The Hunter

Breaking and Entering

The smell of Hunter grew stronger as Mira got closer to the town. Every now and then the urge to growl would almost overwhelm her, but she would pause and take a couple of deep breaths through her mouth to calm herself each time. As the town grew nearer, the harder it became.

Hunter paths circled around the city for patrols, and it took a lot of effort to avoid crossing any. Whenever she got too close to one, she’d climb a tree and jump from branch to branch. It was a necessary evil to avoid any Hunters from catching her scent. If they smelled her, the entire town would be on high alert and she wouldn’t get anything they—or better put: Collin—needed. Even in the trees, her scent would waft down, but it wouldn’t be nearly as strong. When she was about half a mile from town, staying in the trees seemed like the wisest course of action.

All the windows were dark in the first house she came across. No doubt all the residents were sleeping in comfort thinking nothing could get to them here. Most wolves wouldn’t be stupid enough to get this close to Hunters, but Mira never really adhered to the can’s and cannot’s of wolf society, which probably explained her current situation perfectly.

She pushed down a tree branch—any security cameras were less likely to record her in a tree—to survey the area. A grayish box slowly pivoted around one of the telephone poles. One. Two. Three… After twenty seconds, the camera completed its cycle.

If she stayed to the edge of the camera, she’d have around ten seconds to get past it, but she could be running straight into the path of a second one. While she already had a limited amount of time, observing the perimeter would be worth it. Her time would go down to zero if the cameras caught her. In this case, it was definitely better to be safe than sorry.

After spending what felt like hours, but based on the moon’s position was really only half-an-hour, Mira had ascertained a few things: 

1)      Hunters had a fondness for trucks, SUVS and jeeps, which were oftentimes old rust buckets;

2)      Only two places had any signs of life: the local bar and the security office; conveniently for Mira they were just down the street from each other;

3)      The town only had a grocery store, a clothing store adjoined to a camping store, a gun store and a doctor’s office connected to the doctor’s house,

4)      Each camera worked on the same cycle and slightly overlapped each other; and,

5)      Four gaps existed on the line of the two cameras without dog houses.

The one farthest away from the bar and the security office seemed the safest, and it helped that the truck she wanted was blocking a tiny portion of the camera’s line of sight. It was a brand new red Chevy Silverado with extended crew cab. The owner would be less than happy to wake up to find it gone, but she was okay with that since the owner happened to be a Hunter.

When the cameras were at the halfway point, Mira sprinted up to the Chevy and ducked behind it, while counting. After waiting for another cycle of the cameras to go by, she peeked into the truck. Sure enough, the doors were unlocked and a key hidden behind the visor. The owner had to either be really cocky or confident that no one could get to him, maybe even a combination of the two.

If she opened the door now to get the key, the door light would alert anyone watching the security cameras. She’d have to trust that no one would move the truck as she raided buildings. With her escape route decided, she slipped under the truck and continued to count. Once the cameras reached the half way point again, she slid out from under the truck—probably with grass and dirt stains all over her light blue shirt—and sprinted to the security camera post.