Page 108 of The Hunt

The rest of us moved cautiously behind him until we reached a clearing. A pile of cardboard boxes sat in the center of it—some small, some medium, some large.

“There,” Craig said excitedly. “That could be food! Or even weapons!”

He took a step forward, but I grabbed his arm, stopping him in his tracks.

“Don’t go yet,” I said, my voice low but firm. I lifted the binoculars my former group had found in the cave several hours ago. “Let’s stay back and check out the trees around the clearing first.”

Craig scowled at me, shaking my hand off. “Why?”

“Are you serious?” Chiara said scornfully. “We need to make sure no one’s waiting to shoot us the second we walk into the clearing.”

“Exactly.” I nodded firmly. “I’ve seen enough traps to be suspicious of everything now.”

“Fine,” Craig muttered, waving at the binoculars. “Go ahead. Do your little trick.”

I pursed my lips, not appreciating the condescension from him, especially after I’d given him the last of my food supplies and guided him to a safe zone earlier. I didn’t want to argue with him, though, because I simply didn’t have the energy, so I stayed silent and lifted the binoculars to scan the trees beyond the clearing.

“See anything?” Chiara asked, voice tinged with anxiety.

“No.”

Craig huffed. “Great. Let’s go.”

I lifted a hand. “Wait. I still think we should figure out some sort of strategy to—”

He cut me off. “Look, Everly, we’re all hungry, and we’ve only got an hour or two before it gets dark, which will make it ten times harder to find caches,” he snapped. “I’m not just gonna stand here and starve because you’re scared of traps.”

Before I could respond, he stepped forward again. Every muscle in my body tensed as I watched him approach the boxes, the clearing unnervingly quiet except for the sound of his footsteps.

He crouched and tore open a small box on the edge of the massive pile. A grin broke out on his face as he pulled out a handful of chocolate bars. “Told you so!” he said, looking over at the rest of us.

He tossed a bar toward Chiara, who caught it mid-air as she headed into the clearing. Nathan followed her and stooped to open a bigger box, revealing packets of muesli bars, chips, and cookies. The third box was even better—a giant case of bottled water. Exactly what we needed.

“It’s like Christmas morning,” Nathan said, tearing one of the cookie packets open. “Get over here, Everly.”

I reluctantly stepped into the clearing to join them, and Chiara smiled at me. “I guess we got lucky this time, huh?”

“Yeah, we did,” I said, grabbing a chocolate bar. “But still, it’s an open area, so I think we should pack as much as we can in our bags and then get the hell out of here.”

Thankfully, no one argued with me on that point.

As we quietly stuffed our backpacks with food and water, the gnawing tension in my chest eased slightly. This cache discovery was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. Our new supply of food and water would be enough to last us all the way to the tunnel entrance, if and when I found it.

Nathan eyed one of the large unopened boxes on the far edge of the pile, lips twisting in contemplation. “There could be weapons in that one,” he mused. “It’s definitely big enough.”

“I doubt they’d give us weapons,” Chiara said through a mouthful of chips. “It’s probably just more food.”

“Yeah, and we’ve already got enough,” I said, gesturing to our bulging backpacks. “Just leave it for the other players. They might be hungry too.”

Nathan ignored us and tore the tape off the top. “I’m pretty sure it—”

His words cut off abruptly as a hiss erupted from the box, and thick, gray smoke began pouring out. It spread rapidly, curling around our feet and rising higher, veiling the world in a nearly-opaque fog.

“Shit!” Nathan stumbled back, coughing. “What the fuck is this?”

“We need to go!” I said, heart hammering in my chest.

The smoke thickened, clinging to my clothes, to my skin, until I could barely see an arm’s length in front of me.

---