Page 110 of Wolf Roulette

They knew the tallest trees.

Where the most expansive views were.

And the best hiding places.

“Reindeer. Luthers dispersing throughout grid. Over.”

Good. The exact same strategy as a fortnight ago. Luthers were hardest to battle in a solid group—which was why Alexei mostly stuck to that during his stint as pack leader. Sascha was confident about their advantage.

Last time, the pack used nets to great effectiveness against us.

Snow’s voice crackled in my ear. “Group congregating J7. Twenty-seven.”

Herc’s first advice to me was to never say anything specific over the walkies. The pack always figured out our frequency and listened in.

The leader of the south team just told me that seventeen Luthers were in the trees in section K6.

I crouched in front of the map rolled out on the forest floor. There was a ground unit hiding in K7 awaiting orders. Seventeen Luthers fighting from the trees were too much for one unit.

There was a second unit in K10, and Snow was at one of our vantage trees in K8 with two members of her unit. They could help out too.

Rhona opted for a ground-only counter-attack last time, but I felt vantage points would help our ground teams immensely.

I clicked on my walkie. “Big Red. Wicked, initiate Operation Chuckles. J13.” I spoke to the entire tribe next. “Big Red. J8 and J11, prepare to engage. Closest vantage, permission to engage also.”

We needed the group of Luthers to move west so Snow and the second unit could help take the Luthers down.

Less than a minute later, the new West team leader replied, “Wicked. Task completed. Over.”

She’d just switched off a few frequency generators in K12 and fired a few times. Just for two or three seconds. We’d tested the result on my ears. The sudden sound mimicked a skirmish.

The fake skirmish should draw the Luthers in. “Come on.”

“Snow. J8. Moving fast. Over.”

I readied my hand on the walkie.

“Snow J9. Over.”

I blurted. “Big Red. J8, J11, and closet vantage, engage. Over.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I strained to hear.

Nothing.

The group has halted,Booker inhaled.

Every steward had worked tirelessly to memorize a list of hiding spots in their section of the grid. There werethousandsof hiding spots in total. The idea was to tease the Luthers to the ground so we could take them out safely. In addition, three stewards in each unit were on nets. If a Luther was shot in the trees, it was their job to catch the unconscious pack member as best they could.

The plan wasn’t perfect, but I was at a loss of how else to prevent forfeiting points due to serious injury. That’s what got Rhona last time.

“Snow. Group contained. Task complete. Over.”

No one got away.

I smiled.

Wicked and Reindeer reported more clusters and I hurried to my map again, firing orders to the tribe. Numbers whirled in my head.