Page 145 of Kill Feed

A frown settles on my face. “And you’d know that how?”

Leo’s shoulders rise with a slow inhale, then fall again as he scans the room and all four cameras in the corners.

“Because I know one of them,” he states in a hushed tone. “The guy with the wolf skull mask… it’s Marcos.”

Figures.

I roll my eyes in response— internally, that is. I suspected this from day one when Dante revealed himself at Nightfall, and what furthered my suspicion was how Leo acted at the club on Amani’s birthday and how Marcos trailed after him like a dog when he stormed off.

Leo’s expression hardens. “I know him personally.”

“How personal?”

“That doesn’t matter,” the guy states in a hurry. “What does matter is I know what the next game’s going to be.”

“Marcos tell you?”

Without a word, Leo shifts his stance until his back is almost completely shielding his face from the cameras and the other players. “We need to stick together.”

I cock a brow. “I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“I still can’t stand you. But I’m not stupid.” He gestures vaguely toward the room behind us. “Right now, everyone in here is picking sides, and believe it or not. you’re the only person in here I trust.”

Hm, now that is interesting.

My gaze drifts across the dorm.

Lucas and Amani stand near one of the blacked-out windows, talking quietly with the newest members close to their sides. “What about them?”

Silence settles between us before Leo exhales, refusing to answer that as he claims, “You’re heading toward a problem, Adrian.”

“Yeah, aren’t we all.”

“That’s not what I mean,” he articulates. “When the next game starts, you’re going to have to make a choice.”

“What choice?” I frown

“You can either spend your time protecting your friends,” he continues, “or chase revenge. But you can’t do both.”

Chapter 38

Adrian

The four of us stand shoulder to shoulder behind the yellow line stretching across the warehouse floor. Beyond it, the massive steel doors remain sealed, hiding whatever maze the fourth game has waiting for us.

Blackout is the first half of a two-part game, a warehouse-sized maze stretching from one end of the building to the other, with the safe zone waiting somewhere in the middle. Leo had explained the rules before the mechanical voice even had a chance to: keep moving through the maze and reach the safe zone, but every few minutes the lights would cut out, giving the hunters free rein to hunt.

During those blackouts, the only option is to find somewhere to hide and hope they pass you by.

A deadly game of hide-and-seek, with nowhere truly safe until you reached the end, all within a sixty-minute timer.

Around me, the remaining contestants shift from foot to foot, some rolling their shoulders loose while others seem to flick their gazes from one contestant to another. My best guess is that they plan to thin out the competition immensely this round.

Fewer players mean fewer obstacles, and according to Leo, our best chance is to take the opposite route and stay as far away from Mason—and Leo’s new enemy, Jayden, he made during Russian Roulette—as possible.

The countdown above the door ticks lower before a deafening buzzer tears through the room. The light above it flashes from red to green, and the steel barriers begin to rise.

The crowd surges forward in a wave of boots and adrenaline, but instead of letting it carry us, Leo veers sharply left.