Page 61 of Vengeful

"Shouldn't we be there by now?"

The land continued to slope downwards, but the trees thinned. We hadn't stumbled on any concealed holes, or other students. If it wasn't for the continuing, heavy rain, it might have been a nice walk in the bush.

"Maybe that's the next part of this. There's really no beach. We're going to keep walking until we're so lost, we'll die out here." If that was the case, I was going to be very pissed off.

"You underestimate my ability to keep us alive," Slade said. "If we have to catch rabbits and kangaroos to eat, that's what we'll do."

"You know how to skin an animal?" I gave him a sceptical glance.

He raised his eyebrows at me.

"I meant animals other than humans." I wiped the rain off my face with my sleeve. It was falling so heavily now, the gesture was almost futile.

"I haven't done it, but how hard can it be? I wouldn't let you go hungry. Since you have a new tracker in your earring, the twins would find us long before we had to resort to that. They'd bring pizza and burgers."

"Where are they anyway?" I ignored the way my stomach turned at the thought of food. "I thought the idea was to neutralise the additional shit Caleb put here."

The file on the Academy database wasn't extensive, but there were mentions of additional challenges. In retrospect, that sounded benign compared to what we'd faced already. We knew it would be difficult, but not as hard as this.

Honestly, I was worried about Hunter and Parker. They might have been killed by a tree-bomb or fuck knows what else. They could be lying out here somewhere, waiting for us to stumble over their bodies.

"It was," Slade said. "I'm guessing they missed the tree that killed Shannon. They might have disabled a bunch more though." He didn't look so certain.

"I'd feel better if all four of us were doing this together," I said.

"So would I." Slade glanced back over his shoulder.

"What is it?" I asked.

"We're being followed. For the last few minutes, at least." He glanced back again.

"Should you be seen with me?" I looked back too. "You're supposed to be supervising. If they think you're helping me, you'll get fired."

"I'd rather lose my job than lose you," he said, without looking at me. "They've changed the rules this year. As far as I'm concerned, they've broken them. And if they've broken them, then we get to do the same. If they don't like it, they can get fucked."

"In that case, should we do something to get whoever it is to reveal themselves?" Was it Chloe, Zachary or whoever cut Ronnie's throat?

My heart raced. The shivering wasn't just because I was cold and wet. The hint of panic in the back of my mind was getting more and more difficult to ignore. It made focusing more of a challenge. I forced a few breaths in and out until I regained some of my composure. What little composure I had today.

"Yep." Slade guided me into a patch of wattles. We ducked down to wait.

For the first time, I was grateful for the rain. Hunkering down this close to dried wattle flowers would make me sneeze. Nothing would give me away quicker.

I made out the sound of footsteps slogging through the mud. Whoever it was, they weren’t trying to conceal their presencefrom us. They sounded determined to keep walking. To reach the beach.

Slade pulled a knife out from his boot and handed it to me before pulling out another one. He mouthed, "Be ready."

I nodded. I gripped the hilt of the knife in my wet hand and scanned the trees for movement.

There.

And there.

More than one person.

Slade gestured that he'd take the one on the left, while I dealt with the one on the right.

I nodded again that I understood.

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