The Hunt

31. Everly

31

Everly

The world tilted on its axis, a dizzying lurch that sent my stomach plummeting. “ What? ”

“I was the only survivor after the last Hunt. That’s why I’m still alive,” Nikki said. “As for the rest… it’s a long story.”

Heat prickled beneath my skin, sweat beading at the nape of my neck. I waved the knife again. “I’ve got time to hear it,” I said. “But if you try to scream or do anything else stupid, believe me—I won’t hesitate to use this on you.”

“Got it. Can I at least sit down?” she asked, eyeing the end of the bed.

“Nope,” I spat out. “And keep your hands in the air.”

“Okay.” She let out a heavy sigh. “I guess I can’t blame you for being paranoid.”

“Start. Talking. Now .”

“Well, first off, my name really is Nikki. I didn’t lie about that,” she said. “I was approached by a recruiter about eighteen months ago. I had a ton of debt. Not student debt, or anything like that. Honestly, I just made a bunch of stupid decisions in life, and I sort of have a thing for gambling.”

“Hold on.” My eyes narrowed. “You’re not a student at Hollingsworth?”

“No. Not a student anywhere, for that matter. And I didn’t grow up anywhere near Havenport, either,” she replied. “I’m actually from Pennsylvania.”

“So the only thing you didn’t lie about was your name,” I muttered.

“That’s not entirely true.” Nikki slowly shook her head. “Anyway, like I said, I was in a massive pit of debt. The recruiter told me about the game, and I figured—why the hell not? $5 million for some stupid survival game sounded great. I signed up, took three weeks off work, didn’t tell anyone where I was going, and hopped on a bus heading northeast. Next thing I know, I’m washed up on the beach of some island.”

“So they do the same thing every year, with the fake shipwreck.”

“Yup. Back then, I was exactly like the rest of you. I had no idea what the hell was going on. Then the hunters started shooting at us, and I realized I’d been tricked.” Nikki swallowed hard, blinking rapidly, like she was trying to keep a flood of tears at bay. “It was the worst thing that ever happened to me. But I survived. I lasted nine days out there, running and hiding.”

“And then?”

“Someone spoke to me through my earbud. Told me I was the last one standing. I didn’t believe it. I thought it was some sort of trick. A mind game. So I kept running, trying to find somewhere else to hide. But they got me, and… it turned out they weren’t lying. I was actually the last one standing. All of the others were dead.”

Her voice cracked on her last sentence, and she lowered one hand to wipe her cheek. I allowed it, watching her through narrowed eyes, and she quickly raised it back up again.

“If you won, why the hell did you come back?” I asked in a low voice. “Why didn’t you take the money, go home, and buy a mansion or something?”

“Don’t you get it yet, Everly?” she said, shaking her head. “It’s all lies and bullshit, from the top down! There’s no prize money for the players.”

My eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“Of course I am! Do you really think the society would just cut a check and let someone walk away after all the shit they saw here?”

“I guess not,” I muttered, feeling stupid.

“The real prize is them allowing you the chance to live. That’s it.” Nikki’s lips thinned, and she shook her head again. “After they take you off the hunting grounds, they give you two choices.”

“What are they?”

“Bullet to the head for a quick, merciful death, or a job offer.”

“So not really ‘choices’ then. Just one choice.”

“Yup.” Her shoulders sagged as she let out another heavy sigh. “I took the job, obviously.”

Curiosity sparked in my mind, followed by a sudden realization. “You’re one of their recruiters, aren’t you?”

“I have a few tasks in my job description, but yes, recruitment is the main one.”

“So all previous winners become recruiters?”

Nikki nodded. “The Hunt used to end with every single player dead. But the Patriarchs eventually realized that they needed a bunch of workers who knew the full, horrible truth about the game. Workers who could help with all the recruitment and tech work, while also being trusted to keep their mouths firmly shut about it,” she said. “And who’s gonna be more knowledgeable about the game, or more silent, than a terrified ex-player who literally owes their life to the society? They know we aren’t going to talk to the media or go to the FBI. We aren’t going to talk to anyone , really. Because we’ve seen what they can do. How easily they can get to people. So we make perfect slaves for them.”

“Right,” I said. “How does it all work?”

