Florence
“Time is ticking!” Erik’s thick accent taunted me as I puffed from the physical exertion.
I was in wolf form, covering ground so quickly that I was sure to go dizzy if I stopped. I idly wondered how far I would be running if we actually calculated it with a speed camera.
Sweat rivulets glided through my fur and my muscles ached with each movement. I was running so fast now that I wasn’t simply moving, I was leaping, covering about three metres with each stride. The forest near to Steven’s house was dense with vegetation, and for the most part, I was focused on dodging each tree that appeared in my line of vision. The light was dappled through the tree leaves, and gave the illusion that it was close to night.
“Forty seconds!” Erik roared. His voice was louder now, and I could sense that I was closer to the finish. With desperation, I threw my body over the tree line and into the bright light of day. My paws jammed into the packed earth and I skidded to a stop, pulling up grass in my wake.
Breathing hard, I lifted my head to see Erik with a sleek, black stopwatch in his grasp. He smiled at me, his yellow eyes becoming less and less eerie with the more time that I spent with him. They glistened with pride.
“Fifteen minutes and eight seconds. That’s a record.”
I huffed and collapsed in an exhausted heap at his feet. Though we were in a residential area, the only neighbours nearby had reportedly moved out to be with family for the upcoming Christmas celebrations. I didn’t need to be worried about being seen.
“Alright, up you get. You’ll work harder tomorrow and beat that record, but for now, you need to practice your stealth and hunting skills.” Erik twisted on his heel and walked into the house, leaving me puffing and irritated on the lawn.
Erik had been training me for the past six days now, and it was grueling. The day would start at 5:45am, where I would shift and begin the endurance tests. They consisted of either a 4km race against the stopwatch five times, or a long distance jog for three hours. Either way, it was fatiguing.
Straight after that, we’d work on hunting in the forest. Erik had me stalking and chasing prey – anything from as small as a rabbit to as large as a deer – under his critical eye. With my love for animals, I had a natural aversion to killing, which had made it hard for me to capture and kill them, but I was slowly getting over it. Erik kept reminding me that it was all about the food chain, and that when we rescued Kyle there would be no time for sympathy and squeamishness.
Erik had emerged from the house now, and was in nothing but a small pair of shorts. To my chagrin, I immediately raked my gaze over his bare chest, before thinking better of it. I had to focus on saving Kyle, not the attraction that I had for my ‘instructor’.
Putting the image of Erik’s toned muscles out of my mind, I trotted ahead of him into the forest, hearing his heavy footsteps crush the undergrowth behind me. The sound of his shorts falling to the ground was audible, and he shifted soon after, coming to join my side in all his silver glory.
We ran for a while, until we were deep into the forest that surrounded town. Even hikers wouldn’t venture this far.
The game around here was larger; we had elk, bears, deer, and even a few moose. As we slowed to a stop, I tried to even my breathing and keep still. With the lack of noise, we were both able to hear the sounds of a small, trickling stream and the muffled beats of hooves.
We both set off towards the sound at a slow, noiseless walk, though Erik tried to let me lead. As we came closer, I made sure to crouch low to the ground. I’d already taken note of the wind patterns, and we’d approached from downwind, so the elk wouldn’t catch our scent. These elk were in a small group, with only about six or seven visible. They were mulling around the bare patch of grass by the stream, and some were drinking while others grazed. I caught sight of a small calf hiding under its mother’s legs, but I ignored the easy target. I wasn’t ready yet to kill such a small, cute and defenseless animal.
