Nyx ran. Behind her, the crowd started chanting:
"60…59…58…"
Nyx ran towards the northern forest edge, ignoring the pain in her ankle and ribs.
She entered the dark forest unable to see anything but still kept running. Suddenly, she hit a tree and fell hardly on the ground. But she immediately pulled herself up, ignoring the body pain and started running again.
Behind her she could still hear the countdown.
"15…14…13…"
She turned towards northeast, where Raziel had said the densest forest was.
"3…2…1"
The horn blew. The Hunt had begun. For a second there was complete silence then the howls started.
"They'll spread out first." She recalled Raziel's lessons. "Cover more ground, cut off escape routes. Then they'll close in once they pick up my trail."
She had about five minutes before they found her scent. Nyx spotted a small stream. She dived into it and swam towards north for about 50 metres before reaching the other end. Her scent trail was broken.
She grabbed few herbs from her pouch and rubbed them on her clothes and body. Behind her, howls echoed through the forest.
"They're faster than I thought."
Nyx then ran towards the area where the trees were close to each other. She climbed one and used the branches as her path making sure, not to touch the ground.
She heard a long, rising howl nearby which meant they'd found her trail.
Shit.
Nyx jumped down, and started running again. She heard another howl but this one was from a different direction.
"They are surrounding me."
She remembered Raziel's words.
Do the opposite of what they expect.
Nyx stopped running towards north and turned towards the wolf territory's border in the west.
It was dangerous. If she left wolf territory, she'd be disqualified and executed immediately.
"But they won't expect me to run towards the border!"
She ran towards the west for ten minutes before she saw a massive old oak tree with its branches hanging low.
Nyx climbed the tree fast. She was almost 40 feet above when she saw a massive wolf below the tree. It sniffed the ground, raised its head and howled.
Nyx went completely still. She was almost 40 feet up and she knew wolf pack won't be able to climb. But they could wait.
Slowly, more wolves started gathering. Within minutes, twenty wolves were circling the tree below, looking up at her.
She was trapped. One of the wolves shifted and she saw a human shaped figure standing on its place.
"We can wait all night." He said. "You'll have to come down eventually."
Nyx didn't reply.
"Darius has a message for you." The wolf continued. "He's impressed that you made it this far."
Still, Nyx said nothing.
"But this tree trick is old. We've seen it before." The wolf smiled. "We'll just wait until you fall from exhaustion or until dawn, when the trial ends and you fail."
He was trying to get her to react. Nyx assessed the situation. There were twenty wolves below, so climbing down wasn't an option but staying on the tree all night wasn't an option either; she knew her injured body wouldn't last.
So what?
She looked at the surrounding trees. The old oak tree had branches that touched the neighboring trees. If she could reach them, she could tree hop and put distance between herself and the pack.
It was risky because the branches were thin and could break. But staying there was guaranteed failure.
Nyx edged along the branch towards the neighboring tree. The wolves below noticed immediately, and started growling and changing their positions.
"Don't…" The wolf said.
Nyx jumped and caught the neighbouring tree's branch. Below, the wolves scattered, trying to follow as she moved towards the next tree.
She jumped again and then again. She was moving through the canopy like an expert making the pack below scramble to track her. It was dangerous but it was working.
She had covered almost 90 metres before she had to descend because there were no more interconnected branches. Nyx climbed down fast and started running again. The wolves ran behind her in a group.
Nyx ran deeper into the forest, towards the caves. She heard a howl, it was very close.
She jumped into a thick thorn bush and started crawling through thorns that tore her clothes and skin. The leather vest protected her vitals, but her arms and face got shredded.
It didn't matter to her anymore. She made it to the other side. The sky above was completely dark now. Night had fallen but the hunt was just beginning.
Meanwhile on Earth:
Research Notes by Director Zhao-
Subject continues to exceed projections. 47 minutes of survival in a Hunt that generally ends in under 20 minutes . Adaptation rate is extraordinary.
The wolf pack is adapting to her tactics faster than she's adapting to them. The only question is whether she can stay ahead of them for 11 more hours. Statistics say no but she's defied statistics before.