Fox Run (35 page)

"Thank you for the car, Alpha," I told her. She hugged me and laughed.

* * * *

Pack game night, it turned out, didn't include the entire pack. That would be hundreds of wolves. Instead it included the ones who lived at the compound plus a few others who stopped by.

Janice was there.

"Pack game night is our night to play," Lara told me. "We include the kids and play games they can enjoy. We let out our inner child."

Dinner was first, then everyone gathered in the courtyard. There were several piles of blankets on the porch; I didn't know what they were for. "What's the game tonight, Alpha?" asked Rory.

"One we haven't played in a while," Lara said. "Hide and seek."

My sister and I used to play hide and seek. The rules were simple. The game appeared to be popular, based on the smiles. The kids looked excited, but the adults seemed to be looking forward to it as well.

"For those who don't know," Lara said, looking straight at me. "We play within a defined territory. Tonight, that means no crossing roads. Half hour games or until everyone is caught except one. You get five minutes to hide and then you have to settle down. This isn't a game of chase. This is hide and seek, not run and seek. The referee howls when it's time to hide and howls again when the game is over. Even a human would hear the howl within the agreed territory. Once you are caught, you help catch other people. It is considered bad form to follow someone else while hiding."

"Do you keep score?" I asked.

"Yes. We'll play as many games as we can. Anyone who is not found the most times is the winner. After that, it's based on how many people you personally find."

"Does it ever go that someone isn't found?"

"Yes, most games end with a few still hiding, but sometimes we find everyone, sometimes even the last hiding person before we realize we were down to only one."

"So if you're caught, it is to your advantage to find as many other people as you can, because if they aren't found, they move ahead of you, and if you find them, you get a point."

"Right."

"Any forms of hiding that are illegal?"

"Stay out and off of the buildings and out of the trees."

"Does someone have to tag you to be considered caught?"

"Yes. That means, little fox, that it would be poor form to hide somewhere wolves can see you but not touch you."

"Darn it," I said. "There's a lovely culvert that's too small for the rest of you."

That earned me some laughter.

"Any more questions?" Lara asked. There weren't any. "All right, to start, I will be it. Who wants to be my partner?"

"I will," Gia offered immediately.

"And referee for the first game?"

"I can," said Serena, the mother of the two boys I had helped rescue.

"All right, everyone under the age of fourteen who wants to get a head start shifting, you may start now."

Janice stepped up to my side. "The first game will be chaotic. Not everyone can shift in five minutes, and only you and Lara are able to shift instantly. The little ones can take up to twenty minutes, and even some of the adults shift slowly. This one rarely goes the entire thirty minutes."

"So the five minute timer is going to start with everyone on two feet?"

"Just the first game."

"So I'll be the first to the woods."

"Yes."

"And you?"

Janice smiled. "I'll be second or third."

"No one will follow me?"

"It would be bad form, but I wouldn't put it past the alpha to have told someone to shadow you."

"If she told you that, would you admit it if I asked you?"

She laughed. "No."

"Thank you for the warning."

"You are welcome."

Serena was watching a timer. "Thirty seconds," she yelled.

"The referee is always someone who shifts quickly so she can be able to play the next game," Janice said.

"Ten seconds," said Serena.

"Good luck, little fox. There is a prize to the winner."

"Go!" yelled Serena.

All the other wolves immediately began stripping off clothes and lying down to shift. Lara winked at me. I didn't bother stripping. I ran towards the corner of Lara's house, then shifted on a bound, slipping out of my clothes easily. I was in the woods five seconds later.

I listened intently for pursuit but didn't even bother with my dirty tricks until I was sure I was at least a minute into the woods. Then I began using every dirty trick I knew, working my way around towards the east. I ran as fast as I could when not employing tricks, putting as much distance between myself and the rest of the wolves.

I heard a few wolves, well behind me, but didn't hear anyone on my back trail. When I thought I was about out of time, I started looking for a good hiding place. I found an overturned tree with a tangled root system, so I did my normal set of tricks then dropped down into a hole and hunkered down listening.

