Prologue
Harlow
“Come out... come out... wherever you are!” I shout, cupping my hands around my mouth. “It’s not very fun if you're gonna hide!” I mean, it’s still fun hunting them down, but this is taking way too long for my liking. I do enjoy playing beforehand, but I’ve been at this for hours now.
The sounds of the leaves and branches crunching under my weight is the only thing I can hear as I make my way to the middle of the field that I made into a homemade arena by adding motion detection bombs around the perimeter. I watched theHunger Gamesmarathon the first week that I arrived here at my motel; it was veryinspiring.Ineededsomething new and exciting for my kills. I mean, I totally cried like a little bitch when Rue died, but the game as a whole is a genius idea. Although, in my opinion, it would have been much more effective if they filled it with murderers, and gave them the false hope that if they were the last person standing then they would walk out free. And just when they think they are safe, after all that hard work, blood, sweat, and tears... BOOM! Kill shot to the forehead.
I’m all about making dreams come true if it’s possible, so that’s exactly what I did.
Only in my version of the games, they don’t get anything to defend themselves, and I’m the one doing the hunting.
When I get to the middle of the clearing, I stop. I'm silent as I steady my breathing, concentrating on my surroundings. Grabbing an arrow from my quiver, I knock it and pull back the bowstring, ready to let loose once I find my target. Closing my eyes, I listen to the sounds of the forest and wait. The crack of a branch has me whipping around. I release the arrow and a few seconds later, I'm greeted with the sweet sound of an agonized scream.
“Ten points if I hit your shoulder, twenty points if I hit your chest!” I call out, racing towards my prey with giddy excitement. The first fifteen men were like fish in a barrel. They effortlessly dropped like flies; it was all a little toosimplefor my liking. Maybe I didn't make the arena big enough, or maybe they were just pansy-ass little bitches.Probably the latter.
Now I'm down to three. As fun as all this has been, I’m hot and sweaty; plus, I really could use a shower and a good fuck. Unfortunately, my travel dildo will have to do, seeing as how I'm thousands of miles away from my men...Yeah, I said it, MY men.But it’s still nowhere near as good as the real thing.
“There you are, silly. I thought you got away from me.” I giggle as I find my target laying in a heap on the ground. “Are you alive?” I ask, tilting my head to the side, and poking him with my foot. “Helloooo?”Nothing.Sighing, I squat beside him and grunt as I struggle to roll him over from his side to his back. He flops against the ground like a dead fish with a solid thud. “Nice!” I cheer, nodding my head with approval. “Right in the eye. That's gotta be like what, a good fifty points?”
Placing my foot on his chest to hold him down, I grab the arrow and give it a good tug. It takes a few tries because of how deep it went into his skull, but I finally manage to get it loose, taking what's left of his eyeball with it.
“Well, it's not like you're gonna be needing it anyways.” I shrug and look down at the body. “You stay right here, I'll return in just a second,” I say, tapping the arrow to his chest. Then, turning back the way I came, I jog over to the stunning Kiger mustang horse that’s tied to a tree. “Hey there, Spirit. How are you doing, buddy?” I stroke his neck and I’m greeted with a huff. He bumps me with his big nose, making me giggle. “Sorry it’s taking me so long. I'm ready to just go home, too.” I untie the rope and slip my foot into the stirrup, pulling myself up and into the saddle. Grabbing a hold of the reins, I give him a gentle kick with the sides of my feet and we take off as I guide him over to the guy I just killed. Hopping off, I grab the rope that's hooked to the side of the saddle and tie it around his feet.
“I’ll take that.” I grab the arrow from the dead body’s chest, with his eyeball still skewered on there like a shish kebab. Taking my nocking pliers from the saddlebag, I use them to cut off the arrowhead and some of the shaft, keeping the eyeball exactly where it is. Next, I grab an empty jar from the bag and place the impaled eye in it. “Nothing like a good souvenir to take home from a vacation, am I right?” I grin down at the gaping hole where his eye used to be. “Ouch, tough crowd. Waste of a good arrow, but this is worth the sacrifice.”
Mounting Spirit, we take off again with the body dragging behind us. “Onwards, my noble steed. Let’s add this bad boy to the pile.”
We stop at the stack of bodies in the middle of the arena. I drag him over, unattractively huffing and puffing and feeling really out of shape, and add him to the side because he’s so fucking heavy. It would be too much work to place him on top, and I'm tired as it is.
A loud boom has me sighing in annoyance. “I was totally serious about the bombs that would go off if you left the arena, but did he believe me? Noooo. Stupid man. Now he's nothing more than confetti, sprinkling himself all over the place. At least the wolves will have a nice tasty snack. Reduce, reuse, recycle, I say. Plus, that’s one less body I have to drag back here.”
Spirit lets out a nicker, throwing his head back like he's agreeing with me. “I bet you're loving this just as much as me, aren't you, buddy?” I coo, giving his neck a rub before mounting him again. “After all the mean things they did to you, I’m glad I found you. I wish I could keep you, I know Neo would just love you.” I lean over and hug his neck. He gives me a little huff, making me smile. “But I'll make sure to find you a good, loving home. I'll even check in all the time.”
