Page 152 of The Most Dangerous Games

His eyes brighten, like that’s the question he wanted.

“Then we proceed,” he says simply. “And I promise you: It will hurt.”

“That sounds ominous,” Alek says.

“You have no idea,” The Host says.

No one speaks as he turns to leave, giving them the room.

“Think it over,” he says.

He’s about to make another dramatic exit, Alek thinks to herself. Maybe his last. For now, his words are still hanging in the air, in this rarefied air, 147 floors up from the street.

“Wait.”

Alek’s voice stops him as he gets to the door.

“Something you’d like to add, Ms. Andrich?” he says. “You do so often like to have the last word.”

“You’re being serious?” she says. “You’d call the whole thing off—just like that—and we’d all just walk away?”

“Indeed,” he says.

He slowly shifts his gaze from one face to another, then he continues. “All but The One. He, or she, gets to stay.”

105.

Alek is the first to speak once the door has closed.

“Are we actually going to vote on this?”

The words are barely out of her mouth when Tipton responds.

“I’ll go first,” he says. “I vote for me. Thanks to the rest of you for playing. Safe trip home.”

He looks around the room. “Where’s the champagne?”

Zhi, who rarely says much of anything, speaks up.

“You’re voting for yourself. Shocking,” he says.

Despite the tension in the room, Alek smiles at that.

Even Tipton can’t help himself and smiles, too.

Alek looks at the others. “Okay,” she says. “Let’s do this like adults. First question: Do we even believe him?”

“Absolutely not,” Jack says.

“Second that,” Zhi says.

“Let’s pretend for a second we do and talk it through, and not take all day to do it,” Alek says. “I’m not saying we couldn’t ever agree on which one of us should be the big winner. But let’s say, for the sake of conversation, that we could arrive at a consensus. It would mean no more guns, no more knives. Or mountains or deserts. Or snakes or sharks.”

“No more dying,” Jack adds quietly.

Alek says, “But the first order of business is deciding if we even want to consider his proposal. Or think that we ever could get a consensus.”

“I say we play it out,” Jack says. “Winner take all.”