It’s working exactly how I wanted it to.
He’s so angry at her. She’s showing the fragile, broken side I’ve been counting on her showing.
But he’ll protect her. It’s in his nature to at least try. And that’s how I’ll break him down.
It’s how I’ll make my game satisfying.
I laugh hysterically. My game. Finally coming to life.
I never thought I’d see the day. I’ve worked so long and so hard. And these two are the perfect couple, like they were thrust into my hands, like the earth planted them in the right place at the right time just for me.
They say everything happens for a reason, right? Too bad reason is a person, just like me. Imagine that—the world isn’t as pretty as people think!
Otherwise these two wouldn’t be here, looking like scared, lost little puppies.
Oh yes, my game is going to be incredible.
And the best part is, I can change the rules whenever I want.
Oh, they’re in for a treat.
SIX
We walk for what seems like miles and miles, yet we don’t seem to be going anywhere. I swear I keep seeing the same trees over and over. I’ve sobbed myself dry. Fear is now sitting in my chest, refusing to leave, crossing its happy little legs and singing an annoying song that’ll taunt me for every single second we’re here.
It still doesn’t feel real.
They say when something so absurd, so unrealistic happens, it’s human nature to wonder if it’s real. It’s in our nature to question it, to come up with a thousand different scenarios as to why it happens, because the cold hard reality just can’t be real. I feel like that right now. Even as the hours pass and nobody comes out and tells us it’s just a joke, even as we walk and walk, tired and sore, even as the day rolls on and night prepares to fall. It just doesn’t seem real.
Like there must be some other logical explanation.
I read, a lot. I’ve read about serial killers, I’ve read good thrillers and romantic suspense, but that’s all it is … fiction. It’s created to entertain an active mind. It’s no more than a creative author putting words onto paper. Those things don’t actually happen. I know the world is a vile and hideous place at times, but this … no.
*
“You need to keep up, Lara,” Noah barks, jerking me from my thoughts.
“I’m doing the best I can,” I say, my voice tired. “We’ve been walking most of the day.”
He spins around to face me, arms crossing over his big chest. “Would you rather we sit and wait to be killed?”
My bottom lip trembles. “Don’t, Noah. I’m scared, too.”
“There is only one way out of this mess, and it’s to find a way ourselves. This man is clever, but no plan is without flaws.”
“Well, wherever we are, we can safely say no one is around.”
“Wrong,” Noah says, shoving a thick branch out of the way and letting me past. “This man has to be close enough to be able to hunt, to carry out whatever sick game he’s come up with, which means there has to be a way in and out.”
I scoff. “Isn’t that what we’ve been looking for this whole time? A way out?”
He glares at me.
I look down at my feet, now void of shoes because nobody can walk through a forest in heels.
He leans in close. “Listen, Lara, I might not read a thousand fucking books but I’m not stupid, either.”
“I never said you were,” I say softly.
He steps back, spinning around and stalking forward again. “I’m going to figure this out, but considering we’ve already wasted a day, time is of the essence.”
“If we walk until we’re exhausted, we’ll never be able to come up against whatever plans this man has for us,” I offer carefully.
He stops, rubbing the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. “I know that, but he isn’t stupid. I’ve seen a few coconut trees around, and a stream, which means he’s made sure we can find food and water. He doesn’t want us weak—that wouldn’t be any good for his game. The man is smart, he knows eventually we’ll stop and eat, rest and heal ourselves, because we’re not stupid. He’s counting on that.”
That makes sense, total sense, even if I don’t want to admit it. He wants us strong; he wants us to be a good challenge. That’s why he picked us. He thinks he’s got us pegged, he thinks he knows our ins and outs. Maybe he does. I don’t know. I don’t know anything anymore.
Bile rises in my stomach and I stop, pressing a hand against the bark of a thick, rough tree.
Breathe. In and out.
“He’s made it easy,” Noah goes on, ignoring me. “But he hasn’t made it entirely untroubled. He’s provided us with water, but we are walking most of the day so we have to figure out how to take it with us, considering we’ve only passed one small stream. He’s provided us with coconut palms, but they’re high and difficult. Nothing is without strain.”
I nod, wrapping an arm around my middle, trying to stay calm as bitter reality sets in.
“I know this isn’t easy, Lara, but you need to get yourself together.”
Fury takes over and I jerk my head up. “Get myself together?” I scream, shocking even myself. “We’re in a forest with a psycho watching us, waiting to come in and kill us, and you’re telling me to get myself together?”
“Yeah,” he says, his voice cool and calm. “That’s exactly what I’m telling you.”
“I don’t want to die like this, Noah!”
He flinches, then storms over, grabbing my shoulders and jerking me up close. “We’re not going to die. Do you hear me?”
“You think he hasn’t thought of every escape route? Or every possible scenario? Do you think he would have put us in here if he wasn’t a hundred percent sure that we couldn’t get out? That he could find us and hunt us? Jesus, Noah. Whoever he is, he hasn’t just done this on a whim.”
“Hey,” Noah growls, shaking me a little. “You might be right, but are you going to sit here and give up or are you going to fight? There might be no chance, but I’m still certain that whoever he is, I can find a way to beat him.”
“He’s probably got weapons not even you can come up against.”
“Again,” Noah snaps, “stop with the negativity. If we’re going to die, we’re going to do it fighting to live. Do you understand me?”
I nod, but I can’t stop the tears from leaking out of my eyes.
“Lara, you’re upset and scared, which is making you doubt everything. He’s counting on that. I don’t know how you’re going to do it, or where you’re going to find it, but you need to find the strength that I know you have buried deep inside you to stand up and fight with me. If you don’t, we’re doomed before we even begin.”
“Strength?” I whisper. “I don’t know how.”