Day 2 of Bree's hunt was even worse than the previous day. Allen playfully knocked down a beehive and Bree found herself running from a swarm of bees, spraying them with water from her bottle. She regretted doing that afterwards.

She lost Allen again right after they stumbled upon a bamboo covered area of the forest. Bree could've sworn she'd seen a trio of adult pandas.

"How are those things even here?" She'd whispered harshly. She couldn't tell if the dog was scared or just pulling a silly prank but he suddenly turned and bolted back the way they came.

Bree couldn't scream his name or she'd risk attracting the pandas nor could she go back to fetch him. She had lost plenty of time and had to make up for it so she took a different route and went around the animals.

The only good thing was, her map was still intact and in good shape. The last thing she wanted was to get lost. It wasn't like she had a bloodhound to sniff her way back.

She pulled out the map and studied it while she walked, munching on a bar of chocolate cookies. The monster was too big to stay where he could be spotted, so she figured he'd stay in a cave. There were about six marked cave spots on the map and so far, she'd come across none of them.

The first one was located in a place called Blue Stream.

Bree stopped momentarily.

"A blue body of water? like, chlorophyll blue or food coloring blue?" She muttered to herself then continued walking.

She came upon a marsh land and had to use a big stick as a weapon to smack her way through. The forest seemed to be watching her, enjoying her frustration and making things more difficult.

Bree silently prayed she would run into Allen. Despite how annoying he could be, he was her only company. She trotted past a small stream that stretched the length of the forest. Bree had no idea how deep the water was. It wasn't clear and definitely not blue so she concluded that it wasn't the Blue Stream.

A few hours of more walking and she came out the edge of a cliff. It wasn't the same one she'd almost rolled off from but it looked smaller and there was some kind of rickety rock bridge connecting the side she was on to the other.

Bree stared at her map. A rickety rock bridge meant she was going in the right direction - that could also possibly be her last direction. She rolled up the map and tucked it in her bag then proceeded to cross the bridge.

The rock wasn't exactly smooth on the surface. It was bumpy and covered with pine needles. Small chunks of rocks fell off as she walked past, trying hard to not look down. She stretched both arms for balance and carefully moved on step at a time until she was safe on the other side.

"Phew!" She exhaled. As soon as she turned to continue walking, she heard a bark.

"Allen?"

Bree became alarmed when she spotted Allen standing at the other end with two of his legs on the rock. "No, don't cross. Down boy! Down!"

Allen wasn't listening. He climbed the rock.

"No, Allen, stay! Stay!" Bree ordered. At first, Allen got the message and climbed off the rock then he barked and climbed again.

"Allen!" Bree called cautiously when he began to advance. Her heart thumped loudly in her ear, her hands trembled even as she had them outstretched trying to guide the dog back. One little slip and he could fall to his death. Sawyer would kill her.

"Allen! Easy now. D-don't, don't run!" She ordered calmly. Allen was wild and oblivious to the fact that he stood on a bridge 89ft above ground level. The minute he attempted to run across, he would slip and that was it.

He stopped for a minute, staring at Bree with big brown eyes. Bree quickly reached into her backpack and pulled out a sandwich. Allen perked up when he saw it.

"Nice and slow and you get a treat. Now come on, one step at a time." Bree cooed as calmly as possible even though she was panicking on the inside. Allen seemed to fall into a trance, walking like a robot on slow motion. At last, he made it to the other side. Bree fed him the sandwich, looking at the bridge and wondering how they would get back.

There was no way around the bridge according to the map and unless they were willing to go all George of The Jungle and swing to the other side, there was no other option than to cross by foot.

"Come on. No running, Allen." Bree said and grabbed his leash. She wondered how he'd found her but then, he was a bloodhound after all.

Allen cooperated this time. He did not run off and that was because where they had crossed into was the gloomiest most depressing place Bree had ever been to. The pair walked further without meeting any wild animals but Bree had the sense she was being followed.

The stench of blood and smoke filled the air and Bree didn't know how but the clouds seemed to have come down to settle amongst the trees. Bree couldn't see four feet ahead. The mist was heavy and eerie winds blew around making it sound like the clouds were whispering to the trees in air language.

Suddenly, all the hair on Bree's neck stood on end - whatever had been following them was now watching them and was probably nearby. She gasped and clutched Allen's leash. The dog must've felt the strange presence too because it suddenly began to growl.

"I think it's best that we don't make them think we're here to fight." Bree cautioned in a low tone but Allen continued growling, his legs spread apart in readiness to attack.

Bree could sense movement. Even with all the cloudy mist, she could tell that something was moving maybe a hundred yards from them. If it were human, which she doubted it was, it would take them a while to get to where she stood. But if it was an animal then they had to run.

