Page 38 of R for Rough

Colt scratched his jaw, thinking about it. “Probably his speed. He’s faster than I am these days, and he’s scrappy as fuck. Once we catch him, we better tie him up properly. Otherwise, he’ll find a way to escape.”

Kit sounded fun.

“Angel’s much the same,” Ryan said. “What about Tracy?”

Yeah, good question. “I haven’t played with him on this level yet, so we’ll find out. But he’s definitely prepared. He grew up in the outdoors. He’s creative and quick on his feet. Very high threshold for pain too.”

“That about sums it up for Justin too,” Jameson confirmed. “And he’s stubborn as hell.”

In other words, we had our work cut out for us.

It wasn’t a high-risk event without drilling safety measures into the skull of every participant, and same with the restrictions. Nobody was allowed near Ryan’s cabin; if someone ran close enough to see it, they had to move away immediately.

They could split up, they could stick together, they could try to hide, as long as they didn’t dispose of their trackers, which would give us a twenty-five-yard radius to locate them. But again, we didn’t know which tracker belonged to whom.

Safewords were repeated once more, including the private safewords of two prey, in case they accidentally blurted out the wrong ones. Lastly, the prey were given the option to bring some minor supplies, stuff Tracy was already carrying in his pockets. Kit, Cal, and two others were prepared similarly, but they optedto add whistles and flashlights. No using the whistle unless it was an emergency.

Multitools were all right, but no knives that could unfold automatically or with assisted opening.

We didn’t need to add more risks.

Ryan’s military background was clear as day in the basket of Olight and 5.11 tactical gear. I wasn’t a stranger to those tools either, though that stemmed from my upbringing on a boat and in the woods.

“Do you get sponsored by Ralph’s?” I joked. It was the top-choice store for anyone interested in fishing, hiking, and hunting in Camassia.

“I wish,” Ryan laughed. “My man’s a fucking snob too, so he’s gotta have the best of the best. Oh, and he falls for cheap sales tricks. Last week, he boughtkindling. I was all, have you looked out the goddamn window, boy? Kindling is free.”

Angel giggled.

I grinned. Sounded like Novi. She knew her way around the outdoors, but she liked the unnecessary luxuries you could buy for your daypack.

“That’s nothin’,” Jameson huffed. “Justin and Alex came home with a four-hundred-dollar cooler before the summer.”

“It’s superior!” Justin argued.

“You’ve used itonce,” Jameson pointed out.

I chuckled and rubbed the back of my neck. To be fair, my first boat had cost me less than my cooler.

“This is nice and all, but are we gonna get started anytime soon?” Abel drawled.

“Oh right, I forgot you were still here,” Ryan replied. He scratched his forehead and shrugged. “All right, go.”

I smirked. Nothing like fucking with the brats, even if that included an anticlimactic start. In fact, they didn’t move. They looked at one another, confused.

Ryan switched to Sadist real quick. “Do I have to tell you again? Fucking go!”

That did it. The prey expressed their bemusement at Ryan’s behavior and scrambled a little, but then Tracy and Kit nodded toward the thick of the forest, and they were off. Both groups.

“No kiss goodbye or anything,” I heard Tracy mutter. “He really is a Sadist.”

I grinned.

I’ll kiss you everywhere soon.

They picked up the pace and started running before they disappeared, and now we waited a few minutes.

“That was fun.” Madigan smiled.

---