“Different recruiters do different things. My part is approaching people who are in debt and convincing them to sign up for the game.”

“How do you find them?”

“I don’t. The Patriarchs own multiple banks and finance centers across the country. The employees are told to keep an eye out for people who fit a certain profile, and they get flagged in the system. Then I travel to whichever office flagged someone, and I set up an interview with that person so I can tell them about the game and offer them the opportunity to play.”

“Wait.” I lifted my free hand. “How is it that no one in this year’s Hunt recognized you as the recruiter who brought them here? Except for me.”

“Easy. When I go to recruitment meetings with a flagged individual who has the potential to become a player, I wear an auburn wig, glasses, and a bit of contour and red lipstick. You’d be amazed at how different you can look with such simple changes.”

“Right.” I nodded slowly, brows dipping in a frown. “So you recruited me from the Havenport finance center, but you don’t actually work there on a regular basis?”

“I didn’t recruit you. Not exactly, anyway. You were a special case,” Nikki said. “Not so special for you , obviously. Rather for those who wanted you here.”

I waved the knife. “Explain.”

“So, like I said, my job entails multiple things. Not just recruitment. Basically, each previous winner is assigned to one of the Patriarchs, who becomes their direct boss,” she said. “I was assigned to Peter Jennings, so I’m basically his gopher. I have to do whatever he wants. And that means I also get stuck doing whatever his piece of shit son wants.”

“Jake.”

“Yeah, Jake. Although I know him as JJ.” A murderous look had appeared in her eyes. “I hate that bastard. When I first met you, I had to pretend I didn’t know him, and holy fuck… that was hard. You told me he was a terrible person and to stay away from him, and I just wanted to shake you and say ‘ Yes girl, you’re right, get the hell away from him! Move to a different country before he gets you! ’. But of course, I couldn’t.”

“Why not?” I asked, narrowing my eyes.

Nikki drew in a deep, shaky breath. “You don’t understand what it’s like to work for these assholes,” she said. “Sure, I’m free, in the sense that I can live out in the real world, but I’m not really free. They have private investigators checking up on me all the time. Monitoring everything I say and do. Sometimes I’ll think I’m alone in my apartment, but then I’ll get messages saying stuff like: ‘nice pink sweater’ or ‘ponytails really suit you, you should wear your hair like that more often’. They do that to really hammer it into my mind that I can’t step a single toe out of line, because if I do, they’ll find out.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” I said. I waved the knife again. “So what happened with my case?”

“JJ wanted you gone, and he wanted you to suffer too, because he’s a fucking asshole. He figured the Hunt was a good way to make that happen, but he knew you’d never sign up for the game on your own, even with all the prize money on offer. So he and his asshole father hatched a scheme together.”

“But his dad is the Head Patriarch,” I said. “Why did he need to scheme anything? Why not just kidnap me and put me in the Hunt?”

Nikki shook her head. “It doesn’t really work like that. The Patriarchs want people to be tricked into applying as willing participants. For their own sick amusement, I guess. But anyway, they all have to agree and sign off on the applicants together,” she said. “Peter was pretty sure the others would never agree to let him put his son’s ex-girlfriend in the Hunt without her knowledge, even with his position as the big boss. Ergo, he and JJ needed to fake your application. That’s where I came in.”

I cast my mind back to the day I met Nikki. “Was that charity thing even real?” I asked. “The one you approached me about.”

“No. Totally fake. I went to Hollingsworth that day with the sole purpose of finding you,” she replied. “JJ knew you were struggling financially, so he knew you’d say no to my request for a regular donation. It gave me the perfect segue into offering you the business card for the finance center.”

“But how did you know I’d actually go there?”

“Well, I was supposed to break into your dorm and smash all your stuff, including your laptop. But just before I was about to do it, someone else came along and did it for me,” she said, brows rising. “Crazy shit. But one less job for me, I guess. Anyway, after that, we figured you’d probably come into the center for a small loan to replace your broken stuff.”

“You guys really plotted everything perfectly,” I muttered.

