Chapter 30: Chapter 30

Pain flared as I stumbled and almost fell onto the ground. Luckily, I caught myself, but my heart was in my throat when I glanced back at the starting line to see Saige lowering her gun.

Her actions had halted all the women.

“Holy fuck! Are you okay?” Gabriella quickly patted my back, looking for the bullet wound. I winced as she touched the spot where the projectile had hit me.

“There’s no wound. Is the bullet…” She trailed off, her eyes wide with fear.

“They’re BB guns,” I said through gritted teeth. “They won’t kill, but they sure hurt like hell.”

Though this made this game much easier, it still didn’t change the fact that Saige really tried to kill me.

Saige sighed as if disappointed, then dropped her gun and ran into the forest. Genevieve and their entourage followed close behind her.

“Four minutes!” Simon shouted.

The other women sprang into action, and they quickly disappeared into the forest.

“So, the guns are useless,” Rena said. “Are you okay?”

I took a deep breath and pushed the pain to the back of my mind. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”

The three of us quickly dashed into the forest, adrenaline pushing us forward. We’d gotten off to a rough start, and most of the other women were already ahead of us.

We started at a quick pace, like the three of us knew we needed to get ahead.

We quickly met up with the first group of stragglers. They didn’t seem to be good at running and were lagging behind.

One of them swung her arm out as I passed her, determined to maim me with her knife. I quickly weaved around a tree, causing her to stumble and fall.

My heart thudded against my rib cage as my legs pushed me forward, my adrenaline making my forehead pulse.

Now I understood why some women had died during these games. Desperation would drive someone to do many things, including murder.

Some of these women didn’t have lives to return to if they failed, so they clung to the hope that they would make it through and join the family and the protection it would provide.

A few gunshots echoed through the trees, startling the birds. Women screamed.

I tuned those out and focused on my immediate surroundings. I steered clear of the women I passed, narrowly avoiding branches in my way.

My back throbbed, but I barely noticed it through my heavy, labored breathing.

As part of my training, Sam had given me a map of the Roscotto properties, which included a heavily wooded area. According to the map, the forest was close to eight hundred acres. It was a great place to hide a body, but a bitch to run through.

It would take us hours to cross it, so it was obvious that we’d eventually have to stop to catch our breath.

A BB pellet whizzed past my head, startling me. I glanced back to see a woman pointing her gun at me. Now that we knew they couldn’t kill, the women had no qualms about shooting them and rapidly fired to slow others down.

I slipped through high grass, ignoring the nips and cuts left on my face and exposed arms. Using the forest as our coverage, Gabriella, Rena, and I avoided as many people as we could while trying our best to stay within sight of each other.

The forest was dense, with narrow paths and uneven ground that slowed our progress. Our breaths mingled in the air as our heavy footfalls skidded on the dirt beneath our feet.

I bypassed two women throwing punches as they rolled around on the ground. They didn’t seem to care about making it to the finish line, clearly showing that their animosity for each other ran deep.

“Teresa. Eliminated.” A robotic voice filtered out of the badge on my shoulder, startling me into stumbling over a loose branch on the ground.

Eliminated?

Was it the masked men?

My exhaustion burned through my chest, and I could feel my legs getting heavier.

How long had it been since we started running? I had no idea.

“Ti-time out!” Gabriella called out, her voice thick with exhaustion. “Let’s take a break.”

I shook my head firmly, not turning around to look at her. “Don’t stop. Not yet. Jog for now. We need to pass as many women as possible.”

She groaned but didn’t say anything more as we slowed to a light jog.

My body ached for rest, but I had to keep going. Based on how many women we’d passed along the way, I assumed we were close to being in the top twenty, but that could easily change.

“Kelly. Eliminated,” the badge broadcast.

“Ah!” Gabriella screamed as a pellet slammed into her shoulder. She fell, and the woman who had shot her ran at us with her rifle, firing rapidly.

I gritted my teeth as a pellet slammed into my leg. I ran toward her, just as Stefano taught me. She stopped to aim properly at my head, but when she pulled the trigger, it didn’t fire. She’d run out of pellets. Another disadvantage of the gun.

I didn’t hesitate. Once I was within distance, I swung my baton at her stomach. She doubled over, and I used that split second to swing the baton at her head, knocking her out.

