The Hunt

20. Everly

20

Everly

We made it to another safe zone just as exhaustion threatened to overtake us completely. The cabin was smaller and more rundown than the last one, but none of us cared. It had a roof, a lock on the door, and a stash of supplies tucked into one corner. That was all that mattered—safety for now. It was set to close at six, meaning we’d all get four hours of sleep if we nodded off right now. Not enough, but better than nothing.

The moment we stepped inside, the tension lifted slightly, though it didn’t fully dissipate. I knew it never would. Not as long as we were stuck on this godforsaken island.

Ava collapsed onto the floor, her head in her hands. Kanako and Nikki moved to the corner to sift through the supplies, and Jade curled up in the opposite corner. I sank onto the nearest surface beside Cheryl, my legs aching and my mind a swirling mess.

The more I thought about it, the more I felt as if Chris’s death was my fault. If I’d listened to Rhett’s warning and told the others we needed to turn back, Chris could still be alive right now.

I wasn’t sure how I could’ve brought it up, though, considering the gist of the story was: I slept with one of the hunters a week and a half ago, and now he’s delivering private warnings to me.

That would go down like a lead balloon.

I kept trying to justify it by thinking that even if I did tell the others about Rhett’s warning, they would’ve seen it the same way that I did—a nasty piece of trickery from him, designed to lure us somewhere else so we could be killed there instead. In the end, they probably would’ve voted to keep moving northeast, and we would’ve wound up in the trap field anyway.

That didn’t stop the guilt, though. I should’ve said something. I should’ve tried .

I leaned back against the wall, my eyes fluttering shut. The soft murmurs of the others faded into the background as my thoughts finally wandered away from Chris. Rhett’s warning was echoing in my head again, along with the endless questions it brought. Why did he try to help me? And was it really help, or just another step in whatever sick game he’d decided to play with me?

Suddenly he was right in front of me. I was back in the hotel room in Havenport, naked on the edge of the bed, and he was looming over me, eyes glimmering behind his skull mask.

“My pretty little prey has a pretty pussy to match,” he said, voice gravelly. “So sweet and so wet already.”

I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming.

A finger slipped between my legs, gliding up and down to gather my wetness before pressing inside.

“So tight for such a dirty whore,” Rhett growled. “That’s what you are, aren’t you? A dirty whore who doesn’t fucking listen to her master.” His other hand moved between my thighs, making me cry out as he slapped the top of my pussy. “You see what happens when you don’t obey me?”

“Yes,” I murmured, savoring the tantalizing ache between my legs. “I’m in big trouble.”

“Yeah, you fucking are, princess. So what should I do with you now that I’ve finally caught you?” Rhett hoisted my legs over his shoulders, lowering his head until I felt his hot breath fanning over my pussy through the holes in the mask. “Should I lick you until you almost come? Make you scream and beg for it? Or do you want me to shove my cock in you, even though we both know it won’t fit in this tight little hole?”

“I… I want…” Suddenly I couldn’t speak my mind, even though I knew this wasn’t real. It felt real, and that was enough to make me shy away.

“Say it,” Rhett commanded. “Or do you want to be punished more?”

Heat flared inside me. Yes. That was exactly what I wanted. I reached down, suddenly desperate to touch myself, but Rhett growled and slapped my hand away.

“Your pussy belongs to me,” he said. “And I didn’t give you permission to touch my property, did I?”

“Punish me, then,” I gasped out, my body desperately arching toward his hand. “Show me what I need.”

He slapped my pussy again, twice in quick succession, making me cry out as jolts of pain and pleasure collided inside me. Then he ripped the mask off, revealing his handsome face and cold smirk before he tilted his head back down.

His hot mouth closed over my pussy, devouring me with his lips and tongue. At the same time, three fingers slipped inside me; two in my pussy, the other in my ass. They pumped in and out, stretching me until my core ached for more.

“I’m not letting you come, baby,” Rhett said, pulling back to look at me. His fingers were still roughly pumping in and out of my ass and pussy. “I’m going to get you right to the edge, and then I’m going to fuck your ass until you beg me to give your pussy some attention. But it’s not gonna happen, princess. This is all for me. Not you.”

Somehow, knowing he was going to deny my orgasm turned me on even more, and I jolted on the bed, eyes squeezing shut as pleasure rocketed through me. Rhett returned his mouth to my clit and slid another thick finger into my ass, stretching me past my limits.

I gasped at the burning intrusion, wincing from the pain, and my eyes flew open to reveal the meager cabin around me.

I took a deep breath, head shaking slightly. Oh my god. What the hell was that dream?

I swallowed hard and lifted my chin, looking toward the closest window. The sky outside had begun to lighten, hinting at dawn’s approach. The safe zone wouldn’t be safe for much longer.

The others were still asleep, apart from Cheryl, who was chewing on a muesli bar and staring morosely at the other window. A mix of guilt and concern instantly surged through me. If Cheryl had fallen into the spike pit next to Chris, she would’ve died never knowing what happened to her sister, and I had a feeling that was exactly what she was thinking about right now.

