Page 159 of The Most Dangerous Games

Another appears.

Her skin is crawling now, in every possible and terrible way.

Now she is crying. Not just crying but sobbing in a way she never has in front of the others. Not wanting to look weak in front of them.

She sees the huge rattlesnake at her feet, coiling, looking up at her almost indifferently, its tail beginning to vibrate.

She tries to scream again.

But can’t.

No sound comes out of her.

She’s back in the freezing water in Antarctica, unable to breathe. Afraid then that she was going to drown before she got any air back into her.

She hears the hiss of the snake as she feels another sting. Looks down and sees an even bigger spider making its way up her right leg.

She swats at this one as she backs away from the snake, nearly falling down into the snakes and spiders between her and the door.

She tells herself she is hallucinating.

Has to be hallucinating.

Alek had told herself she would never quit.

Promised her mother she wouldn’t quit.

But this is finally too much, even for her.

Finally she is able to speak.

“Stop it!” she screams. “Please—stop!”

Alek turns and reaches for the door handle.

Locked.

More movement at her feet. Her hands shake so hard she can’t control them. She hates that. Hates it more than the fear.

She wasn’t a victim in the desert. She wasn’t a victim in the war. But this—

This is the thing she has never been able to outthink.

And that’s what makes it cruel.

“I give up!” she screams again. “Please—!”

Patrick Arrasmith

110.

Ward Hillshire stands with Jack outside the next door, a guard on either side like this is a prison transfer instead of a “game.”

“Where are the others?” Jack asks.

“All on this floor, in their own chambers,” Hillshire says. “Alone with their demons.”

“Care to tell me what that means?” Jack says.