"Allen, let's go. Now!" Bree said and turned then suddenly halted. All around them, yellow fireflies glowed in the dusky atmosphere. Bree counted them and discovered the lights were in pairs, like a pair of. . .

"Eyes." Bree whispered in terror. She suddenly realized a little too late that she had been ambushed by wolves. In situations like these, Bree would usually come up with a way to escape but now, surrounded by a pack of flesh eating wolves, her own brain abandoned her.

"Oh my god!" She gasped. Allen still growled fiercely, ready to pounce at any one that advanced. Little by little, the eyes seemd to get closer. Bree whimpered as the animals came to view - grey, white, black and brown. Their fur blended with their surroundings making them look even more threatening.

Bree felt to do something but what? Dang! It's not like they were shooting Twilight and she could yell "CUT".

She turned a full circle - there was nowhere to run. The wolves came from all four corners and there was only about two meter space between each. She couldn't possibly squeeze past two of them like excuse me, coming through, gotta run!

Wolves could smell fear and Bree was sure she was reeking by then. The animals took their time enjoying her helpless state. They circled her as if playing a silent game of rock-paper-scissors to determine who got the dog and who got the human.

Bree prayed for a miracle of any sort, at this point, she could even use a hand grenade. The wolves snapped and growled like game over! Let's feast.

The first one pounced but Allen did the same and they both collided and rolled away. Two more advanced from behind and knocked Bree flat on her face. They struggled with her backpack, shredding the leather to get to her shirt. Bree screamed and kicked, flailing her legs and arms with as much force as she could possibly muster.

She knocked the duo off and stood up quickly. The animals had rallied in front of her and so she had no choice but to bolt the other way. The terrifying sound of snapping and growling behind her got closer and Bree knew she would get outrun at any second.

Suddenly she slipped and slid into something like a water slide but with snow instead of water. Her descent wasn't pretty as she got several bumps on the head and a mouth full of snow. She tumbled from a hole and fell a few feet into a bed of icy cold snow.

She spat out her mouthful, laid still for a while then sat up and looked around. The wolves hadn't followed but she could see them standing by the edge of wherever she had fallen from. It was a cliff stretching as far as she could see and where she'd fallen into was like a snow slide dug into the ground.

She stood up and let out a yelp. She realized she'd fallen on another cliff conjoined with the first one so it looked like a ginormous staircase. Below her was another cliff and another after that and another after that - all the way down to the ground where the forest continued in a gathering of black trees.

From where she sat, Bree could see the snowcapped mountains and the sun gleaming on their white tips in a way that reminded her of an ice cream cone. The forest spread out below and a large stream flowed right underneath her connecting to a giant waterfall far off. She studied the water - from that height, the sky's reflection gave the water an intense blue color.

"Blue Stream." Bree giggled in triumph. She looked back at the cliff behind her. The wolves were gone - and so was Allen.

Bree slumped on the snow. She wasn't sure if the dog had gotten away but with that many wolves, she wasn't sure he'd be able to. She decided to keep her hopes up - many times she'd lost Allen and many times, he'd found his way to her. If he somehow escaped those wolves, he'd find his way to her like always.

She stood up and stared down at the staircase cliff. The cave had to be somewhere down there. Her backpack had lost a couple of buckles and zips but everything was miraculously still intact. She fished out the map, spread it on the snow then peered at the spot she was sitting. On the map the cliff did look like a bunch of steps. Using a finger, she traced the red lines from the cliff to the mouth of a cave at the left side of the stream.

"Oh would you look at that! I don't even have to go all the way into the. . ."

Bree suddenly paused. She stood up and listened. The sound of something falling caught her attention. It sounded like soft stones rolling off a cobbled surface. She turned and an animal slammed into the snow right on top of her map.

"Ah!" She screamed. For a split second, she thought the wolves had discovered her escape route then a wave of relief settled over her when the animal stood up, tail wagging and tongue hanging out.

Bree knelt and scratched behind his ear appreciatively "You sneaky canine."

Allen barked and continued panting.

"I won't ask how you escaped those bad mannered dogs cause obviously you're smarter than all of them. I'm just happy to see you."

The pair began their descent from the cliff, hobbling through the thick snow in the light of the sun. Soon, they made it down the cliff and were on their way to the cave.

It wasn't a big cave and at first glance, Bree knew this wasn't the spot she'd find her monster.

"What a waste of bees, wolves and snow sliding." She said, sighing in exasperation. She turned to Allen who had made himself comfortable on the grass. "We better get going before it gets dark and don't worry, i found another way out of here that won't lead us to stuff that try to sting us or bite."

Bree marked every escape route she'd discovered and so far, she'd found two of them. Before late noon, she was staring at the farmhouse again.

