Page 65 of The Hunt

“Peter,” the terminally ill man said, dipping his chin in a perfunctory nod. “Peter Salerno.”

“Right. I’m not sick like Peter, and I’m not in any kind of debt either. I was—” Chris abruptly stopped, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath before continuing. “I was in prison up until a few days ago.”

“Prison?” One of the women stepped back, eyes widening. “What are you talking about?”

“I was approached by a lawyer. He said I’d be eligible for some sort of parole period if I participated in this game. Next thing I know, I’m at the Havenport Marina, getting ready to sail away for the pre-game party.”

My stomach churned with rising unease. Nothing about this situation sat right with me. Why were these people being offered so much money for what was essentially a glorified game of Tag? It didn't add up. Not unless it was all for a reality TV show that could attract millions of viewers… but no one had said anything about it being filmed.

Also, why were literal prisoners being recruited into the scheme?

“Wait a minute, you were really inprison?” someone else said, clearly having the same thought process as me. “What for?”

Chris sighed and raked a hand through his hair. “I guess honesty is the best policy in this situation,” he muttered.

“Oh, shit. That means it was something bad,” a short, muscular guy piped up.

“Let him talk,” the tall blonde woman snapped.

“I was serving time for a double homicide,” Chris said, looking the short guy right in the eye. “So yeah, it was bad.”

I swallowed thickly and took a couple of slow steps away from Chris. This whole time, I’d been hanging out with a convicted murderer, and I had no idea.

“I didn’t do it. I swear,” he hurriedly went on.

“That’s what they all say,” the short guy muttered.

“I know. But I really didn’t do it,” Chris said. “You might even remember the case from the news, if any of you happen to be from Arkansas. I went out for a walk, came home, and found my parents shot to death. All I can guess is that it was a random break-in gone horribly wrong. But the state prosecutors were after my neck, and I had no alibi, so they pinned it on me. Easily.”

“I remember that case. I knew you looked familiar,” Peter said. He looked around the rest of the group. “A lot of people were protesting this man’s innocence. We shouldn’t be so quick to judge.”

“Speak for yourself. I’ll judge all I want,” the short guy said, eyes narrowing. “And my judgment is that I’ll be staying the hell away from this dude.”

Chris sighed. “Look, I understand, okay? I don’t expect anyone to get too close to me,” he said. “But the reality is: we’ve been involved in a terrible accident and washed up on a random beach somewhere, and we have no idea how close civilization is. This could end up being a literal life-or-death situation. So we need to put aside all the other bullshit for now and come up with a plan for what to do next.”

“He's right,” the blonde woman said. “We should—”

She was cut off by a shrill voice carrying over the chilly breeze. “Hey! Hey!”

I whipped my head around to see a young woman in a long navy-blue dress running up the beach. Another survivor. As she drew closer, I realized I recognized her from the finance center.

“Oh my god.Nikki?”

I dashed toward her. When she saw me, her eyes widened, and she closed the distance between us before throwing her arms around me.

“Oh my god, Everly! You’re here!” she said, cold body trembling against mine. She jerked back a second later, lifting her palms. “Sorry. It wassoweird of me to hug you. We barely even know each other.”

“No, it’s fine!” I said, flashing a weak smile at her. “I’m really glad to see a familiar face.”

“Yeah, me too. This whole thing is just…”

She trailed off, head shaking slightly as tears sprang to her eyes. I put an arm around her shoulder and slowly guided her toward the rest of the survivors. “Everyone, this is Nikki,” I said. “And I’m Everly. I forgot to say earlier.”

“I’m Nathan,” the short guy said. He gave Nikki a hard look and jerked a thumb toward Chris. “Stay the hell away from that guy unless you want to die.”

Chris ignored the dig. “What do you remember about last night?” he asked, peering at Nikki. “None of us remember anything. We were drinking too much.”

“I was pretty drunk too, but I remember quite a lot,” she said, blinking back the tears. “After they said we were sinking, I saw a lot of people faint. From the shock and fear, I guess. Or maybe there wasn’t enough oxygen for so many people below deck.”

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