Connor and the Wolves - 22. Ditching

“I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
Khurtschono slid into the truck, leaving the door open. They sat across the street from the laser tag centre. A bit of solo scouting had everything prepared for their escapades. Now she just needed to get Soren inside.
“The bad news is, it’s a weekday. And a school day. No one’s going to be playing anytime soon.”
“Oh.”
It was almost as though Soren expected the disappointment. He barely even reacted.
“The good news is, that means there’s really only five people on duty, and it should be easy to get around them,” Khurtschono added. “I’m positive I could figure out how to turn on the guns, and it won’t be hard to suit up.”
“So you really want to do this?” Soren asked, staring at the centre across the street.
“Yeah, why not? It will be fun!” Khurtschono tugged on Soren’s hand until he got out of the truck. “Besides, this will be good practice for when I convince the whole family to come play.”
“And you don’t think they’ll be suspicious about how well you can hunt?”
“We’re wolves. How hard can it be to put our instincts to laser tag? But if you don’t want t-”
“I do,” Soren said quickly. “Just nervous. I’ve never actually done anything like this.”
“What, breaking in somewhere? I thought you were a master lockpick,” Khurtschono grinned at the human, leading him around the back of the building. “Or were you just trying to impress me?”
“No, I can do it… probably.” Soren shrugged. “I meant laser tag.”
“I’m not going easy on you just because it’s your first time.”
Opening the back door, Khurtschono peered down a long hall. She ducked inside a moment later, guiding Soren down the path she’d scouted out earlier. Two turns later, they entered the vesting room, and Khurtschono grabbed a pair of vests off the rack closest to the door.
“I’ll suit you up if you suit me up,” she said, handing one to Soren.
Soren held up the vest, studying the gun attached to it.
“It looks like CatDog’s rifle,” he said.
“Yeah, I think they designed this place to mirror SoA.” Khurtschono squeezed the trigger of her rifle, and Soren’s vest lit up. “Oh, and it’s NekoWolf now, apparently.”
Buckling her vest on, Khurtschono opened the door into the arena.
“You have thirty seconds, then I’m hunting you down,” she said. “And no camping at the door either.”
“I have no idea what that is.”
“Sitting by the door to shoot me when I walk in.” Soren tilted his head. “Nope. Don’t even think of it.”
“It’s a good idea, though,” Soren said.
“It’s also a dirty, underhanded trick used to prey on newer players.” Khurtschono scowled. “Usually because you’re too lazy or unskilled to hunt down better foes.” She shooed Soren through the door. “Go on. Thirty seconds.”
Watching Soren vanish into the glowing gloom of the arena, Khurtschono glanced at her phone. A minute later, she rushed through the door herself.
It took a moment for her eyes to adjust. Darkness ruled around her, holding back the dim neon light of the various walls scattered through the arena. A cursory exploration confirmed her suspicions — this arena was set up like the command deck of a Mydaran-class cruiser. Long corridors offered funnel points, while scattered crates gave cover within those corridors. Red boxes sat at strategic intervals. Whether they were for show or not remained to be seen.
Aided by her knowledge, Khurtschono began mentally checking each possible hiding spots. The bridge would be the most obvious place for someone to hide. There were plenty of obstacles there, if the arena was truly accurate. But anyone knowledgeable about the game would avoid the place as an obvious trap.
Then again, Soren was still a beginner. Khurtschono certainly knew this place better than the human. Narrow doors meant she had the advantage. It would be harder for Soren to turn her flank, unless she was careless in her search. She could easily trap him in the room he chose for hiding.
Though the nature of the fight meant hit and run tactics. She’d hit him, then make her escape while his vest recovered. It made things a little harder.
But she had a secret weapon. Khurtschono was aerafael. Her nose was a wolf’s nose. Soren didn’t have that advantage, even as a werewolf himself.
A deep inhale easily caught Soren’s scent. Thus armed, Khurtschono began her search.

This was harder than she thought. Soren’s scent was everywhere, doubling up, crossing itself. It was almost like he’d backtracked several times. Maybe he’d gotten lost.
Khurtschono crept ever closer to the bridge, sweeping her rifle down the halls. Soren was tall; there was no way he’d fit into some of these hiding spots. Unless he was dumb enough to shift, but Soren wouldn’t do that, right?
Her vest flashed suddenly. Khurtschono whirled around, her rifle swaying as she searched for Soren.
He was nowhere to be seen.
“How-?”
Shaking her head, Khurtschono headed back the way she came. Clearly she’d missed him. Her eyes swept across every possible hiding spot — there was no way she’d miss him again-
Her vest lit up again.
“Son of a-”
Spinning around, Khurtschono saw a dark shape dart past the neon green wall. She followed, determined not to lose Soren again. The second her vest recovered, Khurtschono lined up a shot. Before she could squeeze the trigger, Soren vanished.
A crossroads. Left would take her to the engineering elevator — defunct in this setting. Straight would take her back to medical. There was really only one way Soren could have gone, yet she couldn’t see him down the corridor.
“How are you so good at this?!”
“Hunting’s my life.”
“SHIT!”
Khurtschono spun around, just avoiding knocking Soren up the side of the head with her rifle. The human Stepped closer, mitigating most of the force of Khurtschono’s blow. Straightening up, he rubbed his arm where the rifle hit it.
“Are you okay?” Khurtschono demanded.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Soren muttered. “Didn’t realise this game had melee combat or I would have saved ammo….”
Khurtschono snorted. Her vest lit up a second later, and Soren’s eyes widened as his vest lit up as well.
“Hey!” A voice came over a speaker, and Khurtschono and Soren froze. “What are you two doing in there?”
“Run!”
Unbuckling her vest, Khurtschono herded Soren back to the dressing room. They dropped their gear on a bench, and Khurtschono shoved Soren toward the exit.
She turned back as Soren broke free of the building. An employee stood at the far end of the hall. Waving at him, Khurtschono dove outside, racing Soren to her truck.

