Page 139 of The Hunt

“What do you mean?”

She slowly lifted her shirt to reveal several bite marks and bruises on her chest. “After the big show I put on when they took me, they got some ideas,” she murmured. “They came to my room last night and told me I had a promise to keep.”

My heart lurched. “You mean all the stuff they made you say before they killed Cheryl?”

“Yeah. A deal’s a deal, as they said,” Nikki said bitterly, putting the phrase in air quotes. “So apparently I owed them.”

“They made you—”

“They didn’tmakeme do it,” she cut in. “But it’s always hanging over my head, you know? The implication. That if I refuse to do something a Wilder asks of me, I’m neglecting my duties, and therefore my job—and life—are in jeopardy. So I felt like I had to do it.”

“Those fucking assholes,” I muttered, stomach churning. “Theydidmake you do it, Nikki, because they know you’re subservient to them in the society. They knew you’d be too afraid to say no. So it wasn’t really your choice at all.”

She let out another heavy sigh. “Yeah, well… that’s my life now.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I flooded my bathroom on purpose so that Peter would arrange a new room for me away from the staff quarters. I figured that way it wouldn’t be so easy for Jordan and Matt to find me again.” She gestured around the bedroom. “This was supposed to be it, so... I guess it’s actuallynotokay, seeing as I’m sitting here now, waiting for you to decide how and when you want to kill me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I remained silent. Nikki stared glumly at the floor for a moment. Then she looked up at me again.

“Look, Everly... before you stab me in the neck, I want you to know something. It wasn't all lies out there,” she said, slightly shaking her head. “The story I told you about growing up in the boonies was true. All the survival stuff I taught you and the others was real. I never sabotaged you.Never.”

“I know,” I said softly. “I survived after you were gone using the advice you and Cheryl taught me. I taught your advice to others too. But they...”

I trailed off, biting my lip as emotion welled inside me all over again.

“I know what happened to them,” Nikki replied. “I heard all about it. Everyone thought you were dead too, but when all that smoke cleared… you were gone. And not in a dead way. Justgone. No one's seen you since.”

“Yeah. I got away,” I muttered.

“Man, Xavier Nilsson waspissed. Killing four players at once would've shot him to the top of the leaderboard,” she said, brows rising. “How did you get away from him, anyway?”

“That was when Rhett rescued me,” I said. “He carried me out of the smoke, and we traveled through blind spots and dead zones so no one would see us. After that, we went into one of the tunnels, and then we came here because this wing is usually empty. We thought it would be safe.”

“And at some point during all of that, you killed JJ.”

“Yes. His body is still out there,” I said, glancing toward the window. “That’s where Rhett is now. Covering it up.”

Nikki’s forehead creased. “JJ’s dad has already noticed he’s not answering radio calls. Or any sort of calls, for that matter,” she said. “He just asked me when I last heard from him.”

“Yeah, I know. I heard,” I muttered. “How long do you think we have before he gets really suspicious and sends out a search party?”

“No idea,” she said with a shrug. She chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds. Then she tilted her head, looking back up at me. “What’s your big escape plan, anyway? Are you going to try and swim away?”

“No.”

“Well, I’m sure Rhett already told you this, but travel from the island is banned while the Hunt is on,” she said. “So I guess you’re basically as screwed as I am right now, because you can’t hide in here forever.”

I clenched my jaw. “We’re still working on a plan,” I muttered.

Nikki opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, a sharp, deliberate rap echoed against the door.

32

Everly

The silencethat followed the knock seemed to press down on me, thick and heavy, like the air before a storm. With my heart hammering, I stared at Nikki and put my finger to my lips, hoping like hell she’d obey my silent command. Thankfully, she complied, clamping a hand over her mouth.

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