"Follow me," Annie waved to Rosen and darted into the woods beside the road.
Rossen was still a little weak, but he wasn't carrying much, and with Annie occasionally waiting for him, he managed to keep up with her.
The two galloped through the forest.
Along the way, Annie, relying on her exceptional senses as a mutated hunter, caught three deer and one lone wolf. The wild animals were terrified. After being infected by her blood, they desperately fled from Annie and disappeared in a few moments.
After releasing the last lone wolf, Annie breathed a slight sigh of relief and asked, "Are we safe now?"
Rosen was exhausted. He was panting heavily, and after half a minute, he finally caught his breath. He shook his head at Annie: "These animals are fast, but it's nighttime. Once they're frightened, they'll stop where they think they're safe, so they won't go far. I estimate our real safety time is only about three hours. After that, if we don't continue setting up bait, we could be found by the vampires at any time."
Annie immediately said, "Then let's continue!"
Rosen waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, I can't. If I keep running, I'll die of exhaustion. I need to rest."
"I'll carry you!"
With that, Annie came over and forcibly carried Rosen on her back.
Rosen quickly patted Annie's shoulder. "No need, put me down. Let me tell you, running like this isn't a solution. I'm not fit, and you're seriously injured too. If we keep running, we'll eventually run out of energy. The number of baits we catch is just a matter of whether we die sooner or later."
Annie sensed something was amiss and turned her head slightly to look at Rosen on her back. "Do you have another plan?"
"I do, but we need to rest first. My body doesn't have the energy to do anything right now."
Annie was quite experienced in wilderness survival. Soon after entering the forest, she found a dry, warm cave. A bear was sleeping inside. She quietly crept in and pierced the bear's brain with a single sword stroke.
Aside from a strong, pungent smell, everything else in the bear's den was fine. The dead bear even provided a warm pelt.
By this time, Rosen was exhausted and could barely walk. He was dizzy and could barely think straight. His eyelids were drooping. After confirming that he was safe, he lay down next to the still-warm bear carcass and fell asleep within half a minute.
He had a dream.
In his dream, he slept soundly. When he woke up, he found himself lying on his soft, large bed in his apartment. Golden sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the balcony, bathing the blankets in warm, cozy sunlight.
The blankets smelled warm and fresh, freshly changed by his mother a couple of days ago when she came to school. Thinking of his mother, Rosen could hear her nagging voice echoing in his mind.
'You're such a grown-up, and you still haven't learned to tidy your room! It's such a mess! I don't know which girl would like you.'
'Why are there so many fast food containers? I'm telling you, eating too much of this stuff isn't good!'
'Rosen, I'm telling you…'
'Mom~ I know~' Rosen replied subconsciously. Then, a slight thought struck him: 'Huh~ Am I back on Earth?'
Rosen jolted awake, sitting up in bed and turning his head to look around. But the moment he moved his head, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck. He instinctively reached up to cover it, and looking around more closely, the warm, fragrant blankets had transformed into a bear carcass reeking of a strong, pungent stench; the golden sunlight of his dream had become a small bonfire; and the apartment of his dream had become a dark, cramped bear den.
A deep sense of loss washed over Rosen: 'My sudden disappearance must have driven my parents mad. And my grandmother, she's almost 80, I absolutely can't let her know what happened to me.'
His thoughts were still in the middle of a dream, his mind replaying memories of his life on Earth, and he froze for a moment.
'You're awake?' came a voice beside him; it was the hunter, Annie.
Rosen snapped out of his reverie and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw the tall, agile female hunter sitting at the entrance of a cave, a dagger in her hand, bleeding a wild rabbit.
She was very careful. To prevent the scent from spreading, she had dug a pit nearly 20 centimeters deep, throwing the rabbit's blood and entrails into it, leaving only the rabbit skin.
After the blood had drained, she filled the pit back in, carefully covering it with fallen leaves and twigs.
Rosen saw Annie skewer the rabbit with a fresh twig, rub salt on the meat, and prepare to roast it over the campfire. He said, "There's flour in the bag. Add some salt water to make dough, wrap it around the rabbit meat, and roast it. The rabbit meat will be very tender and delicious."
Annie did as he was told, then scoffed, "You're such a rich kid, even on your run, you didn't forget to bring some goodies. This kind of fine white flour costs 10 rand a pound!"
"Hehe," Rosen chuckled, not arguing, and asked, "Annie, how's your injury?"
Annie turned and smiled slightly at Rosen, the firelight illuminating her radiant face. "It's healing well, it doesn't hurt much anymore."
"Oh, that's good." Rosen glanced at the sky outside the cave; it was still pitch black. He asked, "How long did I sleep?"
"Not long, maybe a little less than two hours. It's still a while before dawn," Annie said.
"Two hours? That's perfect timing." Rosen nodded. He estimated the safe time was only three hours. If the vampire Viken didn't give up the pursuit, he could come knocking at any moment after an hour.
One hour remained of safe time. After an hour, the vampire Viken could come knocking at any moment.