Page 30 of The Most Dangerous Games

What’s the best way for me to pay it back? Not with speeches. With pressure. With honesty. With someone in the field who won’t let the games cheat them. If the game is rigged, or fake, then I’m going to take it back and find The One. Whether it was ever the organizers’ intention or not.

He takes another look out into this mowed-down cornfield.

All of them are watching him, and they’re waiting.

He steps back to the microphone. He keeps his voice steady because if he doesn’t, a hundred different kinds of panic will start running through the field at once.

“It’s probably obvious I didn’t know that was coming,” Jimmy says.

A nervous laugh tries to rise. Dies.

“But I’m not walking away,” Jimmy continues. “Not from you. Not from this.”

He pauses, and his gaze hardens.

“I’m in,” Jimmy Donaldson says. “But, if I’m playing, I’m playing to win. Which means you’ll really have to earn it.”

23.

That Same Night

Still in Ohio

The hundred who made the cut—ninety-nine plus Jimmy—eat dinner in a large dining hall in the middle of the property. There are ten long tables set up. Ten to a table. Guards at the doors, guards along the walls, guards keeping people in, not keeping them safe.

Over loudspeakers, The Host explains that tomorrow they will be transported to the sites of their first “real” tests.

“One destination is Antarctica,” he says once they’re all seated. “The other is on an island off the coast of Chile featuring a place called Snake Mountain. Known there as La Montaña Serpiente.”

Wyatt stands up from where he’s seated between Hannah and Jack, not quite certain where he should be looking as he addresses The Host once again. He looks toward the ceiling because that’s where one of the loudspeakers sits.

“Do we have any say where we’re going?” Wyatt asks. He grins and looks around at the other tables. “Asking for all my new friends.”

From across the table, Ant Tipton doesn’t look up from his steak. “Speak for yourself.”

Wyatt ignores him.

“Some will be allowed to choose,” The Host answers. “Some will be assigned. Think of it as a second lottery. All part of the fun.”

“Define fun,” Jack says, not bothering to look up either.

Elena Torres, sitting close enough to bump Jack’s elbow, playfully pokes him in the arm. “Be nice,” she says.

Jack glances at her. “I’m always being nice. To you.”

Elena’s smile says she hears the difference.

“I’ve noticed,” she says.

Jimmy sits next to Tipton. He has been noticeably quiet since they’ve all arrived in the dining hall. He’d been loud all day. Now suddenly reserved. Alek is also seated at this table. She watches him for a minute before she speaks.

“Jimmy,” she says, “you look like you’re somewhere else.”

“I’m here. I’m just . . . doing math.”

“What kind of math?” Jack asks.

“The kind where the numbers don’t add up,” Jimmy says. “I like getting to know you guys. It’s just that a lot has been thrown at me today, and not just the part about being number one hundred.” Pause. He looks at them, deciding how much he should share. “I was told the tent interviews would take a couple days.” He looks around the room. “They promised a careful selection. This was a cattle call.”