'Slap…Slap"
"Meru, Wake up!" It was night. Everyone should have been asleep. Yet, suddenly someone slapped Alex awake.
Alex, who dreamed of getting rich quickly with his interdimensional farm was slapped awake. He looked dazed and disoriented.
"What!" He exclaimed.
"Shhhh… Keep quiet. Come outside, we are leaving." The man who slapped Alex said. He was one of the members of the caravan.
Alex who heard it swiftly got on his feet.
He could see that it was dark outside. It was not morning yet, and the caravan member was reacting weirdly.
"What happened?" Alex questioned curiously. He could see the slight panic in the caravan member's eyes.
"Something is tracking us. Kan saw something beyond the mountains. We need to leave fast. Quickly get up and prepare to leave." After saying that, the man went around waking other members of the tribe.
'Something was tracking us? Was it an animal, predator?' Alex thought while he quickly packed up his things.
Fortunately, he didn't have many things to carry. But the same cannot be said for the tribesmen. They had heavy sleighs to pull along.
The moment Alex exited the tent, he could see the temporary camp quietly waking up. Within minutes they packed everything and were ready to move.
"Are we going across the lake?" Daya who usually kept quiet asked. Even a strong warrior like her was panicking. This caught Alex off guard. He was hoping to follow behind Daya like a small chick following behind its mother. However, the panicked words of Daya spooked him.
"It would be hard to evade them if we move through the lake." Daya once again said. She was asking Dhairya about his opinion.
"But it would be faster to leave through the lake. We will never be able to evade wolves in the thick forest. Remember that we have to pull the sleighs. Our only way to outmanoeuvre them is by running as fast as we can through the lake." Kan who spotted the wolves said.
"I only saw a single wolf and I don't know how many they have in their pack. We can't stay here and fight. More will be coming here soon. We have to hurry." He said to Dhairya forcing him to take quick action.
"We are leaving right now. Let's take the safe bet and cross the lake. If we run fast, we can cross it in three to four hours. It will be dawn by then, we have a better chance of survival if we can fight in the daytime. If we are lucky, the wolves might leave us alone after we leave their territory." Dhairya carefully analysed the situation before deciding on the next course of action.
There was no more delay in their motion. Like a well-oiled machine, the group acted like a single entity. Pulling along the sleighs, they began running towards the other end of the lake.
"Meru, follow behind me. Stay close to me and never leave my sight." Dhairya warned.
It was dark outside. If Alex was not careful, he would be left behind. And it would be hard to find the path again. Dhairya feared that and warned Alex.
Unfortunately, the caravan was not lucky. Just after an hour or so, Kan spotted the wolf again. It was following behind them.
It was tracking them and keeping an eye on them at all times. It meant that the wolf pack was following just behind it. Ready to attack if they show a moment of weakness.
Alex promptly grabbed a long spear for himself. He didn't have any weapon to fight with and he felt the need to prepare for any potential conflict.
Quickly time went by.
Even after an hour, Kan saw the wolf following closely behind them.
"Can I shoot it down?" Lifting his bow up, he nocked an arrow into it before asking. He aimed it at the wolf.
At first, he left it behind not spook the pack behind it. It was better to leave silently than to attack and gain the ire of the wolf pack.
But now, the wolf was really getting on his nerves. Through its action, it has already declared its intention to attack the caravan. And that was unforgivable in Kan's books.
"Ok, Shoot it down."
Hearing Dhairya loud and clear, a small smile bloomed on Kan's face. He raised the bow and aimed directly at the wolf.
"Snap…Swish…" With a snapping sound, the arrow flew through the air and accurately pierced the wolf's head. It died in that exact instant. The brain that it once had was completely pierced by the arrow.
There was no way for it to survive.
Kan was one of the six top warriors of the stone head tribe. The poor wolf underestimated him and followed him thinking they were easy prey.
But it didn't end there. Kan shot three more arrows in quick succession. It all pierced through the head of wolves killing them. Only a slight hum of bowstring remained waking Alex from his stupor.
'I didn't even notice the other wolves following behind it.' He thought.
"Howl…" Suddenly a wolf howled. It jolted awake the tired warriors of the stone head tribe.
"There is more!" Alex exclaimed.
As if that howl triggered a roll call, more and more wolves began howling. That's when the tribe notice the sound coming from all around them.
Unknowingly the wolves had flanked them. They were now surrounded.
"Oh, shit!"
"Oh, shit it is. Prepare to fight. There might be more than fifty wolves surrounding us. Kan, try to spot the alpha. Daya, shield us from the front. Take a circular defensive formation and wait. They need to come to us to attack. Once they reach near us, we will follow Daya and take initiative in attacking." Dhairya, the experienced hunter commanded the group.
Following the orders, everyone prepared for the attack.
Including Daya, Kan and Dhairya there were only ten people who could do full body enhancement in the group. And they had to fight wolves from the dim moonlit area.
It was a difficult challenge considering that more than fifty wolves surrounded them.
A bite or a scratch can be lethal in a situation like this.
Alex who knew this quickly scanned his surroundings. If he really wanted to, he could temporarily escape to the farm and survive. But he was sure that he would not be able to take any living thing along with him. That meant that he would have to leave behind all the tribesmen alone to fend for themself.
And if he teleports into the farm right now. He was sure that he can protect his life. But what would happen to the caravan group?
They might die. Some might have their corpse chewed on by a pack of wolves. It was a horrifying outcome that he wished would never happen.
Finally, after making up his mind, he decided to fight. Only in dire a situation would he hide inside the farm.
Looking around he saw the pack of wolves slowly creeping up to them. In the darkness, he saw silhouettes barely visible. The mild winds blew the snow in the air, covering the ground.
It was a standoff. But this time, they were the prey. And the wolves were here to hunt them.