Third person POV
The moment they were released, the girls ran. They ran deep into the woods like their lives depended on it. After a while, they finally stopped, bending over to catch their breath. Luckily for them, no one was after them yet.
They didn't understand why they were running, but something deep inside them kept screaming that they had to. That stopping meant danger.
"Where should we hide?" Avelyn asked, looking around frantically.
"I don't know, Vee," Lilian replied, her voice shaky.
Avelyn's eyes lifted toward a nearby tree. "Up there?" she suggested.
Lilian shook her head quickly. "No. The branches aren't thick enough. They'll notice us immediately." She looked around again, panic creeping in. "Let's keep running. Hopefully we find somewhere better."
With no other option, they took off again, pushing themselves deeper into the woods.
....
Panic was written all over the group's faces. None of them wanted their friends to end up as someone's pet.
"The hunt will start in the next five minutes," Zane announced, and the group instantly tensed.
"I think it'll be better if we split into two groups," he added. "That way we can find them faster."
"Karl, you go with Mirabel. I'll go with Cole," Zane said.
They all nodded.
"Don't worry, Mira," Cole said, squeezing her shoulder softly. "We'll get them."
"Alright, off you go," the teacher announced.
The students immediately dispersed, all heading toward the woods in different directions, ready to hunt.
"Let's do this," Mirabel said firmly.
And with that, they split up and disappeared into the woods.
The woods grew quieter the deeper Lilian and Avelyn ran. The sounds from the school faded until all they could hear was their own breathing, the crunch of dry leaves beneath their feet, and the occasional snap of a branch that made both of them flinch.
"Slow down," Avelyn whispered after a while, grabbing Lilian's wrist. "We can't keep running like this."
Lilian nodded, even though her chest still burned. They slowed to a jog, then a walk, both of them trying to listen for anything unusual.
That was when Lilian noticed it.
The woods felt wrong.
It was too quiet. No birds. No insects. Just silence, thick and heavy, like it was pressing down on them.
"I don't like this," Avelyn murmured. "It feels like we're being watched."
Lilian opened her mouth to respond when a sound echoed behind them.
A laugh.
Soft. Mocking.
They both froze.
"Did you hear that?" Avelyn whispered.
Before Lilian could answer, a figure stepped out from behind a tree a few meters away.
Bianca.
She leaned lazily against the trunk, arms crossed, a bored smile on her lips like this was all some kind of game.
"Well," Bianca said calmly, "you're really bad at hiding."
Avelyn's breath hitched. "Run," she whispered.
They didn't wait.
The girls took off in the opposite direction, adrenaline kicking in hard. Branches scratched at their arms, leaves slapped against their faces, but they didn't stop.
Behind them, Bianca didn't chase.
She laughed.
"Wrong way," Bianca called out casually. "Trust me."
Lilian ignored her and kept running, pulling Avelyn along with her. But after a few seconds, the ground beneath their feet changed. The leaves thinned out, replaced by damp soil and rocks.
Avelyn stumbled.
"Lilian!" she cried as she nearly fell.
Lilian caught her just in time, but that was when they heard it.
Footsteps.
Not Bianca's.
Multiple.
"Shit," Lilian whispered.
Voices echoed nearby. Students. Hunters.
"They're close," Avelyn said, panic rising in her voice.
They looked around desperately and spotted a narrow path leading downhill, covered by overgrown bushes.
"There," Lilian said. "We hide."
They pushed through the bushes and crouched low, pressing themselves against the muddy ground. Lilian covered Avelyn's mouth just as footsteps passed by a few feet away.
"Did you hear something?" a voice asked.
"No," another replied. "Bianca said they went the other way."
Lilian's heart dropped.
Bianca lied.
The footsteps faded, and Lilian slowly released her breath. Avelyn's eyes were wide, filled with fear and confusion.
"She did that on purpose," Avelyn whispered. "She's playing with us."
Before Lilian could respond, Bianca appeared again, stepping through the bushes like she had always known where they were.
"Told you," Bianca said softly. "I make things… difficult."
Lilian stood up suddenly, anger flashing through her fear. "Why are you doing this?"
Bianca tilted her head, studying her. "Because you're interesting. And because Zane cares." Her eyes flicked briefly in the direction of the deeper woods. "And I don't like that."
She took a step closer.
"Run again," Bianca whispered. "Let's see how long you last."
Avelyn grabbed Lilian's hand and pulled her away before Bianca could say another word. They ran blindly now, no direction, no plan, just away.
Somewhere else in the woods, Zane stopped abruptly.
He could feel it.
"They're close," he muttered.
"What?" Cole asked, scanning the area.
"Bianca's interfering," Zane said through clenched teeth. "She's herding them."
Karl's voice crackled through the communicator. "We lost their trail. Bianca gave us false directions."
Zane swore under his breath.
"She's enjoying this," Mirabel's voice cut in sharply. "We need to get to them first."
Back in the woods, Lilian's legs started to shake. Her vision blurred, panic mixing with something else, something strange. A pressure in her head, like something was trying to push its way out.
"I don't think I can keep running," Avelyn cried.
Lilian stopped.
"No," she said suddenly. "We can't keep letting her control where we go."
Avelyn stared at her. "What do you mean?"
Lilian didn't know how to explain it. She just knew that whatever had been controlling her thoughts felt weaker now. Like a grip loosening.
"We hide," Lilian said firmly. "For real this time."
They spotted an old fallen tree ahead, hollowed out and dark inside.
"It's risky," Avelyn whispered.
"I know," Lilian replied. "But so is everything else."
They crawled inside just as voices echoed again nearby.
This time, closer than ever.
And Bianca's laughter rang out softly through the woods.
"This is more interesting than I thought," Bianca said, laughing out loud.
She knew she could have caught them already if she wanted to. But where was the fun in that? She wanted them tired, scared, desperate. She wanted to entertain herself with their misery.
What the girls didn't know was that Bianca did.
She knew the tree they had crawled into was filled with bees.
And she didn't care if they got stung to death.
The bees started reacting.
At first it was just a loud buzzing, then pain. Sharp, burning pain everywhere. The girls screamed as they were stung over and over again, their cries echoing through the woods.
And just like that, they gave themselves away.
Footsteps rushed closer. Voices. Hunters.
"Someone's here," a voice shouted.
Fortunately, Cole and Zane were the first to break through the bushes.
"Lilian," Zane breathed.
She was on the ground, her body shaking, her skin already swelling from the stings. Her breaths came out shallow and broken, like she was fighting for air.
"She can't breathe," Cole said urgently.
Lilian's vision blurred. Her chest felt tight, like something heavy was sitting on it. She gasped, clutching at her throat, panic written all over her face.
Zane froze.
He knew what was happening.
He also knew there was only one way to save her.
"Zane," Cole warned quietly. "If you do this…"
"I know," Zane cut in.
But there was no time.
Lilian was dying.
Zane knelt beside her, lifted her head gently, and bit into his own wrist. Blood welled up immediately.
"Drink," he said softly, pressing his wrist to her lips.
She hesitated for only a second before instinct took over.
As she drank, Zane felt it. The bond forming. The line being crossed.
He had saved her life and she lost her consciousness due to exhaustion
But at the cost of turning her into his kind.
Avelyn was stable. She wasn't in immediate danger, but her condition could worsen if she didn't get proper treatment.
"Please save me, Cole," she whispered, her eyes slowly closing as she slipped into unconsciousness.
Without another word, the two boys lifted the girls onto their shoulders and leapt through the woods, moving fast toward the infirmary.
Behind them, the forest fell silent.
The hunt was over.