Chapter 13 - Sadie
SADIE
Irun blindly through the corridor, lungs burning. My mind is struggling to process what just happened—what Landon just did to me on that table.
A sob tears from my throat as I skid around a corner, desperate to put distance between us. The sound of metal gates slamming makes me flinch. He’s changing the maze. Trapping me.
I slow, pressing my back against the wall, trying to catch my breath. My legs shake so violently that I slide down to the floor, hugging my knees to my chest.
What was I thinking coming here? I knew exactly what this was.
The truth crashes over me like a wave—I’ve been running from it for twelve years. Since Thomas Mercer pinned me under the bleachers after that football game. Since he covered my mouth and told me I wanted it. Since he broke a fundamental part within that I’ve never been able to fix.
I press my palms against my eyes, trying to block the memories. I’ve spent years in therapy, years building walls around myself, years avoiding intimacy because I couldn’t bear the vulnerability. I thought I’d buried that trauma deep enough that it couldn’t touch me anymore.
But I’m broken and wired wrong. Because part of me—that sick, twisted part I’ve tried to deny—is why I signed those papers. Why I walked into Purgatory knowing what awaited me.
I wanted someone to take the choice away. To make my body respond against my will. To let me experience pleasure without the burden of consent.
And somehow, Landon knows what happened to me.
The realization makes me feel stripped bare, exposed in a way far worse than physical nakedness. Landon has stripped away every defense, discovered my darkest secret.
Footsteps echo in the distance. Calm. Unhurried. Hunting.
I press my hand against my mouth, stifling another sob as the footsteps grow closer. It’s him. I know it’s him.
My body betrays me with a shiver that’s not entirely fear. Heat blooms in my belly, and I hate myself for it. What’s wrong with me? He just restrained me, forced me to—
God, I can still feel his mouth on me. The way he rendered me immobile. The way he made me come against my will.
And the worst part? Part of me liked it.
“No,” I whisper, pressing my fists against my temples. “No, no, no.”
I scramble away, needing to move, to run, to think about anything except how my hips had arched toward his mouth even as my mind screamed for him to stop.
The corridor stretches before me, a maze with no exit. My breath comes in short, panicked gasps. I’m trapped—physically in this labyrinth and mentally in my own twisted desires.
“Sadie.” His voice echoes off the walls, coming from everywhere and nowhere. “I know what you need.”
I shake my head, even though he can’t see me. Or can he? Are there cameras watching me right now? Is he tracking me, studying my reactions like I’m some lab rat?
Another corridor, another dead end. I spin around, pulse hammering in my throat.
“You can’t run from what you want,” Landon calls.
And that’s what terrifies me most—not that he’s hunting me, but that he’s right. What he did to me shouldn’t have felt good. Shouldn’t have made me burn with need even now, even as I’m running for my life.
I stumble around another corner and see a gate open at the end, desperate to find any escape route, when a solid form collides with me. The impact knocks me backward, and I nearly lose my balance.
“Shit!” I gasp.
Sorry, I—Sadie?” Mira’s voice is surprised as she recognizes me, her eyes widening as she takes in my disheveled appearance.
I feel self-conscious of how I must look—hair a mess, clothes torn, the marks on my wrists still visible.
“Mira,” I manage, relief washing over me.
I remember her from the preparation room earlier tonight—the journalist with the sharp eyes.
She’d been the only one who seemed as suspicious of this whole Hunt as I was, though we’d barely spoken beyond introductions.
A familiar face that isn’t hunting me is exactly what I need right now.
“I thought... I wasn’t sure if anyone else was still...”
“Still, what? Still free?” she asks in a hushed tone. “What happened to you?”
I can’t help but let a hollow laugh escape me. “Let’s say I learned some things about myself tonight that I’m not entirely comfortable with.”
I avoid her gaze, subconsciously rubbing at my wrists where the restraints bit into my skin. The marks are visible—red and angry.
“Have you seen Cora?” Mira asks, her tone urgent.
I feel my expression change before I can control it. The memory of what I witnessed earlier surfaces, uncomfortable and vivid. I glance away, then back at her, uncertain how much to reveal.
“Sadie, please. She’s my best friend. I need to know if she’s okay.”
“I...” I start, then stop, my fingers nervously picking at the torn fabric of my dress. How do I explain what I saw? “I saw something, but I don’t know if telling you will help or make things worse for everyone involved.”
“What did you see?” Mira presses.
I look away, unable to meet her eyes as I remember the scene.
“I saw her,” I whisper, my voice barely audible. “About an hour ago, maybe less. She was... There were three men.”
Mira’s face pales. “I saw them on the screens... Is she okay?”
“They had her in one of the larger chambers. The kind with the fancy furniture and...” My voice breaks slightly as the memory resurfaces. “They were all over her. Taking turns.”