Rena stopped to help Gabby up, and Gabby clutched her shoulder as they walked over.

“Fuck, that really hurt.” She gritted her teeth and glared at the woman. “Couldn’t they just run like normal people? Give me that.”

She ripped the gun from Rena’s hand and fired twice at the woman’s back. The woman groaned but didn’t wake up.

“Let’s go,” I said, breathless. I was thirsty, and my legs felt like they were turning into jelly, but I had to keep moving. For my aunt. My sister. Stefano. For this new life that I had gained.

The thumps of my heart were all I could feel as I looked out at the forest, and within me, there was a faint glimpse of exhilaration. This was…fun.

“Daniella. Eliminated.”

The monotone voice dragged me out of my thoughts. That was our sign to move.

The air was moist. The trees loomed over our frames as we dashed through them, the sun peeking through the leaves to cast a shadow on our bodies.

After half an hour of more running, we stumbled upon a small stream and came to a stop. After cautiously scanning the area, we realized that we were alone. We took turns drinking water while the others stood guard.

“We’ll take a ten-minute break,” I said as I splashed my face with the cold water. My hair tickled the back of my neck, already coming loose from the low bun I’d tied it in that morning.

“Someone’s been through here before,” Rena said, bending down to point at the sunken footprints in the dirt. “We’ll meet others soon if we stay too long.”

I nodded, in full agreement with her.

Gabriella plopped down on the ground and blew out a breath. “Ten minutes. Damn it, my shoulder’s swollen.”

“You should have shot her a third time, for good measure.” Rena chuckled, her quiet and reserved image fading away to jokes.

“Agent Black. Eliminated.”

The others and I shared a glance of surprise.

~The hunters can be eliminated as well? Are they also participants in the game? How was she eliminated? Did someone disarm her?~

Questions littered my mind, yet I knew I wouldn’t get the answers until after I completed the game.

The shrubs ahead of us rustled, and the sound of footsteps came closer.

“Hide!” I quickly barked the order.

Gabby, Rena, and I split up to hide from the newcomers. I threw myself into some shrubs and bent down to cover myself. Gabriella hid behind a tree while Rena flattened herself against the ground behind some high grass.

A minute later, a few women walked into the clearing. I sucked in a sharp breath when I recognized them. It was Genevieve, Saige, and three other women.

Genevieve and the three women clung to their knives cautiously, while Saige held a pistol in her hand. They’d started the game with BB guns, but that didn’t mean anything. They could have stolen the knives from other women.

My heart pounded as I watched them. They were carefully inspecting the area, as if searching for something. It set off alarm bells in my mind.

The pistol in Saige’s hand was different from the guns that were on the table. ~Where did she get it from?~

“She should be in this area somewhere. Hurry and find her before she moves again. I will handle her,” Saige told the other women.

My heart sank as realization dawned on me.

They were looking for me.

But how? How did they know I was here? Were they getting outside help?

I looked at the badge on my shirt and made a split-second decision. As quietly as possible, I tore the badge from my shirt and dropped it next to me.

This situation was getting dangerous.

My stomach was in knots as my mind raced with ideas on how to get out of this situation. I clutched the baton like it was my lifeline. If I could hit Saige once atop her head, she’d be knocked out.

“Jane. Eliminated.” All of our badges spoke at the same time, and I stiffened in place.

Saige pointed her gun in my direction and fired, missing me by an arm’s length. My hair stood on end, and my breath hitched.

That…felt like a real bullet.

Thump.

Thump.

Thump.

Time seemed to slow down as Saige cautiously approached my hiding spot, her gun aimed with her finger on the trigger.

“She’s not the only one here. I heard someone over here,” Genevieve said, her knife raised as she approached Gabby’s location.

Dirt crunched beneath their feet as they locked onto us. My fingers twitched, and my chest rapidly rose and fell with my anxiety.

There was no way out of this.

We had to fight.

I took a deep breath and braced myself as Saige came within reach. Through the thick foliage, I spied her lifting a hand to part the grass. The fact that she didn’t fire recklessly meant that she had a limited number of bullets, which I could use to my advantage.

The second she shoved the bush aside, I sprang up and knocked myself into her.

A gunshot instantly echoed through the forest.