How to save variables as 16-bit signed integers?

Hi! I have a dct_blk array and I need to save it as a 16-bit signed integers. I did the following:

    A = dct_blk';
    fileID = fopen('img03y.dq','w');   
    fwrite(fileID,A,'integer*2');
    fclose(fileID);

I transponse dct_blk because I need to store it in raster order from left-to-right and moving from top-to-bottom. But when I read my saved binary with the following code

    fileID = fopen('img03y.dq');
    B = fread(fileID,[N M],'uint16');
    B = B';

I'm not getting the same values as dct_blk. I'm getting large numbers where the negative values supposed to be. What can I be doing wrong? Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.