I heard a howl from the compound. From the sounds of it, a bunch of wolves hadn't finished shifting. I heard six clear barks from the same voice, one after another. Two minutes later from somewhere north of the compound I heard a bark that was clearly Lara's voice. I realized the bark was to identify a catch. I hadn't heard her enter the woods. I decided the first set of barks must have been Gia, tagging people in the compound.

I heard Lara bark twice more, moving away from me, and south of the compound I heard Gia bark once. I realized I should have listened more clearly to the barks; I wasn't counting.

Then I started hearing barks coming from more voices, one every minute or so on average. It wasn't until several minutes later, when at least half the pack must have been found, that I heard the first wolf at all close to me. I heard a chuff about four hundred yards, and I knew a wolf had found my back trail.

The trail he had found was a false trail, and now that I knew where he was, I could track him, weakly at first, then more easily. I could tell when he lost my trail. He wandered in circles trying to pick it back up before giving up and running off in the wrong direction.

I heard a few more barks, including one more from Lara, and then I started hearing more wolves. They weren't moving that quietly. Twice a wolf found one of my false trails and got led off in the wrong direction. Once a wolf found my correct trail but lost it when I had shifted directions under a fallen tree.

Then, quietly, I heard a wolf come from the south, a direction I hadn't even traveled, but from the sound of it, she was going to pass right over my trail.

I knew it when Lara found my main trail. She chuffed loudly, which actually may have saved me. The wolf that was about to find my trail veered off towards Lara's voice. Then Lara moved closer. She lost me twice. Once another voice helped her find my trail again; the other time she did. She had two wolves with her, and they were easily going to find me. Still, I waited.

They lost me at the tree whose roots were hiding me. I listened to intent sniffing. they knew I was close, and they should have been able to find me easily. The two wolves with Lara kept ranging away, trying to pick up my scent, but it kept bringing them back to the big jumble of roots. Rather than finding me, they stepped away, sniffing all over the place.

And then I looked up, and Lara was looking straight into my eyes. She chuffed with glee.

I waited for her. She had to tag me, after all.

The other two wolves tried to find a way through the roots on the ground. I tucked my tail in tightly, and they couldn't reach me. Lara stood over me, staring down at me, then she joined the other two, trying to tag me. They spent several minutes at it, but they couldn't reach me.

Lara jumped back up where she could see me and shifted.

"No cheating, little fox. Come on out."

I stared up at her. It wasn't this difficult. She shouldn't accuse me of cheating. I would have shifted and told her that, but the space was way too small for me to shift. All she had to do was use her nose to find my route in and she would have me.

"Come on, Michaela. We found you. Climb out of there."

I put my head on my chin.

"Seriously?" She looked angry. I yawned at her.

Then there were two barks.

"Come out right now, Michaela!" she ordered.

There was another bark and immediately I heard Serena howl. Game over.

"You and I are going to have words," she said. "Game over, get out of there." She addressed the other two wolves. "Head back to the compound. We'll be there once I get the little fox out of her hole."

I immediately began whining and yelping like I had been hurt.

"Wait," she told them. As soon as they froze, I stopped whining. Then I chuffed happily and made my way out of my hiding spot, taking a route no one had even tried.

As soon as I was clear, I shifted and said, "Alpha, I will accept your judgment. I may not know the rules properly. Am I obligated to make it easy to find the same path in that I took?" Then I shifted back and climbed back into my spot. Lara shifted and tried to follow me. She wouldn't have been able to hide where I was, but she reached forward and licked my muzzle before backing out. I followed her and then rolled over on the ground and offered my throat.

She bent down and licked my face, chuffed twice, and led the way back to the compound. Seeing us, Serena said, "Gia and Lara on the porch, please. Everyone who was caught, over here." She pointed to the left. "Whoever was the last one left, over there."

I walked to the porch, shifted, and grabbed one of the blankets. "Alpha?"

