They were closing in.

Ade took a moment to mentally curse the fickle nature of the Shifting Sands. He couldn’t do so with actual words. Every gasping breath was devoted towards fueling his burning muscles, straining desperately to keep some distance between him and the monsters behind him. Ahead of him he could make out the rest of the small expedition helping each other along. Some of the older workers were being half carried by the younger guards, but they valiantly continued to hurtle forwards. No one even thought about leaving them behind. There were enough monsters in the world already.

Normally Ade would lead from the front, picking out the best path to get to and from their destination. He had developed a working camaraderie with the miners, harvesters and guards that were sent out on a daily basis to gather resources and supplies to take back to the tribe. He knew his limits, and had kept to the safest paths possible, staying away from the deeper parts of the sands where the monsters and other dangers dwelled. But despite his Pathfinding ability, despite his caution, despite the short trips and shallow paths, Monsters had still found them. Ade didn’t know what exactly the cause was. Perhaps they had accidentally strayed far enough into the Sands to attract attention. Perhaps the monsters had followed another group out of the depths. Perhaps it was simply bad luck. Whatever the cause, it led to this moment, where Ade trailed behind his fellow nomads as he utilized every half-remembered trick to stay on the right path and slow down the sand wolves behind him.

Sand Wolves share a lot of the same traits with their animal counterparts. Canine Predators that hunt in packs, with keen noses and long legs that let them cover incredible distances while pursuing prey. The key differences between sand wolves and regular wolves are size and lack of hair. It isn’t a joke to say that sand wolves are monstrous in size. Most are five feet tall at the shoulder, while the pack leaders have been known to grow up to eight feet tall and fourteen feet long, a size made possible only with the aid of the energy that all monsters draw from their environment.

The sand wolves are perfectly adapted to the desert dunes they call their home. They need no fur coats to handle the cold. Instead, their skin is bare; a leathery layer capable of turning aside arrows and blunting attacks that grows stronger as they age. As ambush predators the wolves roll in the sand, covering themselves to the point they blend into their surroundings, almost impossible to detect with the naked eye.

It was only luck that their first target was an armored guard instead of a far less defended miner. The guard’s helmet and breastplate kept him alive long enough for the sand wolf to be driven back, but that was simply the beginning of the nightmare race to safety. Every dune they crossed potentially held another sand wolf lying in wait for the party to get close. Forewarned, the guards managed to deflect most of those probing attacks without injury, but every wolf that was turned aside was one more that joined the pack stalking slowly behind them, and every cut taken was another source of blood leading the monsters on and driving them into a frenzy.

It was a slow race at first. The humans took their time to move ahead cautiously, while the wolves continued to let their ambushes play out as their numbers slowly grew. Every now and again a wolf would leave the pack and vanish behind a dune, presumably repositioning itself in front of the party to launch another attack. What worried Ade the most as the leader of the group was the missing alpha. Without his presence the wolves were content to continue their harassment, but once the alpha made an appearance, either with its own ambush or simply by joining the pack tailing the nomads, Ade knew the situation would change.

It was Ade’s pathfinding ability that saved them. He had enough sense of direction to realize that the wolves were herding them towards a specific dune. While it was directly on their path back to the Oasis and didn’t look any different than any other pile of sand they had crossed, Ade decided to alter course. A desire to get back to the rest of the tribe without crossing that dune, combined with a slight adjustment in course, led to a new area of the Shifting Sands inserting itself to the side. The wolves were caught off guard, and with a sudden burst of speed everyone managed to get past the sand wolves before they could block the new path.

Behind them the ominous dune exploded as the sand wolf alpha leapt from its buried position. An eerie howl filled the air and grew in chorus. The chase was on.

Ranged weaponry saved the nomads from the first charge. Until now the wolves had either been hidden or out of range, but their sudden rush to catch up and take down the humans provided ample targets to hit. Ade was comfortable using a sling, as were most of the adults present. It was a small enough weapon to easily carry around, and everyone grew up practicing with it, first as a toy and then as a backup weapon. The few workers who weren’t competent simply threw stones instead. The goal wasn’t to bring down the wolves, but simply to keep them away. One guard had Skill with a sling, and his shots were fired off like bullets. Even then they mostly bruised the wolves, but one lucky shot managed to penetrate an eye. That wolf collapsed in a heap, either dead or simply in too much pain to continue moving. The rest of the pack slowed but didn’t let up.

Volley after volley was thrown to keep the monsters at bay. Each stone was spent to buy some hundred feet, but the nomads’ sling pouches weren’t endless, and every hill the crested only to see more desert meant that time was running out. Ade could feel that they were getting close, he encouraged his companions with those words, but no one could say just how long it would take to escape the Shifting Sands.

With only a couple stones left, Ade called for the group to halt.

“We’ve made it this far; we can make it the rest of the way. I can’t tell you the Oasis is over the next dune, or even the one after that. I can tell you that it’s a straight shot home from here.”

Ade took a break from his speech to help push back the wolves. The monsters must have sensed that things were coming to a close and pressed harder than they had before. Only barely were the wolves convinced to draw back, and most of the slings threatening them were empty by then.

“No time for a long speech. Breathe deep, run hard. I’ll buy us all as much time as I can. I’ll be right behind you. Now GO!”

His last word was the signal for the final segment of the race to begin. The nomads were familiar with the desert. They had lived all their lives there and knew how to move over the sand without being tripped up or slowed. The sand wolves possessed monstrous physicality and were born to hunt the dunes. It shouldn’t have been a contest. Two things kept the humans alive.

The first was fear. Nothing was held back; no thought was spared towards keeping energy in reserve for a desperate last stand. Even if one or two wolves could be brought down there were enough wolves to ensure there would be no survivors. The nomads ran at a pace that should have left them exhausted after a hundred meters only to keep sprinting, knowing their very lives depended on it.

Even then the wolves would have outpaced them, but for Ade. He didn’t need to use his Pathfinding ability to lead his fellows home and turned it towards a different purpose. The desert behind Ade began to warp as he put every last ounce of his capability towards misdirecting the wolves. Even though they could see their prey tantalizingly close in front of them there was no straight path connecting the two groups. Time and time again the wolves found themselves angling off to the side, and once or twice two wolves running alongside each other impossibly collided, falling down in a tangle that bought precious seconds.

Normally such feats would be impossible for Ade to accomplish over such a short distance, but for the wolves themselves. They were monsters, creatures that were born and lived in the depths of the Sands. They possessed a metaphysical weight that pulled them down, a nature that was opposed to the shallower, safer parts of the Sands. Chance or the trail of lighter creatures could let them escape, but only briefly. Ade used that fact against the wolves, reading his Path as he went and pushing against the wolves’ presence. He held only the tiniest hope of actually losing the predators, but it was buying him the time needed to keep moving onwards.

Suddenly a cry went up as they rounded the base of a dune. There in front of them was the Oasis. The cry was quickly picked up by the camp as the alarm was raised. Even if the wolves weren’t visible yet the speed at which everyone was moving was cause enough for alarm. Already the guards were rushing forwards, looking to reinforce and protect the weary workers. They were almost safe. Even if the wolves attacked, Ade and the rest would be able to hold out until their reinforcements arrived.

Yet still the wolves came on.