Nikki nodded. “You handed over everything we needed without question. When you put your digital signature on that tablet—the fingerprint ID thing—we were able to keep it on the system to use on the Hunt application and NDA forms. Plus, we had your physical signature on one of the papers you signed, which was secretly a Hunt NDA. I covered most of the page with the loan paperwork so you wouldn’t notice. And that signature you gave me perfectly matched the signature on your driver’s license, which I scanned into the system after you handed it over.”

“So my application looked real to anyone who reviewed it.”

“Yup. Even if one of the other Patriarchs happened to get suspicious, they could’ve checked somehow and confirmed that your right index fingerprint matched the one on the application. But none of them were suspicious. They all thought you were a real applicant.”

“So then JJ and his father arranged to have me drugged, kidnapped, and put on the yacht?”

Nikki nodded again. “I was supposed to go below deck and wake you up if you weren’t at the party by nine-thirty. But you woke up on your own, thankfully. And… the rest is history.”

“Why were you there?” I asked, forehead wrinkling.

“In the Hunt, you mean? With you and the others?”

“Yes. Were you a mole, or what?”

“Not exactly, but I guess ‘mole’ is the simplest term for it, so we’ll go with it,” she said. “Every year, the previous year’s winner is put in the Hunt as a pretend player. Basically, their job is to make sure all the shipwreck survivors find each other, along with the starting cache. That way the game can start properly.”

I frowned, thinking back to those fraught moments on the beach. Nikki was right—it was all her. She’d directed the first group of survivors to the second, and she was also the one who’d pointed out the black ribbon around the tree which marked the spot where the cache was buried.

She’d played the part perfectly, pretending to be unsure and reluctant so the rest of us would never suspect she was secretly a society plant.

“So the winners have to go through the Hunt a second time?” I said. “That seems really fucked up.”

Nikki shook her head. “We don’t have to go through it all. The hunters are given the mole’s number—seventeen, in my case —and told to avoid targeting them. The online punters know there’s a mole in the game too, so they just ignore that number when they make their bets,” she said. “Anyway, it’s still pretty dangerous out there, because of the traps, so once the game starts, the mole is supposed to run back to one of the tunnels and leave the hunting grounds.”

“But you didn’t do that. You stayed for two days,” I said in a hollow voice. “Why?”

She threw her hands up. “Because I felt fucking bad , okay?” she said. Her eyes were shimmering with tears again. “Especially for you. You weren’t a real player. The others at least had a chance to look up survival techniques beforehand, when they thought they were going into a fun wilderness game. But you were just clueless.”

“Oh, so you wanted to help ?” I said, voice dripping with scorn. “How sweet.”

“I know you’ll never believe that in a million years, but yes, I really wanted to give you a fighting chance,” she said. “The others, too. I kept thinking… if I just stayed out there long enough, maybe they could somehow all survive. I knew it was stupid and delusional, but I still couldn’t make myself leave.”

“Didn’t you get in trouble with the society?”

“Yeah, they kept contacting me, demanding I come back in and stop affecting the integrity of the game, or whatever,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Finally, on the second day, they contacted me and told me they were sending two hunters to drag me back in. And that was that. I was done.”

“Wait…” I slowly shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Which part?”

“I remember those hunters taking you, clear as day,” I said. “You were screaming and crying like you were really worried about dying, and one of the hunters even made a comment about you being his next kill. Why go through all those theatrics when all three of you knew it was bullshit?”

Nikki’s throat bobbed as she gulped. “You won’t believe it if I tell you.”

I took one step closer, jabbing the knife in the air. “Tell me,” I hissed.

“When they contacted me, I asked them to tell me which hunters were coming to collect me, and then I contacted them while you and Cheryl went off to piss in the woods. I told them I wasn’t alone, so they needed to play along with whatever act I put on while they took me.”

“Why?”

“Because, believe it or not, I really liked you, Everly. Cheryl, too. I didn’t want either of you to know the truth about me. That I was a nasty bitch who lied to you the entire time,” she said, voice on the verge of cracking again. “So I decided to put on a big dramatic act with the hunters when they took me away. That way you’d both think I died like everyone else—as an innocent player. As your friend.”

“Hold on.” My mind flashed back to something she said a moment ago. “You told the hunters that Cheryl and I were with you?”

