Third Death

Kyriaki explored a little further than normal, and soon, she stumbled across the place where she had arrived at the plateau in the first place. There was the hill she had rolled down after tripping over a tree root and the distant rumbling of the waterfall. 

Upon closer observation, she noticed that the hill was covered with rocks and boulders. As she climbed the hill to view her surroundings better, she spotted a gazelle-like creature grazing nearby. Its skin colour is a pale shade of brown, similar to Nanger Granti (grant's gazelle) and it has some small horns just above its eyes. 

She climbed down the hill, and then sneaked towards it carefully, intending to hunt it for food. 

Quietly now... I got you in my sights. Just be good and stay still!

The gazelle stood in a tall yellow grass field, eating the yellow grass. The field reminded her of a wheat field when the wheat was fully grown and was ready to be harvested, but alas, the field she was in was not wheat, just plain grass. 

Her attire of a white lab coat, grey pants and shirt stuck out like a sore thumb compared to her surroundings, but fortunately enough, the grass could hide her enough to avoid being detected by the gazelle. 

There was the possibility of the gazelle fighting back using its hind legs or forelegs. Hence, Kyriaki still had to be careful when preparing to attack. However, the most likely scenario was the gazelle bursting off into the distance at the cruising speeds of cars (around ~35mph or ~50kph). 

It meant that Kyriaki only had one chance to bring down her prey. The time was well over midday by now, possibly in the early afternoon, and so there wasn't much time left to hunt other animals for food if she was unlucky. 

The time limit was sundown. Sure, if she fails, she can starve for a few more hours, but that would risk death from a lack of nutrients from her already nutrient-deficient body. 

She waited and waited. The gazelle was still clueless about the possible danger that it might face shortly. Eventually, after it had eaten its fill, it turned around, walking in the opposite direction from where Kyriaki hid. 

An opening! 

She rushed out of her hiding spot and dashed towards the gazelle with all her might. With the sudden burst of noise and sound, the gazelle flinched for a moment before running off in another direction at its maximum speed. 

Kyriaki could not match the gazelle's speed, but she still ran, trying to catch up. From her knowledge, gazelles are like cheetahs; extremely fast runners, but she knew that cheetahs could only run at their maximum speed for less than half a minute at best. 

Therefore, that rule should also apply to the gazelle she's chasing currently. All living things will have limited stamina and endurance before needing to rest, and that also applied to herself, a Homo Sapien. So while she might not be the fastest, she does have a great amount of stamina, and combined with the fact that humans are the best endurance runners in the world (as we're able to shed heat via sweat), eventually, Kyriaki would be able to catch up to the gazelle and kill it. 

"Compared to the military marches and training I had to endure for years, this is nothing!" she said with great confidence. 

She was not running at her maximum speed but instead was jogging. Running at one's maximum speed costs an absurd amount of energy, among other resources from the body, like nutrients for muscle growth and development, etc. 

While that might be useful for someone who lives with a plentiful amount of food and other resources that will benefit themselves, in Kyriaki's case however, her energy and nutrients must be used wisely as there was no guarantee that she might find a source of food that could replace/replenish those lost nutrients. 

Seconds pass and Kyriaki still has her sights on the gazelle in the distance. It was slowing down, most likely due to exhaustion and travelling at a mere fraction of what it did before. 

As it panted, cooling down and allowing oxygen to circulate its body, Kyriaki was gaining on it. She purposely crouched down to hide in the field of tall grass, and the gazelle thought it was safe for now. 

But why is it frozen..? 

Kyriaki peeked her head out of the grass to observe the gazelle and make sure of its location. What she saw... well, it looked like the gazelle was frozen in time. Its entire body did not move, but once in a while, its ear flicked to get rid of bugs or insects that were bugging it. 

Suddenly, like an answer to all of her questions, a massive lion-like beast, with large muscles in all four of its limbs, and golden-coloured fur that camouflaged it in the yellow grass so well that even Kyriaki herself did not spot it before it pounced on the gazelle that she had been chasing. 

"Oh, you son of a bitch!" Kyriaki angrily said under her breath while watching the action play out. "Stealing my prey are you?" 

Well, it's lucky it opted out for the gazelle and not me... I would have been dead meat if it decided to hunt me. While it is still trying to kill the gazelle I should retreat. I doubt I can kill another beast again.

She observed the situation. The beast was likely a female, as Kyriaki knew that females were the ones usually hunting prey for the pride they were in. 

Ah. Then if it's in a pride... wouldn't other females be present nearby as well?

She immediately ducked down into the safety of the grass. The battle that was occurring right in front of her could be seen through the gaps between the grass, so while it might not be effective, it was much safer. 

Kyriaki tried to erase as much of her presence as possible solely for one reason. There's an entire pack of strong female lions hiding here somewhere, but whether they were close or far, Kyriaki cannot tell. Their goldish fur makes it extremely hard to spot them while they are preparing to ambush. Either way, Kyriaki has been too confident (more like arrogant) and blindly walked right into dangerous territory, and she admits it. It. Was. Naive. 

Just as she was about to retreat from this unsafe location, she heard a loud growl. Instantly, her mind went blank for a second due to the fear of what was behind her. 

Slowly, she turned her head around and then her vision went dark. She felt no pain, however, so she couldn't determine what was going on. 

Not to mention, a familiar warmth similar to that when she died for the first time... 

I died, didn't I? 

She realised from her thoughts. 

I have only made contact with these kinds of apex predators only once before. I had completely forgotten about the dangers of this era. One single mistake or observation error may bring death upon me. 

While it hurts my pride to be killed that easily, I admit, this is a good experience to be always on the lookout and the dangers of walking into new territories. 

Kyriaki tried nodding her head. While she didn't know if the action had been processed and played out by her new body, she felt like it had in this dark world she was in. 

Next time, I will be the one hunting you. Just you wait!

Though Kyriaki herself had said that it was a good learning experience, her pride was too great for her to contain and so, he had declared war on the beast that had killed her just then. 

Will she die again? Most likely, but... who knows?