I decided to take my little vacation deep in the heart of the Jalisco Mexican forest. I mean, I don’t highly recommend this place to anyone else for a vacation destination, but it works for someone who has a taste for blood, murder, and wants to take out some waste of space men who trained child soldiers. Sick, evil, twisted men run places like this, but that's my brand of victims. Let’s just say it's been a lot of fun, bodies, and blood.
“You can come out now!” I call out, hoping the last remaining player can hear me. “You won!”No, he didn't.There's no winning with me, no coming out alive in a game like this.But shh, he doesn't need to know that.
Nothing happens. Guess he's calling my bluff. Turning back to Spirit, I pet his mane. “Come on, boy, let's go for a little walk. Let's see if we can’t find him ourselves. Worst case, we leave him here to die of starvation.” We trot along the clearing for a little while before stopping so that I can grab a bottle of water from the saddle bag and take a long swig. The sound of someone's fast footsteps behind me has me looking over my shoulder. Grinning maniacally to myself, I see the last man running straight into the clearing.What a fucking idiot.I turn the horse around, and we gallop to where he just exited from under the tree coverage. He looks over his shoulder and sees that he’s fucked and that we just blocked him from being able to run back into the forest that was shielding him before. He's too far into the clearing to be able to make a quick getaway now.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” I whoop, making Spirit go faster. The man runs harder, but we quickly catch up to him. “You can run, you can hide, but you can’t escape your death,” I sing. “I should probably mention there can only be one winner!” I shout. “And sadly, that’s not gonna be you. Queenie has entered the game, bitches, and she always wins!”
The man is screaming, begging I think, but I can’t understand what he’s saying over the sound of my racing heartbeat and the pounding of the horse’s hooves against the ground. Leaning over slightly, I grab a hatchet out of the saddlebag.
“Run, run as fast as you can,” I taunt, then break out into a fit of laughter. The man trips over his own feet, rolling a few times before getting back up to continue his attempted getaway. With a smile on my face, I stand up with my toes in the stirrups as my body bounces with the movement of the horse. Twirling the hatchet in my hand, I eye up my target. “Now or never,” I whisper to myself before raising my arm and launching the hatchet towards the man. It sails through the air before making a sickening‘whack’and embedding itself into the back of the man’s skull. I slow Spirit down, watching as the dude tumbles to the ground.
Coming to a stop, I hop off of Spirit, making my way over to the body. “Looks like the odds werenotever in your favor,” I tsk, shaking my head. I try to get the hatchet free, but it’s stuck in there really fucking good. “You know what, it’s not even worth it,” I huff, wiping the sweat off my brow. Looking up I see that we’re not too far from the pile of bodies. “Well, that saves me some time.”
I bend over, grab the man by the feet, and start pulling him towards the pile. “I need to start lifting weights,” I groan. “Sweet monkey titties, this fucker is heavy!” When I get him close enough, I drop him with a grunt. “Now, who wants a bonfire?” I ask the bodies. “No one? Well, I do, so tough luck.” I shrug and grab the jerry can that's off to the side of the pile.
HummingI Can See Clearly Nowby Jimmy Cliff,I start pouring the gas over the bodies. “You get to be a roasted marshmallow and you get to be a roasted marshmallow. Youallget to be roasted marshmallows!” I cheer like I'm Oprah, lighting the Molotov cocktail I premade earlier and toss it into the middle of the pile. The bodies go up in flames and I race back to Spirit. I mount him and back him away from the inferno. “Look at the pretty flames.” I watch in awe. Then the smell of burnt flesh hits me like a Mack truck and I almost puke in my mouth. Spirit starts to fuss, backing away from the fire, telling me he’s ready to go. “Okay, that smell is not pretty. Come on, boy, let’s get going.”
We race out of the clearing, and I make sure to deactivate the bombs with my trusty little remote. Looking over I see the leftover pieces of the body that exploded earlier and two wolves fighting over one of the legs. “You’re welcome!” I call back to them as we make our way towards the little hut I've called home for the past week.
I was staying in the city for most of the trip so that I could have internet service to call Rosie every night. When things got harder with all the traveling back and forth, I just told her I wouldn’t be able to call her every night for a bit, but that I would when I could. She was sad, and it broke my heart.
I have done a lot of thinking while I’ve been here. Every day that went by, I started to wonder why I left in the first place. I'm missing Rosie, Evie, and even the guys. I’m not easily scared butfuck,the level of feelings I have for these men, the men I swore I would hate forever, terrified me. I mean like the horror movieThe Nunlevel fear. Well, except Axel, he can suck a dick.
I miss my crazy Neo, my softie Cass, and my dark and broody Dean. I’ve gotten so used to having them around all the time since they came back into my life. Trust me, this is oh-so-very hard to admit. I haven't spent much time with Sam before I left. I hope he’s doing good. And Evie... God being away from her is pure Hell. I know I'm in for one Hell of a fight with her when I get back.