“Yes, I had to. You guys were there, so I had to warn them about that,” she said. “Your lives were never meant to be at risk, because they were given our exact GPS coordinates in order to come and get me, so it would be considered cheating for them to kill you. Hunters are taught to play by the rules. So they were supposed to put on a big show of taking me and only me , while you and Cheryl hid somewhere.”

“But they killed Cheryl,” I said in a low voice. “You know that.”

Nikki winced. “They weren’t supposed to, as long as she was just hiding somewhere. But the second she stepped into that trap, she became fair game,” she said. “After all, it was their trap. And then…”

She trailed off, too choked up to continue. I rolled my eyes and snapped my fingers. “And then what ?”

Nikki drew in a deep, shaky breath. “The act I put on in the end wasn’t really an act. Those emotions were real. I honestly thought I could save Cheryl, and I really wanted to. She was a good person. Not like me.” She paused, face crumpling. “I really, really wanted them to let her go. But they—”

“They shot her in the fucking head.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Nikki sagged on the end of the bed, scrunching her legs up to her chest as she began to cry. “I tried. I really tried.”

Even though I hadn’t given her permission to move to the bed, I decided to let it go. She seemed genuinely upset, and I still had the massive hunting knife on me, so I was quite certain she posed no threat to me.

When she finally pulled herself together, she looked up at me through red, teary eyes. “How the hell did you get out of the hunting grounds?” she asked. “I’m not asking as an enemy. I’m asking as a friend. I’m genuinely happy to see you here.”

I stiffened. “I’m not telling you anything.”

“Why?”

“Because I had help,” I snapped. “And I’m not risking that person’s life.”

Nikki sniffed, eyeing the knife in my hand. “Everly… you’re obviously going to kill me, right here in this room,” she said. “I can’t get past you. Not when you’re holding that thing. So I can’t exactly run out of here and tell anyone else what you’re up to, can I?”

“So what?”

“So you might as well satisfy my curiosity before you cut my throat,” she said. “And for what it’s worth, I would never tell anyone you’re in here, even if I had the chance to escape.”

“Sure,” I scoffed.

She lifted her palms in the air again. “Please just tell me.”

I sighed. She had a point. I wasn’t going to let her out of this room, and if she tried, I wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her. On top of that, Rhett would be back soon, and he definitely wouldn’t let her get away.

“Fine,” I muttered. “One of the hunters helped me. Rhett.”

“Rhett Sinclair?” Nikki’s eyes widened. “As in the guy who’s currently at the top of the leaderboard?”

“Yup.”

“Holy shit,” she said breathlessly. “How the hell did you pull that off? That guy is unhinged!”

“He didn’t know the truth about the Hunt until yesterday, and he was furious when he found out,” I said. “Turns out most of the hunters don’t know the truth. You actually know more than them.”

“Oh. Right. I forgot about that,” she said, tilting her head. “They think you’re all escaped prisoners, or something like that.”

“Yeah. Something like that,” I said bitterly. “But Jake told us the truth about everything. Or JJ , I guess I should say.” I paused for a couple of beats to slowly turn the knife in my hand, letting the blade catch the light. “After he told us… I killed him.”

Nikki’s eyes bulged. “You killed JJ?”

“Well, sort of. Rhett had to help me,” I said. “Movies always make it look like it’s really easy to stab someone, but I had some trouble with it.”

Nikki kept staring at me in shock. Then she blinked a couple of times, slowly shaking her head, before erupting into peals of laughter. “Oh my god! That’s the best thing I’ve ever heard!” she choked out between giggles. “He’s dead. He’s actually fucking dead!”

“Yup.”

Her laughter dried up quickly, but the smile on her face lingered. “You want to know why I hate him so much? Or hated , I should say.”

“Because he was an asshole, I presume.”

She waved a casual hand. “Well, yeah. But there was one thing that really solidified my hatred toward him. Even before I heard about his plan for you.”

“What are you talking about?” I asked, frowning.

“I know you probably won’t believe me about this. You’ll think I’m making up a sob story to make you feel sorry for me,” she said. “But one day, I was at the Jennings house, because I had to do some work for Peter. At some point, JJ offered me a drink. I can’t remember a single thing after that. I just woke up in my apartment the next day. But I know something happened to me at that house, and I know it was because of him.”

