The Hunter

Dawn would be there soon and a dull ache pulsed through Mira’s muscles from running all night. With hunters hot on her trail, she couldn’t allow herself to rest yet. The damp leaves on the forest floor stuck to her paws as she ran. When she neared the clearing ahead, she paused to sniff the air. The scents of wet dirt and grass greeted her, no hunters or wolves. With a deep breath, she propelled herself forward into the tall grass.

A shot rang out. A sharp sting hit her shoulder as a bullet grazed it. Thankfully, the wound would heal in no time. She pushed herself harder. Her claws sunk farther into the ground and sent a spray of dirt behind her. The hunters must have called for reinforcements to trap her. She hadn’t been caught yet, and she refused to let them catch her now.

The shouts of the hunters scattered the birds in the trees in front of her. As soon as the trees were within reach, she lunged into their safety. She managed to push herself harder to put more distance between them. A moss covered log blocked her path and she crouched down to slide under it. Leaves and dirt from the fallen tree clung to the blood from the knick on her shoulder. Her muscles contracted as she continued to run, making some of the leaves fall with each stride.

The sound of rushing water up ahead made her catch her breath. The water could either be her salvation or her downfall. As she crashed through the trees, she exhaled—it’d be the former. Her eyes scanned the mountain face and waterfall. 

She shifted into her human form as she dove headfirst into the deep pond at the base of the waterfall. Her wolf form wasn’t quite as fast when it came to swimming as her human one. When she got under the waterfall, she searched the rocks behind it for any type of crevice. A dark spot in the wall had her frantically climbing towards it. One plus about the years of running was that both her forms were sleek and toned. 

The hunters would be there soon and she needed to hurry. Her hand slipped on a rock, which sliced it open. She bit down on her lower lip to stop from gasping in pain. With a steadying breath, she climbed up the rest of the wall carefully. Blood covered her hand and dripped down her forearm, which added yet another layer of difficulty by making her hands slippery.

As her hand hit the ledge of the cave in the wall, she sighed in relief. She’d gotten very lucky that night. When she pulled herself into the cavern, she stayed on all fours. Caves in the mountains were rarely unoccupied. A familiar rustling above her head alerted her to what lived in the cave before her eyes finished adjusting to dim light in the cave. It looked like she’d be sleeping with bats today. 

After taking a few more steps into the cave, she morphed back into her wolf. She shook her damp fur and a few of the bats on the ceiling shifted at the disturbance. Her head swiveled back to appraise the damage done by the bullet. The water had washed away any traces of blood, but an angry red spot remained on her skin. At least it would fade to a small white scar by the time evening rolled around.

She wrinkled her nose at the smell of silver. It did nothing to hurt shifters as far as she knew. Heck, if a silver bullet killed a shifter, it would be because of the bullet part not the silver. A regular bullet to the head or heart would work just as well. She shouldn’t complain about the silver too much, since she’d taken a few of their bullets into town and traded them for things like soap. Without knowing it, the hunters provided her with a few luxuries in life. At the reminder of the hunters, she slunk towards the mouth of the cave to listen for them.

Their shouts had grown distant, which meant they’d gone past her hideout. Hunters weren’t completely human. They possessed more strength and speed to help them hunt shifters like her. The original intent for the hunters had been for them to kill crazed shifters, but they had twisted it somehow. Now they killed and captured sane rogue shifters or even weak packs. 

The hunters captured the shifters to perform lab tests on them, and the thought sickened her. What they hoped to achieve in their inhumane experiments, she didn’t have a clue and she wasn’t sure if she really wanted to know. As well as being able to shift into an animal, shifters were humans, too. They had rights, but the hunters didn’t seem to agree with that. Maybe once upon a time they had. If so, it’d be like the saying implied: a fairy tale of sorts, since she’d never heard of shifters and hunters getting along. The history of the shifters and hunters was as far from magical or good as one could get.

Not wanting to think any more about her pursuers, she paced back and forth to ease some of the adrenaline coursing through her veins. After several minutes of silence, she lowered her head to the ground. Her eyes drooped shut, but her head jerked up as a reflex. It wasn’t safe to fall asleep yet. The hunters weren’t stupid and they’d figure out she had tricked them sooner or later. She hoped it was later. Much later. 

If they discovered where they’d lost her scent, they’d find her cave. Nowhere else had a place for a full grown wolf or human to disappear. She jumped to her paws. Did the cave have a different entrance on top of the mountain? Her energy spiked at the thought of another entrance. She’d have to check before she could rest in peace.

As she slunk towards the back of the cave, she tried not to breathe in the scent of the guano littering the floor.  After five minutes, the curtain of bats ended, as did the guano. She inhaled deeply to try and catch the scent of something that would indicate another entrance. Nothing smelled out of the ordinary for a cave, and she’d slept in enough of those to know what a typical cave smelled like.

The cave floor had a slight incline to it, which promised an exit on the other side. With careful steps, she continued. She didn’t know how long she’d been walking when she finally caught the scent of grass and leaves. Sunrays danced on the cave floor in the distance. She lowered herself to the ground and crawled towards the entrance. This entrance could be safer if it didn’t go out onto another ledge of the mountain.

When she finally got to the entrance, the other side revealed a forest of pine and deciduous trees and a gentle slope downward. Well, gentle compared to what she had climbed on the other side. She sniffed the air and couldn’t detect any predators or humans. A mountain lion was the last thing she wanted to face at that moment. She lacked the energy to fight or outrun it.

As a yawn reminded her of how exhausted her poor body was, she walked back into the cave and wedged herself behind a big rock. At least she wouldn’t be visible if the hunters followed her to this side of the mountain.

After another thirty minutes or so of letting her body relax, Mira finally let her eyes close. She wouldn’t sleep long, just long enough to regain a bit of energy so she could hunt later. A day had passed since she’d last eaten and she’d burned those calories long ago. With one last heavy sigh and a rumble of her tummy, she drifted off into a dreamless slumber.

She should have known better than to let herself sleep. No matter how exhausted she was, getting caught was worse. Far worse. And as always, luck wasn’t on her side.