The trees

The trees ahead of her were densely packed. If she could climb one, she could probably keep moving off the ground through the branches for a reasonable distance. If she could avoid leaving tracks on the ground, she could keep Kraven baffled for a while. The sun had moved a significant distance across the sky. If she could keep going for a while longer…

Sue carefully worked her way up the tree until she reached the lowest level of the canopy, trading speed for her best attempt to leave no trace, then began working her way along the sturdier branches, spiraling upward until a branch from another came within reach. She had made it to her third three when she realized her time limit must have expired, and she found a sufficiently sturdy crook in the tree to stand and observe the ground below. And so she waited. If hunting was Kraven’s skill, then standing still and silent was Sue’s.

After a short time she caught a hint of motion from above. She looked up and was surprised to see Kraven, on a higher branch of a nearby tree, scanning about himself intently. “I must have left some sign I took to the trees,” Sue thought. “But he doesn't know which one I’m in.” She calmed herself, slowed her breathing, her heartbeat, remained as still as possible, straining every sense for any sign the hunter had detected her presence, unaware of the giant anaconda silently coiling up the tree below her, it’s tongue flickering as it caught the scent of prey….