“Was she fighting them? Was she hurt?” Mira asks, her voice tight with concern.
“That’s just it.” I finally meet her eyes, trying to convey the complexity of what I witnessed. “I couldn’t tell. She was making noise, but... some of it sounded like she was enjoying it, and other times she seemed maybe overwhelmed.”
Mira’s grip tightens on my arm, urgency in her touch. “Where? Where did you see this?”
“Two levels down, east wing. But Mira, wait—” I catch her wrist as she starts to move. “It gets worse. I heard the men talking beforehand.”
“Talking about what?”
My stomach twists as I recall their conversation. “They mentioned her father, Mayor Pike, and mentioned holding him accountable for the damage he caused to their businesses and reputations. They weren’t random hunters, Mira. They specifically targeted her.”
Mira looks stunned, realization dawning on her face. “They’re using her for revenge.”
“That’s what it sounded like. And the worst part?” I lower my voice further. “I think she’s starting to figure it out, but she’s so deep in whatever headspace they’ve put her in that she can’t seem to process it properly.”
Mira leans against the wall, her expression sick with worry. I can see the guilt forming on her face, as though she’s somehow responsible.
“This whole thing is so fucked up,” I say quietly, the words spilling out. “All of it. The way they hunt us like animals, the way our bodies respond even when our minds are screaming no, the way they make us complicit in our own...” I trail off, unable to finish the thought.
“I have to find her,” Mira says, pushing away from the wall.
“Mira, no. You can’t save her. Not from this.” The certainty in my voice comes from my own recent experience.
“I know,” she whispers.
We’re all trapped by our own choices, by the contracts we signed, by the doors we willingly walked through.
“We all signed up for this,” Mira says, seemingly more to herself than to me. “Each of us walked through those doors knowing what could happen.”
I nod, the irony not lost on me. “But knowing and understanding are two different things. I thought I was smart enough to handle whatever they threw at us. I thought I could outthink them, use my tech skills to find advantages.”
I gesture to my torn dress and the marks on my arms. “Turns out being hunted isn’t something you can hack your way out of.”
“They don’t just want our bodies,” Mira says. “They want our minds too and to make us complicit.”
“Exactly.” My voice turns bitter as I think of how Landon knew about my past trauma, used it against me. “And the really sick part? Some of us will leave here thinking we wanted it all along. That’s how good they are at this.”
Mira’s expression grows distant. “Even if I could reach her, what would I do? Tell her she doesn’t really want what’s happening? That the way she feels is manufactured, or worse, that they are simply the body’s physiological response to stimuli even when unwanted?”
“Would you believe that if someone told you?” I ask softly.
Her expression shifts. “No,” she admits. “I wouldn’t.”
Our moment of understanding is shattered by a voice that sends ice through my veins.
“Sadie...”
It floats down the corridor, and my body goes rigid with fear.
“Sadie, where are you hiding, beautiful?”
“Fuck,” I breathe, panic rising as I recognize Landon’s voice. “He found me.”
The voice continues, closer now, with a sing-song quality that makes my skin crawl. “I know you’re here somewhere. Come out, come out...”
“Who is that?” Mira whispers, but I’m already backing away from the direction of the voice.
“Landon,” I say through gritted teeth. “I thought I’d lost him when I—” I cut myself off, not wanting to relive my desperate escape. “It doesn’t matter. He’s been hunting me all night.”
“Sadie...” His voice gets closer, and its calmness is more terrifying than anger would be.
“I can smell your perfume. That vanilla scent you’re so fond of.”
My hands shake as I press myself against the wall. “He’s been watching me for weeks. Learning my habits, my preferences. This whole thing—it’s not random for any of us. They planned this. Meticulously.”
“We need to move,” Mira whispers, grabbing my arm.
But I shake my head, my breathing becoming rapid. “He’s too close. And he knows these passages better than we do. I’ve been running from him for what feels like forever, and he keeps herding me where he wants me to go.”
“Sadie, you’re making this so much harder than it needs to be.” His voice is right around the corner now.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I mutter under my breath.
“Run,” Mira hisses at me, pressing herself against the wall beside me. “I’ll stall him.”
“What? Mira, no—” The thought of leaving her to face Landon fills me with dread.
“He can’t touch me,” she interrupts. “I’m already taken.”
My eyes widen as understanding dawns. If she’s been claimed, Landon would be breaking the Hunt’s rules if he touched her.
“You’re sure?” I need to be certain before I leave her.
“Positive. Go!”
The footsteps are so close now that I can hear the deliberate rhythm of his breathing.
“Thank you,” I breathe, squeezing her hand briefly before turning and fleeing down the opposite corridor, trying to make my bare feet as silent as possible on the stone floor.
As I slip away into the darkness, the fear of what Landon will do when he catches me again battles with a disturbing realization—part of me is curious to find out.