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Lowering our visors, the nine of us start toward the gates as they open. We walk through together, taking the same ground that five hundred candidates ran across two hours earlier, none of us hurrying.

The forest closes around us, branches ticking overhead and the paths already stripped of voices. Somewhere ahead, five hundred people are trying very hard not to be found.

They will be because they are ours.

Rain has reached the trees ahead of the dark. The others begin to separate at the first fork, each taking the section assigned to him until Ryven disappears one way and Seren another.

Then it’s just me.

Cutting through the trees, I leave the others behind until even their footsteps disappear.

Somewhere ahead of me, a pretty little liar thinks he got away with something.

Where are you, Onyx Mercer?

Whatever you are, you’d better run.

3

JADE

Ascream cuts through the trees, then dies halfway up the hillside.

Footsteps follow, more than one person crashing through the undergrowth. Underneath it all, rolling calmly across the hillside, comes the voice from the intake hall.

The Hunt thanks Candidate Four Hundred and Sixty-Two for participating.

A single tone follows.

I move before I understand why. Leaving the trail, I cut uphill into the thickest part of the woods and drop behind a fallen trunk, my pack trapped beneath me and my heart hammering.

Another shout comes from further away. Then the voice again, thanking someone else by number.

I press my face against the bark and pant through my teeth, trying not to make a sound.

I don’t know how it happens. That’s the worst part of it.

Eliminated. Concluded. Thanked.

Every word they gave us hides the same answer. What happens when they call your number? Do they walk you out, or carry you?

Nobody at intake asked twice. The one man who asked once was smiled at.

Looking back buys me nothing. The intake hall is gone, trees in every direction, and darkness settling between them. I can’t shake the feeling that something is watching.

The first checkpoint is somewhere to the northwest. That’s everything I know. One light ahead, if I can reach it before it fills.

I’m hiding behind a tree because I don’t know who I can trust. Probably no one. Every sound makes me wonder whether to run or stay still.

How am I supposed to survive this hell?

You’ve always been the strong one, JaJa, Onyx said that night after the arguing was finished. My whole life, when I didn’t know how to do a thing, I watched how you did it. So go do this one.

I press my face harder against the bark before I can answer. Around me, the footsteps fade. I stay where I am a little longer before forcing myself back to my feet.

Downslope, close to where the first scream came from, two figures in white move between the trees. A man is on his knees between them.

“Please.” His hands are raised. “Please, I can keep going. I can walk.”