“Well, that was fun.”
Soren muttered his agreement, staring out the truck window. Khurtschono frowned in his direction, pulling to the side as a truck passed. Soren didn’t act like he’d enjoyed the game. Maybe it hadn’t helped take his mind off things.
“You know, we don’t actually know that much about each other,” Khurtschono ventured.
Soren shrugged.
“I don’t talk much,” he said, as though needing to explain why.
“I probably talk too much,” Khurtschono said. “Nervous energy, you know? If it’s silent, I always feel like people are judging me.”
“I’m not judging you.” Soren glanced at Khurtschono. “Just… lost in thought.”
“Ah. That’s a dangerous place,” Khurtschono said. A moment of silence passed between them. “Look, I’m sorry. It was my idea to have you stay at my place. I thought it would be better for you there — we could take better care of you.”
“Don’t blame yourself,” Soren muttered, pressing his forehead against the truck window. “I keep telling myself it could have been worse. But-”
“It doesn’t matter what could have been. What Altanchono did was horrible,” Khurtschono said sharply.
“I enjoyed it.” Soren let out a heavy breath. “I… it disturbs me. I enjoyed it… at least, in my dreams. He said I groped him back.”
“He did?” Khurtschono demanded. “He was awake? He told us it was an unconscious thing; that the lycanthropy just took over.”
“I don’t know. All I know is I woke up and my pants were wet. And he kissed me by the water bucket. That’s why I went home.” Finally Soren turned toward Khurtschono. “Can we go back to school now?”
“Yeah.” Khurtschono flicked on her blinker, turning around. “Whatever you want. I’ll even hold Altanchono down for you to punch.”
A soft snort slipped from Soren.
“Tempting,” he admitted. “I just… I honestly want to forget anything ever happened.”
“I’ll tell you for sure, he’s not gaming with us anymore. I’m probably going to kick him from the guild too,” Khurtschono said. “I know it doesn’t seem like much. Maybe it isn’t. But I’m not letting him get away with this. Neither will Ma or Aav. Aav especially.”
“I have a question,” Soren said suddenly. “Both our vests lit up right before we were caught.”
Khurtschono focused intently on the road.
“That happens when a game ends, right? When time’s up.” She could feel Soren’s eyes on her — of course he’d stare now. “And how did you just happen to grab a couple of working vests anyway?”
“It was a couple of silver well spent?”
A disbelieving snort erupted from Soren.
“Why were we sneaking in the back then?”
“I thought it would be easier for you to enjoy yourself if you weren’t worried about money,” Khurtschono said. “I honestly thought I’d covered my tracks better than that. I’m sorry.”
A full minute passed.
“Thanks,” Soren muttered finally, squirming a bit.
“Of course,” Khurtschono said quickly. “I mean, it was my idea to go anyway. I wasn’t about to make you pay for that.”
“I’m still working on that catfish,” Soren added.
“I saw.” Khurtschono chuckled. “It looked messy.”
“Not that one. Went bad. I have to catch another.”
“You learned to do all of this from videos on the internet?”
“Yeah.” Soren nodded. “It’s not that hard to learn.” He frowned. “Well, it depends on who’s explaining it. I like Ruff N’ Ready. She’s pretty good at explaining simple things without making you feel bad for not knowing. And she doesn’t feel patronising explaining things you already know.”
“I get that.” Khurtschono nodded herself, turning onto Elias Street. “I used Elyon’s channel a lot when I was just starting SoA. He’s actually a really good teacher.”
Pulling into the car park, she shut off the truck.
“So… Guess I’ll see you in gym.”
“Yeah.” Soren unfolded himself from the truck, locking the door behind him. “For what it’s worth, thanks. I appreciate you trying to help.”
“You’re my friend. I’ll always be there if you need me.”
“Same for you.”
Was it her imagination, or did Soren shiver at her words? Khurtschono shrugged. She was probably imagining things.
Waiting for Soren to head off to his class, Khurtschono turned toward the library. By her estimate, class was already halfway done. There was really no need to barge in when she could spend the rest of the period working on the guild flagship. SoA awaited.