Despite his weird behavior, she was glad he hadn’t shot her dead yet.
Julian scoffed at her remark, and Anastasia noticed his grip loosen on his arrow. "You could try, but I won’t guarantee you would succeed."
Anastasia still didn’t understand why he was challenging her to kill him. Now she only wondered if he had so loose screws in his head.
There was no ti to tell how long she’d been wandering around the forest, searching for the forbidden lines while trying to keep herself alive, but she could tell she’d been there longer than she’d predicted, and Avery must have been waiting for her already at their destination.
But now she’d gone and bumped into Julian—the very man who had calmly inford her he intended to ’purchase’ her at the end of this twisted ga, as though she were so item to be picked up at a supermarket.
He already marked her as a thing and that was what she despised the most.
"Don’t tell you’re going to kill while still sitting on the ground." It was at that mont Anastasia realized she still hadn’t gotten up from the ground.
But her butt was muddy, and so of it had splashed on her face.
Although Julian was still wearing his goggles, she could feel him mocking her with his eyes.
But nothing confused her more when he still hadn’t threatened to kill her yet or sang as the man she’d killed had done earlier.
"Why haven’t you killed yet?" She asked, confusion laced in her tone.
"Why would I kill you?" He questioned back, and Anastasia was tempted to label him as an unserious and confused man. "I want to buy you after all. I’m not going to kill sothing I’ll be spending money on."
’His response makes sense,’ Anastasia thought to herself.
"How about this? I’ll pretend I didn’t see and you get to continue running for your life until the ga ends. But if I catch you again, I’ll kill you." A grin pulled on his lips at the end of his words, forcing Anastasia to gulp down her saliva in fear.
He’d just said he wasn’t going to kill what he was spending money on. But now, he was going to pretend he didn’t see but threatened to kill her once he saw her again.
The way he spoke only confused her.
"In the rules, Samantha ntioned, the hunter and the hunted can’t work together," she reminded, but he didn’t react much.
"No one will know about it."
He didn’t give her a chance to say anything else, before he disappeared into the trees, leaving her standing there like a statue.
Anastasia snapped her head left and right to be sure she hadn’t just hallucinated Julian’s words before he disappeared.
At first, she’d thought she was going to get killed by him, but now that he’d left her only to chase after her again, she kicked off her feet and disappeared.
While on her way, Anastasia heard a familiar scream that made her heart skip a beat recognizing who owned that voice. It was none other than Elizabeth.
A tear threatened to fall from Anastasia’s eyes, but she fought it back and continued her journey.
When she sighted the line that marked the forbidden area, her heart beca light with relief. However, Avery was not there yet.
She’d thought with the amount of ti she’d wasted on the way, she would already be there, waiting for her. But she didn’t see the girl anywhere.
Anastasia’s heart thumped hard against her chest as her mind floated with reasons why Avery had not arrived yet.
Had she been killed? Is she still in hiding? What could have happened?
Anastasia decided to quickly climb a tree and wait for Avery while silently praying there wasn’t a snake hiding in there.
Anastasia continued to hear the screams of the girls and so faint voices, causing her to palm her ears instantly so she wouldn’t hear them anymore.
Then she saw a man pulling the hair of a girl whose face Anastasia couldn’t see well. However, she recognized the girl wearing clothes similar to Elizabeth’s.
Anastasia nearly gasped when she saw Elizabeth’s face stained with her blood with an arrow sticking out from her shoulder.
The girl wailed in pain but the man still pulled her with no rcy.
As soon as they vanished from sight, Anastasia decided she was done waiting. Avery hadn’t shown up, and a gnawing feeling told her sothing was wrong. Whatever had happened, she couldn’t ignore it any longer.
Anastasia dropped from the tree with a soft thud, landing lightly before vaulting over the taut strip of sellotape stretched between the trees—a makeshift boundary line daring her to cross. She barely hesitated, her focus fixed ahead as she moved beyond the limits set for her.
An overwhelming smile blood on Anastasia’s face. She was finally going to get out of there and she couldn’t wait to do so.
She looked back at the other side where most of the girls were getting hunted and killed, and her heart pinched in pain at how much bloodbath had occurred just this one night.
With a sigh, Anastasia turned her back and slipped into the forbidden area. She moved quickly, each step carrying a growing sense of urgency, as if eyes were following her every move. She paused, glancing around, but the shadows revealed nothing—only deepening the unsettling feeling that soone was out there, hidden in the darkness.
The ga had started at midnight, and it would still take a while before the sun ca up.
Anastasia ignored the feelings, thinking she was being paranoid because she successfully escaped Xander and Samantha’s clutches.
A sudden snap of a twig shattered the silence, so close that Anastasia’s heart jolted. She was certain that if she reached out, her fingers would brush against soone—or sothing—lurking just beyond her sight. Her pulse quickened, and she strained to listen, questioning if it was truly a person... or sothing else entirely.
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