Page 68 of Rat Race

Naw, now that was something I couldn't just forgive… or forget.

That deserved a bit of penance.

"Alright," I said slowly, watching relief flood her features. "I won't kill you."

Feeble, half-trembling words of gratitude spilled from her lips between sobs as I pulled the knife away. The girl relaxed, a big mistake on her part. It left her open to my attack.

Without warning, I kicked her leg out toward me, making her catch her balance with it outstretched. I reared back, stomping down on her shin with all the strength I had, snapping the frail bones with a sickening crunch.

Ella screamed, falling to the ground, clutching her destroyed leg.

I brought my tracker close to my face, ready to scroll through the comments and take suggestions on how I should punish her. But I was met with something I’d never seen before.

In the top corner, where my view count should have been… there was a big redzero.

What the actual?—

I didn’t know it was possible for me to get angrier until that moment. Heat rushed over me, flushing my face and entire body. It had my head spinning and my muscles seizing.

They shut my stream off.This wasn’t the first time it happened in Devil’s Playground. They did it whenever it suited them.

But it was the first time it ever happened to a Weston.

Not only had she tried to kill me, but because of her, my views were zero!The whole world would miss out on what it meant to punish those who'd wronged me. I would never get my redemption.

Maybe you should kill her because of that,a voice whispered.An even better punishment.

But the other nagging voice was back. The one that told me the Architects wouldn’t have shut off my views if they wanted the world to see what was happening.

They didn’twant them to know.

I pushed all those thoughts to the back, not willing to go down the rabbit hole they threatened to take me.

Regardless, she still needs to learn her lesson.

I leaned down close to her face, my lip curled in anger. "Now we're even, darlin'. Play hard. Win, win."

Aubrey

How about you make me, cowboy?

Iwas close. I knew it. I’d followed the hallway to the right, fingers dragging against the stone searching for any indents or crevices in the wall, then looped inward.

The problem was, the greyish concrete slabs all looked the same.Feltthe same when I frantically ran my hands against them while searching.

It would’ve been enough to drive me insane if I wasn't so homed in on saving Cam. I could feel their presence, close but just out of reach. It might’ve been the insanity that’d slowly gnawed at my consciousness since I got into the maze, but I swore it was reallythem.

They’re right in the middle, I know it.

Like the moth to the flame I was drawn to them, a compulsion that was only getting stronger and stronger. Making me desperate, crazy unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Anxiety tightening my throat as I searched for my way in.

Distantly, I could hear others in the maze. The traps going off as they tried to get to the end. The Screaming. Panicking. Scrambling.

But not me. I was focused.

The other runners meant nothing to me. They could burn and crush themselves to death until there was nothing but silence and my blood rushing in my ears. I wanted the one who ignited these new feelings in me, who made my heart race and stomach flutter with need.

I couldn’t let anything else distract me.

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