I sat up straighter, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. I couldn’t change the past and bring back Chris, but I could do better now. Could do more to save everyone. Maybe even get those answers for Cheryl somehow.

I murmured ‘good morning’ to her, even though we both knew it was pretty fucking far from a good morning, and then I grabbed a muesli bar and dug my map out of my bag. I pored over it for ten minutes as I ate my breakfast. Then I waved at Cheryl to attract her attention without waking the others.

She shuffled closer, forehead creasing. “What’s up?”

“I think I might know where the tunnel entrance is,” I whispered back. “Approximately, anyway.”

Her expression brightened. “Seriously?”

I nodded. “Like I said, it’s just an approximation, but it’s better than us just cluelessly wandering around, right?”

“Yes. Let’s wake everyone up. They should all hear this,” she said. She stood and clicked her fingers loudly. “C’mon, guys. Time to wake up. We’ve got fifteen minutes before we need to head out, and Everly has an idea.”

Once everyone was gathered around me, I spread my map out again and pointed to a spot on the far west side of the island. “I think this is where Wildercliff Estate is. If we—”

“Wait.” Ava cut me off, lifting her hand. “How do you know where it is if none of it’s marked?”

“When I stayed there as a kid, I went to the beach a lot, and that was right near the manor. I remember it being a small horseshoe-shaped bay, and not far from it, there was an inlet that led to a river.” I pressed my fingertip onto the map. “See this? Horseshoe-shaped bay with an inlet not far from it. It matches what I remember.”

“Oh, I see.”

“If I’m right, that means the estate is somewhere around here,” I said, pointing at the map again. “The night we sneaked out, we walked through the tunnel for about twenty minutes, and then another five minutes through the woods before we found the clearing. I’m not sure about the exact direction we went in, but you can see there’s a mountain to the south, and I don’t remember seeing any sign of a nearby mountain when we exited the tunnel, so it’s probably not that way. It wasn’t west either, because that’s the ocean. So that means the clearing has to be somewhere around here.” I pressed my fingertip to another spot on the map and slowly swept it in a small arc. “Somewhere between the north and east, around twenty-five minutes away from the estate. And the tunnel entrance is only five minutes away from that.”

Jade’s brows rose, and a hint of excitement appeared in his eyes. He almost looked impressed. “Holy shit, that really narrows it down. A lot. ”

“Yup.” My lips lifted in a ghost of a smile. “It’s not an exact location, but at least it gives us a vague target to aim for, so we're not just wandering around hoping to stumble on the right clearing.”

“No shit,” Nikki said. “Especially considering the size of this island. It’s fucking huge. We could’ve been wandering for days searching for that clearing.”

“This is good, Everly. Really good,” Cheryl said, patting me on the shoulder.

I averted my eyes as guilt flashed through me again. If the group knew what I’d hidden from them last night, they wouldn’t be so pleased with me now. “I just wish I thought of it earlier,” I murmured.

Kanako finally spoke up. “It is good that we’ve narrowed it down so much, but there’s one problem,” she said. She pointed to our current location on the map. “We’re all the way over here, and like Nikki just said, this island is massive. It could take us six hours to walk over to the west side. Maybe even more, considering how slowly we have to walk just to keep quiet.”

Nikki nodded. “We’ll have to try and stop at safe zones along the way. That might add some time to the journey, but it’s still a decent plan, right?”

Everyone nodded.

Nikki briskly clapped her hands together. “Okay, is everyone happy to move out now and start heading west?” she asked. “Once the next safe zones are announced, we can check the map to see which one makes the most sense to stop at.”

Everyone nodded again, and we began to gather our things, the quiet shuffle of gear filling the silence. My pulse thrummed as I adjusted the straps of my backpack, the weight of the situation pressing down on me like a lead blanket.

Even though our new plan gave us direction, it didn’t guarantee survival. We’d have to spend the whole day on our toes, praying we didn’t inadvertently wander into the path of one of the hunters—or worse, an ambush.

We’d all learned last night that these psychopaths didn’t just rely on brute force. Some of them thrived on strategy and patience. Like the guy who killed Chris. He must’ve lurked beyond the trap field for hours last night, hoping a player would fall through as they made their way toward the nearby safe zone, and in the end, his patience had paid off.

The civilian players like me could prepare and strategize all we wanted, but at the end of the day, it seemed like surviving this place came down to one thing: luck.

As we left the safety of the cabin and headed into the woods, my heart pounded louder and louder with every step I took. Every shadow felt like it was hiding a pair of eyes, every rustle in the woods a potential sign of someone waiting to strike.

Nikki took the lead again, her sharp eyes scanning the terrain ahead. "Stay close, and remember the rules," she whispered over her shoulder.

We quietly walked through the woods for the next three hours, heading toward the closest safe zone. It lay directly on our path westward, making it the perfect place to rest for a while before we continued our journey.

Nothing happened to us, thankfully, but we received multiple announcements through our earbuds, letting us know that several other players had been killed; a harrowing reminder that it could’ve been one of us if we were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

My bladder started to ache around mid-morning, so I turned to ask if the others minded stopping for a short toilet break.

