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I’d been jogging in the other direction, hoping to cover as much ground as I could, when I came into view of the beat-up wooden stall that housed the info center.
When I turned, there they were coming right toward me, their attention fractured by whoever they’d been running from.
Greedy bastards.
With the size of the arena, I worried I’d never find my target, there’s no way they’d already found theirs. That was the thing about Hide and Seek though: the more people you killed, the more points you’d earn—meaning you’d be more likely towin.
And Ihadto win.
It just proved to my twisted sense that joining the games was the right move. It was hardly an hour into the match, and here she was, my black rabbit.
My goddess had delivered her to me as surely as the sun would rise.
Or maybe my father’s manic lectures about our superior genetics were actually true. Maybe there wassomethingabout how breeding Legacies would create children that were more suitable to hideous acts of violence.
That we were fitter. Stronger. The most likely to win.
That we’d do what we needed to do.
It was easier to get my head in the game this way. To turn myself into a creature that Freud himself would’ve flinched away from. Reigned entirely by my ego until I could quiet the feeble doubts that might’ve asked me to save her life.
I was born for this. Winning was in myblood.
And I couldn’t wait to taste the failure in hers.
The white rabbit corrected course before I could grab hold of her, blue pigtails streaming by as she ran. It didn’t matter. For the time being, she wasn’t my target.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” I asked the black rabbit, moving to get into her path.
She stumbled backward, her eyes widening behind the mask. “P-please! I’m—I’m a Legacy!”
I snorted a laugh as I approached her. “Like that means anything to me.”
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, burning metal and salt flooding my nose with every inhale. The sound of the cheery music blaring through the crackling speakers—paired with distant screaming—only made my heart pound harder in my chest.
Begrudgingly, I had to admit that the Architects had outdone themselves. If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought this was a real amusement park that’d been seeing families through its doors for years instead of a high-budget murder den. It could use some love, but the obvious ruin of the place made for amuchbetter set for the show.
She moved to pivot, her dark hair swaying around her jaw as she rounded me to head for the information booth. I raced after her, putting as much power into my steps as possible. I was taller, my strides longer. It was only a matter of time before I caught her.
Like I said,lucky.
I thrust my hand out in front of me, grabbing the back of her long hoodie just as she made to jump over the counter. But she was already hauling herself over, and my grip slipped as she let out a scream of triumph.
“A bit early for that, isn’t it?” I hissed.
I lunged forward, grabbing on to my victim’s ankle and pulling her back over the decaying wood. The flimsy boards creaked as her nails gripped into them, trying desperately to hold on to her only chance of surviving this game.
She won’t live. It’s destiny, just asIwas destined to take her life so I could win… for her.
All for you, my goddess.
“Not so fast,” I sneered, catching the terror in her eyes behind her mask before I threw her to the dirtied ground. Black rabbit let out a moan of pain, the air pushing from her lungs.
She tried to gasp for another, but she was unsuccessful, the breath stopping just short. It almost made me feel bad, I could recognize the early stages of a panic attack a mile away.
Too bad it wouldn’t do her any good.
“Please!” she huffed, hands clawing into the concrete as she tried to get back to her feet.
