Page 54 of Drop His Mask

32’s, 197’s, and one more two-man team.

Should I hope to be matched against 32’s? Forced to kill my allies?

Anyone but 197’s team. Anyone but 197’s team.

My platform began to shake, and I tensed. Finding Jayce’s eyes, I offered him one more reassuring smile before doing the same to Levi.

“You’ve got this, darlin’,” Levi grunted to me.

For one shining bright moment, I believed him.

But then I caught Maverick’s face. The way his brow furrowed, his jaw ticked and I twisted to find the other person rising up with me. I saw who my competitor would be and understood what his glare meant.

197’s teammate.

Player 195.

Chapter 28

Why We Wear Masks

The Game Warden

Three Years – Two Months Ago

The Game Warden slammed a fist into the bathroom mirror, shattering it.

His mind was loosening. His nerves shot and frayed as he tried to detach himself from what he had seen. He shut his eyes, but it only had the effect of flashing images behind his eyelids.

Men screaming and begging. The slaughter. The blood. The heart shattering pleas. The deadening silence as only one victor remained.

He thought it had been bad enough when he wasin the games,but it wasnothingcompared to watching it playout from above.

Without the distraction of his own imminent death, he was forced to focus on the horrors. Hisjobwas to analyze every moment of it.

I can’t do this.

He spun from the mirror, he couldn’t look at himself anymore. He couldn’t stomach his own image.

Is that why we wear masks?

Blood dripped from his hand to the carpeted floor as he walked into his bedroom. Stomping to his dresser, he shoved the items around until he found what he was desperately searching for.

A single image. It was the only item he had that he treasured, andNightingalehad given it to him.

A picture of Raven. Arecentphoto of her.

The image was a bit blurry, but she was unmistakable. Raven was stretching behind the doctor’s house in a patch of grass, the vantage point coming from behind the fence that wrapped around it.

Raven is alive.

The Game Warden fell to his knees, clutching the image desperately to his chest. He wanted more than anything to fall apart and allow his sorrow to overtake him, but he couldn’t.

Sparrow is safe. Raven is alive.

The thoughts propelled him out of the madness that crept its slimy tendrils into him. He rose shakily from his knees, and pulling the picture from his chest, he gave it one more full examination.

Memorizing it.

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