I swallowed hard. “I believe you.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” I nodded slowly. “He wanted to get rid of me because I found out he was doing stuff like that. I thought he only did it to one woman, because that’s what he told me, but I guess I should’ve known he was lying.”

“Shit.” Nikki exhaled deeply. “He told me you were just a crazy, annoying ex who wouldn’t stop hassling him for money. But hey, like you just said… I should’ve known he was lying.”

“I’m really sorry that happened to you, Nikki,” I said softly.

She shrugged, like it was nothing. “I guess it’s all part of the job description,” she said. “Like I said before, I’m basically a slave. If a Wilder wants me to do something… well, they don’t really need to ask. It’s not like I can ever say no. Like with Jordan and Matt yesterday.”

“What do you mean?”

She slowly lifted her shirt to reveal several bite marks and bruises on her chest. “After the big show I put on when they took me, they got some ideas,” she murmured. “They came to my room last night and told me I had a promise to keep.”

My heart lurched. “You mean all the stuff they made you say before they killed Cheryl?”

“Yeah. A deal’s a deal, as they said,” Nikki said bitterly, putting the phrase in air quotes. “So apparently I owed them.”

“They made you—”

“They didn’t make me do it,” she cut in. “But it’s always hanging over my head, you know? The implication. That if I refuse to do something a Wilder asks of me, I’m neglecting my duties, and therefore my job—and life—are in jeopardy. So I felt like I had to do it.”

“Those fucking assholes,” I muttered, stomach churning. “They did make you do it, Nikki, because they know you’re subservient to them in the society. They knew you’d be too afraid to say no. So it wasn’t really your choice at all.”

She let out another heavy sigh. “Yeah, well… that’s my life now.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay. I flooded my bathroom on purpose so that Peter would arrange a new room for me away from the staff quarters. I figured that way it wouldn’t be so easy for Jordan and Matt to find me again.” She gestured around the bedroom. “This was supposed to be it, so... I guess it’s actually not okay, seeing as I’m sitting here now, waiting for you to decide how and when you want to kill me.”

I didn’t know what to say to that, so I remained silent. Nikki stared glumly at the floor for a moment. Then she looked up at me again.

“Look, Everly... before you stab me in the neck, I want you to know something. It wasn't all lies out there,” she said, slightly shaking her head. “The story I told you about growing up in the boonies was true. All the survival stuff I taught you and the others was real. I never sabotaged you. Never .”

“I know,” I said softly. “I survived after you were gone using the advice you and Cheryl taught me. I taught your advice to others too. But they...”

I trailed off, biting my lip as emotion welled inside me all over again.

“I know what happened to them,” Nikki replied. “I heard all about it. Everyone thought you were dead too, but when all that smoke cleared… you were gone. And not in a dead way. Just gone . No one's seen you since.”

“Yeah. I got away,” I muttered.

“Man, Xavier Nilsson was pissed . Killing four players at once would've shot him to the top of the leaderboard,” she said, brows rising. “How did you get away from him, anyway?”

“That was when Rhett rescued me,” I said. “He carried me out of the smoke, and we traveled through blind spots and dead zones so no one would see us. After that, we went into one of the tunnels, and then we came here because this wing is usually empty. We thought it would be safe.”

“And at some point during all of that, you killed JJ.”

“Yes. His body is still out there,” I said, glancing toward the window. “That’s where Rhett is now. Covering it up.”

Nikki’s forehead creased. “JJ’s dad has already noticed he’s not answering radio calls. Or any sort of calls, for that matter,” she said. “He just asked me when I last heard from him.”

“Yeah, I know. I heard,” I muttered. “How long do you think we have before he gets really suspicious and sends out a search party?”

“No idea,” she said with a shrug. She chewed her bottom lip for a few seconds. Then she tilted her head, looking back up at me. “What’s your big escape plan, anyway? Are you going to try and swim away?”

“No.”

“Well, I’m sure Rhett already told you this, but travel from the island is banned while the Hunt is on,” she said. “So I guess you’re basically as screwed as I am right now, because you can’t hide in here forever.”

I clenched my jaw. “We’re still working on a plan,” I muttered.

Nikki opened her mouth to reply, but before she could say anything, a sharp, deliberate rap echoed against the door.