She returned Allen, thankful that dogs couldn't talk or else Sawyer would get a nice tale out of his bloodhound like yo bro, you won't believe what happened today man. We got ambushed by a pack of wolves and that chick left me behind and ran away.

Bree opened her door and flung her backpack on the couch then slumped on it.

"Two days down, a lot more to go. Ugh!" She said in a muffled tone.

She thought of going to visit her mother but it would only make her mood even more sour than it already was. She hadn't gotten any luck finding Mr Glue Hands' crib, the forest was the size of a whole country and there was a pack of wolves out there that probably held a grudge against her.

She took a nice cold shower and decided to call Norman. Even though she refused to admit it to herself, what she felt for him was only infatuation and that was because of how sweet he'd been to her. When they had argued at Betty's, Bree had seen him for a moment as Norman that irritated her, her stalker, someone she should not be in a relationship with.

She wasn't in love with him. She was basically one of those ten girls that got lucky. She pondered on whether to tell him or continue with their relationship. She heaved a sigh and laid back, a thousand thoughts crossing her mind. If the contents of her head were spilled into a large board, it could make a whole Scrabble game.

Names, places and words randomly floated around in her mind like

Tatum     Genevieve's      Mom       breakup   graffiti
       Coma       hospital bills      Beasley  dream
Norman    deal         Allen        mountains
    Jimothy        psycho      breakup      Herb
  Bruno     Texas      dad    pigs     Parrish   France    Lake Donna    Sir Richard   freedom

Bree rolled over and slept. It was the only way she could stop herself from thinking.

When she woke up, it was dark. She thought of going for a stroll but the weather was too windy and her flannel coat was soaked.

She ventured to go out nonetheless. At the staircase, she bumped into Tony.

"Oof. Oh hi. Tony, right?" she said awkwardly.

He was dressed in his usual doorman clothes - a red and green military style jacket, black pants and black shoes that looked like they were polished with lip gloss. His hair was also neatly brushed backwards such that they stuck to his scalp like waves. If Bree hadn't met him before now, she would have thought he was a Prince of some sort.

"Hello, ms Brianna. A lovely evening to you." He said politely. He wore a smile that seemed to never drop - Bree thought his face was probably made from ceramic.

"You too uh, nice getup." She said with a snort then bit her lip in regret but somehow, Tony hadn't understood what she meant.

He wrinkled his forehead. "uh, thank you?!"

Bree watched him ascend the stairs. He walked like he had a wedgie and was trying hard to hide it. She didn't understand why the building manager decided to change doormen all the time. So many had come and gone that Bree didn't remember their names or even their faces.

She bounded down the remaining steps and strolled outside. She spotted Sawyer making his way from the corner of the building with Allen half bouncing and half running next to him. His apartment was the only one that looked sideways into the short fence and the street.

The dog bolted immediately he saw Bree and she braced herself to at least withstand the force but Allen stopped halfway.

"Well, nice to see you too." She said in confusion.

"I hope your uh, expeditions to the mountains have proven successful so far?" Sawyer asked.

"I have been successfully frustrated time and time again." She complained.

"I'm amazed that you've come out alive twice, that forest is no place for pretty damsels like yourself. Even Mr G has trouble navigating the wild lands and he's the expert." Sawyer said. He wore a brown hat that covered half his eyes. Bree had a pretty good idea where she'd seen something like that.

"Mr G?" She muttered. She could use an expert in her case but the name certainly did not ring a bell.

"The point is, miss, you wanna catch a thief - you gotta think the way he does."

"What do you mean?" Bree asked. She tucked her hand in her jeans pocket hoping to catch a little warmth.

"Thieves are sneaky and uh, well this one definitely has stealth. He slips in and out before you can say Jack. You gotta have both and before you catch him, you catch his interest first."

"His interest?" Bree had no clue where Sawyer was going with his talk but she had the feeling he was going to pitch her a really great idea.

"Yes. This fella loves to steal swine, don't he? Well then, lure him with swine and he won't be able to resist unless he has a second choice and loves chicken too." Sawyer clicked his tongue at the last sentence.

Bree thought about it. She's tried so many times to trap the monster and each time he had snapped or crushed her traps like toothpicks and that was because she had been going about it the wrong way. If she distracted the monster with a pig, he definitely would not notice traps lying around.

Herb had pulled all the pigs from the pen but Bree had a very good idea. She did not need live pigs. She just needed them cooked to use as bait.

Suddenly, her phone vibrated. She looked at the number and raised an eyebrow. She still had one week left before the month ran out and Jim had said his trap would take a whole week to build but it had only been four days.

"Jimothy?"

"It's done, twee!"