BEGINNING - 10

After hearing the voice earlier, John stood up and looked around to find where it was coming from. "He's here," said John.

"Huh?" asked Jane.

"Run! Follow me," he told Jane. "Turn on thermal vision," John changed the view mode on his mask.

John ran very fast in the middle of the jungle, he broke through the thickets and did not care about insects flying and clinging to his body, his focus was now only on the sound he heard earlier.

Jane who didn't want to be left behind tried her best to catch up, but still she couldn't keep up with his speed.

After a while, he felt exhausted. "John… wait…," she said as he bent down with his hands trying to grab him. "John!" she shouted.

John stopped running and walked over to her. "Get on, hurry!" he ordered in a hurry.

He crouched down in front of Jane while giving her back, intending to carry her because they didn't have much time. "Get on!!" John snapped at him. "Hold on tightly," Jane immediately climbed onto his back as John started running again.

Small branches blocking the way scratched Jane's soft skin. "Aww… it's hurt," Jane complained. "Slow down John."

John still didn't slow down, he just increased his running speed.

Because there was a fallen tree in front of him, he jumped over it.

John's right foot braked very tightly, sending him sliding on the ground while turning left in a good turning maneuver and Jane closed her eyes for fear of falling.

After a few minutes of running, John finally arrived at a place he felt was the source of a voice he had heard earlier.

John changed the vision mode on his mask. "Switch to night vision."

The light on his mask flashed and a tube covered the camera that was on his mask.

He crouched down again to lower Jane off his back, while looking the area for traces left behind but found nothing except a dead animal lying on the ground with bite mark on its neck.

"Shit, I'm late."

"What are you looking for?"

"Nothing, can you walk?"

"I can."

"Few minutes left to be there."

John took off his bulletproof vest and uniform, he was seen wearing a plain black t-shirt. "I don't bring a jacket or raincoat, so wear this and pour this on your wounds," continued John, handing her a bottle of ethanol.

A stout body, broad chest, and arm muscles that look often trained, can be seen from behind the shirt that John wears with scars from previous battles.

As I thought, it's impossible for him to be sixty. said Jane in her heart.

Jane was wearing her T-shirt even though it was too big. "So smelly," she complained about the bad smell from the uniform.

While Michael and the others were still moving towards the direction indicated by the tracking device, his partner looked at a tracking device and found that John's movement had changed so fast that they were quite far behind.

"How can they move so fast? We're just fiveteen mins away from them, and now the gap are wider."

"They're running after hearing the sounds," said Michael. "We gave our position to them, that's why."

"Indeed, but if we didn't kill that animal, we'll be the one killed by it, and this freaking jungle are pitch black, it feels like he's born in jungle."

"Let's move."

They chased after and quickened their pace so that the distance between them was not too wide while talking.

"How can you end up as a hunter? With your skill and experience, you can be a commander."

"I don't know," Michael said in response to his question.

"Where are you from? I served in iraq before."

"I think you didn't know the purpose of this mask right?"

"I know, to hide our identities."

"Right."

"I just want to make new friends and maybe we can be teammates for the next event cause you're reliable."

"Well, I'll live peacefully after this end."

Michael is old enough to participate in the next game, because this is the second time for him.

They came to a waterfall, and the tracking device showed that John was only a few hundred yards ahead.

"Find a way to the top."

They looked for another way to get to the top, few meters from the waterfall they found a steep path used by John.

The path had an incline of seventy degrees, they took the path and arrived at the top.

A pair of eyeballs watched their movements intently from behind a bushes, the eyes was filled with murderous intent.

The puff of smoke and a glow of a distant bonfire made them sure that John was not far ahead.

"Keep on alert, he might set some traps."

Tap… tap.. tap…. Footsteps sound.

They crept in with footsteps that couldn't even be heard.

Kuuk.. kuk, yoke.

Crick, cricket…. The sound of crickets and owls.

They do not communicate using their mouths, but use hand sign language.

Michael raised his hand and pointed at his teammate while pressing his own arm down and holding his helmet, his partner responded by making an O using his index finger and thumb, his partner stepped closer to the light source in a prone position according to his instructions.

After observing for a while, he returned to him again to tell him what he had seen.

He informed Michael that their target wasn't there, and that John was alone sitting facing the bonfire.

It must be a trap. Michael thought to himself.

They had no choice but to move forward, they moved sneakily and suddenly.

BRAK! Bruk bruk brak!. The sound of bodies being hit and falling on the ground.

On reflex, they shot at the black shadowy figure that had crashed into them.

The hunter who was hit earlier was dragged away from his comrades by the black shadow figure.

Not wanting to injure their own comrades, they stopped shooting and took out knives while chasing him.

They pushed their way through the thicket of bushes to chase after their partner in order to be saved, Michael who was close to his partner's position, jumped and stuck his knife at the black shadow figure.

Thump. Knife Sound

But the knife felt like it was being stabbed into the wall because it just stopped.

He found that the black shadow figure was a wolf with black fur as high as one meter tall.