The Devil’s Plaything

Chapter 9

Reese

It’s been a few hours now since I became certain that this whole hunt thing is something much more dangerous and darker than a simple themed party. I started to suspect it when I arrived at a warehouse on the outskirts of the city. There were a handful of girls there, all with their faces covered and wearing outfits identical to mine. They didn’t talk to each other, and just as I decided to ask what was going on, the big guys arrived—six of them, all hooded, wearing balaclavas and giving orders. The girls didn’t seem scared, and I didn’t want to draw attention to myself either, so I simply acted as if I were one of them. My suspicions were confirmed when they took our phones away, blindfolded us, and put us into what I assumed, from the sound of the engine, was a van.

No one spoke during the entire journey, except for a few whispers from two of the men escorting us. I mentally counted the amount of time we spent on the road: twelve thousand seconds, or, in other words, three hours and twenty minutes.

As soon as I get out of the vehicle, I take a deep breath, trying to recognize any familiar scent. It smells like nature, trees, grass, and flowers. The guy holding my arm pulls me slightly, and as I step forward, I become aware of the sound of small branches cracking beneath the weight of my boots. I sharpen my hearing; I can’t hear birds singing, but I can hear some crickets and cicadas. It makes sense, it’s already dark. I hear an owl hooting quite close by, and that’s all I need to confirm that we’re somewhere in a forest or in the mountains, but where? Almost three and a half hours heading south could put us in Mexico, and heading north, halfway to San Francisco, but there are more possibilities. East, toward Las Vegas, is unlikely. There aren’t too many wooded areas; it’s mostly arid land and rocky mountains.

The guy escorting me makes me stop, and I immediately hear the creaking sound of hinges. He opens what I think is a door and pulls me again. He isn’t aggressive. No squeezing or rough tugging, he just guides me inside some f*****g place that I can’t see. I trip over my own feet, but manage to straighten myself and take a deep breath through my nose.

“It’s her turn. Take off her blindfold,” a woman’s voice says. I feel someone position themselves behind me, and after fiddling with the knot of the fabric covering my eyes, a bright white light blinds me. “Easy, blink slowly. It’s very bright in here, isn’t it?”

I nod, and after several attempts, I manage to adjust my eyes to the light. I look around. The place looks like some kind of medical office, and the woman standing in front of me is wearing a white coat, although, like everyone else, her face is covered.

“Let me know when you’re finished and I’ll bring in the next one,” the man behind me says. The girl nods and he leaves, closing the metal door behind him.

“Bracelet.” I look at the woman in confusion. She holds out an electronic tablet toward me. “Your bracelet, sweetheart. We don’t have all night.” I look down at my wrist, where I’m wearing the orange silicone bracelet I received in the mysterious box.

“Orange,” I reply, stretching out my arm to show it to her.

“I can see that.” I think she smiles beneath the fabric as she takes my wrist and brings it closer to the device. “Is this your first time?” I’m about to shake my head when a beep sounds and her gaze returns to mine. “It isn’t. This is your fifth Hunt. Good, then you already know the protocol.”

“Uh…” I clear my throat and nod. “Yes, I know it.”

“Very well.” After leaving the tablet on a table, she turns around and heads toward what appears to be a cart filled with medical instruments and supplies. “Roll up the sleeve of your coat. It’ll only be a couple of needle pricks. Do you want to sit down?”

I shake my head and wait for her to turn around. She’s holding a syringe between her fingers.

“Is that necessary?” I ask, trying to sound casual. I don’t want them to discover me, but I’m not going to let them drug me either.

“You know it is. We don’t take risks here. I’ll draw a little blood to test it, and after the injection, you can go rest for a while.”

Blood? Tests? What kind of place is this? And most importantly, what the hell are they going to do with me and the other girls?

I do what the doctor asks, and after drawing my blood, she injects something into my arm. I don’t ask what it is, but I hope it isn’t some kind of sedative or hallucinogenic drug. I need to stay alert so I can figure out what’s happening around me and whether Rose might be here, with these strange people. As soon as she finishes with me, she says goodbye and calls the guy, who immediately comes in with another girl and covers my eyes again.

We walk several meters. I notice that I’m still stepping on branches and small stones, but the grass is short, like some kind of path. I begin to smell the scent of burning wood just as the guy makes me stop.

“We’re here. Cabin thirty-three, this one is yours.” He removes my blindfold, and this time it doesn’t take me as long to adjust to the light, since there’s barely any. We’re still outside, and in front of me is a small house made of logs. There are a couple of steps leading up to the door. “Go ahead, I’m not going inside with you.”

I nod and cautiously climb one step, then the other, and glance back. The hooded man is still there, watching me. I take a deep breath and slowly turn the metal doorknob. The door opens and I step inside the cabin.

After closing the door behind me, it takes me only a few seconds to take in the place. There’s no one here besides me. The walls and floors are made of wood, as is the furniture. There’s only a large bed, a couple of nightstands, a two-seater sofa, and a couple of tables, one in what seems to be the living room area and another in the kitchen area. All the rooms share the same open space; the bathroom is the only one with a door. At the back, I find a floor-to-ceiling glass-enclosed terrace with an enormous hot tub. There are two bookshelves filled with books beside the fireplace, which is already lit. I immediately open the refrigerator. It’s overflowing with food, and in the kitchen cabinets I find plates, glasses, and even snacks and candy, everything necessary to live in this kind of luxury cabin for several days.

“Where the f**k have you gotten yourself into?” I ask myself quietly.

All of this is the strangest and most surreal thing I’ve ever experienced. Was Rose staying here whenever she disappeared for a week every six months? What is this? What was the blood test and that injection for? I move my arms and also turn my neck from side to side. I don’t feel anything strange. If they had drugged me, I should already be feeling the effects, or at least I think so.

After pulling aside the thick curtain, I peer through one of the two windows and look outside. The hooded man is already gone. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m not willing to stay here to find out. I’m going to investigate outside. If Rose is in this place, I’ll find her.

I approach the door and try to open it, but I can’t. I pull hard on the doorknob, but nothing, it remains locked. I notice some kind of screen beside the doorframe. I press it with my finger and it lights up, but the door remains locked, and there isn’t any button or key indicating that I can open it. I check the windows. They’re just panes of glass, there’s no way to open them, and they seem too thick to break, most likely they’re reinforced.

On the verge of a nervous breakdown, I return to the damn screen, and then I remember that the doctor made me bring my bracelet close to her tablet. Maybe it’s some kind of key. I swipe my wrist in front of it and a beep sounds. I read what’s displayed on the screen: it’s a countdown until the door opens. I glance toward the kitchen, where there’s a clock hanging on the wall. It’s ten twenty at night, and the door opens at exactly midnight. Is that supposed to make any sense?

I collapse onto the sofa and hold my face in both hands. Where the f**k has Rose brought me? What do they do here? I have nothing but questions and no answers. I guess I’m going to have to wait for that f*****g door to open to find out more. What I don’t know is what I’m going to do once I can get out of here. I’m supposed to have come here to find my friend, but my instincts won’t stop screaming at me to run away from this place before it’s too late.