Page 53 of Beautiful Prey

Candidates don’t see our faces.

What happens when he wakes?

What happens when he remembers I saw his?

What if they aren’t only looking for him?

I run.

The forest comes at me through strips of white and gold. Sand under my boots. Lights behind me. Once I hear an engine overhead and throw myself beneath the roots until it passes.

By the time I see the checkpoint, my lungs are burning.

Eleven green lights glow beside the gate.

Eleven.

There’s one place left!

Relief nearly drops me to my knees, but then I hear someone moan nearby.

Following the sound around the side of one of the checkpoint shelters, I stop when I see Maren with both hands against the metal wall and an Adjudicator behind her.

There is no mistaking what he’s doing. His uniform is unbuttoned, her clothes shoved down enough for him to fuck her, one black-gloved hand locked around her hip while the other braces beside her head.

She sees me, he doesn’t. For one second neither of us looks away, then I do and go straight to the gate.

The Adjudicator appears a minute later, fastening his uniform as he walks. Maren follows behind him, pulling her clothes back into place.

“Checkpoint’s full.”

“But the light says eleven?”

His visor turns towards me. “And I say we’re full.”

“But—”

Then Maren stops behind him, and with the twelfth scanner still dark, I understand.

“No.” The word barely comes out.

This can’t be happening. I made it. I’m here.

The Adjudicator touches the screen at his wrist. “Candidate Mercer.”

“N-no. Wait. Please, I... I made it. There’s still a place.”

“Your Hunt is concluded.”

Everything inside me drops. “No. I made it. I’m here.”

Two guards move towards me, closing the distance while I stumble back from the gate.

“I survived the storm.”

But nobody stops.

“I’m still in the Hunt.”