It was now a week later and Janice was holding up her end of the bargain. Hal had drafted a loan document that laid out the terms of the loan and those of the hunt. Janice would own Jill for two days to do with as she pleased. The following Saturday, which was today, Janice would report to the ranch at eight o'clock in the morning, strip all clothes but sneakers, put on the safety goggles, and become prey. She would be given a thirty minute head start. If she evaded capture by five in the afternoon, she would be free to go. A single hit on the torso would mean capture. If she was captured before five, she would belong to Hal for the week. Charity would also belong to him for a week to be named later.
Since school was not in session, Janice knew that Hal would have plenty of time on his hands. And Janice knew that Hal had been lusting after her and Charity for over a year. It gave Janice plenty of motivation to avoid being shot.
Her plan was simple. She just hoped that it would work. She wanted to stay close enough that she could keep him in sight. She knew from her experience as a hunter that most of the slaves ran as far as they could, thinking that distance would provide them with safety. It did just the opposite, however, in her mind. It made them blind to their threats.
Janice reasoned that, as long as she could see him, she would know where not to be. She used her thirty minute head start. She ran quickly in one direction until she was safely out of sight and then circled around the back of a hill. She climbed the hill and laid prone to watch the hunter who wanted to get her in his sights.
She watched as Hal headed off in the direction she had initially run. Hal had brought Emily along, ostensibly to act as a porter. But there was not much to carry and all of it was stuffed in a little fanny pack around her waist. Other than that, her shoes and the ropes that bound her wrists behind her back, she was naked.
At that same moment, Jill was lying in bed beside her husband. She had just recently awakened and stretched her arms and legs. She was going to enjoy this day. It was the first Saturday in ages where she knew that she would not be summoned. There had been some Saturdays when she had not been summoned, but the threat of serving her owner had always been present. She would get to enjoy this day with her husband, just like any other young married couple.
Charity was at her computer and was typing away at her latest erotic story. She knew that her aunt was being hunted at this very moment and that sent mixed emotions through her. She thought it was very exciting that a dominant, her owner, could be hunted. She was not sure that had ever been done before in this group. She was not sure how she felt about her aunt being captured, though. Part of her thought that it would be very erotic for her aunt to be a slavegirl again.. She knew that Aunt Janice had been bought at a charity auction one time by her aunt's best friend, Claire, and she had heard Claire describe how exquisite she had been as a slavegirl. But Charity also knew what was at risk in the hunt. If her aunt became a slavegirl to Professor Bascomb, then she would belong to him for a week also. Despite not knowing how she felt about the hunt, she knew that her creative juices had been stirred, along with some other juices between her thighs. She pecked away at her keyboard.
Janice kept the small hunting party in sight and stalked it cautiously. She had been terrified and very tentative at first but by mid morning, she was feeling more confident. In fact, the longer she was prey, the more feral she felt. She took time when she came across a stream to drink from it. She never would have done that before this day. When she came to a pond, she scooped her hand into it to gather mud from the bottom. Then, she painted her body with it, forming streaks and patches to help in her camouflage.
Janice did not have a watch but she assumed that it was near noon when the hunting party stopped for a rest. She watched as Hal took some food out of the fanny pack. He ate and fed Emily and they drank from the canteen. Janice knew that she should be hungry also, but she wasn't. The adrenalin rushing through her body staved off any feelings of hunger that she should be feeling.
The hunting party started moving again and, once again, Janice followed. She made sure to stay behind them, thinking that it was unlikely that they would retrace their steps. By this time, she had found an old discarded and deteriorated backpack. She tore it apart and formed two strips of cloth. With the help of the roping that held the top of the backpack closed, she fashioned a crude loincloth for herself.
She kept her eyes open as she moved stealthily through the forest and around the fields. She picked up things that she found if she thought they would be useful. By this point, she had found four feathers which were now braided into her long raven hair. She also found a length of rusted steel wire which she thought might be useful so she coiled it and carried it with her.
She saw Hal and Emily stop again. They sat and drank from the canteen. Janice had been drinking from the streams all day and had no need to rest for water. She took this opportunity to use the wire. She wrapped it around her chest to measure it. Then she bent it back and forth over and over until it finally broke. She tore off more of the remains of the backpack and tore off two irregular looking pieces. Then she managed to poke holes into the deteriorated cloth and wrapped the wire around her chest again, under her armpits and above her breasts. She now had a bra. It would not support her heavy breasts when she had to occasionally sprint across a clearing but it was at least clothing. In actuality, it was like two bibs that draped over the full, firm orbs.
At the next stop, she tore one of the pockets from the backpack off and threaded a shorter length of wire through it. She attached this to the cord around her waist. Now she had her own fanny pack to put anything that she collected in.
A little later, Hal turned and started heading toward the ranch house. Janice's spirits soared. Maybe he had given up. She followed at a respectable distance and ended up back on top of the hill where she had started, lying prone. She saw him go to his car. Emily's hands were unbound and a large backpack was placed on her shoulders. Then the hands were rebound in front of her.
Hal pulled a second backpack out of his trunk and slung it over his shoulders. Janice watched with a furrowed brow, trying to figure out what was going on. The two turned back toward the hunt area and started walking.
Once they got out of the ranch yard, they stopped. Hal fished around in Emily's pack and pulled out a strange device. He placed headphones over his ears and aimed a dish-shaped object off in the distance. Janice's blood ran cold. Ohmigod, she thought. They have sensors.
The worst part was that she had no idea what the sensors were capable of. Could they hear her? Could they detect her body heat? Could they smell her? She would not be able to follow as closely from now on. She knew that.
She felt stupid. It had never occurred to her that Hal would cheat like this. During the club hunts, the hunters were allowed to carry their guns and water and rope to bind their captives, but nothing else. Janice had assumed that they would play by the same rules today. But, as she thought back on the agreement that she had signed, she realized that there were no specifications about what a hunter could use. The only constraints were time and the fact that she was not allowed to go beyond the boundaries of the ranch.
As the hunting party moved, it would frequently stop and Hal would do a 360 degree turn with his arm and dish extended, obviously scanning and looking for Janice. Occasionally, he would exchange devices but he kept stopping and scanning. He had binoculars too, which he used to peer off into the distance.