“Hey, could we—wait, where’s Ava and Kanako?” I asked in a low voice, heart instantly racing. I could’ve sworn the two women were right behind me a minute ago, but I couldn’t see them now.

The others stopped and peered around, equally confused.

“I thought they were right behind us,” Cheryl said.

“Me too,” Jade added.

Nikki’s eyes widened as she looked over our shoulders, and she lifted a shaky finger to point at the shaded path we’d just come down. Ava and Kanako were sprawled on the ground, motionless, and my stomach dropped when I saw darts sticking out of their necks.

“Shit,” Cheryl hissed. “Run! Now!”

Panic surged through me like a tidal wave, and I bolted. The forest came alive with the sounds of our escape—branches snapping underfoot, heavy breaths, and the ominous rustling of leaves somewhere behind us.

Ahead, Nikki suddenly stopped and waved us toward the dark mouth of a cave. “Look! We can hide there for now!”

“We can’t go into some random cave. What if it’s a trap?” Jade said, brows shooting up.

“We don’t have a choice!” Nikki shot back. “Whoever got Ava and Kanako is probably still close!”

Without further argument, we ducked inside the cave, our footsteps echoing in the cavernous space. The air was damp and cold, and the faint scent of moss filled my nose. My heart was still racing when Nikki motioned for silence and carefully clicked on her flashlight.

It illuminated something unexpected—wooden crates stacked against the walls.

“Holy shit,” Jade said, his voice tinged with disbelief. “This is one of the hidden supply caches they told us about.”

“Thank god,” Cheryl muttered. “I was half-expecting a pit of writhing snakes, judging by how everything else has gone so far.”

We cautiously approached the crates, finding food, water, and medical supplies. There was even a pair of binoculars, which would be useful for scouting our surroundings and spotting potential threats from a distance.

“We shouldn’t stay too long,” Nikki said, unzipping her backpack to load it up. “It’s not a proper safe zone. We should just take what we can and get out.”

We packed what we could and ate a meal of canned garbanzo beans on rice cakes in tense silence, keeping our ears tuned for any sign of movement outside. Then, with full stomachs and every pocket stuffed with food and supplies, we headed back to the mouth of the cave.

“Let’s go,” Nikki said, her voice firm. “Our target safe zone is only thirty minutes away, and it opens not long after that, so it’s almost perfect timing.”

We stepped out of the cave one by one, re-entering the forest with renewed energy but the same suffocating fear. Around ten minutes later, we stumbled upon a clearing, the dense forest suddenly giving way to open ground. There, sprawled on his back, was a hunter.

“Is he dead?” Jade asked in a low voice.

“I’ll check,” Nikki whispered. She pulled out the binoculars and focused on him. “There’s blood all over his head. Looks like someone hit him with a rock. There’s one right next to him, covered in blood.”

“Shit,” Cheryl murmured. “A player must’ve taken him out. Good for them.”

“We should grab his gun, or anything else useful he’s got,” Jade said. “Bulletproof vest, maybe.”

My stomach twisted as I stared at the scene. Something about it felt wrong. “I think we should wait a while before we do anything,” I said. ‘This could be a trap.”

“I agree,” Nikki said. “He could’ve seen or heard us coming and set this up with fake blood, just to trick us.”

Jade frowned. “That’s a pretty elaborate strategy, don’t you think?”

“Yes, but I wouldn’t put anything past these guys,” I whispered.

“She’s right. We should just wait a while and see what happens,” Cheryl said.

We shrank back and crouched down, watching from the tree line as the hunter lay motionless. Minutes passed, and he didn’t so much as twitch.

“Come on, guys,” Jade finally said. “It’s been ten minutes now, and he hasn’t moved. He’s obviously dead.”

“He could be, but what if someone else is using him as bait to lure people out into the open?” Nikki whispered.

“My thoughts exactly,” Cheryl muttered. I nodded in agreement.

Jade scoffed. “We haven’t seen or heard anyone else lurking around, and we have binoculars now, so we can be pretty certain,” he said, rising to his feet. “But if you guys don’t want a bulletproof vest or gun… fine by me. I’m happy to take it all for myself.”

He stepped into the clearing and bent over the hunter, patting him down and shaking him. The body flopped like a ragdoll, completely unresponsive.

“See? I told you so!” he called over to us, grinning as he rifled through the hunter’s pockets. “Oh nice, he’s got a—”

With a sudden, brutal movement, the hunter’s body jerked upright, and in one smooth motion, he retrieved a hidden knife from a pile of leaves at his side and drove it straight into Jade’s back.

The blade sank deep, a sickening squelch following the violent impact. Jade’s eyes went wide in shock as he stumbled forward, gasping.

“Shit!” Cheryl screamed, her voice breaking the stunned silence. “Run!”

She turned and bolted back into the forest. Nikki and I followed, sprinting as fast as our legs could carry us.

As we fled, my heart pounded in my chest, the terror of what we’d just witnessed rushing through me in waves.

How much more of this could I take before I finally broke?