- “I’m packing up all day Thursday and then getting on the train Friday morning”
- >Ward: “Gotch’a…”
- >His voice trails off, either from exhaustion or discontent
- >Probably the latter
- >You will be the first of your small town to go to college
- >Hell, less than half completed Highschool
- >They’re families need them here
- >Same goes for Ward’s
- >Ward: “Will I see you tomorrow?”
- “Yeah, I’ll be down by the General Store getting some feed for the dogs”
- >Ward: “Alright, I’ll try to run into you if I can”
- “Just no snowballs this time”
- >Ward: “I can make no such promises”
- >A faint smile returns to his face
- “See yeah later Ward”
- >Ward: “You too Anon”
- >Ward makes his way into the post-office, no doubt to tell his father you were done
- >You, on the other hand, had to make it back to the farm for supper
- >With Gus at your side, you head to the rear of the post-office
- >It was safer to keep dogs and the sled back there as every passing day brought more loud and clumsy trucks down main street
- >The dogs were already hooked up to the sled, laying down and basking in the sunlight
- >You hook up Gus in the front of the others
- >The only reason he wasn’t already bound to the sled is because he is STILL the most wild one of the bunch
- >If you leave him back there for more than an hour, he chews through the tether and wanders off
- >Fortunately, he always stays in ear shot of the sled so you just let him loose
- >Might as well cut the rope some slack [spoiler]pun very much intended[/spoiler]
- >You flip the sled into position and go over a brief safety check
- >Harnesses secured?
- >Check
- >Sled upright and mounted?
- >Check
- >No dangerous tanglements?
- >Check
- >You grab the sled’s arched handle bar and place your left foot on the sled’s footboards
- >You push off the soft snow with the right as you whistle again
- >The once idle dogs become instantly animated and pull your sled forward with a great jolt
- “They’re more anxious than usual today”
- >You mummer to yourself
- >Well, guess that’s better for you
- >Gus knows where you’re going and the dogs seem to have a bit more energy today
- >They won’t need your help of driving or cutting a trail today
- >You could probably get away with lying out on the sled’s basket if you really wanted
- >But no matter how many times you take this way back home, you’ll never let down your guard
- >Within a few minutes, you approach the bend you have come to fear
- >There on the opposing side of the turn was a small river
- >Shouldn’t be anything dangerous, especially with it frozen solid this time of the year
- >Nothing to fret over…
- >Only thing is you had watched your father drown in that very river nearly 6 months ago
- >You remember everything, despite how hard you had tried to forget
- >You shudder
- >You swear you feel Gus shake too
- >You had lost a father and he had lost a master
- >The dogs don’t even need you to command the dogs to slow down
- >They all remembered it all too well
- >With the loss of momentum, you now begin to help push the sled, alternating your feet
- >The sled couldn’t come off balance and slide into the river at this low speed
- >You and the dogs continue your way around
- >Almost over.
- >You reach the halfway point of the bend when you feel it
- >Words can’t describe what you felt
- >First, you heard something loud rupture from beneath the earth
- >Within seconds, you feel your body,
- >The dogs,
- >The sled,
- >The very earth under your feet swift to the right
- >Straight into the river
- >A landslide
- >How is that even possible?
- >The land was barely 3 feet above the river’s water level
- >What the hell could have caused it to give away like this?!
- >Maybe you would of had time to figure it if you weren’t about to slip into bone-chilling water
- >The sudden movement of terrain caused the ice to break apart almost instantaneously
- >Naturally, the heaviest part of the sled team comes down the mudslide first
- >You.
- “Shi-“
- >It’s all you can say before the unnerving freeze of water silences you
- >The dogs are still on land, pulling against the force of gravity
- >Just as they had tried the last time…
- >It exhibited the same result
- >Your head is the only thing un-submerged, while the sled persistently tries to push you down
- >No.
- >No way.
- >You weren’t going to die like this
- >You survived worst than this
- >You had gone against a dozen of the finest mushers the world had to offer through 522 miles of freezing hell and endured
- >Fuck. You. River
- >A flash of pain from your right shoulder wakes you from your panic
- >You turn and see Gus latched onto your shoulder like a vice
- >Only his hind feet rest on shore as his fore paws try to keep balance on a piece of floating ice
- >Gus was the lead dog, the front of the pack
- >How… How had he gotten out his harness so fast
- >You look down at his chest
- >Its still there,
- >Oh shit
- >You look up the newly formed slope to see the whole team tangled in cord
- >If one of them lost their footing, they would pull the rest down with them
- >That ‘one’ happens to be left wheel dog
- >It only takes a moment until you are all pulled into the freezing abyss
- >Gus stays on you even as he goes under the water surface
- >As you stink, it gets darker and darker
- >Without light, you desperately search for your bowie
- >Ward’s snowball felt like a warm heat pad
- >You can literally feel your body start to shut down
- >The word ‘cold’ can’t begin to describe what you are feeling
- >Only an empty numbness fills you now…
- >You finally find the bowie secured to the top of the supplies on your sled
- >Without hesitation, you cut what you think is the line securing the dogs to the sled
- >Your action is greeted with severed rope being jerked from your hand and barely audible splashing comes from above
- >Good, the dogs were ok now
- >At least, most of them
- >Gus is still trying to pull you to the surface, practically ripping your shoulder off
- >Stubborn one he is,
- >Never gives up
- >You know it would be impossible to get him off you
- >Your waist and everything below is being pinned down by the sled
- >You had hit the bottom of the river sometime ago and you were beginning to feel light headed
- >Shit
- >Rocking your hips back and forth, you try to un-wedge yourself from under the sled
- >When you are about halfway out, you feel a relief in pressure on your shoulder
- >That meant one of two things:
- >Gus had finally given up and had gone to the surface
- >Or he had drowned trying to save you
- >You open your eyes in the blurry, icey water to see a limp body slowly floating upwards next to you
- >Dammit
- >He was the last thing you had that reminded you of your father…
- >Before you grieve for your lost champion, a blinding light begins to illuminate the space around your head
- >You twist your head around to see the whole bottom had turned into burning bright light
- >At first, the black pebbles and stones of the river bed partially block its shine
- >But slowly, they seemingly just… melt away
- >…
- >You are now being pulled INTO the river bed
- >You, your sled and Gus are being sucked back in the glowing dirt of the river’s floor
- >What is this?
- >Maybe you were dying
- >You couldn’t feel anything anyway
- >You were really dy-
- >Your last thought is cut short as you black out
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