Page 80 of The Hunt

“Well, if we set it to fifteen minutes earlier than it actually is, it’ll chime for midnight and wake us up when it’s only a quarter to twelve. That way we can leave before the hunters get here,”Ava said. “I mean… I’m just assuming they’ll be waiting to pick people off as they leave at midnight.”

“Nice idea in theory,” Nikki said. “But I bet there’s already a bunch of hunters waiting outside as we speak. So even if we left early, they’d still try to get us.”

“Oh.” Ava’s face fell. “You’re right. I didn’t even think of that.”

“We just have to be careful when we leave. Really fucking careful,” Nikki said, sinking into her pile of blankets.

I lay next to Nikki and tried to relax, but my mind wouldn’t shut off. I kept glancing toward the window, half expecting to see a figure lurking just outside.

Rhett.

I couldn’t help it. My thoughts kept drifting back to him again and again. Was he still out there, watching us? Waiting for us to emerge? I shivered at the thought, but it wasn’t all fear. Some twisted part of me wondered… would it really be so bad if hewasout there?

The thought of him—the skull-masked version of him, the one hunting me—wasn’t as terrifying as it should’ve been. Instead, there was something undeniably exciting about it. The idea of him chasing me before pinning me up against a tree and brutally fucking me with that pierced cock of his sent a strange shiver through my body.

God, what the fuck was wrong with me?

I couldn’t afford to think this way. This hunt wasreal,not just some dark fantasy, and the fact that Rhett was part of it meant he was a killer.Thatwas what I needed to focus on whenever he popped into my head. I shouldn’t be thinking about how sexy he looked with that mask on, or how the little metal bars on his cock made me salivate. It really,reallywasn’t the fucking time for any of that.

But still… the dark thoughts wouldn’t leave me. They lingered, dangerous and tempting, driving me crazy.

I buried my face in my arms, hoping the darkness would somehow drown out the buzzing in my mind.No distractions.I had to focus on survival and sleep, not my next damn sex dream.

My eyes finally began to flutter with exhaustion, and I let myself begin to drift off. A few seconds later, a random thought jolted me wide awake, and for once, it had nothing to do with Rhett.

Shit.

“Nikki,” I whispered. “Are you still awake?”

She rolled over. “Yeah. I don’t think I can sleep. Why?”

“Do you remember what they said in the announcement?”

“Yup. They mocked us for dying so fast and told us the safe zones are closing soon,” she said bitterly, scooting a little closer so our whispered conversation wouldn’t disturb any of the others.

“There was something else,” I said. “He said ‘the original fifty players’, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“There werefifty-oneof us at the start. Not fifty.”

“Wait… what?” She frowned. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. Positive. When we opened the cache, the backpacks were stacked on each other in five rows of ten, except for one extra on the side. And I distinctly remember seeing one marked with a sticker that said fifty-one.”

“That’s… not good,” she said, slowly shaking her head. “I mean, the guy on the radio could’ve just misspoken, but I don’t know. I feel like nothing here is an accident.”

“Same. So now I’m wondering if Jade isn’t just paranoid after all. There could be a mole. Someone added to the game to shake things up.”

“Fuck.” She exhaled deeply, rolled onto her back, and scrubbed her hands over her face. “It’s bad enough that we have to worry about the hunters. Now we have to worry about the players too?”

“Looks like it, yeah,” I said grimly.

“What do you think it means?” she asked, looking at me again. “Like, are they secretly a hunter, picking off whoever they manage to get alone so no one else suspects them? Or are they just here to sabotage us all?”

“I have no idea.”

“Shit.” Her eyes widened. “I just realized. It could be one ofthem.”

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