“Congrats,” one of them says. I’m disgusted when he smiles. “First win?”
I nod. Does he really think this is a fucking game? That boy who was killed will never reach adulthood! That’s not a game. It’s a fucking crime.
“Nice job,” he says.
“Thanks,” I mutter. What else am I supposed to say?
Another man opens the door for me, and I enter the barracks again. Do I recognize the faces? I’m so damn tired and traumatized and scared that I’m not sure. Malcolm steps out from between the racks of beds and smiles.
“You made it, man.”
I nod.
“Nice job. Not going to lie, I had my doubts.”
“Me too,” I answer.
He grips my arm and pulls me to the bunk he had two nights ago. I drop onto my side and close my eyes.
“Didn’t go well, huh?”
“Someone is dead,” I say. “I’m not sure how this can ever go well.”
He nods. “Not what I meant.”
“We’re hunted like deer,” I hiss, tears stinging my eyes. “No. Worse than that. Deer are simply caught. They aren’t treated the way I… saw.”
Malcolm sighs. “Ah. You were unfortunate enough to have to witness a death.”
“Why do they do this?”
“I don’t know.”
“He was just a kid,” I say, tears trickling down my cheeks again. “He couldn’t have possibly done anything wrong to deserve that murder.”
“A kid?” someone asks.
“Yeah. Maybe fifteen.”
“Jesus,” someone else mutters.
“Get some sleep, Brek. They’re clearly changing the parameters of the game, and we don’t know what tomorrow holds. Sleep.”
Malcolm gets up, and I’m left alone. I try like hell to forget what I saw, but with my eyes closed, I keep seeing the kid being shot, beaten, and stabbed over and over again on a loop. It doesn’t stop. I don’t stop hearing his screams or his voice as he begs to have his life spared.
Someone find me, I pray.Please. Someone find this place and let us go.
How can this place exist? A sour pit in my stomach has a little voice in my head telling me that the only way it exists is because authorities are looking the other way. Government officials are looking the other way. A shady cop or politician knows it’s here and may have even participated in a kill, in exchange for their silence.
As I doze, the faces of my friends fill my head. Memories of us as children. Laughing. Exploring. Telling secrets. Sharing stories. Camping out in Oakley’s backyard.
Then I see Voss and the last month that we’ve spent together. Getting to know each other. Having a relationship. Him and little Axl.
Just before I fall asleep, I realize that I’m watching the best moments of my life play before my closed eyes. Maybe a last hurrah. My brain is telling me I’m not going home. I’ll never see the people I love more than anything ever again.
My life is playing out right before I die. It wasn’t skill or strategy that kept me alive today. It was luck. Pure fucking luck. I’d been running blindly in terror just as that kid had been. It wasluckthat the hunter caught sight of him over me.
It should have been me. Next time, I won’t be so lucky. My luck is already fading. I was lucky enough to meet the best friends a person could ever have to counterbalance the shitty parents I have. But that luck was already wearing thin when I got into the car of a man who sent me to this hell.
