Page 68 of Hide And Seek

He was really dead.

The realization hit me like a cold slap in the face, and something inside me seemed to collapse in on itself. Guilt surged in behind the shock, sharp and corrosive, eating through me from the inside out.

One of the last things Rhys had done, only a few hours earlier, was take me aside and teach me how to defend myself, because he thought it might help keep me alive while there was a killer on the loose.

And how had I repaid him? I’d constructed a case against him in my head and convinced my friends he was the monstrous killer in question.

He wasn’t a monster.Iwas.

I was a horrible person who’d taken a bunch of half-seen details and bad timing and spun them into a fully formed accusation; one that had almost led to me filing a report with the police.

My stomach turned at the thought.

I could’ve destroyed Rhys’s life. For nothing.

Jasmine’s fingers tightened around my arm as she leaned in close, her voice barely more than a breath against my ear. “I feel like such a bitch right now,” she muttered.

I didn’t respond. I couldn’t even look at her.

Around us, the group had gone eerily still. One girl was crying quietly, but the others just stood there, silent and staring. Knox still hadn’t moved.

“What happened?” Wren asked in a hushed voice.

Sutton shook her head, her face pale but set. “We don’t know yet. Knox hasn’t said anything.”

“We heard him yelling a few minutes ago, and then he just stopped,” Jensen said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Went totally blank. I think he’s in shock.”

“Maybe we should cover the body,” Caitlin said. “Letting him sit there staring at it probably isn’t helping.”

“Zach already went to get a sheet. He should be back any second.”

Caitlin took a slow step forward, one hand lifted slightly like she was approaching a frightened animal. “Hey, Knox,” she said gently. “Do you think you can tell us what happened?”

His head jerked upward, eyes unfocused. He opened his mouth, closed it, then dragged a hand over his face like he was trying to wake himself up.

“Rhys thought we should come and check on Delia. Make sure no animals had gotten in and started eating her,” he finally said, his voice hollow. “Halfway over here, I needed to take a piss. So I told Rhys to go ahead. Said I’d be right behind him.”

He stopped, swallowing hard.

Caitlin nodded. “Okay. And then?”

“I… I didn’t even go to the bathroom.” Knox’s jaw clenched, and he pointed to the nearby woods. “I just went behind a tree over there. I was only gone for two minutes. Maybe three. I figured… I mean, it's the middle of the day, right? I figured it'd be fine.” He swallowed hard again. “I came back and he was just… he was like this.”

Sutton moved a little closer. “Did you see anyone? Anything?”

Knox shook his head slowly. “Nothing. It’s like he came out of nowhere. He must’ve sneaked up behind him and—” His voice broke off, his gaze dragging back to the body.

“Whoever this guy is, he’s getting bolder,” someone muttered from the edge of the group. “It’s fucking broad daylight.”

He was right. This attack hadn’t happened in the dead of night when darkness gave everything a cover. It had happened in the middle of the day with the sun high overhead. Out here on the edge of the campgrounds where no one usually went, yes, but still... it seemed like a progression. A shift in confidence or patience. Or both.

“We’re so fucked,” I heard Jensen mutter. “Rhys was the biggest guy here, and he still got taken out. So what chance do the rest of us have?”

“Not helpful, Jensen!” Maren snapped.

Zach came jogging up a second later, slightly out of breath, a folded sheet clutched in his hands. “Here,” he said. “We can cover him now.”

He took a step toward the doorway, and Knox suddenly lurched to his feet. “No!” he said. “Don’t come any closer!”