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“Cute as this reunion is,” I say brusquely, before Zie opens his fat mouth and ruins things. “I have shit to do. So let’s get explaining. What. Is. The. Hunting. Grounds?”
“A legend,” Kaiden mutters under his breath.
“A game,” Axel replies.
“Okay, and what does this ‘game’ entail?”
“Hunting.”
“Hunting…?” I prompt, sighing in frustration. It’s like trying to get blood out of a stone. Axel also sighs like I’m the one being difficult.
“The chosen contenders enter The Hunting Grounds to hunt and fight one another for a chance to win a prize.”
“I see. When you say hunt…” I try again when no one is forthcoming. Axel’s sigh mirrors my own.
“Complete challenges. Tasks. That sort of thing,” he begrudgingly admits.
“Fight,” Zie adds.
“To the death,” Kaiden finishes.
I laugh but no one else does. Axel and Kaiden simply stare at me. Even McKenzie meets my eye with a grim but significant look. Wait, they have to be joking, right?
“We’re not joking,” Kaiden clarifies.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I scoff. “I think if murders were taking place on campus, the country might have heard about it by now.”
“Wrong.” Axel’s baritone is abrupt.
“Huh?”
“You’re wrong,” he repeats. “Firstly, The Hunting Grounds only take place once every thirty years, and the whole event has become the thing of legends. There are whispers, but very few people actually know the truth. Most of the people taking part don’t realise the true extent of it.”
“Oh and you do, do you?”
“Yes.”
“And I’m to believe that because…?”
“Because we’re organising this one.”
My jaw drops at that little bombshell, though if I actually stop to think about it, I’m not surprised. Axel is a control freak. Power hungry and ruthless. If he came to a university that holds a once in a lifetime event, of course he’d want in on it. Hell, he probably only came to this uni because he’d be here when the stupid game fell.
“B-but you’re saying that, what, people are going to die?” Axel nods. “What the fuck? Why?”
“I told you—”
“But what’s the point?”
This causes him to pause. He exchanges a significant look with Kaiden, who looks impressed, and McKenzie, who looks miserable. No one answers my question.
Like, what the actual fuck? Do people really agree to this shit? Why? What on earth could possibly be in it for them? Or like me, are they thrown in without any choice? This feels like some Hunger Games stuff of nightmares dystopian level shit. And if they do choose to willingly take part…what the actual fuck again?
While I’m having this mental freak out, no one says a word.
“So, where do me and this stupid tattoo fit into everything then?” I sigh, forcing myself to calm the fuck down. May as well find out what sort of shit show he’s signed me up for. I can work on getting out of it later. A part of me doesn’t believe what he’s saying anyway. I feel like this is some sort of hazing joke so I’ll just go along with it for now.
“You’re the prize.”
