Page 20 of Rule the Night

“Who marked you?” the guy in the vest asked.

“Bone masks,” I said.

One of the guys held up his hands like he was being robbed. “Fuck no.”

The guy in the vest stared at me for a long moment. “Get the fuck out of here.”

I glanced at the redhead, still chained to the wall. “But she?— ”

“Isn’t your problem,” one of the men said. “Now go before I call the Butchers to finish the job.”

I looked at the redhead again.

“It’s okay,” she said. “I signed up for this. At least one of us should win this fucking Hunt.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, inching away. “I’m sorry.”

Then I ran, wanting to put as much distance between myself and the men in hockey masks as I could. Wanting to put as much distance between me and whatever they were going to do with the naked redhead as I could.

I signed up for this.

It was true, but that didn’t make it any easier to leave her behind.

I was coming to a T intersection — a stone wall with tunnels going left and right — when something broke through the silence.

I froze and listened: footsteps.

And not just footsteps. Someone was running.

I looked around for a place to hide but didn’t see one. The footsteps were louder, faster.

And it wasn’t just one person — it was several, all coming from the left of the T intersection up ahead.

A group of girls running together? Or a pack of masked men on the hunt?

I wouldn’t know until it was too late, couldn’t afford to stand still and wait. Panic rose in my body, and I flattened myself against the wall, hoping whoever it was wouldn’t make the turn into my tunnel.

My heart raced as the footsteps grew louder.

Closer.

I looked back the way I came, ready to run that way if the runners turned into my tunnel.

The running grew to a crescendo. A male voice whooped loudly, gleefully, and my blood ran cold when it was followed by a female scream.

My gaze was locked on the intersection, my body wound tight as the footsteps grew even louder. They seemed to come from everywhere all at once, a roar that ricocheted off the walls of the tunnels.

Then, a flash of blonde hair, extended like a golden banner as one of the girls raced past the intersection, followed by the three men in bird masks who disappeared after her.

They hadn’t even glanced my way.

I sank back against the tunnel wall, gasping like I’d been the one running, and closed my eyes. Had the girl on the run been the blonde who’d talked to me in the holding room, the one who’d walked with me at the start of the Hunt?

How many of the girls had been caught in the first ten hours?

I removed the water bottle from my pocket and took a couple sips, then waited for a few minutes to start moving again. When I got to the T intersection, I went left, not wanting to run into the team of men I’d just seen chasing the blonde.

Doubt and fear crept into my mind. The men had come out of nowhere, advancing on my position in less than a minute. I had to be careful, couldn’t let the quiet fool me into thinking I was in the clear.