[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NOGn4Id.png?1[/img]
[h3][color=548b54]Dulga Tarata[/color][/h3][/center]

It was quiet. Not even the wind made a noise as night fell and darkness covered the lone house in the mountains. The wolves came out to investigate. Five of them, roughly a hundred pound each and bigger than even a rottweiler. Their sheer size was a result of the scientist who created them; bigger bodies with more strength, tighter muscles, yet at the same time requires sustenance equal to if not less than an average wolf. A marvel of genetic engineering. Shame he was a villain.

The door was closed but not locked. Most beasts wouldn’t know how to operate a normal doorknob. So of course these beasts had no issues doing that, getting up on their hind legs and using their teeth to open the door like one would with their hand. They were stronger and smarter than your average wolf. About as smart as a normal human being. Dulga would now test them for the true extent of their abilities. The first would be their perception; she had strung a thing wire just a few feet in front of the door. The first wolf didn’t notice it but also didn’t trip it. He was lucky. The second one also didn’t trip over it. The third noticed it. Pointed it out to the other wolves by sniffing it; it had a dull and dusty scent, same as the rest of this place. They investigated and found that the wire was attached to nothing; it was just a tripwire.

Despite noticing the wire they were still careless. They would avoid the wire but not realize that they kept stepping on a creaky wooden plank; one that Dulga had rigged with another set of wires. When the fourth wolf stepped on it, it created enough pressure to pull the trigger of her pistol hidden in the shelf nearby. The wolf cried out in pain, followed by angered growling. [color=548b54]”Damn. So they can take a nine millimeter to the head.”[/color] Sure enough the fourth wolf suffered from a painful wound that ripped through his ear and lodged a bullet into his skull. Despite that he wasn’t dead just pissed. The first wolf went to the shelf and opened it, seeing the smoking gun and ripping it off the makeshift gunstand. [color=548b54]”How terrifying.”[/color] Dulga says as she hears them dismantle her trap.

Knowing that they were expected the wolves were now on high alert, and this allowed them to realize the entire house was rigged with thin metal wires strung about the ground and ceiling. If someone ran through here they’d likely end up slicing themselves against the taut wires. And there was no telling if any of these wires were also hooked up to a hidden gun. The beasts split up into two parties, three going towards the basement and three going towards the second floor. [color=548b54]”Splitting up. They’re either confident or want to find me quickly.”[/color] She tapped her chin but let the wolves continue moving through her home. The kitchen had less wires strewn about but had a different hazard, one that the wolves noticed quickly. Oil on the floor. It was spread very thinly so that the wolves could still walk on it stably, but they’d have to move slow. They tried to find a way around but because it was spread so thin, the only way they could avoid it is if they jumped across. And there were wires strung up over the oil puddle precisely to cut them down if they tried. They’d have to move slowly.

The other group managed to reach the staircase and noticed that it was conspicuously devoid of wires. Of course even they knew that the staircase was a dangerous bottleneck; the only way would be forward or backwards, with little chance to dodge if something big rolled down. They also saw that Dulga had apparently hammered nails upwards under the staircase; the wolves could easily cut their feet trying to walk up or if they fell. They knew this staircase was trapped somehow. The safest thing for them to do would be to trigger the trap but from a safe enough distance that they wouldn’t be caught. Alas, there wasn’t anything around the room for them to use except the various wires Dulga had strung up. That’s when one of the wolves went back and got her gun.

With a surprisingly amount of dexterity, even this wolf was able to release the magazine and drop it on the ground. There was still a bullet in the chamber but without a magazine loaded the firing mechanism was locked; an intended safety feature and possibly one these wolves knew of. Or maybe they just wanted to get rid of the magazine so they had two things to throw up the stairs. The lead wolf tossed the gun to the top of the stairs where it hit a low wire, which caused the second and third step to collapse and the top step to swing forward. If a wolf was there he’d be smacked in the face and fall down the staircase. But the only thing that got struck was an empty gun.

The second group of wolves had an idea how to cross the oiled kitchen. The wires were high but the walls were untouched, so they would run along the walls, over the wires, and reach the staircase. It was something they knew they could do well, and pulled it off without a hitch. Now they just needed to investigate the staircase leading down. It was a short height and, just like the other steps, devoid of any wires. They opened the door wide, careful of anything falling from above, and made sure there was nothing behind the door. The first wolf went in a few steps.

And that’s when all hell broke loose.

Three steps down and the wolf triggered a wire trap, one that was hidden close to the corner of the step so the wolf wouldn’t had seen it. Just like the first trap at the door, it was triggered by stepping on a loose wooden plank, and the pressure set off the wires underneath. This trap was liked to the other staircase as well; either one would trigger the same trap, only question was which one did it first. And the wolves were already walking up the stairs when this trap was sprung, causing the steps to collapse underneath their feet. Two were quick enough to jump to the second floor; the third wasn’t so lucky as he fell all to the to the basement, sliced to ribbons by the wires that had been strung about down there. The wolves in the kitchen didn’t have it any easier as the wire pulled on a small lighter hidden between the floorboards; this light created a small flame that was just enough to light up the oil that had been spread out over the floor, which in turn started burning the wood. And there was [i]more[/i] oil underneath the floor, and the spark would soon turn the entire kitchen into a quick and sudden inferno. The three wolves had to go downstairs quickly where they were attacked by Dulga herself, who had set up a barricade around herself using wooden boxes.

