Page 61 of Make Me Hunt
Strange for Ares to have a kitchen here, but still no breakthrough.
I move on to investigate the second room, and to my surprise, the whole chamber is filled with different machines linked together. All functioning. I’m no tech expert, but I think they’re servers of some kind, though I have no clue what they could be used for. Maybe they tie into the game somehow. Or at least that’s what I hope because I need a lead.
Still, even if this is a lead, I have no idea what to do with it.
Maybe the next room will give me some more clues, but to my disappointment, it turns out to be a regular bathroom with a small shower.
It’s been recently used, judging by the water drops on the shower curtain.
Strange. Who comes down here to shower?
I’m down to my last room, I’m trying to stay positive and convince myself that I still have a chance to find something, even if the odds aren’t in my favor.
My last hope is behind this door. Truth is, I’m not even sure there’s anything useful behind it. I just pray life gives me a break because I’ve been self-sabotaging lately.
The squeak of the door leaves me breathless, like I’m counting the seconds, and at the same time, stalling because I’m afraid it’ll be a letdown.
But there’s no postponing the inevitable, and as soon as the door opens, I notice a bed.
I push the door wider to see inside the room, and a wave of relief and excitement floods over me.
A man stands at a modern desk. Neon signs, decorating the wall, and a bank of five monitors in front of him.
I know exactly who that man is—404.
At the squeak of the door opening, he turns to face me. “You?” The surprise on his face is unmistakable, especially since he managed to trick me last time we met. “Did Ares send you?” he asks, probably suspecting from the look on my face that I’m as equally surprised as he is because I had no idea what I was about to stumble into.
And I feel I don’t have time to come up with a lie and charm my way out of this one.
Besides, my gut tells me he had a special connection with Elias. So that’s the card I’m playing this time around. “No, Ares didn’t send me,” I let the silence settle for a few seconds. “I don’t have time to play around. I’m here because of the game. I want in.” His eyes widen, like what I’m asking of him is not just surprising but also impossible.
Well, I’ll bend the impossible and shape it to succumb to me.
“Ares’s men will be here any moment with my takeout. Besides, I can’t help you get in,” he says, turning back to his computer, just to avoid my gaze.
Well, I’m not buying it.
“Yes, you can. You’re the only one who can. Ares wouldn’t have gone through all the trouble finding you otherwise.” I call him on his bluff, knowing he's only trying to sell me shit to make me walk away. “Besides, I know you’re the one who got Elias in. And we wouldn’t want Ares to find that out, would we?”
He looks at me, surprised I figured that out. “I did, but—”
“No buts. I don’t have time, just help me get in. Please, for Elias. I know he meant something to you. I’ve seen it in your eyes.”
He doesn’t say anything, but the same sadness is back again. I don’t know whether they had a fling or a relationship, or whether Elias just pretended to be with him to get him in. I don’t have time to investigate that, especially if what he said about Ares’s men bringing his takeout is true.
“This is a suicide mission; don’t you get it? There’s no surviving Kharon unless you win it.”
“I’ll take my chances,” my tone firm, leaving no room for negotiation.
“Well, there’s no way I can get you in on such short notice. The game is in two days.”
“There has to be a way.”
“There isn’t. The contestants have already been selected.” He tries to convince me to give up.
But what he doesn’t know is that giving up isn’t an option for me. “Then I’ll pretend to be one of the contestants. Give me a name and an address, and I’ll replace whoever I must.”
It’s the only idea I have. But before 404 gives me an answer, his phone starts ringing.
