Upon arrival, all tributes will receive a mandatory contraceptive injection effective for ninety days. No exceptions.
* * *
Her brain stuttered to a stop. Contraceptive? Was this about sex?
Things started to click. They were demanding protection because there was something the tributes needed to be protected from.
The hunters.
* * *
SECTION IV: HUNTER PRIVILEGES & TRIBUTE OBLIGATIONS
* * *
Her stomach flipped. This was it. The fine print beneath the fairytale.
Her gaze returned to the timer at the top of the screen, and she sucked in a breath.
* * *
01:28:01
01:28:00
01:27:59
* * *
She read quickly, hoping speed might make what she was reading less shocking. It didn’t.
* * *
THE CHASE: Tributes agree to be pursued across the designated grounds from dusk until dawn. Hunters may track, follow, corner, and capture tributes using any non-violent means.
* * *
CAPTURE: A tribute is considered “captured” when physically apprehended by a Hunter for sixty continuous seconds. Upon capture, the tribute enters the Hunter’s possession until released or until the tribute employs the safeword.
* * *
RESTRAINT: Hunters may employ physical restraint, including pinning, holding, binding of wrists and ankles, and the use of bondage.
* * *
INTIMATE CONTACT: Upon capture, Hunters may initiate intimacy, including kissing, touching, fondling, oral contact, digital penetration, and sexual intercourse at whatever degree of intensity the hunter deems desirable. All intimacy must cease immediately upon use of the safeword.
* * *
“Jesus.” Her heart was racing, and her mouth had gone completely dry.
Her phone had grown hot in her hands. She forced herself to exhale. She didn’t know what was more shocking, the terms or the fact that something so depraved could exist at all.
This feast wasn’t a dinner party. It was a hunt. An actual hunt, where she would be the prey, chased through darkness by wealthy strangers who had paid for the privilege of catching her.
And if they caught her...
She shivered and threw her phone onto the bed.
