Page 42 of The Most Dangerous Games

Wyatt rips off his pack with hands that feel clumsy for the first time in his life. He finds the small pickaxe and shoves it into Reg’s reach.

Reg slams the axe into the ice with a brutal swing. The metal bites. He wraps his left hand around the handle, then reaches with his right and grabs Alek’s wrist.

“Hold,” he grunts. “Hold!”

Wyatt knows that if she hits the water, it’s a death sentence.

“Don’t . . . let axe . . . come loose!” Reg yells, and then with what little leverage he has, he starts to slowly pull Alek toward him, his right hand holding on to hers for dear life.

Wyatt drops flat behind Reg and grabs Reg’s ankles, locking himself in. Hannah drops behind Wyatt and does the same.

A chain.

A human anchor.

All of them against the world.

And still the three of them start to slide.

They all begin to slide slowly toward the edge, like this is a tug-of-war being lost by their increasingly desperate and unlikely team. Not fast. Not dramatic. Just enough to be terrifying. A slow, steady pull toward that black water.

Somehow Reg, even being pulled toward the water, still has Alek’s hand in his.

“Hold on!” he gasps.

Wyatt doesn’t know whether he’s talking to Alek, or to him and Hannah.

It doesn’t matter.

They all have to hold on.

But the three of them keep inching forward, continuing their slow slide toward Alek and the water.

Reg’s shoulders strain. His arm shakes. The axe handle creaks against the ice.

Wyatt feels his stomach go weightless as inches disappear.

“Hannah—don’t let go,” he says, voice cracking.

“I’m not,” Hannah spits back, teeth clenched, eyes wet with cold and panic.

Reg draws a breath like he’s about to lift a car.

Then he hauls.

Alek rises an inch. Two. Her free hand claws at the snow, searching for purchase that isn’t there.

Reg lets out one more yell as he hauls, the loudest yet, a combination of discus-throw grunt and primal scream, and with one last massive effort pulls Alek all the way out of the hole.

Alek’s body clears the edge.

Wyatt scrambles forward and grabs her jacket. Hannah grabs Wyatt’s belt.

Together they drag Alek back onto solid ice.

Wyatt and Hannah drag her away from the edge.

Alek collapses face down, shaking so hard her whole frame rattles. Alive.