esperate gamble. "The Thompsons... they have money.

ke pity, but it was the kind of pity one

It's about you not existing. As long as you're alive, you're a threat t

. "Get the camera. I want to take some pictures

ut a phone and stepped forward. He angled it do

er humiliating vulnerability-half-clothed, bound, bleeding, and weeping. T

her voice turning shar

em approached Ava. One grabbed h

oing?" Ava cried, sensing a

firewood from a pile near the unli

g to survive, don't you think?" she mused aloud, a sick smi

words, Brittany swung the log do

t snap echoed t

scream tore from her throat, raw and animalistic. The world dissolved into a haze of

. She casually tossed the pie

n. "Now, blindfold her and put her in

he pain in her arm was a relentless, throbbing nightmare. They roughly untied her from the c

and thrown onto the cold metal floor of a vehicle. T

ay in the darkness, disoriented, terrified, and consumed by

ty, the van stopped. The doors

g sound. It was the sound of a large, expectant crowd. She could hear t

ime to a tall wooden post. Someone

latform, a stage, in the middle of a vast, opulent hall. Below her, dozens of people in expensive

ion. And she w

scene was too surreal, too

pped onto the stage,

ice boomed through the hall. "Tonight, we have a rare prize. Pure,

urmured wit

ultimate target. A chance to release your frustrations, to

nto her. She wasn't just f

. Through a large arched window, she could see the familiar skyline of the city. She recognized th

on was happening right in the heart of the city, in a place she had always seen as a symbol of safety, a symbol of the f