Lara grabbed a blanket and shifted as well. "The little fox, as you might have guessed, outfoxed me. I could see her, but we couldn't figure out how to get to her. I accused her of cheating. She hadn't cheated. She was just too foxy. You were not caught."

"Who was the last one caught?" I asked.

A wolf stepped out of the crowd who had been caught.

"That's Scarlett," Lara said.

"Alpha, I do not want Scarlett to miss a win on what may be a too foxy trick. I will switch places with her, with your permission."

"Very gracious," said Serena. "Alpha?"

"Point to both Scarlett and Michaela," Lara declared. Scarlett howled once and pranced over to join me, butting her head into my hip and nearly knocking me over.

After that, Serena got tallies from everyone for who caught how many. Gia got the most because of the slow shifters she was able to tag immediately. Lara was next, and then the rest had one or two, if any at all.

"All right, who was caught first?"

A little wolf stepped forward.

"Gia," Lara said sadly. Gia hung her head then stepped forward and licked the little wolf.

"All right, Kaylee needs a partner."

"I will," I said before anyone could speak up.

Lara turned to me. "I would have thought you would want to go hide again."

"Kaylee and I will make a great team."

"Kaylee and Michaela
are it. Do we have a volunteer referee?"

An adult wolf stepped forward, and Lara said, "Thank you, Janice." She looked over, and Serena had finished shifting. "I'll start the timer while Janice is shifting. Everyone get ready, go!"

I never saw a pack of wolves run away faster.

I listened intently, trying especially hard to track Lara. She exited to the north but I heard her circle east, putting distance between herself and the other wolves, running quickly. But it turns out, she didn't actually go that far from the compound. I smiled when I heard her settle in.

Janice finished her shift and grabbed a blanket.

"Kaylee," I said. "Do you want to catch the alpha first?"

She chuffed at me.

I turned to Janice. "Can we step onto the grass?"

"Not yet."

"Kaylee, as soon as Janice howls, we're going to go onto the grass together. Then I'm going to point you straight towards the alpha and tell you how far she is. Can you find her?"

She chuffed.

"Good girl." I hugged her quickly.

"Ten seconds," Janice said. There was a pause, and she howled.

"Come on, Kaylee," I said. I stepped into the grass towards the side of Lara's house, Kaylee following me. I cocked my head, then pointed Kaylee's head directly towards Lara's hiding place. "Kaylee, she's two hundred and fifty yards hiding under an evergreen tree. She thinks the smell will throw you off. Can you find her?"

She chuffed and took off running.

"Come back when you find her, Kaylee!" I yelled after her. She chuffed.

I listened to Kaylee searching for Lara, pinpointing the locations of six more wolves that were close and approximate locations on several more.

"Aren't you going to shift and search?" Janice asked.

"Not yet. I take it Gia should have tagged an older child first."

"A couple of adults shift slowly, too," Janice said. "Gia probably forgot. She wouldn't have picked on Kaylee."

I heard when Kaylee found Lara. She barked, and I could tell she was excited. Kaylee raced back here, and I heard Lara begin moving north.

Kaylee ran right to me and I pointed her. "Jason is that way, only ninety yards, but he is in a good hiding place. He might be hard to find. If you can't find him chuff three times and I will come help."

She ran off.

Lara caught one, then Kaylee caught Jason. Jason headed south and Kaylee ran back to me. I pointed her to a new wolf. "I don't know who this is, and it's four hundred yards near a stream."

She chuffed and ran.

"How are you doing that?" Janice asked?

"Fox tricks," I said.

Lara found another one, and I heard a bark from a wolf I didn't recognize.

"That was Angel," Janice said.

"Thanks. Are you allowed to give me time updates?"

"Not normally, but I like what you're doing for Kaylee. Seven minutes elapsed."

Kaylee found someone and barked. She ran back. I pointed her. "In the ditch next to the road, hunkered down really well, but only seventy five yards. It's downwind, Kaylee, you might have to go past and circle back." She ran off.

"Eight minutes," said Janice. "Few wolves would do what you're doing."