Page 5 of The Hunt

“This is so cool,” Benji whispered as we trudged through the darkness. “It’s like a movie.”

“Yeah, a horror movie.Boo,” Merritt said right next to him, making him startle.

When we finally reached the end of the tunnel, we stepped out and found ourselves in the forest that lay beyond the Wildercliff estate. The air was thick with the scent of pine and a hint of woodsmoke.

Merritt tilted her head upward, frowning as she sniffed the air. “Do you guys smell smoke?”

“Yup. It’s gross.” Samantha grimaced. “Where’s it coming from?”

“That way, I think. Let’s check it out,” Rhett said, pointing to the right.

The forest was alive with the sounds of rustling leaves and distant night animals, and as we drew closer to the source of the smoke, faint voices began to drift through the air too.

“What’s going on?” Samantha asked in a low whisper. “Are there, like,witchesout here?”

“Of course not,” Jake said. “It’s probably a party.”

“In the woods?”

“My older brother goes to bonfire parties in the woods all the time,” Merritt said. “It’s notthatweird.”

“We should stay quiet,” Ari said. “If these people catch us, they’ll probably call our parents, and then we’ll get in trouble.”

We slowed our paces and stopped all conversation as we crept closer and closer to the noise and smoke. Every snap of a twig underfoot made me wince, and my heart was racing so fast it felt like it might explode.

“I can see a light,” Samantha whispered a moment later, lifting a shaky hand. Through the dense trees, I could see it too—a faint orange glow.

We kept going until we saw exactly where the light was coming from. Ahead, there was an enormous clearing in the woods with flaming torches planted in the ground along the edges.

Rhett suddenly dropped to his knees, pulling me down with him behind a thicket of bushes. The others did the same.

“Oh my god. Whatisthat?” Merritt whispered breathlessly.

I peeked through the leaves. A large group of people were gathered in a circle in the clearing. They were all wearing black robes, and their faces were covered with silver and black skull masks. The hollowed-out eyes of the masks gave them a cold, menacing stare, making them look like Death itself.

In the center of the circle, a pale man was tied to a rough wooden stake. There was a defeated slouch in his shoulders and his eyes looked hollow and desperate. He stared out at the people before him with an unwavering gaze, his mouth pressed shut with a black gag.

“If this is a party, it’s the weirdest one I ever saw,” Ari muttered.

“Maybe they’re playing dress-ups,” Samantha whispered back to him. “Like, for some sort of game.”

“Oh, yeah. That must be it.”

“Adults don’t play dress-ups,” Merritt said.

“Or games,” Jake added.

“They totally do. My aunt does cosplay, and my dad plays Minecraft,” Benji replied.

Merritt let out a light snort. “Does this look like Minecraft to you?”

“It’s notthatsort of game. But it’s definitely a game,” Ari insisted. “It has to be.”

Rhett remained silent next to me, face unreadable.

One of the masked people moved to the center of the clearing, his voice cutting through the night air with an authoritative tone as he gestured toward the tied-up man.

“Thank you for being here, everyone,” he said, turning in a slow circle to address everyone in the clearing. “This is the final test for our latest batch of recruits before this year’s game begins. The culmination of their dedication and training.”

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