Despite the wolves falling into her trap they didn’t panic and were just as quick on the draw as she was. Standing more than thirty feet away she fired at the first wolf, who instinctively moved to the side so only his hind leg was hit. It left a painful gash but not enough to slow it down at all. The wires he ran into however tangled him up and as he tried to get away, they tighten around his body and kept him stuck in place for just a moment. A moment long enough for Dulga to line up her shot on him. The other two wolves moved in to lunge at Dulga as a second gun was produced and aimed for the lead wolf. It was her shotgun; one shot and even though the pellets hit the beast dead on, it didn’t kill him. It did stop him long enough for Dulga to fire her third shot which ripped through the first wolf’s skull, killing him instantly.

From the hole that came from the staircase the other two wolves jumped down, using the path their now dead ally made for their own safety. They even picked up his body and used him as a shield as they charged towards Dulga, his dead body breaking the wires that sliced his body into the bones. Before Dulga could even react they were already on her position and bite at her; she was only able to get her rifle up in time to block their teeth, and she could feel them trying to rip it out of her hands. They intended to disarm her, if they don’t end up tearing her throat out. But she didn’t take her eyes off her initial prey; she had two more wolves to deal with first. 

Dulga quickly fired off three close range shots from her pistol, each hitting the wolf she had blasted with her shotgun thrice in the chest. Dulga did her best to try to avoid hitting bones; they were hard and dense. She needed to go for gut shots. Even these beasts would pause in pain from that. As for the third wolf, he was too close to shoot; he was already pass Dulga’s shotgun. So she just slammed it into his neck and pressed him against the wall. She did the same to the other wolves as well; two of them may be enough to overpower your typical hunter. But Dulga was not your typical hunter. These two beasts didn’t have nearly enough meat on their bones to weigh Dulga down.

She tossed all three wolves with enough force that they’d dislodge from her gun, and so she kicked the boxes she had barricaded herself with towards them. They were filled with loose scrap metal, nails, ingots; leftovers from her father’s forge. They would provide some minor obstruction as Dulga made a run for it, using her powerful arms to swing herself off the wall and towards the hole she created. The beasts recovered quickly and were on her heel but she was just a few steps faster, climbing up towards the second floor of her house. The beasts had to follow her through the hole as the other way was blocked by fire, and the first wolf that came out was gunned down without mercy. The second wolf however was fast enough to avoid the bullets and lunged at Dulga again, but this time she was prepared; she had an improvised knife made of a piece of sharpen rebar on the second floor, and when the wolf got close she simply grabbed the blade and placed it in the wolf’s path, impaling him through the mouth. With a quick twist, she snapped the beast’s neck as well as her makeshift dagger.

The last wolf didn’t come up immediately, at least he didn’t go after Dulga. No, instead when he came up and saw his final ally killed, he ran. Dulga couldn’t allow him to go too far; these wolves were too smart to let them leave alive. They would learn from what happened here, and that knowledge will spread. Others who would try what Dulga did would have much more difficulty. Fortunately, the beast, in his panic, forgot one minor detail; the tripwire in front of the door. His foot was sliced at the ankle and the beast stumbled. He was bleeding heavily and still tried to make a run for it, but he wouldn’t get far enough. The area around Dulga’s home was wide open for a reason; even as the grass had grown, the beast’s size would now work against him, making him trivial prey for Dulga’s aim. One shot, and he fell.

[color=548b54]”Six wolves. They knew how to dismantle a trap and disarm a pistol. Smart enough to bypass simple traps. But still beasts. Fire scares them easily, forward focus, and and fight in packs. Next time I should work on my escape.”[/color] The girl says to herself as she gathered up the beasts in her home. No sense in letting this meat go to waste. While the hides were damaged by the bullets and wires, they could still be profitable. She also gathered her pistol, though it was damaged heavily. Those wolves weren’t gentle. She looked down at one of her hands and noticed it was bleeding; when the two wolves lunged at her, her finger had gotten grazed by one of their fangs. Despite that it was a very bloody wound, going deep enough that she could see sinew. The pain was suddenly starting to come to her now that the adrenaline was draining out, and Dulga had to patch up her wound with her meager first-aid kit. She’ll need to head back to school and get it properly looked at.

[color=548b54]”Still not fast enough. Eight shots, four kills. Tch… Next time, I won’t have nearly as much time to prep either. Pathetic.”[/color] Dulga sighed knowing that she was only able to do so well because she had expected these wolves to arrive, and had plenty of time to get ready for them. Wiring the entire house might’ve been overkill but she had that luxury. She thought about her battles at school and knew that if she tried this over there, she wouldn’t even have been able to oil up the kitchen before someone would arrive to fight her. [color=548b54]”Too complacent. A hunter shouldn’t wait for prey.”[/color] She grumbled as she took the spike she had made and sharpened it into a fine blade with one of her father’s leftover whetstones. Once the blade was keen enough, she began the grisly work of skinning and butchering the wolves over a large sheet of plastic tarp.