Page 64 of Rat Race

She was separating us.

The walls all around us began to move and change, cracking in half before burrowing up into the ceiling. To my right and left, where there were once dead ends, long hallways opened, offering a view into new areas—and revealing Runners whosefaces matched my own confusion and horror as they attempted to dodge walls and new obstacles.

The thoughts came in quick succession.

The maze is resetting.

If we aren’t careful, she’ll crush us.

Fuck, I didn’t realize anyone had managed to catch up.

I pushed myself back up, using the force to propel myself forward toward the grate as the metal bars began to move toward the ceiling again, blocking me from entering the hall. My body made contact with the solid grate, cursing loudly as I reached an arm through the bars.

The coldness and pain from the earlier rooms hit me like a truck. It stifled my movements. Had my hands shaking.

Cam wassoclose, Ella at their back with the tip of the knife poised upwards, the pair of them watching as I struggled to get the stupid grate to move. Not that any of the rattling I was doing did any fucking good.

“Aubrey, babygirl, it’s okay,” Cam said tightly, taking in a sharp breath as the knife pricked in deeper. “I’ll see you on the outside.”

Their face was pinched, anxious, but their voice? All luxuriously calm. Even in a situation like this, they were looking out for others—for me.

Why?

I’d expected to see the sharp-nosed little fuckhead beside them smiling, gloating that she’d managed to pull one over on us. But the rat wasn't smiling. If anything, she looked worried—maybe even a bit fearful.

Good,I thought savagely.She fucking should be.

I was going to tear her fucking head off.

Starting by ripping out those ugly, ratty extensions she was trying to pass off as her own hair. There was a reason I wouldn’t let the half-cracked stylists they’d hired touch me.

“If you hurt them,” I called to Ella, making her pale, blotchy face lose even more color. “I’ll make sure you wish you’d never been born!”

She gasped softly, tongue snaking out to lick her lips anxiously. It was nice to know my threats still had some weight despite me looking like a drowned rat. Like Ella was panicking even though she was the one with the upper hand.

The girl who was taking Cam away fromme.

Running in my heavy, clunky platforms was a sport in and of itself, butnothingwas going to stop me from going after that bitch.Nobodytouched what belonged to me.

“You bitch! You think I'll stop when you’re dead?!”

The words that were racing through my head were spilling from my lips before I could stop them.

“I’ll cut that pretty hair off! Slit your throat! Smash your head in! You’re parents won’t even recgonize the mush of bone and flesh they drop at their doorstep!”

My anger and bloodthirst were renewed, all of the venom and spite I’d reserved for Natalie finding a new target in Ella. I saw images of her violent death flashing across my mind over and over again. Oh, what I wouldn’t have given in that moment for my bat to crush her useless, conniving skull in.

Cam watched with wide eyes, the reality of their situationfinallydawning on them—that theirbestiewas going to kill them. And there was nothing that either of us could do about it.

The rest of the hallway was sealed with a stone wall, cutting off my view of Cam, and I jerked into motion, my boots pounding against the concrete beneath my feet as I threw myself into the closest tunnel, trying to follow it to get as close to them as I could.

My heart was racing in my chest, the adrenaline pumping straight into my veins—but that wasn’t the only thing pushingme forward. Forcing me to ignore the aches and pains of the drop or the discomfort of my blistered heels.

Excitementlicked through me, accompanied by its favorite companion—rage.

Excitement becauseI’dfinallybe able to kill her. This time I knew Cam wouldn’t try and stop me. Not now that they’d seen her for exactly what she was—a dirty, scheming rat. A fucked-up leech with no shot of winning the Games on her own that’d attached herself to a much bigger, more effective predator.

And rage… It made my eyes prick with bitter, overly salinized tears. How fucking dare she try to kill them? Cam’s life wasmine—theywere mine—and I liked them exactly the way they were, thank you very much.

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