06-06-2009, 11:29 PM
The predator knew the lay of the land well, and it intended to use that to its advantage. It was not much for long-term planning, despite how much smarter it seemed, it still was weaker than others in higher cognitive function. Still, it knew enough to flee to locations with more obstacles, dangers that it was familiar with that its pursuer was not. She was faster than it was, so it would need to make due with what it had in the immediate future.
The female gained and gained, and it heard her breath as she closed in. The two of them cleared the graveyard, where her agility and greater speed in a straight sprint gave her the advantage, and crossed an old street, where the beast dove into an ally littered with old construction materials, indicating that perhaps someone had been in the middle of adding onto their house before the fall of humanity. The space between two adjacent homes was occupied wall-to-wall with a pile of wooden planks, one of which had fallen askew of the rest, whose end lay on the ground facing them. The predator had seen this place before, and did a quick calculation, before jumping the hurdle, landing on the up-ended part of the fallen plank. This didn't hurt the creature, his weight was easily enough to force the half of the plank on the far end down quickly, which brought the near end swooshing upward, a primitive see-saw action which would either slow her down, or hopefully catch her in the jaw that sought its flesh.
Running beyond the hazardous pile of wood, the predator threw its shoulder into an ancient, rotting scaffold, which collapsed down as the massive wolf clipped its far support, collapsing across the alley. It wouldn't be impassable...but it would buy the monster time. It took a sharp right, and sprinted down several houses before turning left. Its scent would be enough to track over the long term, but following scent was slower than following sight. If it could break her line of sight, it would have the time to make good its escape. It didn't want to fight her, not now when it knew there were other hunters about. It needed to lay low, and remain healthy until it had no predators of its own to worry about. Discretely, it entered an old human house, one which it knew had three exits: one at the front, one out the back, and one through a large, open room with black marks on the floor and tools on the walls. It waited. If it heard her paws on the tiles at one of the entrances, it would know that the chase was on again.
The female gained and gained, and it heard her breath as she closed in. The two of them cleared the graveyard, where her agility and greater speed in a straight sprint gave her the advantage, and crossed an old street, where the beast dove into an ally littered with old construction materials, indicating that perhaps someone had been in the middle of adding onto their house before the fall of humanity. The space between two adjacent homes was occupied wall-to-wall with a pile of wooden planks, one of which had fallen askew of the rest, whose end lay on the ground facing them. The predator had seen this place before, and did a quick calculation, before jumping the hurdle, landing on the up-ended part of the fallen plank. This didn't hurt the creature, his weight was easily enough to force the half of the plank on the far end down quickly, which brought the near end swooshing upward, a primitive see-saw action which would either slow her down, or hopefully catch her in the jaw that sought its flesh.
Running beyond the hazardous pile of wood, the predator threw its shoulder into an ancient, rotting scaffold, which collapsed down as the massive wolf clipped its far support, collapsing across the alley. It wouldn't be impassable...but it would buy the monster time. It took a sharp right, and sprinted down several houses before turning left. Its scent would be enough to track over the long term, but following scent was slower than following sight. If it could break her line of sight, it would have the time to make good its escape. It didn't want to fight her, not now when it knew there were other hunters about. It needed to lay low, and remain healthy until it had no predators of its own to worry about. Discretely, it entered an old human house, one which it knew had three exits: one at the front, one out the back, and one through a large, open room with black marks on the floor and tools on the walls. It waited. If it heard her paws on the tiles at one of the entrances, it would know that the chase was on again.