Twisted Ties

He rushed out just in time to see things get started. It had started as he had expected, she was given the choice of how much of a head start she could get, what she hadn’t expected, by the look on her face, was their offer of a weapon to defend herself. “Do you have a pocket knife?” He heard her ask. And a moment later several different people started to laugh. Eliot was one of them. He offered her a hunting knife instead, and said something to her.

Taking the time he had to walk around a little he started picking at some brains for information. Talking to one person he found out the meeting had been held last night rather than this morning. Talking to someone else he found out the girl had asked for a one hour head start. So she had a hunting knife, and a one hour head start. Not bad.

Would it be enough though? He found himself asking that once or twice before they even got started. Eliot had spoken up saying something about how her time started now, and she took off like a bullet, running headlong into the forest. Probably in a straight in line. Funny, thinking about it now, Dare could remember how she said she would only need...His thoughts were cut off when Eliot spoke up again. “We’ll give the girl a half an hour before we hunt her down.” Dare’s eyes widened then.

They were cutting the time in half? That didn’t happen often. Wait, before when she had said how much time she had needed...and then for her to change her mind and say she needed an hour today instead of that… Had she expected them to cut the time short? Is that why she asked for a full hour rather than the half she said she needed? If that was true, then he had clearly underestimated her. Thinking back to last night, how calm she had been, especially when she asked about what he was. Probably a good thing they were hunting her now. Thanks to his big mouth she knew for a fact they weren’t human. She had only been guessing before.

Looking around for a minute, he went behind everyone, and when he was far enough away, he looped back, running for the clearing he had thought about hitting earlier on. If she really was sticking to her plan, she should go right through it. He ran hard and fast, stopping at one point when he caught a whiff of her. If he could smell her, they would be able to as well. Which didn’t exactly bode well for her. You would think she would be more wise after figuring out they weren’t human.

Creeping towards the scent however he frowned. He could smell the shampoo she had used during her stay. Tallah had made sure to get that perfumey stuff humans seemed to like so much. It was so strong he almost couldn’t bear it...so why? Why couldn’t he see her anywhere? Crouching low, his intention was to look for tracks, however what he saw instead…

He picked the little bundle up and lifted it to his nose. There was no mistaking it. The smell was enough to gag him, and it was certainly the shampoo she had used. The elastic held the hair together, it was only a strip of about an inch, maybe an inch and half at best. She was nowhere in sight, and this had made such a distraction even he had fallen for it. The scent had been so strong he hadn’t bothered trying to listen for footsteps or anything else.

Is that what she had wanted the knife for? It was...genius. He had seen her with her hair braided before she took off. Had she used multiple hair ties? Was she using this to throw them off? It would bloody well work too. Checking the time he frowned. She only had about twenty minutes left of a head start. And he had to get out ahead of her, and get to that clearing. On the off chance she really did make it. If she had tricks like this up her sleeve, maybe he should have told her she had about a five percent chance.

Chance. She had asked him what he thought her odds were before. He had told her she had no chance at all, and while she had seemed bent over it, she didn’t exactly smell of defeat at that time. As he turned his thoughts over, he realized she had probably been asking to see how much they expected out of her. Him saying Zero, meant she had the advantage of surprise. Going over it now, every question she had asked about the trial must have had a double meaning. Or maybe that was why she never asked for details. The less prepared she seemed, the less prepared they felt they needed to be.

Closing his eyes, he put the bundle of hair right back where he had found it, before taking off at a dead run once more. The odds were stacked against her, there was no question about that. But if her tactile genius paid off, there was a slim chance. Everything would be a beacon against her however. Birds flying away, small animals scurrying out of her path, other animals watching her every move once they found her. Taking this new information into account he gave her a good fifteen minutes tops after her head start was over, he figured that would be all they needed to catch up to her.

Bounding over a large rock, he ducked under a low hanging branch, watching as tree and rock alike passed by in his peripheral vision. Eventually he had no choice but to slow down or risk losing his breath. One thing he had on his side was endurance, which was fantastic. What wasn’t on his side was time. And endurance was only good as long as you didn’t wear it out completely. Taking the time to check how much longer the girl had, he frowned. At this rate, she had better hope she had gotten far enough away to outrun wild animals. Because she was nearly out of time. There was maybe a minute left if she had luck on her side.

Panting hard he crouched low for a moment. He wasn’t too far from the clearing now, all he had to do was get his bearings and be back on his way. He had been looking around to double check his location when he heard it. As the loud howl was let loose in the distance, he rose to his feet. That was no wolf letting loose a howl for it’s pack, that was one of their giving a signal. That meant her half hour was up, and now...they would be hunting her. Shaking his head he let a sigh out of his lungs, before he started making his way for the clearing once more. If she made it even half way he would be surprised. She barely looked like she was able to do a single push up, nevermind a full out run for her life.

Humans were weak. She was weak. Dare estimated she would be caught within the next fifteen minutes. All he could do was wait and find out. Whether she made it to the halfway point, or was slaughtered before she even broke the first couple of miles he would know. One way or another, he felt like he had to know. A screech above him had him looking up, but it wasn’t one of his kind, just a bird flying off with a mouse in it’s talons. And good riddance too. The mice had been bad lately. Watching it for a moment he wondered how many would be after her.

No doubt the others would have taken off in her general direction. Getting a bead on her scent, and taking after it. He wondered how long it would take them to hit that little decoy. The hair she had cut off earlier. Would they even be slowed down by it? It was hard to say. There was only one of her, and what...twenty to fifty of them depending on how many opted for the hunt? There wasn’t a chance in hell she would be escaping, even with that little trick. It would take a lot more than that to make it out of this forest alive.

After all, even the hunters that had survived, they were seasoned veterans where the forest was concerned, and they had barely made it three miles before they had been captured. At least it meant a few less hunters in the forest. Which was always good news. No one in these parts cared much for hunters. Always shooting at the animals, and how many people were hit with their bullets?

Scoffing as he finally stepped into the clearing, he shook his head. “The sooner all of the humans are out. The better.” He mused to himself. Inhaling deeply he could smell the forest around him, but listening didn’t offer him too much. The birds were still singing, and leaves were rustling so loud he could hardly hear his own heartbeat in his ears.