The Animal Inside

Chapter Thirteen: Tracking Wars

I arrived at the gym a few minutes early. I got changed into my training gear, and headed out to the clearing before the trees started. Looking around, I saw Gaia and Kimi.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked when I made my way over to them.

“I lost in the second round so we thought we would come and watch you,” Gaia said.

“You better go sign in,” Kimi said.

I walked over and signed in with one of the teachers. I was directed to stand with two other competitors. They were both guys. They looked me up and down, like I was their prey.

The teacher came over to us.

“Right, here’s how it’s gonna work. There is someone hiding in the forest. Your job is to find them. Easy as pie,” he explained. He reached into the plastic bag he was holding, and withdrew a shirt. He held it in front of each of us, so we could get the smell of who we were tracking. I was last. Before the shirt got to me, I took a small whiff of the other competitors, so I wouldn’t get confused between whom I was tracking. Finally, the shirt appeared before me. I took a good few strong smell. It was a floral scent, defiantly female.

“Are you all ready?” the teacher asked. We all nodded. He directed each of us to our starting positions. We started a few meters apart. One of the boys looked over at me, smiling smugly. ‘You’re going down’ he mouthed.

‘Hell no.’

‘Hello to you too.’

‘We are so winning this.’

‘Why so eager?’

‘I don’t like the way they look at us. They think we don’t know what we’re doing. Little do they know.’

I smiled to myself. The hooter sounded and we headed into the trees. I heard the boys thundering through the trees, eager to find whoever-it-was. I, however, took a slower approach.

I worked my way through the trees, stopping occasional to take a sniff at the air and listen for unnatural sounds. I continued this tactic until something occurred to me. There were no birds singing on my right. I headed off towards the right, unsure as to the reason. One of the other competitors could have frightened them away, but my instincts told me that wasn’t the reason. After walking for a few minutes, I stopped again. I took in every bit of my surroundings. The rustle of the light breeze through the trees. The dark tree trunks around me. The footprints in the dust of the ground under me...wait. Looking closely at the ground, I saw the indents of shoe soles. I placed my shoe beside it, comparing the size. Smaller than mine, they must belong to the girl we were tracking. I knelt on the ground, and smelt the dirt. At least there was no one around to witness this slightly awkward tactic. It smelt like the shirt. I smiled. Yes, I was onto her. I followed the footprints, moving quickly, but silently. I stuck to the grass on the side of the worn path, not giving my competitors reason or ability to follow me. The footprints began to become closer together, and soon I reached a clearing. The footprints led me to a tree. There was a mess of prints all around the base of the tree. I sniffed at the tree, my nose confirming what I already knew. She had scrambled up the tree. I looked up; she wasn’t there. I climbed up the tree, and looked around. Her scent was strong here. I looked around nearby tree. The branches of this tree, as well as other nearby were strong enough for her to move from tree to tree. Following my nose, I moved from one tree to the next, until her scent didn’t continue along the tree line.

Instead, it went down the tree. Following it, I reached the ground and looked around. I noticed that, via the trees, I had crossed a large, wild stream. There were more trees, and a couple that had fallen over.