Page 2 of Rat Race

Only pause was to pray, naturally.

Just didn’t do for a good, God-fearing woman to be seen abusing substances. Unless those substances were about a quart of whiskey every Christmas Eve since before I was born.

I fought the urge to sigh.Not this shit again.

As if growing up with the Games shoved down my throat since I could crawl through the toddler-sized maze that my folks called a playpen wasn’t enough, all these reminders in the last few months as I prepared to play in my first Games were really starting to be overkill.

Robotically, though a bit comically given my own accent, I started cycling through the Weston Ranch Manifesto that’d been as good as injected directly into my veins.

“Honor your parents.”

If you asked me, stealing directly from the Ten Commandments was a bit tacky, but hey, this was a late-stage capitalistic cult in a church’s clothing, I couldn’t be that picky. The first, at least, hadn’t been edited from the main text. But the other four tenets?

They read more like a wikiHow on how to become a serial killer than pillars for good Samaritanism.

Probably on the account that they were.

“Make yourself an idol in the eyes of the people, for the glory and greatness of God is the center of all celebration.”

Hard to push more people into your batshit-crazy cult if they didn’t know who you were, I guessed.

“You should refrain from murder,” I sighed.

“The rest, Camilla,” Ma prompted impatiently.

“Unless unduly necessary. Should you claim a life, make it a show of your faith.”

Often shortened at the Ranch tomake a show of it. Obviously, they couldn’t push too hard in our written materials to go out andkill people. But in the privacy of our facility? Yeah. We were told to belethal. It was the reason Hide N’ Seek was the second most popular event for Ranch alumni.

Idols and murderers withstyle—a perfect recipe for truly lethal Seekers.

Pa hummed appreciatively, smoothing his checked, button-down shirt over his rounded belly. “That’s my good girl. Next?”

“You shall not covet. Observe the desires of the Church and obtain them by any means necessary.”

“And?”

“Hold nothing above the will of your God.”

That is to say, nothing is more important than winning the Games.

Your sole purpose is to bring glory to the family and the Ranch—and get the check that came with it. Because at the end of the day, was there any greater honor than ensuring that the rich continued to get richer? Lining their pockets with filthy, bloody dollar bills and checks from online gambling websites because salvation isnow.

I scrubbed a hand through my hair, messing up the dark shag.

Part of me wassobitter about the way my parents had manipulated and used me and my siblings—not to mention the dozens of other children they’d raised to be murder machines over the years. But I did have to admit, our family record, theRanchrecord, was unbeatable. A success rate of over ninety-five percent.

Unheard of.

Questioning was just one of the trials of a good devotee. When I made it through this, after I’d brought us into the ninety-sixth success rate percentile… Then I could consider if I was a true believer or not.

This wasGod’schance to showmethat I hadn’t wasted my life on a false prophet. That this wasreal.

“Get the earliest wave ya can,” Pa said encouragingly, squeezing my knee. “If yer able, go left first. Statistically, the tougher traps are always to the right.”

“And pace yourself,” Ma chimed in, taking my hand with the one that wasn’t occupied by yet another cigarette. “Pay attention to your surroundings. And for heaven’s sake, don’t forget to?—”

“Smile big for the cameras,” I finished with a charming, lopsided grin I’d practiced in the mirror hundreds of times. “What, y’all don’t trust that I got this?”

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